Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/350

 258 KEMAEKS OX ONE OF THE GREAT SEALS OF EDWARD III. the necessity there was of substituting G for E in August, 1372 ; when, owing to the king having to go abroad again, an emergencv arose in regard to them for which he was not prepared. Such alteration iu the employment of the seals may explain why E was delivered to Thorpe, and also why F (together with the great seal G, and two privy seals,) had been in the hands of and was retained by the late Chancellor for awhile " ex commissione Regis," and was then redelivered to the king ; and it was committed by him to the treasury probably because there was then no immediate occasion for it. However if F only were used for foreign affairs, it was not confined to them ; for Professor Willis (p. 26, note) mentions impressions of it at Pembroke College, under the dates of 13G9, 137 i, and 1372, as if both E and F may have been used, though perhaps not indis- criminately, for English affairs ; but there is nothing to lead us to think that any other than F was used for fureign affairs from June, 1369, till G was altered. 1 am fully aware that, taken by themselves, these Pembroke impressions are prima facie evidence of F having been the great seal delivered to Thorpe on the 2 oth March, 1371 ; and 1 regret Professor Willis lias not mentioned the exact dates, and the nature of the instruments to which they are appended; for the use of F on those occasions might have been capable of explanation. In 1372, the year in which Thorpe died, Wailly says that F occurs to a document in the French archives, so that it had been taken out of the treasury again it it had been deposited there in March, 1371. That document may possibly have been one sent by the king when he went abroad in August, 1372. These are the circumstances which make me feel not altogether satisfied as to which seal was delivered to Thorpe on the 26th March, 1371. Whether that seal were E or F is, according to my view of the subject, unimportant, except as regards the inquiry whether W and E represent two matrices or one ; for if F were delivered to Thorpe at that time, W and E must in all probability have been two matrices ; while on the other hand, if they represent one matrix in different states, that matrix, with the E legend on it, was, we may with equal confidence conclude, the seal delivered to Thorpe, because the legend on one of the two great seals retained hj the late Chancellor was like that of W and F ; while the legend on the other shows it to have been G, which, on some occasion and for some purpose not easily explained, had been placed in his hands. According to the conclusion at which I have arrived, the seal E, with " Anglie et Francie " upon it, did not come into use before the 29th October, 1348, if so early ; and the chances of an impression being dis- covered are less than they have hitherto appeared ; though it is by no means to be despaired of, as it seems to have been in use for three years after June, 1369. Since the foregoing observations were written, another impression of the undescribed seal of Edward 111., to which they relate, has been noticed amongst the muniments of the city of Bristol, which were displayed for the gratification of the members of the Institute, at the recent meeting of the society. The charter, to which it is appended, bears date A.D. 1347, in the absence of Edward from the realm, during the long siege of Calais, and whilst Lionel, Duke of Clarence, was Guardian of England. It concludes as follows ; — " Teste Leonello filio nostro carissimo, Custode Anglie, apud Redynges, vicesimo quarto die Aprilis, Aimo regni nostri Anglie xxj., Francie octavo". The seal is partly imperfect.