SFRAGISTICS. — From the Greek σφραγίς, or "sigillography" (Latin sigillum, diminutive of signum), it is the discipline that studies seals from the juridical, historical, diplomatic and artistic point of view. It rose to the dignity of an autonomous subject in the 18th century, chiefly through the work of Heinecke and Heumann; the latter was the first to use the term ars sphragistica in 1745.
The seal was for a long time the best means of validating documents. The Holy Scriptures, Greek and Latin authors, etc., make mention of it. And in museums numerous Assyrian, Babylonian, Phoenician, Egyptian, Hellenic, Roman, etc., seals are preserved. Especially in the Middle Ages the seal was the sign with which authorities corroborated their acts and came in many cases to replace autograph signatures. Reserved at first to sovereigns, princes, great lords and the ecclesiastical hierarchies, in the 12th century it was adopted by the Communes, then by corporations, colleges, bodies and private individuals, with differing juridical value.
By the term seal is meant both the matrix engraved "in negative" and the positive impression stamped in wax (metal impressions, called bullae, are rare). The matrix may be an engraved stone mounted in a ring (and such are for the most part the seals of antiquity; v. ANELLO; MONOGRAMMA), or else an engraved metal stamp or die: bronze, steel, rarely gold or silver. The impressions, that is the wax seals, are divided into adherent and pendant: in the first case the wax was melted and poured directly onto the document and then pressed, while hot, with the stamp; in the second case the wax was poured and impressed upon cords, ribbons, strips of parchment or paper hanging from the document; the appended seals sometimes bear, impressed on the back, a second impression, generally smaller, called a counterseal. Natural or coloured wax was used. The fragility of pendant seals made a protection necessary (bags of cloth or leather, cases of wood or metal). The prevailing shapes of seals are the circular, the ogival and the oval; specimens in the shape of a shield, octagonal, hexagonal, etc., are rare. In a seal one distinguishes the figure and the legend (if the latter is lacking, the stamp is said to be anepigraphic). There are portraits, sacred, profane, mythological and allegorical figures, or else views (cities, castles, churches, mountains); designs of plants, of heraldic or symbolic animals, etc. The legends mostly express the name and titles of the person, office or city; sometimes they bear mottoes, invocations, Leonine verses (for example: Roma caput mundi - regit orbis frena rotundi). The importance of the seal is also shown by the fact that sovereigns entrusted its custody to dignitaries of absolute trust, so that that of the keeper of the seals became one of the highest offices. In bishoprics the seal was kept by the vicar general or the chancellor, in the medieval Communes by the podestà, by the notary of the seal or by another person of proven honesty. Special rules governed the use of seals and prescribed penalties for falsification, improper uses, etc.
Seals are divided, on the basis of their juridical character, into three main categories: public, private and ecclesiastical.
I. PUBLIC SEALS
Limiting the examination to the Middle Ages, one notes that the diplomas of the early Carolingians are validated with impressions of Roman engraved stones, then with seals bearing the king's bust roughly carved. In the 11th and 12th centuries the engraving is perfected, until Gothic art, in its luxuriant development, reaches even these small objects of juridical use and enriches and refines them. Sovereigns are represented enthroned (with crowned head, hands holding the scepter or the orb, or the sword, or the lily) or else on horseback in armor; queens are standing or on horseback (in hunting dress and with the falcon), rarely on the throne. In exceptional cases gold bulls were used: for example, that of Frederick I presents the bust of the Emperor emerging from a circle of walls; on the reverse a view of Rome (v. also BOLLA). Imitating the sovereigns, dignitaries too, princes, dukes, feudatories, adopted seals, now with the portrait (mostly equestrian), now with coats of arms; and gradually the offices, the various authorities, and finally the judges, notaries, etc., followed them. The Italian Communes, which until the middle of the 12th century were not considered political bodies endowed with autonomy, and therefore had to have their civic acts validated by notaries of imperial appointment, then begin, in their turn, to assume the seal, which constitutes one of the signs of independence, which would be formally sanctioned after the Peace of Constance. Civic seals almost always present allegorical figures: the knight designates the noble class that from the outset exercised a certain predominance in various cities; towers and walls symbolize power and above all independence; the images of the saints distinguish the "pars populi" and after 1250 the popular Commune; there are finally the Guelph and Ghibelline insignia, the symbols of alliance, of subjection, etc.
