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but one nation and that for a few years only. The change from the Gregorian order was designedly radical because the revolutionists desired to obliterate all connection with the past. They provided an astronomical basis of twelve months of thirty days each, with days of ten hours of one hundred minutes, but the nomenclature was a mixture of classic, realistic, and revolutionary terms so absurd that it . could not last. It took effect from the twentysecond of September, 1792, as the beginning of the Year I of the Republic, and remained in force until abolished by Napoleon I. The Gregorian calendar resumed its place by law on January 1, 1806. During this period French public documents bear the official dates, but the system met with great popular neglect, to say the least, as it was difficult to change old habits, and France was singular in the midst of a Gregorian Europe. In converting the dates of French documents into common usage there are but two methods of procedure, either commit the calendar to memory, or keep a comparative table constantly at hand.

Mediæval
Seals.

CHAPTER VII

THE SEAL OF THE DOCUMENT

DURING more than a thousand years of mediæval and modern history there is likely to be found in the final protocol of legal and official documents an emblem known as the seal. The use of such devices goes back into a still remoter antiquity. Egypt and Babylonia from their ruins deliver up for study not only the marks of seals but the instruments themselves. The Romans used a seal when they desired to protect the contents of a message, and so one may find precedent enough for the employment of these signs, but the study of the seal is of interest to the historian chiefly for the middle ages and modern times.

The earliest extant documents containing seals date from the Merovingian period. The seal itself may not have survived, but the mention of its presence or the marks on the parchment show that it was affixed. Just when the practice began may not be determined, but the history of its later progress has been carefully followed by the authorities on diplomatics. As kings became less able to write and the monogram grew in intricacy and extent of use, the seal increased in esteem. Even while the signature was present the emblem gained the precedence to such an extent that in the Caro

lingian period the seal rather than the sign manual was decisive for the validity of the act. In the thirteenth century the seal itself is spoken of as the "chirographum," showing the conception of its value, as if it were the signature itself. Cases might be cited where the signature is not called for, the names of the parties being evident only in the protocol or text of the documents.1

The materials used for the seals have been metal Materials of Seals. or wax down to recent times when the impression of the die began to be made directly upon the paper.

1 Ut autem haec rata et indivulsa permaneat, sigilli nostri impressione firmavimus. Basel, Urkundenbuch, I, No. 26, Anno 1155.

Ut autem perpetue firmitatis yobur obtineat, eam nostro capitulique nostri sigillis confirmamus. Basel, Urkundenbuch, I, No. 126, Anno 1233.

The first of the documents was issued by Adelbero, Bishop of Basel, and the second by Bishop Heinrich and the Cathedral Chapter more than a century later. In both of them the lettering on the seals exhibits clearly to whom they belonged, and the examples occur alongside of others where signatures are also used. The evidence of the superior weight of the seal is clear for a long time afterward, as may be seen from citations which follow:

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Agreement between the cities of Basel, Freiburg and Breisach in 1349. . . . das dis stête und feste belibe, so hant wir die vorgenanten stête von Strasburg, von Basel und von Brisach unserre stetten ingesigel an disen brief gehenket." Basel, Urkundenbuch, IV, No. 183.

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Anno 1461. Sworn report of an official of Basel as to military expenditures. "Und des zu urkund habend wir der official obgenant unsern hoffs ingesigelt offennlich tun hencken an disen brieff, Basel, Urkundenbuch, VIII, No. 147. Anno 1481. The mayor and city council of Basel appoint a superintendent of public works in a document fortified by a seal without signatures. "Und dz wir meister Hannsen in vorbegriffen form zu unnserem werckmeister uffgenomen, des zu urkund habenn wir unnser stet secret insigel offenlich tun hencken an disen brieff, Basel, Urkundenbuch, VIII,

No. 615.

Attachment of
Seals.

Papal documents from the middle ages onward have been confirmed with lead seals, and from these "bullæ" the name "bull" has become as firmly attached to such a paper as the seal itself. Lead was used fitfully in Western Europe, but for the most part beeswax was the material employed. Sealing wax of the resinous character used now was invented in the sixteenth century, about which time wafers also appeared. Gold seals originated in the eastern empire and appeared in the west of Europe with the Carolingians. This metal continued in use for highly important documents down to the Emperor Maximilian. The seals consisted of thin plates of gold struck separately for each side and soldered together, or slipped into one another like a pill-box. A protecting box of wood was commonly provided for seals of gold, as was the case also when wax seals became massive in later times. The wax used at first was pure beeswax, but later this was mixed with cheaper materials, like pitch, flour, linseed oil, and turpentine, while colors of various kinds were added. Color was sometimes a matter of privilege. In the fifteenth century red wax was permitted to favored persons by royal grant. Up to that time red had been retained exclusively for royal or imperial seals.

In the earlier period the seal was attached directly to the parchment by its own adhesive qualities. Later this was made more secure by cutting a hole in the document so that the wax could stick to both sides. This was particularly effective when slits were cut in the form of a cross and the flaps turned back so as to become embedded in the wax.

As time

went on, however, the seals became larger and the folding of the document caused damage both to the seal and to the parchment. Furthermore, when numerous witnesses were expected to have their seals present the space was insufficient. Consequently there began the practice of attaching the seal by

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Seal of Count Hartmann the Elder of Kyburg, 1241. (Ganz.)

strips of parchment or cords, which would be threaded through the document and embedded in the wax.

At first sight it might seem to be a matter of indifference whether a seal was fixed upon or attached to a document. From a legal point of view no impor

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