Intaglios and Magic : The case of Margaret of Beaumont-Leicester’s counterseal

Intailles et invocations magiques. L’exemple du contre-sceau de Marguerite de Beaumont-Leicester

Caroline Simonet (1)

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

Margaret of Beaumont, the daugther of Robert, count of Leicester (descendant of the lords of Beaumont and counts of Meulan in France), and the wife of Saer de Quincy, earl of Winchester, owned two seals during the early Thirteenth Century. Her great seal, used in 1220-1233, is wellknown: it shows the countess figure wearing an emblazoned gown, standing under an arch, flanked by a tree holding two shields: one showing the mascles of Quincy, the other, Robert Fitzwalter’s coat of arms. The significance of the emblems engraved on this great seal has been enlightened by Pierre Bony. However, the seal imprinted at the reverse of this great seal in 1233 to validate a donation in favour of the abbey of Saint-Evroult in Normandy, offered an enigma. The image of this counterseal is an ancient oval shaped intaglio set in a round matrix and engraved with a roman ship : a trireme. The setting of such gems in seal matrices has been popular since the end of the Twelfth Century. Stones were considered as talismans with magical powers, protecting from evil or disease. Their imitation was difficult, which favoured their use as seals : producing false imprints was considered as nearly impossible. The setting of this intaglio on Margaret’s counterseal is not unusual. Its legend however is deconcerting :  A <> G <> L <> A <>. Between each letter a mascle, the de Quincy’s emblem, is engraved. These letters do not refer to a name or a place. There were no women called Aglae neither in the coutness’ family, nor in her husband’s. In relation with the image, no port or naval battle in the Channel area is named Agla. « Agla » is in fact the acronym of a jewish prayer : Atlah Gabor Leolam Adonay. This abbreviation is considered as one of God’s (or Christ’s) name. It was used by the catholic clergy during the Middle Ages in magical sentences for various purposes: to protect a traveller, to repell fire if engraved on a talisman (like an intaglio!), to exorcise from the devil or to help during birth labour, amongst other things. So this legend, completed with the setting of the intaglio, indicates that this object, small enough to be hold as pendant by the countess, was probably more than a simple counterseal : it was an amulet designed to protect the seal-owner, her lineage (the mascles) and the deeds it validated.

Mots clés: Sigillographie; sceaux; histoire des femmes; emblématique; magie; Eglise; diplomatique; Angleterre; Normandie; lignage

Domaines: Art et histoire de l'art; Histoire

Caroline Simonet. Intailles et invocations magiques. L’exemple du contre-sceau de Marguerite de Beaumont-Leicester. Revue française d’héraldique et de sigillographie–Études en ligne, 2017. ⟨hal-02984639⟩