Great Seal Research Articles

Preliminary Notes on the Mahāmudrātilaka: Contents, History, Transmission

This short essay is an introduction to the study of the Mahāmudrātilaka (‘An Ornament of the Great Seal’), an important Buddhist tantric scripture of the Hevajra cycle. The text is a so-called uttaratantra (ancillary scripture) of the Hevajratantra. This cult emerged around ca. 900 CE in Eastern India and quickly rose to a position of prominence. In order to illustrate this point, first I discuss some historical references to the Hevajra cult: a lexicographical work, inscriptions, and testimony in Śaiva exegesis. I then contextualise the Mahāmudrātilaka among the Hevajra ancillary scriptures and share some notes on the purpose of such texts. I argue that such scriptures were meant to update a cult’s ritual and doctrinal palette in order to keep up with developments seen (and thought desirable to have) in rival schools. In the next section, I present the only known Sanskrit manuscript of the Mahāmudrātilaka, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung Hs. or. 8711, a late Nepalese copy dated 1827 CE, which can be shown to be a copy of a Vorlage dating to 1204 CE. Next, I compare the text transmitted therein to the Tibetan translation, Tōh. 420, and identify them as two recensions. I then proceed to discussing exegesis on the Mahāmudrātilaka, the works of *Gambhīravajra and *Prajñāśrīgupta; these texts are for now available only in their Tibetan translation. I also identify some testimonia of the Mahāmudrātilaka. Using all this evidence, I argue that the text cannot be much earlier than the late 11th century. Next, I present an overview of the text by means of examining selected passages and their most significant features, with special focus on the differences and similarities with the Hevajratantra, the internal references to other scriptures, and the text’s significant parallels with the Vajramālābhidhāna. I argue that the text is unapologetically antinomian and gnostic. In the second half of the paper, styled as an appendix, I select five blocks of verses, which I edit and translate: the first deals with the relationship between initiating master and disciple, the second provides some insights into the attitudes of tantric practitioners towards orthodox Buddhists, the third contains detailed instructions on how to gather the antinomian substances known as ‘nectars’, the fourth deals with communal worship in a rite known as the gaṇacakra, and the final one describes a somewhat rare and rather gruesome ritual meant to bestow the power of flight.

"The Seal of King Solomon": astrological bookishness of the Old Believers-Popovites of the XIX century.

The subject of this article is the Old Believer astrological literature, which had previously been practically not studied. For the first time, the article analyzes the previously unexplored book monument "Seal of King Solomon". The author aims to analyze the structure of this book. To achieve this goal, the author solves a number of tasks. First, the author establishes the chronological framework in which the text could have been created, establishes the religious beliefs of the author of the "Seal ...", the reasons for its printing. Secondly, the attitude towards astrology in the Orthodox environment is analyzed. Thirdly, the author identifies the structural components of the text, the parts of which it consists. Fourth, the author of the article seeks to identify texts that were fully or partially included in the "Print ...". To achieve this goal, the author used both general scientific and private scientific methods, including: genetic, hermeneutical, content analysis. Mathematical methods were also used. In the course of studying this text, the author comes to the conclusion that the "Seal ..." was drawn up no earlier than 1862 by an Old Believer. During the analysis, it was concluded that the book consists mainly of a compilation of various sources, including Byzantine and Ancient Russian origin. The uniqueness of this monument lies in the fact that, from the point of view of the development of fortune-telling literature, this work was not relevant at the time of compilation. The Old Believer origin of this monument also makes it unique, since it was not previously known about the astrology of the Old Believers. It was concluded that the "Seal ..." consists of six independent parts. The first part literally borrows the text of "The Legend of King Solomon, what is the great seal and where and how it came to him." The second is represented by a separate part of the "Gromnik". The third focused on a single source, including the writings of Kirik Novgorodsky, Palea Tolstoy, seven thousand books and a certain moral text. The fourth part is the result of a creative attempt to combine events of various meanings under a single denominator "all creatures of renewal". The fifth part includes the "Moonlight". The sixth or final part is textually closest to the first.

