In December, through the joint efforts of the Capital Development Team and Archives & Chapter Library, the College was awarded a two-year grant totalling £9,000 from the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust towards the preservation of medieval and early modern documents in the Chapel Archives, with priority given to those with interesting wax seals.

Damaged seal of John, Duke of Bedford, 1421

Seals were the prime means of validating documents in the Middle Ages and continue to be affixed to legal records, academic certificates and company documents today. The early ones, with their interesting and often elaborate heraldic, institutional or decorative designs, provide a fascinating insight into the medieval world. However, their composition (generally wax) and their positioning on documents (usually attached to a tag or tongue which hangs below the deed) make them particularly vulnerable, and cumulative layers of dust and dirt often obscure their detail. In many cases, the parchment documents to which they are attached have been folded, making them difficult to consult in their present form, and most have been affected by ingrained dirt. Cleaning and rehousing the documents and their seals will greatly increase their accessibility, reveal lost detail and preserve them for future generations. 

Phase one of the restoration programme will be administered over two years by the Archivist and Chapter Librarian, with major conservation work assigned to Sue Hourigan, Senior Conservator at Berkshire Record Office, and minor cleaning, rehousing and recording tasks undertaken in–house by Archives volunteers. With well over a thousand seal-bearing documents in the College’s collections, it is hoped that further funding will be found for future phases of the project.

A ship graffito

A royal castle in Berkshire may not seem the most likely place to find images of medieval ships but two such examples exist within the walls of Windsor Castle. The first, perhaps better described as existing on the walls of Windsor Castle, is believed to date from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The image takes the form of a graffito or wall-drawing and may be a rare depiction of a balinger. Similar to a barge and carrying both oars and sails, such vessels were a common feature of medieval coastal shipping.

The second image is a seal in the Archives attached to a document dated 1 April 1352 [SGC XV.55.59]. The double sided seal is made of green wax and is that of Yarmouth Borough. It shows men sailing a ship, two in the rigging and a third at the tiller. Maritime historians have long since found the image of interest due to the clear depiction of a ‘bowline led from the sail to the bow-spirit end’ [The Society of Friends of St George's annual report, 1951].

Men sailing a ship on the seal of the Borough of Yarmouth

The document to which the seal is attached is no less interesting and contains evidence of an unusual payment made by Yarmouth to the College of St George. Persuaded by Edward III, and apparently through a devotion to the Dean and College of St George, the Bailiffs and Commonalty of Great Yarmouth granted a last of red herrings, to be presented dry and cleaned, every St Andrew’s Day. This was a considerable gift when one considers that a ‘last’ contained between 10,000 and 13,200 fish. In the 17th century Canon Evans depicted a rather less pious explanation to the document. It seems likely that the annual payment was a punishment on the town for the murder of a Yarmouth magistrate. The payment continued for an extraordinary period of time. By 1718 the quality of herrings was such that the College began accepting money instead. It was only in 1867 when the Ecclesiastical Commissioners took control of the College’s property that the town quietly stopped the payment.

Richard (Assistant Archivist)

Attached to a small yet significant piece of parchment in the Archives [SGC XI.G.1] can be found one of the earliest examples of a medieval lady’s seal to survive anywhere in the country.  Dating from c.1122-1133, the seal belonged to Matilda of Wallingford and shows her standing in full length robes.  In her hand Matilda holds a lily: the supreme symbol of the Virgin Mary and the most commonly found device depicted on noblewomen’s seals in this period.

The charter validated by Matilda’s seal states that she has given Great and Little Ogbourne to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy.  In doing so she hoped for the salvation of her soul and those of her ancestors.  By this gift Matilda also began a chain of events that would eventually lead, via the Hundred Years’ War and John, Duke of Bedford, to the spiritualities of Great and Little Ogbourne coming into the possession of St George’s Chapel.

Richard (Assistant Archivist)