62 THE ECCIiESIASTICAL SEALS OF COKNWALL. 



" Testamenta Cornubiensia," now partly printed, has supplied 

 some interesting notices of such, entries. 



TRURO Dominican * Friary, founded about 1250. Its con- 

 ventual Church was dedicated 1259. The Prior and Convent 

 consisted of Preaching Friars f otherwise called (from their 

 outer habit) Black Friars. Although a Mendicant Order, these 

 Friars possessed lands. For a history of the Friary, description 

 of its site, &c., and account of the recovery of its seal, see Spry 

 {R. I. o/G. Report for 1840, p. 40), Dr. Lanyon (Idem, for 1847, 

 p. 57) and the remarks (at page 13) preceding his paper ; 

 Haslam (Idem. p. 61) ; Dr. Oliver (Mon : 1846, p. 67 with Plate, 

 also additional supplement 1854, p. 8) ; Dunkin (Testamenta 

 Cornubiensia, A.D., 1374, &c., pp. 1, 5, 8, 13, 23), and Worth. 



1. Seal. The brass or bronze matrix was found, 1842, 

 in the garden of Sturry Vicarage near Canterbury}, 

 and is now in the Museum at Truro. The seal 

 makes a fine impression. The figure is that of our 

 Lord, clothed in a girt garment and a robe of flow- 

 ing folds, seated on a throne (without canopy) 

 somewhat resembling an altar. Two of the fingers 

 of the right hand are held up in benediction. The 

 left hand is closed upon the top of a elapsed book 

 set erect. A circular nimbus (with its cross) is about 

 the head. The seal is boldly cut, the features and 

 hair, especially, being beautifully wrought. Hitherto 

 the legend has scarcely been stated with exactness. 

 In Dr. Oliver's otherwise excellent illustration of the 

 seal, S' (for Sigillum), and the cross of the nimbus 



* St. Dominic, founder of the order, died in 1221. The order was almost 

 immediately introduced not only into Oxford but also into the Diocese of Exeter. 

 There were eventually, it is said, 53 houses in England and 5 in Wales. 



f The objects of this order now claim special attention from the fact that at 

 Truro, nf late years, a band of missioners has been established, in connection 

 with the Cathedral, for preaching thi'oughout the Diocese. 



X It is remarkable that not only has this seal been unearthed accidentally, 

 as described, but the seal of the English Provincial Prior of the same order has 

 also been discovered. In 1851, it was found in the Wall of a Stable at Pembroke, 

 and passed into Lord Cawdor's possession. Upon it is displayed the Blessed 

 Virgin with the Holy Infant on her right arm. The legend is : — 



SIGILLV . PRIOR . PROVINCIALIS • ANGLIB • ORDINIS • FRATRV 

 PREDICATORVM • 



See Oliver (Mon : Additional Supplement, p. 8). 