(275) More Than a Nick: Male Surgical Castration Throughout History

Abstract Introduction Surgical castration has been present throughout human history, dating back at least earlier than 1000 BC. Eunuchs, or men who have been castrated, served as royal guards, government officials and choir singers among other professions. Objective We sought to review the early surgical castration techniques of historical Eurasia. Methods Literature review for male surgical castration techniques was performed using Pubmed and Google Scholar. Results The Ottoman Empire first started enlisted eunuchs as palace servants in Constantinople as early as 500 AD. By the 16th century, the Ottomans had institutionalized eunuchs as the harem guards. Castration was routinely performed by priests. After restraining the child in a chair, a cord was tied around both the penis and scrotum, and the genitals were excised en bloc with a razor. Hemostasis was achieved with boiling oil and wax or hot sand followed by acacia bark extract. Mortality was as high as one in three patients. Following castration, a nail was placed in the urethra to prevent urethral stricture formation. Within China castration has occurred throughout history, however the procedure was described in greatest detail during the 19th century Qing dynasty. The patient was physically restrained, and the genitalia anesthetized with a “secret agent,” known only to the surgeon, colloquially called “knifers.” The surgeon would firmly grasp both the penis and scrotum with one hand, hovering a curved knife in opposite hand. The surgeon would then ask for consent to proceed. The genitalia were removed with one cut. The wound was washed thrice with boiled pepper solution and covered with moistened paper. A pewter urethral plug was placed to prevent stricture formation. The patient was disallowed hydration and his urethra remained obstructed for three days post-operatively. On the fourth day the plug was removed, and the patient was allowed to void. Mortality was dubiously estimated at 2%. The Skoptsky were a Christian religious sect of Eunuchs within 18th century Russia. As the practice was rooted in religion the majority of Skoptsky men volunteered for castration. Men were encouraged to accept the “greater seal,” i.e. removal of penis, scrotum and testicles, rather than the “lesser seal,” i.e. sparing the penis. The genitalia were variously removed with a combination of hot iron rods, glass, razors, and knives. Again, a nail was placed in the urethra to prevent stricture. In 16th to 18th century Italy the famed Castrati Singers underwent prepubertal castration to preventing lengthening of the thyroid cartilage. The singers were highly desired in choirs and operas for their high pitch. Castration typically occurred between ages 6 and 9. Patients were placed in a hot bath and provided a “potent drink,” often containing opium. The carotid arteries were compressed until the patient became lethargic, and the spermatic cords were then severed. Conclusions Surgical castration was performed for a variety of reasons throughout human history. The techniques, anesthesia, and tools used to perform castration reflected resources and education available to the surgeon at time of castration. Disclosure No.

Chinese plates fit for an Acehnese queen

ABSTRACT All over Southeast Asia is found a particular type of coarse Chinese export porcelain traditionally known as ‘Swatow’ ware but now more accurately identified as originating from Zhangzhou, dating from the late Ming period, from the end of the 16th to the early 17th centuries. One characteristic type of large Zhangzhou dish had a central circle with eight smaller circles around it, all filled with inscriptions in Arabic script. The marked visual similarity with the great seal of Aceh, which over a period of 250 years always gave the name of the sovereign in a central circle surrounded by eight small circles containing the names of illustrious forebears, gave rise to the tradition that these Zhangzhou calligraphic plates were specially ordered from China by the rulers of Aceh in the shape of their seal. A close chronological examination belies this widely held belief, as the Zhangzhou plates were largely produced before the Acehnese ‘ninefold seal’ was created in the mid 17th century, most likely in the reign of Sultanah Tajul Alam Safiatuddin Syah (r.1641–1675). Indeed, conversely, the presence of these prestigious and striking Chinese plates in Aceh may even have contributed to the rich visual repertoire of significant ninefold forms from which the royal Acehnese seal was born.

