Takács Imre: Az Árpád-házi királyok pecsétjei (Corpus sigillorum hungariae mediaevalis 1. Budapest, 2012)
Catalogue
31. Béla IV (1235-1270) Gold seal (before 1237-1270) pressed gold plate, more than one piece soldered together, hollow; diám: 66-6S mm, t. (at rim): S mm; (in centre): IS mm; 4S.51 gr Hollow disc, made by soldering two round pressed gold plates and one long ribbon-shaped plate. The king’s pose is the same as on the front of Béla IV’s first double seal. The legend is different in adding the title assumed by Andrew II, King of Lodomeria, as well as the title of King of Cumania. This was no longer present on either the first seal made for him after ascending the throne, or the second, made after 1241, even though it remained in the text of charters. The title rex Lodomeriae, assumed in pretence to the throne of Galicia, returned on the seal of Stephen V in 1270. It is therefore possible that Béla IV’s gold seal was made shortly before the first royal double seal (certainly in use by 1236), and the composer of its legend still regarded Andrew II’s legends as his model. The figure style of the gold steal relates to the front of Andrew II’s second double seal. The double-cross coat of arms on the reverse is the first of its kind set in a shield on an Arpád-era seal. This was a major step in the history of royal insignia. It was also probably during reign of Béla IV that the double cross in a shield became the dominant coat of arms on coins, appearing on the front of a denar whose legend includes the words Bela rex and has been ascribed to Béla III, but shows thirteenth-century paleographic traits (CNH I. 263, H 69, U 101; cf. Dory 1917, p. 20). Prior to this, a similar innovation appeared on the reverse of one of Andrew IPs denars (H 279, U 172): a pair of suspended shields around a tower, with double crosses drawn in lines on little shields. Legend between beaded lines, punctuated with medial dots, on front: BELA D(E)I GRA(CIA) HVNG(A)R(IE) DALMAC(IE) CROHAC(IE) RAM(E) S(ER)VIE GALIG(IE) LODOM(ERIE) GVMA(N)IE REX on reverse: SIGILLVM QVARTI BELE SECVNDI ANDREE REGIS EILII Originals: Budapest, Hungarian National Archives, DL 50617. Budapest, Hungarian National Museum, inv. no. 26/1881. (Purchase in 1881 from Wolf Sachs for 300 forints) Copies: Budapest History Museum, inv. no. 66.1891. Budapest, Hungarian National Archives, VI 29; V8 1169. Budapest, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Art History, inv. no. 1169. Marczali 1S96, pp. 450, 451; Áldássy 1902, pp. 318, 327; Dory 1917, p. 19; Bartoniek 1924, pp. 23-25; Szentpétery 1930, pp. 112, 114; Kumorovitz 1936, p. 55; Gcrcvich 193S, pp. 210-21 1, fig. CCXXIX/4; Domanovszky 1939, p. 143; Marsina, II, p. 504, Tab. XX1II/6-7; Kovács 1974, pp. 48, 27, fig. 44; MT, II, fig. 241; Bodor 2001, p. 7, fig. 8; Takács 2011, p. 85, fig. 5b. 32, Béla IV (1235-1270) First double seal 1235-1241 diam: 90 mm After his coronation in Székesfehérvár in 1235, Béla IV’s junior king seal with the legend rex voluntate sui patris, in use since 1214, was replaced by a double seal. The king’s pose differs from that on Andrew II’s seals. The 173
