The declaration on the Norman Church (1205): a study in Norman sigillography (original) (raw)

Seals and status in medieval English towns: a case-study of London, Newcastle and Durham

2008

In the High Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries, ancient gems were frequently re-set for use in personal sealmatrices (secreta) in order to serve as signets. 1 The fashion, for the display of jewels in general, including ancient gems, was continuous throughout the Middle Ages, 2 but gem-seal usage reached its height of popularity during the second half of the 12th century. 3 Consequently, it may be seen as one small aspect of what it is still convenient to call the '12th-century Renaissance', with its intellectual ferment and enhanced interest in the literature and art of Rome and the Classical world. 4 Gem-set seals thereafter continued to be employed well-beyond the end of the century, although, in England at least, not much beyond the earlier 14th century. Earlier, during the Migration period and up to the 11th century, Roman gems, both intaglios and cameos, were worn in rings, brooches and pendants, where they would have served as amulets, and were also mounted into crosses, reliquaries, bookcovers and other Church metalwork (ars sacra), 5 but they were not in regular use as seals, at least in the British Isles. The gold ring, set with a nicolo (blue onyx) intaglio depicting the Roman god, Bonus Eventus, from the boat-burial at Snape, Suffolk is a possible exception. It is of gold-filigree and of 6th-century date and Merovingian manufacture; it is closely paralleled by a ring from Krefeld-Gellep. On the Continent the ancient and even contemporary use of the seal as a symbol of Romanitas may not have been wholly lost. 6 The later mounting of Roman and Classical-style gems into signet rings from the 15th/16th century onwards is, of course, part of the general history of the Renaissance. Gem-seals were often employed as additional 'secret' seals (secreta) by their owners, or as counter-seals (contrasigilla) by others called to witness the official seals of officials, ecclesiastic or lay, and were, of course, far more intimate and personal in nature than these. 7 They were, in addition, well adapted for such a purpose, because they had originally been cut in Roman times precisely for use in such situations, in order to witness all manner of documents including wills, deeds of gift, land indentures and loans, or simply to authenticate the signature on a letter. 8 In size, variety, colour and properties of material gemstones appealed to the 12th-and 13th-century mind as much as they had to the Roman, as is shown by the popularity of the verse lapidary written by Marbode, Bishop of Rennes who died at the very beginning of the 12th century. 9 Ancient engraved gems are mentioned in lapidaries as objets trouvés, introduced by such phrases as 'si inveneris lapidem' or, in old French, 'vus trouerez' where the amuletic power of the device and of the stone upon which it is cut has a primary significance. 10

Christological Personal Seals and Christocentric Devotion in Later Medieval England and Wales

The Antiquaries Journal, 2002

The study of British personal seals, particularly those that are non-armorial, is oneof the n neglected areas of sigillographie research; these seals, however, provide the widest range of desi and the largest number of extant examples in the entire field. This paper focuses upon one aspee such seals, the Christological designs and legends used on them, and integrates them into the broa area of the study of late medieval Christocentric devotion in order to demonstrate both the rich source of new material provided by personal seals, and the way in which they can add to understanding of more general issues of a historical period.