Landed Power

The Monarch's Great Seal (obverse)

Reference: R/IC1/5

The most powerful figure in medieval England – besides the Pope – was the King.

Every monarch since Edward the Confessor has had a Great Seal. They usually take a similar form: the obverse shows the head of state enthroned in majesty, while the reverse shows the King dressed for battle, riding a horse over a mound that is home to rabbits. The seal is round, as were most secular seals.

This particular Great Seal is that of Henry VII, and it is tied to the King’s charter of 1487 reaffirming rights to the town of Reading. Henry is styled by the seal as King of England and France and Lord of Ireland.

Thomas Holland

Reference: D/EN/F1

This handsome seal shows the heraldic arms of the Holland family, with a shield of three lions passant guardant – walking, with their right paws raised – leaning against a young deer which looks behind its head.

The seal is tagged to a marriage settlement for Thomas’s daughter Elizabeth, who wed Sir John Neville, son of the Earl of Westmoreland, in 1394. The settlement is part of the Neville papers.

Thomas Holland was a half-brother of Richard II, and stepson of Edward the Black Prince.

Seal of Cardinal Henry Beaufont, Bishop of Winchester

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of Lord William Lovell

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of Sir John Lisle

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of George Lisle

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of Thomas Bullok

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of Thomas Litterford

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Seal of Robert Bullok

Reference: D/EZ77/2/3

Any number of parties or witnesses may be required to add their seals to a document. This particular example includes nine.

The most notable of these nine seals is that belonging to Thomas Bullok. His shows an example of ‘canting’ arms – those derived from the family surname. Three bullocks’ heads form the centrepiece of the obverse.

The document instructs the lawyers of the nine parties to grant possession of the manor of Chamberhouse in Thatcham to John of Pusey and his wife Isabella. It is dated 27 October 1442.

The nine seals are:

1 Cardinal Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester

2 Cardinal John Kempe, Archbishop of York

3 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk

4 Lord William Lovell

5 Sir John Lisle

6 George Lisle

7 Thomas Bullok

8 Thomas Litterford

9 Robert Bullok

Idonia de Camville (reverse)

Reference: Q/1/T13/6

Idonia was the widow of William Longspee. They married in 1226 and had four children. As a woman, her seal was oval like the church seals, rather than circular like the secular men.

After William’s death Idonia reverted to her maiden name. The gift of land in Ardington to which her seal is attached and related to the deed with her husband’s seal – can be dated to 1250-1252, when Idonia died.

On the obverse, her seal depicts an elegant lady, standing with her right hand placed upon her breast. In her outstretched left hand is a bird. On either side are Idonia’s heraldic arms, incorporating her own and those of her late husband’s. The reverse of the seal shows a single lion.

There are no other known examples of this seal.

Idonia de Camville (obverse)

Reference: Q/1/T13/6

Idonia was the widow of William Longspee. They married in 1226 and had four children. As a woman, her seal was oval like the church seals, rather than circular like the secular men.

After William’s death Idonia reverted to her maiden name. The gift of land in Ardington to which her seal is attached and related to the deed with her husband’s seal – can be dated to 1250-1252, when Idonia died.

On the obverse, her seal depicts an elegant lady, standing with her right hand placed upon her breast. In her outstretched left hand is a bird. On either side are Idonia’s heraldic arms, incorporating her own and those of her late husband’s. The reverse of the seal shows a single lion.

There are no other known examples of this seal.

John de St Valery

Reference: D/EBP/T8/2/42

The St. Valery name became corrupted into the ‘Waldrist’ in Hinton Waldrist: the Berkshire parish where the family lived since the early 12th century.

John de St. Valery made a grant of a right of way to Sir Henry Pusey between 1258-1260 to which he attached his seal which shows a griffin.

John de Throkensesforde

Reference: D/ESA/T6/4

This heraldic seal is attached to a gift of land in Woolhampton. It is dated 1345.

John Golafre

Reference: D/QI/T16

John Golafre lived at Fyfield Manor and was a courtier to Richard II; after the Battle of Agincourt he helped Henry V govern occupied France north of the Loire. He died in 1442, and is remembered by a remarkable monument in Fyfield church showing him in life and death.

His seal shows the head of a cockatrice – the legendary serpent hatched from a cock’s egg. This seal is also surrounded by rush.

Sir William Rows or Rous

Reference: D/QI/T5/1

Sir William lived in East Chalfield, Wiltshire. His heraldic seal is attached to a gift made to John Grenyng of the manor of Goldhill in East Garston, 1433.

Sir William Longspee

Reference: D/QI/T13/11

This deed is one of a number from the Longspee family that have survived within the archive of the John Isbury Charity, Lambourn.

Longspee was born in 1212, the eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Salisbury. He made a number of pilgrimages to Palestine before commanding the English forces in the Seventh Crusade, 1249. he was killed in battle in Egypt and buried in the Crusaders’ church of St. Cross in Acre, modern-day Israel.

This deed – a grant of land in Ardington – was made between 1238-1249. Longspee’s seal is heraldic, with the obverse showing the lions that his wife Idonia incorporated into her seal. The reverse shows the long sword of the family name.

The seal was originally split into two halves at some point in the past and has since been repaired.

Sir William Longspee

Reference: D/QI/T13/11

This deed is one of a number from the Longspee family that have survived within the archive of the John Isbury Charity, Lambourn.

Longspee was born in 1212, the eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Salisbury. He made a number of pilgrimages to Palestine before commanding the English forces in the Seventh Crusade, 1249. he was killed in battle in Egypt and buried in the Crusaders’ church of St. Cross in Acre, modern-day Israel.

This deed – a grant of land in Ardington – was made between 1238-1249. Longspee’s seal is heraldic, with the obverse showing the lions that his wife Idonia incorporated into her seal. The reverse shows the long sword of the family name.

The seal was originally split into two halves at some point in the past and has since been repaired.