II. PRIVATE SEALS
From the juridical standpoint they have characteristics quite different from public ones: they are limited to the function of marks of recognition and guarantee, with the closing of the letter, epistolary secrecy. They bear engraved coats of arms, emblems, allegories, monograms, images relating to the name (called "speaking"), or to a craft, a profession, a devotion, etc. The figure of the holder appears only on certain marks of nobles (equestrian types) and of doctors of law, professors, etc., depicted on their catthedra or seat and clothed in the toga. The seals of merchants, which for the most part bear monograms or repeat the designs of commercial marks, were also used to validate private contracts and business documents.
III. ECCLESIASTICAL SEALS
On pontifical seals v. ANELLO del Pescatore; BOLLA. The seals used by dignitaries of the Church originally have an oval or circular shape, which becomes pointed-oval around the middle of the 12th century. This model, typically Gothic, marks almost all ecclesiastical seals and lasts a long time (not even the Renaissance abandons it entirely, though it prefers the circular or oval line). In the colors of the wax there were no constant uses: besides red and green, very common, one finds white, yellow, brown, etc. Of episcopal seals the first mentions occur in the 7th and 8th centuries, but only in the 11th century does one begin to find a good number of them. From them derive almost all the seals that were gradually adopted by ecclesiastics. Usually engraved on them is the image of the titular or of the patron saint, now half-length, now standing, now seated on the faldstool or cathedra. Of the type with the bust, very rare in Italy and which disappears in the course of the 12th century, it will suffice to cite two examples: Altemanno, bishop of Trent (1124-1149) and Mauro bishop of Arezzo (1137); the first is notable for the singularity of the mitre arranged with two lateral horns and open at the front, which went out of use at the middle of the century; the second is one of the very few profile portraits.
The standing figure - bishop, abbot - wears pontifical vestments, with the mitre; for the most part he raises his right hand to bless while the left holds the pastoral staff or a book (if it is the patron saint, recognizable by the halo, the attributes are different: martyrs carry palms or the instruments of martyrdom, etc.). In the types with the seated figure, the faldstool recalls certain Roman seats, with armrests shaped like lions' or wolves' heads, the bases in the form of a paw.
In the first half of the 13th century, while the pointed-oval outline remains fixed, the figures evolve; the hieratic static quality of the dignitary yields to a more animated and more complex composition; architectural motifs are added which soon become complicated: columns, pinnacles, canopies constitute Gothic aedicules or even altarpieces, church facades, drawn with lively decorative taste and engraved with the utmost care; in short the seal tends to become an ornate and precious object. There are various niches: the upper one with the bust of the Madonna, the middle one or ones with saints, the lower one with the titular kneeling, sometimes flanked by two shields: that of the family and that of the diocese, of the Chapter, of the abbey. To accommodate so many figures the seal expands until it reaches its maximum dimensions in the 16th century. But alongside the solemn types, simpler models are also used, with a single figure, a symbol or a coat of arms (sigillum mediocre, minus, secretum, ad causas, etc.). The higher clergy are imitated by vicars, archdeacons, archpriests, parish priests, canons, priests (personal or dignity seals) as well as by curias, Chapters of cathedrals, rural vicariates, plebanies, churches, and finally by bodies subject to ecclesiastical jurisdiction (hospitals, shelters, pious foundations) as well as by all the regular clergy. In the religious Orders the general Curia, the master general usually adopt in their seals the image of the founding saint or of the patron, or a symbol of his, or the coat of arms of the Order; each "province" chooses a particular saint, who is almost never the founder and sometimes does not belong to the Order; visitors, provincials, holders of other offices have their own seals, now with the family coat of arms, now with sacred symbols or images of saints; abbeys, priories, commendams, convents, etc. show in their seals the patrons of their respective churches. From the 15th century onward, both in the use of the secular clergy and of the regular clergy, seals with heraldic or symbolic emblems prevail over figured ones. - See plates XXVI-XXVII.
Bibliography9 works
Giacomo C. Bascapè