a. and sb. [f. med.L. crēdentia (see CREDENCE) + -AL. (A crēdentiālis in med. or mod.L. may be the immediate source.)]
A. adj. Recommending or entitling to credit or confidence; usually in phr. † credential letters = ‘letters of credence’; see CREDENCE sb. 4 b. rare.
1524. Instruct. to Pace, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xiii. After the … deliveraunce of his letters credentials.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), I. 467.
1695. Kennett, Par. Antiq., ix. 377. The Earl keeping the credential papers for a proof of the Conspiracie.
1788. Gentl. Mag., LVIII. I. 79/1. The Baron de Thugut las presented his credential letters, as Envoy Extraordinary.
1826. De Quincey, Lessing, Wks. XIII. 292. This very sceptre … as the credential distinction of Mercury.
B. sb. (Usually in pl.)
1. pl. Letters or written warrants recommending or entitling the bearer to credit or confidence; ‘letters of credence’; a letter of recommendation or introduction; esp. one given by a government to an ambassador, or envoy.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., IX. (1843), 590/2. The queen regent … sent Montrevil … with credentials to the king, as well as to the Parliament.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 33, ¶ 3. We will not take a Footman without Credentials from his last Master.
1787. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, Sept. The whole ceremony of delivering his credentials to the King in state.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 710. An Envoy Extraordinary from Savoy … proceeded … to London, [and] presented his credentials in the Banqueting House.
b. in sing.
1756. Johnson, Lett. to Lewis Paul, 12 March. A short letter for me to show as a kind of credential.
1815. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp., XII. 238. Lord Fitzroy Somerset ought also to have a credential to enable him to act here.
1852. Conybeare & H., St. Paul (1862), II. xxvii. 473. He probably felt that Timotheus might need some more explicit credential from himself than a mere verbal commission.
2. transf. and fig.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., I. i. 38. The Miracles of our Saviour and his Apostles, the Seals and Credentials of the Truths they delivered.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 339. There stands The legate of the skies! His theme divine, His office sacred, his credentials clear.
1860. Whittier, Quaker Alumni, xxxvi. No longer they need Credentials of party and pass-words of creed.
b. in sing.
1660. trans. Amyraldus’ Treat. conc. Relig., I. i. 12. Light carries it’s credential in it’s natural splendor.
1877. Mozley, Univ. Serm., ii. 40. The superiority of the virtues is no credential to the motive.
