Richard I used a variety of seals – a personal seal, two great seals, and at least one Exchequer seal.1 Their stories involve mystery, forgery, a drowning at sea, religious iconography, heraldic innovation and controversy, a Roman god, a loss for over eight centuries, kidnap and ransom, and, as with so much to do with the Lionheart, financial extortion. Contemporary chroniclers and modern-day historians have all pondered over the reasons behind the adoption, design, ownership, and vicissitudes of Richard’s seals – usually to little agreement. This paper revisits Richard’s change of first great seal providing a more definite date for his second great seal, and highlights a newly discovered seal belonging to his beleaguered home government.
Richard must have used a private seal or signet to close and validate his private correspondence. We know that shortly before he became king he sent out over 200 letters in one night. It is highly unlikely that he issued all these under his large equestrian seal as duke of Aquitaine.2 Both his brothers, Henry the Young King, and John as lord of Ireland and count of Mortain, used a signet or ‘secret’ seal. According to the contemporary author Gerald of Wales, Richard’s father, Henry II, when dying gave Richard’s illegitimate half-bother, Geoffrey, his best gold ring which he valued highly and which depicted a panther; this may well have been the old king’s signet.3 As for Richard, a gold and glass gem intaglio now in the British Museum may have been his private seal. The Classical gem dates to about AD 400 and depicts the figure of Mercury. It is surrounded by the legend ‘S’ for SIGILLUM, followed by the name ‘RICHARD’, and then a word beginning with the letters ‘RE…’ perhaps for ‘REX’ or ‘REG’, and finally an abbreviated word beginning with the letter ‘P….’ possibly for ‘PRIVATUM’. Unfortunately, the legend has been systematically defaced, and we cannot be sure of the provenance and ownership of this charming object.4
We can be certain that Richard used in turn two great seals as king; the first from early September 1189 to at least early January (possibly April) 1198, and the second from mid-May 1198 at the latest to his death on 6 April 1199.5 Controversy has surrounded the heraldry of the first and the date of the second. The heraldry of the first great seal is noteworthy since it provides the first direct evidence of the design of arms borne by a king of England. Richard is portrayed on the reverse riding to the right (Fig. 7.1). He brandishes a sword and carries a large shield with central boss. The problem here is that his shield is shown in strict profile with a single lion rampant squeezed into the visible half and facing to the right, that is towards the centre of the shield. Since the lion is shown whole, it was for many years thought that there must be a second similar lion on the hidden side likewise facing towards the centre, thus producing the heraldic arms, two lions facing each other or ‘combatant’ (Fig. 7.2). This would also explain why the visible lion is facing to the viewer’s right (sinister for the shield bearer) whereas lions in heraldry normally face to the left (dexter).