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SEALS . The See also:idea of testifying the See also:personal presence or the agency of an individual on some particular occasion, by affixing the impression of his See also:seal (See also:Lat. sigillum, O. Fr. scel) to the See also:record or See also:object connected with the transaction of the moment, can be traced back among the nations of the old See also:world when advanced only a comparatively See also:short way on the path of See also:civilization. In the See also:East the See also:custom which has prevailed for centuries, and which is a practice at the See also:present See also:day, of using the seal as a See also:stamp wherewith to See also:print its See also:device in See also:ink or pigment in authentication of a document is parallel to our western See also:habit of inscribing a See also:signature for the same purpose. In the See also:West, too, the impression of the seal has, at certain periods, had the same value as the signature; and at all times the, connexion between the signature and the seal has been intimate in See also:European practice (see AuTo-GRAPHS and See also:DIPLOMATIC). But the western method of obtaining the impression has differed from the eastern method. With us, the notion of a seal is an impression in See also:relief, obtained from an incised See also:design, either on a soft material such as See also:wax or See also:clay, or on a harder material such as See also:lead, See also:gold or See also:silver. By See also:common usage the word " seal " is employed as a See also:term to describe both the See also:implement for making the impression, and the impression itself ; but properly it should be confined to the latter, the graven implement being technically called the See also:matrix. The earliest examples of seals, both matrices and impressions, are found among the antiquities of See also:Egypt, Babylonia and See also:Assyria. On the clay stoppers of See also:wine jars of the EkYpuaa remote See also:age which goes by the name of the pre-dynastic seals. See also:period, and which preceded the historic period of the first Pharaohs, there are seal impressions which must have been produced from matrices, like those of Babylonia and Assyria, of the See also:cylinder type, the impress of the design having been repeated as the cylinder was rolled along the See also:surface of the moist clay. Two such engraved cylinders of this archaic period are in the See also:British Museum collections. The cylinder, however, seems to have been generally superseded in Egypt by the engraved See also:scarab, or See also:beetle-shaped object, which, it may be assumed, was used at an See also:early See also:time, as it certainly was in later See also:Egyptian See also:history, for sealing purposes, although its proper See also:function was that of an See also:amulet. Still, the See also:fashion for cylinders appears to have revived at intervals, for they are found in the 6th, the 12th and the 18th dynasties. Even in the rst See also:dynasty, about 4500 B.C., the Egyptian Pharaohs had their See also:official sealers, or, to use a See also:modern expression, keepers of the Royal Seal. Egyptian signet-rings, which were used for sealing, date back to the 12th dynasty. As already stated, the matrices of See also:ancient Babylonian and See also:Assyrian seals, usually cut on See also:precious stones, are in cylinder See also:form. Baby- The See also:fine collection in the British Museum presents Ionian and us with Babylonian specimens of even archaic times, Assyrian followed by an See also:historical See also:series, the earliest of which seals, is of nearly 4500 years B.C. The Assyrian series is not so full. The engraved subjects are chiefly mythological. Impressions are to be found on many of the See also:cuneiform clay tablets. Early in the 7th See also:century B.C. the cylinder seal gave See also:place to the See also:cone, the impression being henceforth obtained after the fashion followed to the present day. The Phoenicians, as was only to be expected of those traders and artisans of the ancient world, appear to have adopted both the cylinder of Assyria and the scarab of Egypt as aan seas. patterns for their seals. Examples indeed are rare, but that these See also:people were acquainted with both forms is certain. Phoenician names are found cut both on cylinder matrices and on scarabs by the Phoenician engravers employed in Assyria and Egypt; and, when the cone-shaped matrix superseded the cylinder in Western See also:Asia, the Phoenicians conformed to the See also:change.
