Most of the medieval documents stemming from Italy were written by notaries. Here the history of notaryship is viewed from a comparative perspective encompassing the whole of the Regnum Italiae. The existing normative and documentary source material is drawn upon in its full range and scope, including a prosopographic study of the notaries themselves. From this perspective the Tuscan city of Lucca displaces Genoa and Bologna as a pioneering centre. From 1120/30 onward the notaries not only wrote the documents, they also filed them in their archival registers. Today, the comparison of the body of parchment documents and the notarial registers shows what and how much of the former volume of source material is still extant. A complete collection of notarial emblems illustrates the way in which ornamental practice of the day was subject to regional and fashionable influences.