Folia archeologica 13.

L. Huszár: Merchant's seals of the 16th and 17th centuries

Merchant' s seals of the 16th and 17th centuries 189 12. Obv, XCVILEILM'-'VXCATHÓAIXÓ Tudor rose Rev. Plain. Lead, 33 mm; with four holes. Found in the fortress of Nagyvázsony in the course of the unearthing of the eastern moat, in the neighbourhood of the wolf-trap. 13. Obv. Surface entirely pared off; nothing is visible on it. Rev. Traces of fastening on a surface. Hungarian Historical Museum, Mediaeval Department, lead, 34 mm. Found in the course of the excavation of the mediaeval village Móric in the outskirts of Túrkeve. The described medals are for the most part made of lead and only one or two of them are bronze pieces. On the basis of the devices of their types they may be classed into three groups. To the first group belong the specimens described under n o s- 1—6; these are one-faced stampings and they bear as types the crowned English arms and as inscription the motto of the Order of the Garter „Honny soit qui mal y pense" (or rather a more or less distorted form of this). The second group comprises the pieces described under n os 7—10 having the same obverse type of arms as mentioned above, but without any inscription. The reverses of the same are either without impression or bearing the device of the Tudor rose. Finally, in the third group the specimens n o s 11—12, may be classed whose obverse type is equally the device of the rose with a certain „Guilelmus" legend. These are also one-faced pieces. Thus, type and legend on each piece reveal some kind of English relation. The questions have arisen, where and when the medals were made, what was their purpose and finally, by what way they reached the Hungarian for­tresses where they occur rather frequently. Searching for analogous specimens, the results we have arrived at have turned out meagre enough. In the collection of the British Museum in London, there are two pieces which bear resemblance to those of the first groupe. 1 In the literature not more than one example has been described, the medal of Hans Han „Formensider" dated 1577 the type of which is analogous to that of the pieces in our third group. 2 Finally, in the environs of Novgorod in USSR, two medals of the same character as that of our first group have been found. 3 This is all we have been able to find as literature or analogy concern­ing the medals discussed. So, if we want to selve the problems connected with them, there is no other way left but to start from the medals themselves. Taking into account only the undoubted sites known so far such medals have come to light from the following fortresses on Hurgarian territory: Buda, Eger, Győr, Nagykanizsa, Nagyvázsony and besides these from the area of the towns of Békés and Túrkeve. Of the fortresses, Buda was occupied by the Turks in the years between 1541—1686. The fortress of Eger played a promi­nent part in the constant fights of the Hungarian border fortresses, but in 1 Medallic Illustrations of British History. (British Museum 1885) I. n o s 45, 46. For the data relating to these, as well as for many valuable information about the medals in question we are indebted to Mr. J. D. A. Thompson, Oxford, to whom we express our sincere gratitude. 2 Num. Chron. 4(1904) 353. 8 Mr. Thompson's private communication.

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