In See also:Europe, the use of seals among the early Greeks is well
known. Of the Mycenaean period numerous seal-impressions
in clay have been found. Also from ancient times
have survived the numerous engraved stones or
pebbles, technically called gems, which served as
matrices and in most instances were undoubtedly mounted
as See also:finger-rings or were furnished with swivels. At first` being
used in their natural forms, these pebbles or gems have been grouped as lenticular or See also:bean-shaped, and glandular or of the See also:sling-See also:bolt See also:pattern; later, from the 6th to the 4th century B.C., they were fashioned as scaraboids, that is, in the See also:general form of the Egyptian scarab, but without the sculptured details of the beetle's See also:body. To these, by a natural See also:process, succeeded the matrix formed of only a thin slice of See also: It is not the object of this See also:article to See also:deal further with the history of See also:antique seals (see See also:NUMISMATICS; also GEMS, See also:JEWELRY and RING), but to give some See also:account of European seals of the See also:middle ages, when the revival of their use for the authentication of documents resulted in their universal employment among all classes of society. Hence it is that we are in See also:possession of the vast number of impressions still to be found in public museums and archives, and in private See also:muniment rooms and antiquarian collections, either attached to the See also:original charters or other deeds which they authenticated, or as See also:independent specimens. Hence, too, have survived a fairly large number of matrices
The connecting See also:link between the general use of the signet, which was required by the Roman law for legal purposes, but which had died out by the 7th century, and the revival of seals in the middle ages is to be found in the chanceries Earty of the Merovingian and Carolingian sovereigns, where See also:medieval
seals.
the practice of affixing the royal seal to diplomas
appears to have been generally maintained (see DIPLOMATIC). Naturally, surviving examples of such seals are rare, but they are sufficient in number to'indicate the See also:style adopted at different periods. The seal-ring of Childeric II. (d. 673) was found in his See also:tomb, bearing a full-See also:face bust and his name; and impressions of seals of later monarchs of the Merovingian See also:line, engraved with their busts and names, have survived. See also:Pippin the Short and the early Carolings made use of intaglios, both actual antiques and copies from them; their successors had seals of See also:ordinary types usually showing their busts. One of the See also:oldest matrices is an See also:intaglio in See also:rock crystal, now preserved at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle, bearing a portrait See also:head of See also:Lothair II., See also: 989) a further development, the king being represented See also:half-length with the royal insignia; and at last under See also: (A.D. 1141), an equestrian effigy of the king as See also:duke of See also:Aquitaine being impressed on the See also:reverse. When, in 1154, Aquitaine passed to the See also:English See also:crown, this counterseal disappeared, and eventually in subsequent reigns a fleur-de-lis or the See also:shield of arms of France took its place. In the See also:German royal seals the imperial See also:eagle or the imperial shield of arms was the ordinary counterseal.
To turn to See also:England: it appears that the See also:kings of the Anglo-Saxon See also:race, or at least some of them, imitated their Frankish
Anglo- neighbours in using signets or other seals. There are
Saxon still extant an impression of the seal of See also:Offa of See also:Mercia
royal (A.n. 790) bearing a portrait head; and one of the seal of
seals. See also:Edgar (A.n.96o), an intaglio gem. The first royal seal of England which ranks as a " See also:great seal " is that of See also:Edward the See also:Confessor, impressions of which are extant. This seal was furnished with a counterseal, the design being nearly identical with that of the obverse (fig. I). See also: After the See also:conquest of England, he added a seal of majesty, copied from the seal of Henry I. of France, as a counterseal. In subsequent reigns the See also:order of the two seals was reversed, the seal of majesty becoming the obverse, and the reverse being the equestrian seal: a pattern which has been followed, almost uniformly, down to the present day. Besides the two royal seals of Anglo-Saxon kings noticed above there are extant a few other seals, and there is documentary See also:evidence of yet others, which were Anglo- used in England