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Description: | Cast copper alloy pedestal type seal matrix. The seal matrix face is roughly circular, 26.6mm by 25.3mm; from the circular base rises a handle which narrows sharply as it rises and has five irregular facets. The largest facet is above the start of the legend on the seal face and the start is further marked by a small circular indentation near the edge. The handle narrows to 5.8mm wide then widens into a collar above which is a circular transverse loop topped with a rounded knop. The handle is not placed exactly centrally and the elements of the handle do not line up. It is 35.1mm in height and weighs 25.25 grams. The seal matrix is worn and corroded with some damage and has a dark green patina.The legend around the edge of the seal matrix reads *hVnDR DE FOXhERLE (Hundred of Foxearle), there is a line inner circle and within this written on two lines is COitat' SUSSeX (Comitatus Sussex, County of Sussex).The seal is an official seal for the hundred and was probably used by the Constables amongst whose duties were keeping the peace and from the 14th century providing passes for workmen seeking work beyond their own hundred. In 1285, King Edward I of England passed the Statute of Winchester, which "constituted two constables in every hundred to prevent defaults in towns and highways". Constables were unpaid and usually elected locally. Harvey and MacGuiness (1996:41) write: "The Statute of Cambridge in 1388 ordered that labourers moving from the area where they lived should be given a pass sealed by someone appointed by the local justices of the peace, and describing the seals design - it should name the county around the edge and the hundred, wapentake or town across the centre. Three years later sheriffs were ordered to have these seals made at once". They quote 6 examples of surviving matrices (p42), others exist including 3 from Norfolk and 2 from Suffolk (Ashley and Richardson 1998). This example names the county and hundred as required but reverses the arrangement laid out in the statute and seen on other seals with the county in the middle and the hundred around the edge. Research by Christopher Whittack in the archives of Battle Abbey has identified a document bearing a seal for Battle Hundred which is similar in design to this example with the county name in the middle and the hundred name around the edge. Unusually the seal was used on a private charter dated 1361 which suggests Sussex hundreds were using standardised seals a generation before the statute of 1388. It also raises interesting questions about how widespread these seals were, under what authority they were produced and whether the existance of seals such as this influenced the 1388 statute.The findspot is within the Hundred of Foxherle.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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