Jump to content

Sigillography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

19th-century drawings of the seal ofRichard de Clare ( "Strongbow" ), Earl of Pembroke(1130–1176)

Sigillography,also known by its Greek-derived name,sphragistics,is the scholarly discipline that studies thewax,lead, clay, and othersealsused to authenticatearchivaldocuments. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design and production of seals (both matrices and impressions), but also considers the legal, administrative and social contexts in which they were used. It has links todiplomatics,heraldry,social history,and thehistory of art,and is regarded as one of theauxiliary sciences of history.A student of seals is known as asigillographer.

Etymology[edit]

The wordsigillographyderives from the Latin wordsigillum,meaning 'seal', and the Greek suffixγραφή,meaning 'description'. It was effectively coined in Italian (assigillografia) by Anton Stefano Cartari in 1682.[1]It entered English at a much later date: the earliest instances recorded by theOxford English Dictionarydate from 1879 (sigillography) and 1882 (sigillographer).[2]The alternative term,sphragistics,is derived from the Greek wordσϕρᾱγίς,meaning 'seal': this word is first recorded in English in 1836.[3]

History[edit]

Title page ofOlivier de Wree'sSigilla comitum Flandriae(1639)

Antiquariessuch asThomas ElmhamandJohn Rousbegan to record and to discuss the historic use of seals in the 15th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries the consideration of seals became a fairly widespread antiquarian activity. Notable early students and collectors includedRobert Glover,John Dee,Sir Robert CottonandNicolas-Claude de Peiresc.[4][5][6][7]

The first published treatises dedicated to seals included Giorgio Longo'sDe anulis signatoriis antiquorum(Milan, 1615);Olivier de Wree'sSigilla comitum Flandriae(Bruges, 1639); and Theodorus Hoepingk'sDe sigillorum prisco et novo jure tractatus(Nuremberg, 1642). Especially influential in shaping the discipline wereJean Mabillon'sDe re diplomatica(1681) andJohann Michael Heineccius'De veteribus Germanorum aliarumque nationum sigillis(1710). In England,John Anstiscompiled a substantial study titled "Aspilogia", but this remained in manuscript: the first work to reach print was a much slighter tract by John Lewis,Dissertation on the Antiquity and Use of Seals in England(1740).[8][9]In the second half of the 19th century sigillography was further developed by German scholars includingHermann GrotefendandOtto Posse,and French scholars includingLouis Douët d'ArcqandGermain Demay.

Sigillography is also an important subdiscipline ofByzantine studies,involving the study of Byzantine lead seal impressions and the text and images thereon. Its importance derives from both the scarcity of surviving Byzantine documents themselves, and from the large number (over 40,000) of extant seals.[10]One of the largest compendiums of Byzantine seals can be found in the large volume byGustave Schlumberger,Sigillographie de l'empire Byzantin,published in 1904.[11]

The first international colloquium on Byzantine sigillography was held atDumbarton Oaksin August 1986.[12]

Popular culture[edit]

Sigillography features in the plot ofKing Ottokar's Sceptre(1939/1947), one ofThe Adventures of Tintin.Tintin accompaniesProfessor Alembick,a sigillographer, on a research trip to the fictionalBalkan nationofSyldavia,only to become embroiled in a plot to dethrone the King.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Sandri, Leopoldo (1955). "La 'Sigillografia Universale' di Anton Stefano Cartari: contributo agli studi di sigillografia nel sec. XVII".Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato.15:141–88.
  2. ^"sigillography, n.".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)
  3. ^"sphragistic, n. and adj.".Oxford English Dictionary(Online ed.).Oxford University Press.(Subscription orparticipating institution membershiprequired.)
  4. ^Harris, Oliver D. (2019). "Fragments of the past: the early antiquarian perception and study of seals in England". In Whatley, Laura (ed.).A Companion to Seals in the Middle Ages.Leiden: Brill. pp. 129–54.ISBN978-90-04-38064-6.
  5. ^Harvey, P. D. A.; McGuinness, Andrew (1996).A Guide to British Medieval Seals.London: British Library and Public Record Office. pp. 22–26.ISBN0-7123-0410-X.
  6. ^New, Elizabeth (2010).Seals and Sealing Practices.Archives and the User. Vol. 11. London:British Records Association.pp. 29–32.ISBN978-0-900222-15-3.
  7. ^Bascapé, Giacomo C. (1969). "Storia della sigillografia". In Bascapé, Giacomo C.; Welber, Mariano (eds.).Sigillografia: il sigillo nella diplomatica, nel diritto, nella storia, nell'arte.Vol. 1. (Milan: Antonino Giuffré. pp. 35–51.
  8. ^Harvey and McGuinness 1996, pp. 24–25.
  9. ^Harris 2019, p. 148.
  10. ^Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991).Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.Oxford University Press. pp. 1894–1895.ISBN978-0-19-504652-6.
  11. ^Schlumberger, Gustave,ed. (1904).Sigillographie de l'empire Byzantin.Ernest Leroux.
  12. ^Oikonomidès Nicolas, Dumbarton Oaks International Colloquium on Byzantine Sigillography and International Congress of Byzantine Studies. 1987.Studies in Byzantine Sigillography.Washington D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Look upsigillographyorsphragisticsin Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sigillography&oldid=1172491254"