before the See also:Norman Conquest; but saxon the rarity of such examples is an indication that the private employment of seals could not have been very seals- common among our Anglo-Saxon forefathers. Berhtwald the thane, in 788, and IEthelwulf of Mercia, in 857, affixed their seals to certain documents. In the British Museum are the See also:bronze matrices of seals of JEthilwald, See also:bishop of See also:Dunwich, about Boo; of 1Elfric, See also:alderman of See also:Hampshire, about 985; and the finely carved See also:ivory See also:double matrix of See also:Godwin the thane (on the obverse) and of the See also:nun Godcythe (on the reverse), of the beginning of the 11th century. In the See also:Chapter Library of See also:Durham there is the matrix of the monastic seal of about the See also:year 970; and in the British Museum, appended to a later See also:charter (Harl. 45 A. 36), is the impression of the seal of See also:Wilton See also:Abbey of about 974. The official practice of the Frankish kings, which, as we have seen, was the means of handing down the Roman tradition of the use of the signet, was gradually imitated by high See also:officers of See also:state. In the 8th century the mayors of the See also:palace are found affixing their personal seals to royal diplomas; and, once the idea was started, the multiplication of seals naturally followed. From the end of the loth century there was a growing tendency to their general use. From the 12th to the 15th century inclusive, sealing was the ordinary process of authenticating legal documents; and during that period an See also:infinite variety of seals was in existence. The royal seals of
dignity or great seals we have already noticed. The sovereign
also had his personal seals: his privy seal, his signet. The
provinces, the public departments, the royal and public officers, the courts of law: all had their See also:special seals. The numerous class of ecclesiastical seals comprised episcopal seals of all kinds, official and personal; seals of cathedrals and chapters; of courts and officials, &c. The monastic series is one of the largest, and, from an See also:artistic point of view, one of the most important. The topographical or See also:local series comprises the seals of cities, of towns and boroughs and of corporate bodies. Then come the vast collections of personal seals. Equestrian seals of barons and knights; the seals of ladies of See also:rank; the armorial seals of the gentry; and the endless examples, chiefly of private seals, with devices of all kinds, sacred and profane, ranging from the finely engraved See also:work of art down to the roughly cut See also:merchant's See also:mark of the trader and the See also:simple initial See also:letter of the See also:yeoman, typical of the time when everybody had his seal.
The ordinary shape of the medieval seal is See also:round; but there are certain exceptions. Ladies' seals and some classes of ecclesiastical and monastic seals are of pointed See also:oval form, which is best adapted to receive the See also:standing figure of See also:lady, bishop,
See also: Among the wealthy, silver was not uncommon; among the poor, lead was in general use. Matrices of See also:steel and See also:iron were made at a later time in Matrices. the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 11th century a fairly large number of matrices were cut in ivory. The use of engraved gems in the early middle ages has already been noticed ; but the See also:taste for antique intaglios was not confined to any one period. In the later centuries also, particularly in the 14th century, they were set in seal matrices and finger rings. A fine Graeco-Roman gem, bearing a See also:female head, full face and set in a medieval setting, does See also:duty for the head of See also:Mary Magdalen, as seen in the accompanying cut (fig. 2). The ordinary matrix of the middle ages was See also:pro- FIG. 2.-Antique vided with a See also:ridge on the back (or, in some in gem used as a stances, with a See also:vertical handle), by which it could private seal. be held while being used for sealing, and which might be pierced for suspension. Sockets for the insertion of handles are of comparatively late make. The matrix was in most instances simple, the design giving a See also:direct impression once and for all. But there are examples of elaborate matrices composed of several pieces, from the impressions of which the seal was built up in an ingenious fashion, both obverse and reverse being carved in hollow work, through which figures and subjects impressed on an inner layer of wax are to be seen. Such examples are the seal matrix of the See also:Benedictine priory of St Mary and St Blaise of Boxgrave in See also:Sussex, of the 13th century, now in the British Museum (fig. 3) ; and the matrix of Southwick Priory in Hampshire, of the same period (Archaeologia, See also:xxiii. 