medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thomas Izbicki <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In the facsimile of Innocent III I use in class the cardinals have a
cross before their name & a form of Signum after. All examples of each
look different from one another.
yes, i seem to remember this, in the very few (12th c.) bulls i've seen.
my thought is that, for more ordinary charters, where the "Signum" form was
used, there might have been something of a practical, logistical impediment to
the principle folks not actually making their own Signaes --it would involve
each of them seating him/herself down at the scribe's desk, taking the pen in
[a preferably clean] hand, and doing the deed, perhaps spoiling the whole work
with a sloppy smudge or inkdrop.
my memory is just too damned vague on this --i know that i've seen lists of
"S"s, all the same and clearly not autographs.
but those might have only been on copies --even contemporary copies-- which,
as i said, would not normally be autographed in any event.
a case in point is the charter which i can't get out of my mind is a large,
formal one in which the Count of Chartres (Stephen-Henry) grants Bishop Ivo
the "liberty" of his (new, stone) Bishop's house, freeing it from the "malas
consuetudines" of complete and utter pillage by the count's men on the death
of the bishop.
several copies of this exist, at least one of which is clearly contemporary
(c.1100), a large, well executed, elegant charter, but without any sign of
sealing.
there is a very large witness list and, perhaps, a seperate "Signum" list,
which includes the count and his family.
my memory is that those "S"s are all of a piece with the rest of the charter,
not autographs.
but, perhaps on the original they were...
c
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