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Description: | A cast lead seal matrix, which has been carved. The seal matrix is a circular, flat type, without a lug or a conical handle, on the reverse. The face of the matrix is flat and circular in shape. The reverse of the die has been slightly damaged by a number of incised lines cutting into the lead; the reverse is undecorated. The lead has gone a light whitish-grey colour.
The face depicts what appears to be a bleeding sword. There are four droplets of blood coming down from each side of the hilt, parallel to the sword blade. This motif is enclosed within a circle. It is possible that the sword is in fact a nail and has something to do with the passion. Or the sword could represent an unfinished leaf, with the 'sword' being the central spine and the dots the radiating lines.
This seal matrix is unusual because the legend starts at a 6 o?clock position when compared to the motif. The initial mark (at the beginning of the legend) is a cross potent. The legend reads ?
+S'MATHEI FIL' ARNOLFI . This legend can be translated to mean: Seal of Matthew son of Arnolf. The name Arnolf perhaps suggests a relatively early date. Chris Whittick ran a search on a2a and PROCAT and almost all of the references to Arnolf dated to the 13th century. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 1200
1300 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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