374). The matrix of one of the seals of See also:Canterbury See also:Cathedral was also constructed in the same manner. It has usually been the custom to break up or deface the matrices of official seals when they have ceased to be valid, as, for example, at the commencement of a new reign. The seals of deceased bishops or abbots were solemnly broken in presence of the chapter or before the See also:altar. But the legal See also:maxim that corporations never See also:die is well illustrated by the survival of the fine series, not complete, indeed, but very full, of the matrices of English corporations, beginning with the See also:close of the 12th century. A fine example is the corporate seal of See also:Rochester, of the 13th century, showing the keep and battlements of the See also:castle (fig. FIG. 3: Seal of Boxgrave 4) in high relief. obverse. The common material for re- Priory: o ceiving the impressions from the matrices was beeswax, generally strengthened and hardened by admixture with other substances, such as See also:resin, See also:pitch and even See also:hemp and See also:hair. The employment of See also:chalk as an ingredient in many seals Waxen lm-of the 12th century has caused them to become ex- pressions. tremely friable. It was a common practice to apply to such seals a coating of See also: Such antique gems as were adopted for matrices in the middle ages were usually set in metal mounts, on which the legends were engraved. The first and obvious See also:reason for an inscription on a seal was to ensure See also:identification of the owner; and therefore the names of such owners appear in the earliest examples. Afterwards, when the use of seals became common, and when they were as often toys as signets, fanciful legends or mottoes appropriate to the devices naturally came into vogue. Examples of such mottoes will be given below.
A few words may be said regarding the different kinds of types or
devices appropriate to particular classes or See also:groups of medieval seals;
and, although these remarks have special reference to English seals,
it may be noted that there is a common See also:affinity between the several
classes of seals of all countries of western Europe, and that what is
said of the seal-devices of one See also:country may be applied in general
terms to those of the See also:rest. The types of the great seals of sovereigns
have already been mentioned: a seal of majesty on the obverse, an
equestrian seal on the reverse. Other royal official seals usually See also:bear
on the obverse the king enthroned or mounted, and the royal arms
on the reverse. Among other official seals a very interesting type
is that of the See also:Lord High See also:Admiral in the 15th century, several matrices
of the seals of holders of the dignity having survived and being
exhibited in the British Museum. That of See also: Episcopal seals more generally show the See also:prelate prominently as a standing figure, or, less conspicuously, as kneeling in See also:prayer before the Deityor See also:patron saint; the counter- seal also frequently represents him in the same posture of See also:adoration. Chapter seals may bear the patron saint, or a See also:representation, more or less conventional, of the cathedral; monastic seals may have figures of the Virgin Mary, or other patron saint, or of the founder, or of abbot or See also:abbess; or the conventual building. If there be a counterseal, the figure of patron saint or founder may stand there, have his own seal of dignity, generally showing him standing. Local seals of See also:town or See also:borough may have the See also:image of a patron saint, or armorial device, or castle or See also:bridge or other building (see fig. 4), or the town itself. A seaport will be indicated by a ship on the waves. The baronial seal bears the armed and mounted See also:knight. On ladies' seals the owner is often gracefully depicted standing and holding See also:flower or See also:bird, or with See also:shields of arms. After the 14th century, the figures of ladies, other than queens, vanish from seals. Armorial devices of the gentry first appear on seals at the close of the 12th century; and from that time there is a See also:gradual development of the heraldic seal, which in the 14th century was often a work of fine decorative See also:sculpture. And, lastly, the devices on See also:fancy seals are without end in their variety. As in all other departments of medieval art, the See also:engraving of seals in the middle ages passed through certain well-marked developments and