REMARKS ON ONE OF THE G1!EAT SEALS OF EDWAI.'I) III. 219 up the great seal (f) ^Yllicll was coniniitted to the custody of John dc Oftbrd, Keeper of tlic Privy Seal ; and received in exchange the seal, " pro reginiine regni Angli;e i))So Rege extra idem regnum existentc ordinatum." The king returned March 2nd, 1343, and two days after, the usual exchange of seals was niade7 In July, 1345, the king went to Flanders, having appointed his son Prince Lionel, guardian of the realm, and returned after a very short absence ; on both which occasions the
- usual exchange is recorded.^ In the following year, Lionel
Iwas again appointed guardian of the realm, by an instrument dated at Portchestcr Castle, June 25th ; and on Sunday, July 2nd, the king being then in the Isle of Wight prepara- |tory to his departure, John dc Offord, Dean of Lincoln, then iChanccllor, delivered the great seal f, by command of the king, into the hands of John dc Thoresby, Keeper of the jPrivy Seal, in the chancel of the church of Fareham before the high altar ; and received from him in exchange the seal E, which he carried with him to the place where he was then sojourning, the house wdiich had been Godfrey de Raunvill's, near Southwick,^ We have now traced the seal e into the hands of the Chancellor, John de Oiford, with Prince Lionel as guardian of the realm. It is obvious then that any docimient, scaled kith the great seal, and attested by Prince Lionel, within
- he period of the king's departure in July 1346, and his
jubsequent return, must have been sealed with the seal e. Fhe documents, to which these impressions are appended, porrespond to these conditions, since they are so attested, md are dated October 5th, 1347. On that day the king »vas still in France, having just completed that glorious pampaign, in which Crecy was won, and Calais captured. Instruments were sealed by the king himself, with his seal 'i)f presence (f) at Calais, on the 3rd, 5th, and 8th of October.^ fie left France, and landed at Sandwich on Friday, October ^2th, and arrived in London on Sunday the 1 Itli, and on the following day John de Offord brought to him the seal, trhich had been used in England during his absence : and delivered it to the Bishop of Winchester, the Treasurer, to t)e kept in the Treasury.^ ' Uymer, vol. ii. 1212. ^ Ibid. 1220. ^ Ibiil. vol. iii., pp. jO, ,)3. I ' lljiil. «5. 1 Ibid. laa. - Ibid. 13,').
