 Although these names indicate sufficiently the legal character of the papal letters, the popes repeatedly required from the persons to whom they wrote that these should bring the letter in question to the notice of others.In order to secure such knowledge of the papal laws, several copies of the papal letters were occasionally made and dispatched at the same time.Following the example of the Roman emperors, the popes soon established archives ("scrinium") in which copies of their letters were placed as memorials for further use, and as proofs of authenticity.