A government office that keeps official records and documents, or the office of a bishop in a church.
From Old French 'chancellerie,' derived from 'chancellor' (the chief secretary). The word evolved from Latin 'cancellarius,' originally referring to the official who stood behind the 'cancelli' (latticed screen) in Roman courts.
Medieval chanceries were basically the government's filing systems before computers existed — the Chancellor who ran them was often the most powerful person in a kingdom because they controlled what got officially recorded and what didn't.
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