The Lady and the Squirell. The allusive seal image of Nicole de Nouvion (1300)

La dame et l'écureuil. Le sceau allusif de Nicole de Nouvion (1300)

Caroline Simonet (1)

1 CRAHAM - Centre Michel de Boüard - Centre de recherches archéologiques et historiques anciennes et médiévales

In 1300, Nicole de Mailly, the wife of Jean de Nouvion, validated a charter with her seal, next to her husband’s. This seal image, showing the standing figure of the lady, flanked by two armorial shields, seems classical but for one detail : a squirrel is engraved on her hand, instead of a falcon or a lilian as was commonly done. Unusual seal images are very often the sign of a pun made with the seal owner’s name, surname or function. But squirrels are, generally speaking, featured eating a nut, just like this one, and on their owmn (unless they are heraldic). Perhaps it was an illustration of the need to break a seal, in order to read a letter or to open a sealed box, just like the squirrel needs to break the nut to eat the fruit inside. In the case of Nicole de Mailly’s seal, the rodent is part of a larger picture and takes the place of a meaningfull emblem : the falcon as a hunting symbol, a noble privilege, the lilian for lineage, a noble concern. There is indeed a pun in this image. The fruit inside a nut was called « nouvillon » or « noullon » in old French. The name of Nouvion is not engraved in the legend of the seal. But it’s alluded to by the image of the tiny squirrel eating its nut.

Mots clés: Sigillographie; sceaux; histoire des femmes; emblématique; animaux; langue romane

Domaines: Art et histoire de l'art; Etudes sur le genre; Histoire; Linguistique

Caroline Simonet. La dame et l'écureuil. Le sceau allusif de Nicole de Nouvion (1300). Revue française d’héraldique et de sigillographie–Études en ligne, 2020. ⟨hal-02984570⟩