Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/13



object of this paper is to draw attention to the varieties of personal seals used in this country during the middle ages; to submit a general classification of the devices which occur on them, and by the aid of dated examples to refer, approximately, certain subjects, of very frequent occurrence, to their respective periods. By confining myself within these limits I must necessarily omit any consideration of the great or state seals of England as well as of corporate seals, both ecclesiastical and secular, as, strictly, they do not fall under the denomination of personal seals. It will be convenient also to reserve, for another opportunity, the subject of seals purely heraldic in character, although they are named in the classification which I have here attempted.

At the beginning of the last century the learned Bishop Nicolson observed, "whether the Norman nobility brought their use of large seals into this kingdom, or found it here, I am not certain; but here they had them, presently after their arrival." The progress of archæological study has removed all uncertainty on the subject: the use of seals, as a legal formality, was introduced into this country by the Normans. After the Conquest seals became component parts of legal documents, and it is to the legal importance which attached to them, that we owe the preservation of many thousands of impressions dating from the close of the eleventh