A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry by Mark A. Tabbert

Reviewed by: A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry by Mark A. Tabbert Andrew M. Schocket A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry. By Mark A. Tabbert. (Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2022. Pp. xxviii, 271. $34.95, ISBN 978-0-8139-4721-1.) Mark A. Tabbert, the author and compiler of this volume, and longtime George Washington scholar Edward G. Lengel, who contributed its introduction, define eighteenth-century Freemasonry and George Washington’s engagement with it as much by what they were not as by what they were. In this respect, while swatting the swirling popular myths concerning its subject, A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry falls squarely within mainstream scholarship. Freemasonry emerged from artisanal guild rites in seventeenth-century Scotland, which shaped its terminology and iconography. But by the 1800s, the organization was no longer particularly [End Page 344] Scottish, and it appealed to members of the gentry rather than to craftsmen. Freemasonry did entail a few secret rituals, and a pamphlet or two appeared during the 1700s warning of masonic conspiracy. But despite the fervid imaginings of more recent novels and movies, including the National Treasure film franchise, Freemasonry operated more as a benign, fairly passive, and loose network of men’s social clubs. Freemasonry was aligned with a vaguely non-sectarian Christianity but did not promote deism. Notwithstanding the bizarre Anti-Masonic conspiracy theories of the 1820s and 1830s, Freemasonry seems not to have taken up much mental bandwidth among Revolutionary-era Americans. Similarly, while George Washington was an early member of a masonic lodge in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he was probably not among its founders. He reached the highest of the society’s three levels—“Master Mason”—but never led a chapter (p. 4). Though he supported the establishment of masonic lodges in the Continental army, Washington did not join one, nor did he join—or, it seems, attend—the many lodges across the new nation that invited him. He was neither officially asked to head a national association of freemasons, nor did he decline such an office. Washington appeared to value his Freemasonry brotherhood, but no evidence indicates that he gave fellow masons a leg up when considering appointments or promotions. He included freemasons in the ceremonial laying of the Capitol’s cornerstone, but he did not push for masonic imagery to be included in the Great Seal of the United States and other official insignia. Echoing this analysis, Tabbert describes this handsomely published book, which includes dozens of glossy, full-color photographs of images and artifacts, as much by what it is not as by what it is. Unfolding in five chronologically arranged chapters corresponding with stages of Washington’s life and a fascinating epilogue on freemasons’ commemoration of Washington to the present, A Deserving Brother makes no explicit attempt to biographize. Instead, Tabbert aims to “present all known physical evidence” associated with Washington’s Freemasonry (p. xviii). Each chapter begins with a succinct, clear narrative covering Freemasonry and Washington’s involvement during the period under examination. With considerable authority (Tabbert has long served as the George Washington Masonic National Memorial’s director of archives and exhibits), the volume claims to include the transcribed text of every written source and the image of every artifact that has a strong provenance directly associating Washington with Freemasonry. Most of these are lightly contextualized, usually with enough explanation for readers to understand the logic of the sources, but not extending to broader analysis of their meanings for Washington, Freemasonry, or eighteenth-century Anglo-American society. A Deserving Brother is not an edited papers project along the lines of the many heavily footnoted volumes presenting the archives of prominent early Americans. That is not to say that this book should be ignored by scholars. For historians considering Washington’s life, Freemasonry, the history of voluntary associations, or the material culture of the memory of the Founders, there is much here of potential research value, surprise, and occasional delight. [End Page 345] Andrew M. Schocket Bowling Green State University Copyright © 2023 Southern Historical Association

Sigismund Augustus’ Tapestries at the Residence of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland in the Lower Castle Palace in Vilnius


 
 
 This article presents an analysis of the stages and specifics encountered during scholarly research on the chosen theme, stating that separate stages in the research were determined according to different aims, research methods, and approaches. The research was conducted under circumstances characterised by a lack of sources and the fragmented nature of the information, which meant that as the research went on for 150 years, scholars generally relied on a solitary known source: the panegyric by Stanisław Orzechowski written on the occasion of the wedding of Sigismund Augustus, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, and Catherine Habsburg at Wawel Royal Castle in 1553, in which he described the tapestries used to decorate the palace for the event. As a subsequence of this, for the rest of the mentioned period, no reference was made in scientific publications to the connection between Sigismund Augustus’ tapestries and Vilnius or to the Vilnius Lower Castle, which had been the ruler’s most important residence for a long time. In this article, based on sources and the most recently discovered artefacts, evidence is provided that Sigismund Augustus began collecting tapestries whilst he was still only the grand duke of Lithuania and that his earliest commissions were made in Vilnius. This is irrefutably evident from a document dated 14 January 1547 in Sigismund Augustus’ accounts for the period of 1546–1548, recorded by the young ruler’s treasurer Jan Lutomirski at the Vilnius palace. There is no doubt that the ‘pictures’ – Creation of the World and The Story of Noah – mentioned among the expenses were the first sketches for the upcoming series of biblical textiles created by Michiel Coxcie. Nonetheless, the most important evidence is the heraldic tapestry acquired by the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in 2009. Woven before 1548, it features the combined coat of arms of Sigismund Augustus, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, with the great crown of the Lithuanian grand duke above it. The same combined coat of arms of Sigismund Augustus was minted on Lithuanian coins during his reign and was also used on the great seal of the state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
 In summary, it can be stated that Sigismund Augustus owned tapestry series in Vilnius from as early as 1543. This was where the famous series The Story of the First Fathers and The Story of Noah were commissioned. The Lithuanian court treasury accounts attest that between 1545 and 1561, tapestries were often displayed at the Vilnius palace, the main residence in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and were taken with the ruler when he travelled to his other residences in Trakai, Rūdninkai, Skierniewice, or Rawa.
 
