Module Information

Seals are an important but often neglected source for social, cultural, political, religious, administrative and local history. They are inherently inter-disciplinary, displaying a wide array of images and providing crucial evidence for ideas of status, identity, fashion and technology. Although reference will be made to their long and varied history, the focus will be on seals in Britain from the 11th - 15th centuries. This module will introduce students to seals as a historical source and equip them with the basic tools for further investigation. The cross-disciplinary nature of the material means that, while focusing on seals, students will acquire much broader skills in accessing and interpreting non-documentary sources, and in contextualizing different types of material.

In the most ordinary sense, seals were used in the middle ages in order to authenticate documents and provide evidence to the carrying out of some act, their presence a mark of security and proof. Beyond this rather bland but still significant definition however lurks a source-type which throws open all sorts of opportunities for the medieval historian, offering insights into a range of themes, all of which are in different ways enlivened by the study of seals. These include consideration of the choice individuals made in their seal designs and the information this might offer us to a range of attitudes and beliefs. The module will build upon the unique resources provided by the AHRC-funded, ‘Seals in Medieval Wales’ project.