„…quodlibet folium chartae habet suum signum, per quod significatur, cuius aedificii aut molendini est charta”

Abstract

According to the small amount of written sources, the art of papermaking was introduced in the Bohemian lands, Moravia, Silesia and the Polish territory during the last decade of the 15th, beginning of the 16th centuries. As a result of the lack of written sources and deficiency of detailed watermark research efforts to find the first paper products/watermarks of these mills have produced speculation and confusion. My paper aims to summarise the research results and also to sketch some plans for shedding light on the very beginning of papermaking in East-Central Europe. Based on the textual analysation of Jagiellonian royal accounts and the examination, registration and comparison of watermarks visible on the papers of accounts. I intend to demonstrate the difficulties of dating a document by the help of a watermark and date a watermark by the help of a document.