IMC 2019: Sessions
Session 818: Breaking the Mould, II: Seals and Status in the Medieval British Isles
Tuesday 2 July 2019, 16.30-18.00
Sponsor: | The National Archives |
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Organiser: | Paul R. Dryburgh, The National Archives, Kew |
Moderator/Chair: | Paul R. Dryburgh, The National Archives, Kew |
Paper 818-a | Low Status Seals, Materiality, and Identity in Rural England, c. 1200-1350 (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Daily Life, Economics - Rural |
Paper 818-b | Seals of Approval: The Medieval Seals of Lincoln Cathedral (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Ecclesiastical History |
Paper 818-c | Putting the Seal on Status: The Heraldry of the Randolphs, c. 1230-1346 (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Heraldry, Politics and Diplomacy |
Abstract | Seals are one of the most important material legacies of medieval Europe. For all strata of society the impression of a metal matrix into soft wax provided authentication and validation of an individual or a community's will, and gave a window into the construction of status and self-identity. This session will explore the use of seals - and material and performative culture across the medieval British Isles - by examining case studies of low status usage in rural Warwickshire and Lincolnshire, the range of seals employed by the corporate community of Lincoln Cathedral, and the aristocratic family of Randolph, whose seals and heraldic imagery marked the rise of that dynasty to the pinnacle of Scottish society in the 14th century. |