 

ТИТУЛЬНАЯ ГЕРАЛЬДИКА МОСКОВСКОГО ЦАРСТВА И ЗАПАДНОЕВРОПЕЙСКАЯ ГЕРАЛЬДИЧЕСКАЯ ТРАДИЦИЯ

The article analyzes the history of the influence of the European heraldic tradition on the titular heraldry of the Moscow Tsardom of the 16th – 17th centuries. There are two stages of such influence with its own characteristic features for each. The first stage was associated with the formation of the first complex of titular coats of arms, which were presented on the Great Seal of Ivan IV, made in the late 1570s. Among the 24 titular coats of arms of the Great Seal, five coats of arms were borrowed from the heraldry of the Baltic States and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They meant those territories that were annexed during the Livonian War or claimed by Ivan IV. Seals and even coins of that time acted as sources of heraldic images. From them images were transferred to the Great Seal without any changes. In other words, it was a direct borrowing of European coats of arms into the heraldry of Russia. The second stage is connected with the creation in 1672 of the tsar’s “Titulyarnik” (Titular Book), the first Russian compilation of coats of arms. Of the 33 coats of arms of the “Titulyarnik”, nine were directly borrowed from European heraldry (mainly from the heraldry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). However, the methods of borrowing were more diverse. In addition to the direct transfer of the armorial figures, the coats of arms were changed, Christian symbols was strengthened in them. On the other hand, coats of arms could be borrowed on the principle of belonging to a certain category of territories. Finally, another way was to borrow either individual armorial figures or heraldic compositions. Such a variety of ways of borrowing clearly testifies to the increased heraldic culture of the Muscovy by the end of the 17th century.

The Great Seal

The Great Seal (also known as “The Thing”) was an ingenious covert eavesdropping device deployed by the Soviets against staff at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. It was devised by the Russian scientist Leon Theremin, who also invented the electronic musical instrument which bears his name (perhaps most familiar in the theme music for the TV program “Star Trek”).

The Seals of Lincoln Cathedral Chapter

The 14th-century audit accounts of the chapter of Lincoln Cathedral record expenditure for the year 1305–06, and contain valuable information about the manufacture of a silver matrix for a ‘great seal’. This short note considers why the chapter might have spent a large sum of money on a seal matrix when they already possessed a common seal, and reveals the rediscovery in 2018 of the original 12th-century silver matrix of the seal of the chapter of Lincoln Cathedral.

The Cylinder Seals of Qareh Tepe in Sagzabad, Iron Age II and III

ABSTRACT During the four seasons of excavation (2015–2019) in the newly-discovered Iron Age II and III eastern cemetery of Qareh Tepe in Sagzabad, 40 cylinder seals were found in the trench 12 in 10 graves. All of these seals have been made from faience. According to the style and composition, they are divided into two distinct types; Local and Neo-Assyrian style. Local style includes abstract animals with long horns, human and animal, undulating ladder-patterned lines, and the oblique square with a diagonal line of the crosshatching. The procession of great bird seals that they have clearly been inspired by the Assyrian type, it can be said that they are probably a local version of an Assyrian type that were made in Iran. Presenting scenes of hunting, Neo-Assyrian style seals also show the expansion of the Assyrian cultural sphere to this region of Iran. Since all of these seals have been found from Qareh Tepe, and many of them have been discovered in women’s graves and some even in the graves of infants, they can be strong evidence of punctuation to administrative use, these seals were used in personal ornament necklaces and had possibly a religious function at the beginning of the Iron Age III.

