Elke Cwiertnia & Paul Dryburgh The National Archives BIG Ideas seminar (11 January 2016)

1. Elke Cwiertnia & Paul Dryburgh
The National Archives
BIG Ideas seminar (11 January 2016)
Materiality Matters:
New Approaches to
Medieval Wax Seals Studies

3. 3
Interdisciplinary research

4. 4
Polarized light microscope
Questions: Material?
Technique?
Origin of Material?
Methodology: Visual Examination
Material Analysis
&
Interdisciplinary research
on material history
Materiality of medieval wax seals

5. 5
Selected Wax Seals
Edward I TNA E39/93/16 Obverse
Henry I TNA SC13/H88 ObverseStephen TNA DL10/18 Reverse TNA E26 (selection)
Henry II TNA E42/527 Reverse

6. 6
Dimensions
E42_316 Reverse (Henry I)
a maximal depth of seal (figures)
b depth of edges
ri radius, inner circle of legend
ro radius, outer circle of legend
Ø diameter
L height of legend

7. 7
Diameter (in cm) of examined Great Seals 1100-1307
#
# not a Great Seal, but associated (Royal Seal)

8. 8
Average depth of Great Seals 1100-1307 in cm
min./edges in blue, max./heights in green
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Henry I Maud Stephen Henry II Richard I John Edward I
cm
# not a Great Seal, but associated (Royal Seal)
#

9. 9
Direction of tag/cord
E42/317 (Henry I) SC13/H 88 (Henry I) DL10/16 (Maud 1141) DL10/18 (Stephen 1141-44) E42/527 (Henry II 1155)
Henry the Young King DL10/42 (Richard I 1189) C 109/86 (4) (John 1189?) DL10/146 (Edward I) DL10/56 (Edward I)

10. 10
Colour – Examples (Royal Seals)
Henry I SC13/H88 Stephen DL10/18
Maud DL10_17 Obverse and Reverse
Henry II Richard I E42/310 Edward I DL10_146
E327/80
* all at TNA
E327/78
E42/527

11. 11
6 December 1189
in Dover
(top: DL10/42,
right: E40/14896)
22 May 1198
(top: CCA B 348,
right: CCA B 349)
Great Seals – Richard I (1189-99)

12. 12
DL 10/176DL 10/177
Great Seals – Edward I (1272-1307), 1291

13. 13
CCA_C76
Seals of Richard I (1189-99)
Great Seal
Messina 28 Feb. 1191
Exchequer seal
Westminster Abbey
Muniments XLVII

14. 14
Count of
Mortain
King
Seals of John (1199-1216)
TNA DL10/33
TNA C 109/86 (4) Burghley House
TNA DL10/56

15. 15
Seals of Edward I (1272-1307)
Great Seal TNA E 42/505 obverse and reverse Great Seal TNA DL10/146 obverse and reverse
Privy Seals TNA E404_481_3 (12-15) Reverse of “13”Deputed seal for Scotland TNA E 39/93/16

16. 16
Material & Techniques – Quality & Value
Origin
Mining of
mineral
pigments
Merchant,
Colourman
E26/1 E silk
Richard I CCA B348
Stephen DL 10/18
Henry II
E40/6685
John DL10/56 Edward DL10/177
Application Technique
Trade &
Treatment
Henry the
Young King

17. Hanseatic trade – wax imports 1351-99 England
Lloyd
1991
No data

18. 18
Material & Techniques – Quality & Value
Origin
Mining of
mineral
pigments
Merchant,
Colourman
E26/1 E silk
Richard I CCA B348
Stephen DL 10/18
Henry II
E40/6685
John DL10/56 Edward DL10/177
Application Technique
Trade &
Treatment
Henry the
Young King

19. 19
Quality of Sealing Wax – Analysis
Stephen DL 10/18
XRF analysis on a red seal
Barons letter E26_1_K
Canterbury Seals:
SC13_A163, E211_68
E25_25
Maud DL10/17

20. 20
Quality of Sealing Wax – Reproduction
Verdigris in beeswax, heated for several hours
Verdigris in beeswax
left: after mixing
right: aged
Copper and beeswax

