Seals

The Counter-seal.--To

make it difficult to detach a seal from its tag, it was usual to furnish at least the larger seals with a coun ter, that is an impression on the back. In double seals the reverse die served this purpose, but in others, the secret, signet or seal ad causas was generally used, and there are instances, especially among the Cistercians, of a special seal, called in the legend contra-sigillum, being employed. In double seals there are a few examples of an additional legend in the position occupied by the milling of a coin, and this would make detachment practically impossible.

The Legend.

The legend usually sets forth the name and style of the owner, although on small private seals it is often a motto or pious ejaculation. The simplest form is Sigillum fol lowed by the name in the genitive case, but sovereigns and occa sionally bishops used the nominative without the word sigillum.

Abbreviations and contractions are usual. Occasionally the date of the matrix is included in the legend and frequently a sover eign used his predecessor's seal, the name being altered where nec essary.

Roman capitals were first used, but from at least the last half of the i i th century they are mixed with Lombardic which slowly dis placed them. Black letter was first used in England in 1345, and became general for a century after 1375. But Lombardic capitals were usual for initial letters during the whole of that period.

When capital letters alone again became usual, it was a modified form of Lombardic that was employed, and this was only slowly ousted by the Roman, which however became the regular type after about the middle of the 16th century.

The Great Seal of England.

The first royal seal of Eng land which ranks as a "great seal" is that of Edward the Con fessor, impressions of which are extant. This seal was furnished with a counterseal, the design being nearly identical with that of the obverse. William the Conqueror, as duke of Normandy, used an equestrian seal, representing hint mounted and armed for battle.

After the conquest of England, he added a seal of majesty, copied from the seal of Henry I. of France, as a counterseal. In subse quent reigns the 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. (H. S. K.) The Small Seals supplemented the great seal. They were

not duplicates of it, nor, although in an emergency they could be used in its stead, were they intended to be substi tutes. They were introduced for certain private business of the sovereign, but as the daily task of government grew in volume and complexity they widened their scope. Except in England, they were invariably controlled by chancery (q.v.), as, for example, in the papacy and in France. The English small seals' freedom from such discretion allowed them to evolve autonomous offices which gave rise to some of the chief ministries of State.

The first small seal to appear in England was the privy seal, privatum sigillum, discernible in the reign of John. It was kept by the clerks of the king's chamber (q.v.), and was used princi pally for matters connected with that office. Besides witnessing certain of the king's letters, it ordered the issue of great seal writs and instructed the exchequer (q.v.) to make payments. To begin with, chancery enrolled privy seal letters but they were soon recorded in rolls of their own. The seal was transferred to the custody of wardrobe clerks in the reign of Henry III., when the king's wardrobe began to relieve the .chamber of housekeeping cares (see WARDROBES). During the reign of Edward I. the con troller of the wardrobe assumed sole responsibility for it. In 131 2 an independent keeper was appointed, and two clerks were de tailed to help him. By 1318 two more clerks had joined them. Al though they all remained within the wardrobe, receiving from its keeper their wages, robes and expenses, they formed a self-con tained subsection. Before Edward II.'s deposition the keeper was a foremost servant of the Crown, and as early as 133o it was pro motion to resign the keepership of the wardrobe for that of the privy seal. Yet until after 1340 the keeper of the privy seal was a member of the household, though he was by then third minister of State. How far the privy seal had travelled can be measured by the Walton ordinances of 1338, which laid down that privy seal warrants were to be compulsory on exchequer and chancery for all business outside routine. The keepership gained further authority and prestige as a result of the great seal being entrusted to the keepers who went abroad with Edward III. Nicholas Carew (1371-77) excluded, the keepers were clerks until the i6th cen tury, in the course of which lay nobles began to be appointed.