not come into general use in this country till a few years after the Conquest: from which time, for upwards of three centuries, they were the peculiar means of authenticating written instruments of every sort among all classes of society. Beside their legal character and importance, the valuable information which they imparted to the historian, antiquary, genealogist, and herald, has contributed to the regard in which they have been held far more than their curiosity as remains of medieval art, or the interest naturally belonging to them as indications of individual taste, and the means whereby a large portion of the ordinary business of life was transacted, and of the intercourse of society was carried on, until they were by degrees in a great measure superseded by the autographs and personal signatures of modern times, and left for legal purposes as a formality involving no longer the necessity of their being identified as the particular seals of those who used them.[1]
On the revival of letters, the novelty and intrinsic excellence of the ancient classical literature to a great extent engrossed the attention of men of studious habits, till the inherent charm which there is in the history of a man's own country began to reassert its influence; and as minds thus better disciplined were brought to the subject, historical evidence was more correctly appreciated, and more diligently sought for. The charters of the intervening ages were examined, their credit tested, and their seals scrutinised and compared. Traces of this begin to appear in the sixteenth century, yet chiefly on the continent; but in the next century seals were very generally adduced and appealed to as proofs for divers purposes; and since that time they have ever been regarded with interest, and had a place assigned them among the contributories to our knowledge of bygone times. The notices of them by Selden, Dugdale,
- ↑ This remark is not intended to apply to such modern seals as are used without any signature to identify them. Nor would I be understood to mean, that at any time it was absolutely necessary that a charter or deed of a private individual should have had his own seal attached to it. Even in the reign of Henry III., as appears from Bracton, it was sufficient if the grantor, before witnesses, sealed the deed or otherwise recognised the seal as his, though it were in reality another's. This, probably, accounts for many anomalous instances of old deeds being sealed with coats of arms not borne by the grantors. The advantage of the deed being sealed with the grantor's own seal was, that when there was no witness, or when the witnesses were all dead, the seal could be proved to have been his; which might have been done by comparing it with other impressions that were known or proved to be authentic. Hence, seals with the arms of other persons than the grantors, are less likely to occur when there are no witnesses mentioned.