21. The Barons Letter – Seals (copy A)
21

22. The Barons’ Letter (E 26/3 A and B)
22
A B

23. What is the Barons’ Letter? Historical Context
• Key document in Anglo-
Scots and Anglo-Papal
history
• Edward I and the
community of England’s
response to papal claims
of overlordship in
Scotland
23
Edward I
(1239-1307)

24. Cord E 26/1T (seals E 26/2, nos. 29-31, 100)
24

25. Augustus Vincent (1624), reproduced Society of
Antiquaries (1729),overpainted by Henry Cole (1840s)
25

26. Lord Howard de Walden, Some Feudal Lords and Their
Seals (London, 1903; reprinted 1984)
26

27. Seal of Henry of Lancaster (A 60, B series cord E)
27

28. Methodology
• Record evidence:
o What questions and answers does the historical record
supply?
• Visual examination:
o How were the seals arranged on the cords?
o How were the seals attached to the document?
• Material analysis:
o What pigments were used in making the seals?
o Can we establish similarities and differences between
the seal pairs and those on the same cords?
28

29. The Lincoln Parliament (January 1301)
• Nine earls and eighty barons (89 in total)
summoned;
• Seven earls and ninety-six barons (103 in total) put
their names to the Barons’ Letter;
• Ninety-five men sealed the Letter; eight did not.
• Thirty-one of those who sealed the Barons’
Letter, however, were not summoned to
Parliament.
29

30. Record Evidence
• 20 February & 13 March 1301 – payments to John of Winchester
and Peter of Colingbourne, clerks of the king’s wardrobe, for
supplying to Alexander le Convers, who is to go to the
magnates of England then with the Prince of Wales in the
marches of Wales, green wax and silk laces, with which he is to
cause the letters of the magnates of England to the Pope to be
sealed and dispatched;
• 24 February 1301 – further payment of 5s. 7d. to John of
Winchester for a leather chest in which the letters patent sealed
with the seals of the magnates of England to be sent to the Pope
are to be placed and kept safely, and 3 lbs. of cotton with which
to keep the seals safely
[British Library Additional MS 7966 (Wardrobe Book, 1300-1), f. 32v]
30

31. Colour profile of seals on the Barons’ Letter
31

32. Material profile of seals on the Barons’ Letter
• Red – even mixture of beeswax and (pigment) mercury
sulphide;
• Pale Green – uneven mixture of pale and dark green
beeswax, with a copper-based pigment, possibly verdigris;
• Dark Green – even mixture of beeswax with a copper-
based pigment, possibly verdigris;
• Brown – generally an even mixture of beeswax and
(possibly) a copper-based pigment.
32

33. Ralph de Monthermer (B and 98)
33

34. Thomas of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster (1A and 58)
34

35. Cords in close up
35
M S Y Z

36. 36
Cord Type Braiding type and colour E 26/1 E 26/2
R-1_r R-1, red 29 18
R-1_g R-1, green 8 7
R-1_rg R-1, red and green 0 3
R-1_y R-1, yellow 0 1
R-1b_rn R-1, red and natural (bleached?) 3 0
R-2_r R-2, red 3 9
R-2_n R-2, natural (bleached?) 1 5
R-2_rg R-2, red and green 1 4
R-2_g R-2, green 0 1
R-2_nrg R-2, natural (bleached?), red, green 0 4
R-2_y R-2, yellow 0 2
R-3_r R-3, red 1 0
R-4_r R-4, red 1 0
R-4_g R-4, green 1 2
R-4_rg R-4, red, green 0 1
R-4_y R-4, yellow 0 1

37. The Cords and the Sealing Process
37

38. Knots (A 75, B cord E)
38

39. The Wax Seals Project in Action
39

40. Arrangement of the seals
• No order by status apparent across the document but
perhaps on each cord;
• Seals arranged by cord vertically not horizontally across the
document;
• Difference in order of seals on some cords; same seals not
always paired with each other
40

41. Edmund Mortimer, lord of Wigmore (A 75, B cord E)
41

42. Arrangement of the cords
42
E 26/3B (dorse)
OBS 1/887/12

43. Outcomes / Conclusions
• New measurement method
• Importance of seal angle to attachment
• Pigment amount varies in same-coloured seals
• ‘Green’ seals can be achieved without pigment
• Historians, sigillographers and scientists should
combine to enter consistent and comprehensive data
into an international database of seals
• Many possibilities for future research
SC13/H88

44. THANK YOU.
44