Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/41

Rh F is the seal of presence which the king brought with him from abroad on the 30th of November, 1340, and commanded that it should from henceforth be used in the kingdom of England. Its history is accurately recorded by Rymer, according to whom it regularly accompanied him in his different absences, until he finally returned on the 18th of May, 1300, after the peace of Bretigny; shortly after which it must have been put away to make room for the Bretigny seal, although this fact is not formally recorded. It is the first great seal of England in which tabernacle-work is introduced, and its design is therefore richer than the preceding ones. Sandford engraves an impression from a deed dated Westminster, May 2, 1341, a time when the king was in England. This identifies the impression in question with our seal F, and I have enumerated several other impressions in the Appendix, all of which correspond in the same way to his residence in England. Its legend is, "Edwardus Dei gracia Rex Francie et Anglic et Dominus Hibernie."

As to the seal E, I have not been able to discover any engraving or specimen of it. It was made for a seal of absence, and as such left behind by the king when he departed for Flanders on the 20th of June, 1340. When he returned he brought with him the seal of presence F, and the two continued to be used in their respective functions until they were both superseded by the Bretigny seal.

As E and F were undoubtedly the two great seals which were taken out of the treasury on the llth of June, 1369, the document above quoted teaches us the curious fact that E had "Rex Anglie et Francie" in its legend, for as we know that F had "Francie et Anglie," E must be the other so named. And this in fact is all we know about the seal, for its design remains to be ascertained.

But a new mode of distinguishing the seals of presence and absence is thus explained, namely, by putting England first in the seal of absence, and France first in the seal of presence.

Moreover, as the document of the 28th of March, 1371, shews by the legend, "Francie et Anglie," that seal F was one of those which the king had disused, it follows that the seal E, having " Anglie" first, and which was made for a seal