Seal impression (cast)

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This is a 19th century sulphur cast of a seal impression. The impression was made from the seal of the Chapter of Melrose Abbey in Roxburghshire, dating from 1422.

The seal depicts the Virgin and Child in a niche. To either side just below her are half-length figures of St Peter and St Paul. Below is an abbot with his crozier, kneeling in adoration. The inscription 'S.COMUNE : CAPITULI : MONASTERII DE MELROS' identifies the chapter. The gold border is modern cardboard trim.

Melrose Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks from Rievaulx in Yorkshire in 1136, dedicated to the Virgin. It became one of the richest abbeys in Scotland. Robert the Bruce (d. 1329) ordered that his heart be buried in the abbey.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-180-001-779-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland Part 2
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  K.1999.1374
• Date: Date of cast: 19th century; Date of seal: 1422
  
• Material: Sulphur; brown. Inscription: S.COMUNE : CAPITULI : MONASTERII DE MELROS
  Seal / cast
  
• Dimensions: 71 mm L x 49 mm W
  
• What: Seal / cast
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Roxburghshire, Melrose
  
• Event:
• Description: Brown sulphur cast of the seal of the Chapter of Melrose Abbey, 1422
  
• References:
  • Stevenson and Wood, i, p. 193, no 190 
  • Stevenson, J.H. and Wood, M. Scottish Heraldic Seals - Royal, Official, Ecclesiastical, Collegiate, Burghal, Personal, vol i. Glasgow, 1940, p 193, no 190. 
• Translations:
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