Review: The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali, by Spencer Dew

Review: <i>The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali</i>, by Spencer Dew

Ladislaus II Jagiełło (1386–1434)

Ladislaus II Jagiełło (1386–1434). Ladislaus II Jagiełło is the founder of the Jagiellonian dynasty that had ruled over Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (until 1572), Bohemia (1471–1526) and Hungary (1440–1444, 1490–1526). A Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1377, and from 1386 a king of Poland and lord of Lithuania, which he ruled jointly with his cousin Witold (Vytautas), the son of Kęstutis. Five medieval portraits of Jagiełło survive, four of which date from the period of his reign in the Polish–Lithuanian state and one was executed posthumously. The earliest image, on Jagiełło’s Great Seal, was made in connection with his coronation as king of Poland (1386). Two portraits in the Holy Trinity Chapel at the Castle of Lublin (1418) are part of a wall paintings scheme commissioned by the monarch and executed by a team of painters brought from Ruthenia. Furthermore, the sumptuous tomb (before 1430) in Cracow was commissioned by the king. Its top slab bears an effigy of Jagiełło with his suggestively rendered countenance, which undoubtedly reflects the actual facial features of the elderly monarch. An image of the king represented as one of the Three Magi in a panel of an altarpiece in the tomb chapel of Casimir IV Jagiellonian, Jagiełło’s son and his successor on the Polish throne, dates from 1470. The chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross, erected at Cracow Cathedral, was in all likelihood commissioned by Casimir himself and his consort Elizabeth of Austria.

ИЗОБРАЖЕНИЯ РЕГАЛИЙ В ТИТУЛЬНОЙ ГЕРАЛЬДИКЕ МОСКОВСКОГО ЦАРСТВА: ИКОНОГРАФИЯ И СЕМАНТИКА

The article analyzes the history of the using the regalia images of regalia in the titular heraldry of the Moscow Kingdom of the 16th – 17th centuries. Titular heraldry is a complex of coats of arms for the territories of which the names were part of the object title of the Russian sovereigns. The total number of titular coats of arms of the Moscow Kingdom is more than thirty. They were first recorded on the Great Seal of Ivan the Terrible in the late 1570s. On this seal, out of 24 titular coats of arms (emblems, “seals”), four had the images of certain regal objects. In two cases, these were the conditional crowns cresting the armorial figures and testifying to the royal status of the designated administrative territories (the Kazan and Astrakhan kingdoms). In two cases, the images of a “place” were used, which meant a seat for the ruler (or an authorized officer). On the Novgorod seal, that place had the steps, which was, apparently, a more archaic version of such a seat on the Tver seal, the “place” looked like a throne. The pastoral staff in the Novgorod “place” and the princely cap in the Tver “place” testified to the local specifics of the management of these most important titular objects in the general context of the power system of Muscovy. Subsequently, the Astrakhan coat of arms had underwent a radical change, and the appearance of the crown began to resemble a royal crown of the Western European type. The same crown instead of a princely hat appeared on the Tver emblem by the end of the 17th century. In the “Titulyarnik” (title reference book) of 1672, two more coats of arms with the images of regalia appeared. In the Siberian coat of arms, the crown again symbolized the royal status of the titular object. In the Vladimir coat of arms, the crown cresting the lion apparently signified the special status of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir among the lands of northern and north-eastern Rus’. In general, the images of the regal objects in the titular coats of arms followed clear patterns, corresponded to the status of the analogous objects, as well as to their historical significance.

Pátraic surnames in the Fiants and Patent Rolls of Ireland Part 1: a method of approach to mega-data, and a Mac Caisín case study

The fiants and patent rolls of Ireland are an extraordinary and largely untapped source of information. This article taps into this valuable source with a focus on interrogating Pátraic-surnames, i.e., Patrick, Fitzpatrick, Kilpatrick, Mac Giolla Phádraig and Ó Maol Phádraig, which document grants, leases, and pardons, etc., issued under the Great Seal of Ireland. The extant records of fiants are for the period 1521-1603, and the patent rolls 1514-1575 and 1603-1633, i.e., much of the reign of Henry VIII of England to the eighth year of Charles I of England. Ireland's fiants and patent rolls provide mega-data on names, places, occupations, relationships, and more, and Pátraic-surname records uncover rich narratives from all over Éire. Yet, there is a tendency for the vastness of the records to overwhelm, so a systematic approach is required to extract the maximum value. This article provides a method for 'eating an elephant', and one key is having a secure temporal frame of reference via which associations, familial and otherwise, can be understood. By way of example, the surname Mac Caisín begins this series of articles on Pátraic surnames in the Fiants and Patent Rolls of Ireland. The choice of Mac Caisín may appear strange at first, since it is not obviously a Pátraic surname. However, this article argues the case study of Mac Caisín provides a clear example of how an interrogation of the fiants, and patents reveal many instances where members of Pátraic families are recorded by other names, such as Mac William, Mac Edmund, Mac Flynn and, maybe, Mac Caisín. Understanding such names in the fiants and patents requires a sound knowledge of context so they can be distinguished as surnames or patronymics. Still, even then, there is evidence that members of Pátraic families sometimes took other surnames due to, for example, fosterage or to 'mask' a clerical lineage. This article seeks to answer questions about the Mac Caisín of Osraí (Ossory), who were unquestionably the close associates of the Fitzpatrick barons of Upper Ossory. Were the Mac Caisín either a lineage from an individual called Caisín (a name meaning curly-haired) Mac Giolla Phádraig, or a line out of fosterage, or of a ‘surname-masked’ clerical lineage; or, was there even any kinship bond?

