228 



On the Seals of the Bishops of Salisbury. 



It may be noted also that (11*) Walter de la Wyle (1263) stands 

 on a base on which is figured a Church. This, doubtless, refers to 

 the completion of the Cathedral during the time that he was canon, 

 it having been consecrated by his predecessor, Giles de Bridport, in 

 1257. The counterseal for the same reason represents the Virgin 

 with the child in her arms, seated upon a Church. The attitude is 

 very like that of the fourteenth century seal of the chapter of 

 Lichfield, which Dr. Cox rightly describes as "unusual but engaging." 

 {Catalogue of the Muniments of Lichfield, fyc, p. xiv., 1881-6). 



The counterseals of this period are, as is generally the case, 

 although smaller, more beautiful than the seals themselves. They 

 frequently represent the Blessed Virgin, usually without crown or 

 sceptre, and with some kind of graceful head-dress, with the child 

 Jesus in her arms, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes 

 in a whole-length, but more often in a half-length figure. Below, 

 under an arch, or canopy, is the half-length figure of a Bishop in an 

 attitude of prayer. The legend is generally Ave Maria gratia (or 

 gracia) plena (sit ? in one case) dominus tecum. Sometimes it is a 

 hexameter line, which may or may not refer to the Bishop whose 

 seal it is, e.g.j No. 6* (Bishop Herbert Poor) has 



Nate regas mecum cuius signum rego tecum. 

 The Blessed Virgin has a head-dress, from which seems to rise a 

 crown, and her right hand holds a sceptre ending in afleur-de-lys. 

 There is no figure of a Bishop below. — No. 8* (De Bingham) has 

 the legend, 



Salve s (an) c (I) a parens enixa puerp (er) a regem 

 " Hail, Holy Mother, whose pangs have born thy King." 

 The exceptions to this general representation are four, attached 

 to Nos. 4, 5, 7, and 15, and which are all of interest : — 

 (4) Bishop Joceline's a small gem representing a shepherd (?) leaning 

 on his staff between a tree and a sheep and the legend + munio 

 sigillum; — (5) Bishop Hubert "Walter's, whose couuterseal is very 

 like his seal, only on a smaller scale; — (7*) Ri. Poor's, which has 

 a beautiful group of the Annunciation, both figures standing. On 

 his counterseal as Bishop of Durham (1228) we see the B.V.M. 