changes characteristic of different Art. periods. Fine seal engraving is to be found in the productions of many of the See also:continental nations; but in the best periods nothing can excel the work of English cutters. , Beginning with the examples of the 11th and 12th centuries, we find the subjects generally of an archaic style, which is evidence of an early See also:stage of the art. In the 13th century this undeveloped stage has passed, and a fine, but still re-strained, quality of en-graving ensues, which, like all the allied arts of that century, charms with its simple and unpretending precision. For example, in the great seals of Henry III., something of the antique stiffness remains, but the general effect and the finish of the details are admirable. We may refer also again to the Boxgrave seal (fig. 3) as a fine specimen of 13th century architectural See also:carving. But the most beautiful FIG. 6.-Merton Priory Seal. seal of this period, and in many respects the most beautiful medieval seal in existence, is the monastic seal of Merton Priory, in See also:Surrey, of the year 1241. An engraving of the obverse, the Virgin and See also:Child, is here given (fig. 6). The Merton seal is the work of a See also:master See also:hand treating his subject with wonderful breadth and freedom. As the century advances, a more graceful See also:movement in the figures is discernible. For instance, the great seal of Edward I. shows a departure from the severe simplicity of his predecessor in the addition of decorative architectural details, and in the easier See also:action of the equestrian figure, which in this instance is of a strikingly fine type. Comparable with it is the remarkable baronial equestrian seal of See also:Robert Fitz-See also:Walter (fig. 7), 1298-1304, the silver matrix of which is in the British Museum collections. The work of the 14th century is marked by a great development in decoration. Where the artist of the former century would have secured his effect by simple, See also:firm lines, the new school trusted to a more superficial style, in which See also:ornament rather than form is the leading See also:motive. The new style is conspicuous in the great seals and other official seals of Edward III., as well as in other classes. The 14th century is also the period of enriched canopies, of niches and pinnacles and of other details of monu- See also:mental sculpture reproduced in its seals. A very beautiful and typical example of the best work of this period is to be seen in the seal of See also:Richard de See also:Bury, bishop of Durham from 1333 to 1345 (fig. 8). It is to be remarked that the standing figure of the bishop in episcopal seals, of the abbot in monastic seals and of the lady in ladies' seals, which was so persistent from the 12th century onwards, proved to be the happy cause of the See also:maintenance of the elegant oval shape in examples of these classes, wherein some of the best balanced de-signs are to be found. The 15th century brought with it to seal- engraving, as it did to other departments of medieval art, the elements of decadence. The See also:execution becomes of a more See also:mechanical type; the strength of the 13th century and the gracefulness of the 14th century have passed; and, while examples of great elaboration were still produced, the tendency grows to overload the decoration. This defect is noticeable, for example, in the elaborate great seals of the Henries of the 15th century, as compared with the finer types of their predecessors. As a See also:good example of the middle of the century, the seal of King's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, of about the year 1443, is here given (fig. 9), showing the Virgin in See also:glory in the centre, between St See also:Nicholas and King Henry VI. With the rise of the period of the See also:Renaissance, like other medieval arts, seal-engraving passed out of the range of the traditions of the middle ages and came under the See also:influence of the derived classical or pseudo-classical sentiment. There is, therefore, no need to pursue the subject further. We close this portion of the present article with specimens of the legends or mottoes which are to be found on the innumerable personal seals of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. mottoes. They are of great variety, and many of them are very interesting, both on account of the devices which they accompany and the sentiments which they See also:express. In English seals they are found composed in Latin, in See also:French, and in the See also:vernacular. First there are legends describing the quality of the seal or conveying a See also:message to the recipient of the missive, as : Prive su (suis); prive