The Art of Coining Christians: Indians and Authority in the Iconography of British Atlantic Colonial Seals, 1606–1767

AbstractBetween the founding of Jamestown in 1606 and the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War, images of Indigenous men and women rose and fell on the great seals of the British Atlantic colonies. At the peak of this process, “the Indian” was the most persistent seal icon save for that of the arms and image of the monarch himself. This essay traces the sigillary Indian's illustrious career, as evolving imperial structures and legal debates about the nature of empire positioned and repositioned him (and her) in relation to just claims of authority. Early depictions reflected the settler colony concerns of private charter companies, justifying claims to land, not the rule over people. Royal colonies, by contrast, imagined Indians as a form of vassal, essential aids in the procurement of raw materials from the land. By the mid-eighteenth century, however, the image of the Indian had yielded to classical motifs and representations of the land through maps, mirroring the increasing centrality of territoriality to British imperial thought. Taken together, seal images of Indians in the British Atlantic present the rise and fall of a visual paradox: depicting Indigenous people as symbols of authority over white settler colonies.

PICTURING PARLIAMENT: THE GREAT SEAL OF THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Presenting research conducted by the ‘St Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster’ project at the University of York, this article focuses on the Great Seal devised in 1649 and re-issued in 1651 to enable the Commonwealth to function following the execution of Charles i. As a familiar and ancient image of monarchy, the Great Seal posed an obvious challenge to the authority of the Rump Parliament. A radical new design, authorised by parliamentary committee and executed by engraver Thomas Simon, replaced royal iconography with images of popular sovereignty and nationhood: a map of England and Ireland on the obverse of the Seal, and the interior of the House of Commons chamber (formerly St Stephen’s Chapel) on the reverse. The result was a striking evocation of political authority located in the House of Commons and deriving from the English people. Engravings of the Commons chamber, in circulation since the 1620s, are identified as a probable source for Simon’s work. The Great Seal also re-asserted England’s dominion over Ireland and the waters surrounding the British Isles. Overall, this article argues for continuity as well as alteration in the iconography of the Great Seal of England, at a time of revolutionary political change.

Representation of the Livonian clergy in 13th–16th century sigillographic sources

The paper focuses on the investigation of the sigillographic sources — pendant wax seals, that belonged to the representatives of Livonian Bishops and Archbishops of Riga. For the investigation, more than 700 pendant wax seals from the Latvian State Historical Archive’s Fund No. 8 — “Archives of Internal Magistrate of Riga” were analyzed. The paper focuses on the wax seals that belonged to the representatives of the Archbishopric of Riga, and representatives of the Livonian Bishoprics. Analysis of the seals of Livonian clergy reveal that several stages can be distinguished in their development. The earliest wax seals that belonged to the representatives of the Livonian clergy display a well-known image – a bishop seated on a throne holding his regalia. For earliest seals it was common to use uncolored wax, these seals mostly were round in shape but the transition to the pointed oval shape took place during the 13th-century. By the middle and end of the 13th-century seals transitioned into use of red wax. During this time also first double-sided seals (where the reverse can be considered as the counterseal) appeared. In this period bishops and archbishops are depicted standing in the church surroundings, indicating the seal owner’s status and rank. In the 14th-century the use of the family coat of arms also appears. Counterseals in 15th-16th-cenuries are used separately as the great seal and counterseal and the depiction used in them represent the importance of the cult of Virgin Mary in Livonia. Nevertheless, Livonian clergymen also used their family coat of arms for self-representation. Medieval religious communities were specialists in symbolization. During the middle ages they adopted and readjusted their own equivalent of self-representation devices used not only in sigillographic sources but also in artistic and architectural works.

