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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2012
Only about ninety Great Seals of England are known for the period from the Conquest to the present day; and the addition of a new one to the series is a matter of some importance.
In a paper read to the Society not long ago I commented on Wyon's statement that the style of Henry V was changed during the last years of his reign as a result of the treaty of Troyes in 1420. Wyon had cited an order of the King to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the alteration of a seal in his custody, but had found no impression of a seal so altered. Actually the treaty did not specifically provide that the English King should use the title in question—Heres Regni Francie—but that the French King, his father-in-law, should during his own life refer to Henry in public documents in that way; and the seal in custody of the Chancellor was presumably that of the Exchequer. I was able, however, to show in illustration fragments of two Irish seals bearing, though they came to us from later reigns, the word heres in their legend; which could only date from this period. It seemed unreasonable in these circumstances to suppose that the most important of all the Royal Seals, the Great Seal of England, should not have been similarly modified; and I ventured to hope that an example from the last two years of the reign would presently be discovered and prove my case. That example has now been produced by Mr. Chitty from the Muniment Room at Winchester College (pl.LXXV).
page 382 note 1 It was subsequently printed partly in Antiq. Journ., xvi, and partly in Archaeologia, lxxxv.
page 382 note 2 The Great Seals of England (1887), p. 47, citing Rymer, Foedera, ix, 915.
page 382 note 3 One from an Exchequer matrix used in the time of Henry VIII and one of the King's Bench used for Richard III. See my article in Archaeologia, pp. 321n., 322.
page 382 note 4 Actually the treaty is dated 21st May 1420 and Henry V died 31st August 1422. Wyon (p. 156) seems not to have seen any seal on a document dating from this period: though he saw the charters of the Chapter and of the Corporation of Winchester he did not, apparently, inspect those of the College.
page 382 note 5 The document was apparently not enrolled on the Patent Roll. A transcript is appended to this paper and shows, inter alia, an interesting change in the king's style, which is not quite the same as that on the seal but agrees more closely with the form given in Hardy's Introduction (p. xxi) to the Rotuli Chartarum (Record Commission). The question arises—where did Hardy get his information? Did he evolve it from his knowledge of the terms of the treaty of Troyes? or find the style given in an unabbreviated form on one of the Chancery Enrolments? or did he by chance see an original charter—presumably with the altered seal appended to it? Was our seal already known, or knowable, in 1837?
page 383 note 1 On the ‘diplomatic’ use of this and other seals see my paper in Archaeohgia, lxxxv, p. 309.
page 383 note 2 Reproduced in Archaeohgia in 1862: now in the Library of the Inner Temple.
page 383 note 3 This is probably yet another example of the amount of information in regard to seals which might accrue from the calendaring of the Exchequer Records.
page 384 note 1 See, e.g., Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd ser., iv, p. 265.
page 384 note 2 See my article in Archaeologia, p. 302.
page 384 note 3 Cf. Wyon, p. 50.
page 385 note 1 Plates 79A and 80A.
page 385 note 2 I am indebted to Mr. A. K. Wickham, F.S.A., Mr. John Saltmarsh, F.S.A., and Mr. W. P. Blore for notes on the Eton, King's College, and Canterbury Documents.
page 385 note 3 Catalogue, no. 292.
page 385 note 4 I am indebted to my colleagues in the Manuscript Department at the British Museum for a note on this point.
page 385 note 5 A grant to one Philip Yevan, duly enrolled on the Patent Roll of 14 Henry IV (Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1408–1413, p. 464).
page 386 note 1 See some remarks on Wyon's illustrations of alleged seals of Edward IV and Richard III in Antiq. Journ., xvi, 14.
page 386 note 2 See on this subject some remarks concerning the seals of Edward I and Edward II for Scotland in Antiq. Journ., xi, 232.
page 387 note 1 By Mr. R. Somerville, to whom I am indebted for a note on this subject. The document is printed by Sir William Hardy in Charters of the Duchy of Lancaster (1845), p. 220, from its enrolment on the Parliament Roll: the four charters under the seal of the Duchy which it inspects are all entered on the roll at the Record Office known as D.L. 37/14.
page 387 note 2 King's College, A. 20: the titles of the magnates to whom it is addressed are followed by ad quos presentes litere pervenerint.
page 387 note 3 The Clerk of the Parliament Roll has given to one of them the plain omnibus ad quos address of letters patent; but this, as may be seen by comparison with the original, is an error.
page 388 note 1 Transcript by Herbert Chitty, F.S.A.
page 388 note 2 The reference in the College Muniment Room is Charters drawer no. 17.
page 388 note 3 It will be noted that the king's style is altered also in writing; and in a way differing from that adopted on the seal. See footnote to p. 383 above, citing Hardy; who gives the style as here with the exception of the word regni, which he omits.
page 389 note 1 By Mr. Chitty.
page 389 note 2 Meonstoke drawer in our Muniment Room, no. 64; Ropley drawer, no. 101.
page 389 note 3 Kirby's description of this seal, however, is not correct: he has colour, shape, and legend wrong. There must have been some confusion in his notes.
page 390 note 1 Nowadays documents are sealed, not with the original silver matrix, but with a facsimile.