224 



On the Seals of the Bishops of Salisbury. 



be simply the seal of dignity without a legend. The pre- Reforma- 

 tion seals of Salisbury, which are our special subject, fall naturally 

 into three classes, roughly corresponding to the three centuries with 

 their three main orders of architecture, the thirteenth, fourteenth, 

 and fifteenth. Of twelfth century seals we have indeed three ex- 

 amples, which in character differ little from those of the thirteenth 

 century. The first two classes are distinguished from the third by 

 representing as the predominant figure a full-length portrait of a 

 Bishop. Mr. Hope, indeed, classes together all the seals up to 1375, 

 with subordinate divisions, but for our purpose it is better to dis- 

 criminate them as follows (I.) from 1142—1289; (II ) 1291— 

 1330 ; (III.) 1375—1521 



Class I. The seals of dignity known to me up to 1289 are nine 

 in number, out of a total of fifteen viz. : — 



4. 1 Joceline, 1142 — 1184, with legend [ Iocelinu]s del gra 



5. Hubert Walter, 1189 — 95, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. 



6. * Herbert Poor, 1194 — 1217, previously Archdeacon of Canterbury. 



7. * Richard Poor, 1217—1228, his brother, founder of the Cathedral of New 



Sarum, and one of the most famous Bishops of Durham. 



8. Robert de Bingham, 1228—1246, founder of the Hospital of St, Nicholas. 



9. Wm. of York, 1247—1256, Provost of Beverley and Chaplain to Henry III. 



11. * Walter de la Wyle, 1263—1271, founder of St. Edmund's College. 



12. Robert de Wykehampton, 1274—1284, and 

 15-* William de la Corner, 1289—1291, 



the last is the first in my series in which a shield of arms appears, 

 and the first with a canopy over the Bishop's head. The seals of 

 this class represent a Bishop in full face, 8 with a mitre on his head, 

 with the peak in the centre, 8 in the act of blessing with the right 



1 See Dodsworth's Salisbury, p. 190. The numbers before each name are 

 those of the order of succession since the Norman Conquest, oounting Herman as 

 No. 1. 



2 Some of the Scottish seals have rather beautiful designs of a three-quarter 

 face, showing a somewhat greater artistic power, but these are apparently very 

 rare in England. Richard of Bury, Bishop of Durham (A.D. 1333), is an ex- 

 ception. His beautiful seal, which has an effigy with a three-quarter face, is 

 figured in a slight artiole on seals in the new edition of the Encyclopedia 

 Britannica, vol. xxi. 



3 Up to about 1153 the mitre seems to have generally been worn with the two 

 horns showing in front. Then it was gradually turned round. 