su et poi conu (peu connu); sigillum secreti; secreti nuntius; je su See also:mute; lel (loial) ami muet; je su sel bon e leel; veici parti lel; clausa secreta tego; signo secreta signo; secreta See also:gero; si frangis, revelo; frange, lege, tege; brusset, liset, et Met; accipe, frange, lege; See also:claude, repone, tege; missa lege, lecta tege; tecta lege, lecta tege; briset, vaez, lisez, craez; tene fidem; tenet la See also:foy; softe and fayre. Seals with love mottoes are numerous:—sigillum pacis et amoris; je suy damurs; je su seel damur lel; seel de saluz e damur; de li penset See also:par ki me avet; jeo su ci en lu dami; penset de li par ki su ci; ase for the treweste; ami amet, See also:car lel ami avet; amye amet, mon quer avet; See also:mun quer avet, See also:ben le garde; mun cuer avet, ne le deceve; penset de moi, e je de vus; mon quer jolye a vos doin, amye; je suy flur de lel See also:amur; love me and I the; if the liket, eni love holde; poi vaut vivre sans lel ami. The See also:lion is a not uncommon device:—Je su lion bon par avisoun; sum See also:leo, quovis eo, non nisi uera veho; je su rey See also:des bestes; leo tegit secretum. A lion dormant:—Ci repose le lion; See also:ici See also:dort le lion fort; See also:wake, me no See also:man. A lion dormant on a See also:rose, the See also:symbol of secrecy:—Ben pur celer, gis sur roser; ici repose Hun en la rose; de su la rose le lion repose. Rustic See also:life is represented by a See also:squirrel: —I crake notis; I krak nots; I bite notes: by a See also:hare, or a hare See also:riding a See also:dog:—Sohou, sohou; sohou, mutel; sohou, See also:Robin; sohou, je le voi; sohou, je lai trouve; je vois a bois; by a hare in a See also:tree:—Sohou, scut, See also:ware I cut: by a See also:monkey riding a dog or See also:goat:—Allone I ride, I See also:hunt; allone I ride, have I no swayn: by a See also:stag:—Alas, See also:Bowles: by a dog:—hobbe, dogge, hobbe; garez ben le See also:petit chen: by a See also:hawk seizing a bird:—Alas, je su pris. And more than one example bears the See also:motto:—By the See also:rood, See also:women ar See also:wood (mad). Bullae.—As stated above, metal seals, as well as seals in soft materials, have been employed in European countries under certain conditions. These are technically called "bullae " (Lat. bulla, a See also:boss, or circular metal ornament), and necessarily they were in all cases suspended from the documents, and they bore a design on both obverse and reverse. In the See also:southern countries of Europe, where wax would be affected by the warmth of the See also:climate, it was natural that a harder material should also be used. Hence the leaden bulla was a recognized form of seal during the middle ages in the See also:Peninsula, in southern France, in See also:Italy, and in the Latin East. The best-known series is the papal series of leaden seals which have See also:lent their name to the documents of the papal See also:chancery which they authenticate, popularly known as papal " bulls." The earliest extant example of this series is of the year 746 (see DIPLOMATIC). Leaden seals were also used by the archbishops of See also:Ravenna and other prelates of Italy; also to some extent by officials of a See also:lower rank, and by certain communes. The official seals of the doges of See also:Venice and of See also:Genoa and of other dignitaries of those states were also of lead. The sovereigns of See also:Spain, too, made use of the same material; and in the See also:Byzantine See also:empire leaden bullae seem to have been universally employed, not only by emperors and state officials but also by private persons. Even in the See also:north, metal bullae were also occasionally in use. Certain Carolingian monarchs, probably copying the practice of the papal chancery, issued diplomas authenticated by leaden seals, examples of the reign of See also: Some examples are in the British Museum, viz. of See also:Baldwin II. de See also:Courtenay, formerly emperor of See also:Constantinople, attached to a charter of 1269; of See also:Edmund, king of Sicily, son of Henry III. of England; and of the emperor See also:Frederick III., 1452-1493. In the Public Record See also:Office, of Alfonso X. of See also:Castile, ceding See also:Gascony to Edward, son of Henry III. of England, 12J4; of See also:Clement VII. confirming to Henry VIII. the title of Defender of the Faith, 1524 (this example being the work of Benvenuto See also:Cellini); and of See also:Francis I. of France, ratifying the treaty with Henry VIII., 1527 (the counterpart with Henry's bulla being in See also:Paris). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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