Exchanging Medieval Material Culture Studies on archaeology and ...

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8
3.6 Diest
A few medieval seals are known from this town. It seems possible
that textiles referred to in contemporary trade records (in
England at least) as coming from the nearby major city of
Louvain (Leuven)26, were actually woven in the former and
passed through the latter en route:
shield with two fesses (arms of the town) // bearded man’s
head
At least seven have been found in London27. A probable example
recorded in the 19th century from Meols (Cheshire, northwest
England, fi g. 1: 5) is now lost28. A later example with
the town name around the arms has been excavated at
’s Hertogenbosch29 (fi g. 1: 6).
26 Munroe 1983, 33; 1983, 130-131; Van der Wee &
Van Mingroot 1983, 131-132
4
2 3
6 7
5
27 e.g. tex88 , UPM05 (context
dating late 14th-century), 88.427/10, 91.205/18.
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<strong>Medieval</strong> and later trade in textiles between Belgium and England 57
Fig. 1 Basic stamps and seals:
1: arms of Antwerp; 2-3: basic stamps
of Bruges seals (from Egan 2001a,
drawings by N. Griffi ths); 4: arms of
Courtrai; 5: Diest seal with head stamp
(from Hume 1863); 6: Diest seal with
arms, from ’s-Hertogenbosch;
7-8: Flanders seals from London;
9: Flanders seal from Hull
(from Watkin 1987). Scale 1:1
(2-3, 6); scale approx. 3:2 (5, 7-9).
3.7 Flanders
Several seals from this important region of early woollen
manufacture, with a plumed close helmet and a Flemish lion,
are apparently from the late 13th/14th century, and possibly
into the 15th (fi g. 1: 7-9). Th ese early issue have small fl ans
(diameters c. 15 mm), two rivets and no connecting strip. Th e
legends are in lombardic lettering (no completely registered
example has yet been recorded):
lion rampant (usually alone but sometimes in a shield),
sigillv (flanden)… around // close helmet with plumes
(usually three), +(?fl)anden… around
28 Hume 1863, pl. 13.21; Egan 2002, 270;
Idem 2007, 174 no. 2203 pl. 34.
29 Hans Janssen pers. comm.