Территориальная геральдика Московского царства в «Титулярнике» 1672 г.

The article is devoted to the analysis of images of territorial coats of arms in the "Titulyarnik" of 1672. The "Titulyarnik," existing in several copies, is the most important source on the history of Russian heraldry. It is a complete visual embodiment of the complex of territorial coats of arms, formed via mentioning the corresponding lands in the royal title. By the early 1670s, the territorial title of the Russian tsars included over 30 names. It had significantly changed and had been supplemented in connection with the events of the war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1654–67, which was successful and resulted in annexation of new territories. These territorial incorporations were interpreted by the Russian side as the return of the ancestral lands, the "fatherland" of the Muscovite sovereigns. The "Titulyarnik" became the second source after the Great Seal of Ivan the Terrible, in which the heraldic representation of the royal title was given in its entirety. The complex of territorial coats of arms underwent certain changes since the end of the 1570s, when the Great Seal of Ivan the Terrible had been created. These changes most probably took place under the first Romanovs, starting in the 1620s. At the same time, some coats of arms were re-drawn. In the "Titulyarnik," most of the territorial coats of arms were also changed. Moreover, the complex of territorial coats of arms was supplemented with completely new coats of arms. Iconographic and source analysis of the images of coats of arms and their comparison with earlier versions has allowed the author to identify some important patterns of their transformation. It has been determined that many territorial coats of arms of the "Titulyarnik" were significantly strengthened by Christian semantics. This was primarily done by addition of various Christian symbols to the coats of arms. The most important of these symbols was the cross, represented in its two forms — straight and x-shaped cross. Thus, the heraldic reform carried out in the "Titulyarnik" was consistent; it was associated with the need to emphasize the Orthodox nature of the Muscovite Tsardom as guardian and defender of the Christian religion. Christian semantics also appeared in the heraldic verses written by an unknown author in the 1670s. In these verses, the territorial coats of arms were described and their interpretation was given. Variants of the coats of arms presented in the "Titulyarnik" continued to exist in the period of the Russian Empire.

Rituals for the Dead: Religion and Community in the Medieval University of Paris by William J. Courtenay

Reviewed by: Rituals for the Dead: Religion and Community in the Medieval University of Paris by William J. Courtenay Constant J. Mews Courtenay, William J., Rituals for the Dead: Religion and Community in the Medieval University of Paris (The Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies), Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2018; paperback; pp. 228; 43 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. US$45.00; ISBN 9780268104948. Among historians of the medieval university, Bill Courtenay stands supreme, certainly among scholars working in English. In a field of study that is dominated by historians of individual fields of intellectual endeavour, Courtenay has always demonstrated a sure grasp of the institutional framework of learning. In this book, he signals a shift, already evident to those who keep up with his prolific output in journal articles and book chapters, by moving more clearly than ever to the twin (and related) fields of social and religious history. His argument that historians of the University of Paris have tended to overlook the religious framework and devotional structures that shaped the lives of both teachers and students is important. In large part, this neglect may be due to a scholarly focus on the efforts of episcopal and papal authority to intervene in the University rather than the social rituals of that institution. Courtenay brings together in seven chapters, given as lectures, the fruit of meticulous research into different ways in which religion intersected with university life. Rituals for the Dead is not quite as accurate a summary of the book’s theme as its subtitle, Religion and Community in the Medieval University of Paris. Its title singles out one time-consuming, but largely neglected aspect of university life: the requirement imposed on teachers and students to pray collectively for the dead. Courtenay outlines how each of the four nations in which students in arts were grouped had its own church in rather the same way as a confraternity. In terms of social life, whether secular or religious, these churches created their own parishes with their own rituals, including those of burial and remembrance of the dead. This leads Courtenay into a fascinating chapter on the theological problem created by the apparent injustice that the wealthy could afford a much faster journey to Paradise by the masses that they could commission for their relatives. The dominant (although not universal) view was that a pious action done through charity would indirectly help others without wealthy supporters. Courtenay also devotes attention to the requirement on masters of each nation to celebrate the five Marian feasts of the Virgin, as well as the feasts of St Nicholas and St Catherine as the patronal saint of each nation. His focus is on the Virgin, remembered not just in these feasts, clearly as a unifying force given the ferocity of antagonism between the nations, but in the imagery of the Great Seal of the University of Paris. Courtenay’s close attention to the seals of university masters in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (on which he has published elsewhere) leads him to document his research into the Great Seal of the University of Paris, which he argues was first created by 1220, but was cancelled by the papacy in April 1221, reasserted in 1222, but then the matrix was smashed by Cardinal Frangipani in 1225 and not restored until 1246, when Pope Innocent IV allowed the seal to be used for a seven-year period, extended in 1252 for another ten years. While Courtenay mentions this chequered history of the Great Seal, he does [End Page 199] not dwell on its evident political significance. Rather he focuses on institutional Marian devotion as emblematic of religious cohesion to which all the masters were expected to adhere. Courtenay’s observation that the Great Seal (the design of which he plausibly suggested might go back to that in use by 1220) has no iconographic precedent, is of interest. It combines an image of the crowned Virgin and Child, with a bishop (St Nicholas) and St Catherine on either side, above images of two regent masters lecturing from books, and of students reading and debating with each other. While Courtenay is strong on the association between...

