form is the leading 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 monumental
sculpture reproduced in its seals. A very beautiful and
typical example of the
best work of this period
of Richard de Bury,
bishop of Durham from
1333 to 1345 (fig. 8).
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| Fig. 8.—Seal of Richard de Bury, late 14th century. |
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 maintenance of the elegant oval shape in examples of these classes, wherein some of the best balanced designs 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 execution becomes of a more 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 good example of the middle of the century, the seal of King’s College, Cambridge, of about the year 1443, is here given (fig. 9), showing the Virgin in glory in the centre, between St Nicholas and King Henry VI.
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| Fig. 9.—Seal of King’s College, Cambridge. |
With the rise of the period of the Renaissance, like other medieval arts, seal-engraving passed out of the range of the traditions of the middle ages and came under the 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. They are of great variety, and many of them are very interesting, both on account of the devices which they accompany Mottoes. and the sentiments which they express. In English seals they are found composed in Latin, in French, and in the vernacular. First there are legends describing the quality of the seal or conveying a message to the recipient of the missive, as:—Privé su (suis); privé su et poi conu (peu connu); sigillum secreti; secreti nuntius; je su mute; lel (loial) ami muet; je su sel bon e leel; veici parti lel; clausa secreta tego; signo secreta signo; secreta gero; si frangis, revelo; frange, lege, tege; brusset, liset, et celet; accipe, frange, lege; claude, repone, tege; missa lege, lecta tege; tecta lege, lecta tege; briset, vaez, lisez, craez; tene fidem; tenet la 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 par ki me avet; jeo su ci en lu dami; penset de li par ki su ci; ase for the treweste; ami amet, car lel ami avet; amye amet, mon quer avet; mun quer avet, ben le gardé; 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 amur; love me and I the; if the liket, mi love holde; poi vaut vivre sans lel ami. The lion is a not uncommon device:—Je su lion bon par avisoun; sum leo, quovis eo, non nisi uera veho; je su rey des bestes, leo tegit secretum. A lion dormant:—Ci repose le lion; ici dort le lion fort; wake, me no man. A lion dormant on a rose, the symbol of secrecy:—Ben pur celer, gis sur roser; ici repose liun en la rose; de su la rose le lion repose. Rustic life is represented by a squirrel:—I crake notis; I krak nots; I bite notes: by a hare, or a hare riding a dog:—Sohou, sohou; sohou, mutel; sohou, Robin; sohou, je le voi; sohou, je lai trouvé; je vois a bois; by a hare in a tree:—Sohou, scut, ware I cut: by a monkey riding a dog or goat:—Allone I ride, I hunt; allone I ride, have I no swayn: by a stag:—Alas, Bowles: by a dog:—hobbe, dogge, hobbe; garez ben le petit chen: by a hawk seizing a bird:—Alas, je su pris. And more than one example bears the motto:—By the rood, women ar 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 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 southern countries of Europe, where wax would be affected by the warmth of the 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 Peninsula, in southern France, in Italy, and in the Latin East. The best-known series is the papal series of leaden seals which have lent their name to the documents of the papal 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 Ravenna and other prelates of Italy; also to some extent by officials of a lower rank, and by certain communes. The official seals of the doges of Venice and of Genoa and of other dignitaries of those states were also of lead. The sovereigns of Spain, too, made use of the same material; and in the Byzantine empire leaden bullae seem to have been universally employed, not only by emperors and state officials but also by private persons. Even in the 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 Charles the Bald being still extant. The fashion even spread to Britain, as is proved by the existence in the British Museum of a leaden bulla of Cœnwulf of Mercia, A.D. 800–810. In Germany, too, bishops occasionally made use of leaden seals. But, while lead was the ordinary material for the metal seal, a more precious substance was occasionally used. On special occasions golden bullae were issued by the Byzantine emperors, by the popes,