Spencer Dew, The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali

American Religion 1, no. 2 (Spring 2020), pp. 136–138 Copyright © 2020, The Trustees of Indiana University • doi: 10.2979/amerreli.1.2.08 Book Review Spencer Dew, The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019) Emily Suzanne Clark Gonzaga University, Spokane, USA When I first dove into the primary sources on Noble Drew Ali and the Moorish Science Temple of America I thought, “there really should be more work on this group.” Spencer Dew has done the field of American religion a huge favor with his book, The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali. This is a smart book that makes a significant contribution to a number of sub-fields within our discipline. Additionally, Dew’s achievement here encourages all scholars of religion to reflect on how our subjects understand their complex identities and how we as scholars interrogate the layers of those identities. In The Aliites Dew focuses on three religious communities that developed from the ideas of Noble Drew Ali: the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Nuwaubian Yamassee, and the Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah. By attending to these three groups, who he terms the Aliites, Dew’s book is able to span much of the twentieth century and into contemporary America. The book’s central arguments focus on the ideas of the Aliites and how these ideas shape their negotiations with broader American culture. The main threads of Aliite thought Dew untangles are nationality, law, and citizenship. He illuminates how Aliites theorize racial uplift and racial (mis)identification. The self-knowledge that comes with recognizing their true nationality (rather than the identities forced upon Emily Suzanne Clark 137 them by broader American culture) leads to an understanding of Allah’s true law and salvation. God’s law will always be true, even if the everyday world does not abide by it. Aliites, therefore, live their identity by critiquing the discrepancies between the secular legal system and Allah’s law, even as they appeal to the power of the state to support their desired criticisms and corrections. This is because salvation comes with citizenship: citizenship meaning both the empowerment that comes with correct self-identification and engagement with a pluralistic, religiously diverse, democratic society. The book has a clever organization. Rather than tell a chronological narrative , Dew structures the book around how Aliites interpret the Great Seal of the United States. Aliite thinkers approach the seal in a variety of ways, most of which argue that it is deeply connected to their identity. With this organization, Dew tells a thematically-driven story, and each chapter continues to unpack Aliites’ understandings of racial identity, citizenship, sovereignty, and law. Aliite thought often is misunderstood by outsiders, such as police officers, judges, and legal activists. Dew is dedicated to understanding the Aliites on their own terms, rather than how outsiders see them. This is not an easy task, and Dew’s brief reflections on his authorial location in the Introduction demonstrate that he is not naïve about this. He is honest about the difficulty in studying Aliite thought and how his approach to the task developed over time, especially as he expanded the book beyond the Moorish Science Temple of America and included the two later groups, the Nuwaubian Yamassee and the Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah. There are a lot of differences between the three Aliite groups, but as Dew informs readers early on, they all united through “Ali’s teachings on citizenship and law, privileging engagement with the state and the state’s legal system in order to achieve recognition and to transform society” (13). The book’s organization allows Dew to engage all three groups in each chapter, which allows readers to see that unifying strand of thought and observe how various Aliite communities engage with their specific historical, social, cultural, and legal contexts. Each chapter builds on the previous ones while also providing a stand-alone look at a specific element of Aliite thought. Rather than provide an overview of each chapter, I want to focus briefly on chapter seven, which examines “Aliite social experiments” and how they demonstrate the Aliite “project of...