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Pourquoi les sceaux ? La sigillographie, nouvel enjeu de l’histoire de l’art

 | 
Jean-Luc Chassel
, 
Marc Gil Chassel

L’image au service des stratégies emblématiques: Corps urbains

The body and its parts iconographical metaphors of corporate identity in 13th century common seals

Markus Spath

Testo integrale

  • 1 B.M. Bedos-Rezak, “Ego, Ordo, Communitas. Seals and The Medieval Semiotics of Personality (1200-13 (...)
  • 2 B. Abou-El-Haj, “Feudal Conflicts and the Image of Power at the Monastery of St. Amand d’Elnone”, (...)
  • 3 O.G. Oexle, “Soziale Gruppen in der Ständegesellschaft: Lebensformen des Mittelalters und ihre his (...)
  • 4 B.M. Bedos-Rezak, “Du modèle à l’image: Des signes de l’identité au Moyen Âge”, in Μ. Boone, Ε. Le (...)

1When corporations started adopting seals as authentification instruments of their charter communication from the 12th century onwards, the identification between the seal’s holder and the person represented on the seal’s surface, which by then had been characteristic for personal seals for centuries1, became obsolete. However, a religious community could adopt the image of its patron saint in the manner of a personal seal. But in this case the legal owner of the house was transformed into an image2, rather than the corporate character of the convent or chapter itself. While religious communities were among the first organized groups in medieval Europe, many more corporations of various character emerged after the first millennium in increasing numbers to form what was called by Otto Gerhard Oexle the later medieval “Gruppen-Gesellschaft”3. Their diversity corresponded with a progressive divergence of their seal iconography within the corporate environment. Instead of adopting the stereotypical iconographical conventions of personal seals displaying the seal’s holder according to his or her social status, corporations’ sigillographic images oscillated between the maintenance of traditions and creation of new patterns. Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak clearly formulated this change in the following point: As the adoption of seals by transpersonal corporations evoked a so far unknown individuality of sigillographic images, a paradox can be noted4.

  • 5 For the most differentiated methodological approach on typology see T. Diederich, “Prolegomena zu (...)
  • 6 T. Struve, Die Entwicklungderorganologischen Staatsauffassung im Mittelalter, Stuttgart: Hirsemann (...)
  • 7 B. Reudenbach, “Die Gemeinschaft als Körper und Gebäude. Francesco di Giorgios Stadttheorie und di (...)

2But how did these individualized seal images address the corporate character of their holders in a pictorial system, which had so far solely focused on the representation of individuals? Although the mentioned need for variety ruled out the possibility of any generic types known from contemporary personal seal imagery throughout wider geographic and institutional contexts5, there were indeed overall pictorial models to represent corporate identity by 1200. As I will argue in the following, these models rather be considered as compositional concepts rather than strictly defined iconographic types: One of those concepts emerged in the first decades of the 13th century, representing the holding corporation as a universitas by metaphoric display of the human body and its physical parts. The idea that the human body with its diverse parts could symbolize society had already derived from ancient philosophical tradition and was transformed into the current political thought of the 12th and 13th centuries6. By that time it had already been translated into images of various artistic media in order to represent christianitas as a whole7. But there was hardly any pictorial convention to represent concrete social groups present, such as convents or communes, until the early 14th century.

  • 8 P. Michaud-Quantin, Universitas. Expressions du mouvement communautaire dans le Moyen-Age latin, P (...)

3In the following I will prove that this concept was adopted by socialgroups from even the most different corporate environments by the early 13th century. Images based on this concept can be both found on the second chapter seal of Holy Apostles in Cologne (ill. 1-2) as well as on the first city seal of Dijon (ill. 3-4), which are the main examples of my study. These two artistically outstanding seals do neither share the same region nor the identical social environment of origin, but their compositional similarities are striking: Their images show a comprehensive figure in the centre as it is known from traditional imagery of personal seals, which is surrounded by heads as fragmented body parts on the periphery. Past research has interpreted both images – with good reasons – as representations of concrete, definable personalities, such as the patron saints in Cologne and the leading communal representatives in the case of Dijon. But the sophisticated character of their blended compositions indicate further levels of meaning beyond mere representation of proxy persons. In two brief case studies of either seal I will highlight the strategies to visualize multiple elements of corporality of their holders as a universitas. In a third and last step I will compare these seal images to those, which have so far been interpreted as belonging to a totally different iconographic type due to the depiction of architecture. I will argue that the latter followed, nonetheless, the same compositional concept in order to visualize the very essence of a corporation as a universitas8.

  • 9 W. Ewald, continued by E. Meyer-Wurmbach (eds.), Rheinische Siegel. IV: Die Siegel der Stifte, Klo (...)
  • 10 Ewald and E. Meyer-Wurmbach (eds), Rheinische Siegel. IV..., op.cit., plate 11, n° 1; Legner (ed.) (...)
  • 11 Cologne, Historisches Archiv, Urkunden St. Aposteln 1; altough the major parts of the archives’vas (...)
  • 12 For the importance of [the trophaia] memory of St Peter and Paul in late Antiquity for the emergen (...)

4A very early example of the named visual concept appears in the iconography of the second conventual seal of the collegiate church of the Holy Apostles in Cologne in order to represent the patron saints9. The still existing brass matrix (ill. 1) was commissioned at any time between 1205, with the canons last evident use their first seal bearing the image of a church with twin towers seen from the eave's side (ill. 5)10 and 1213, when the earliest surviving impression of the new seal was made to confirm a charter of the chapter11. This stamp provided the form to impress an oval image of 8 cm in height and 6,5 cm in width in order to arrange all of the church’s patron saints (ill. 2): Among them, the Virgin Mary dominates the centre of the picture field. She is frontally seated on a richly decorated throne and holding the blessing Christ Child on her right knee. Her crown as well as the fleur de lys-sceptre indicate the imperial character of her appearance as the Heavenly Queen. Their arrangement is bordered by a simple line terminating in a domed baldachin over the Virgin’s head. Beyond this limit, twelve heads, framed by unifying medallions, are arranged around the central group of the Virgin and the Christ Child. The physical appearance of every head is differentiated by individualized age, physiognomy and hairstyle. They obviously represent the Twelve Apostles, as the two figures aside of the Virgin’s crowned head can be identified by abbreviated inscriptions as pe[ter] and pa[ul], the spokesmen of this collective patronage12.

  • 13 Around 1200 for instance on the carrying beems of monumental crosses such as in the collegiate chu (...)
  • 14 One of the few examples is the conventual seal of the hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome, s (...)
  • 15 On the application as an image of power see Abou-El-Haj, “Feudal Conflicts...”, art. cit., p. 13-1 (...)
  • 16 B.M. Bedos-Rezak, “Towns and Seals: Representation and Signification in Medieval France”, in Town (...)
  • 17 For the invention and tradition of this motive as constitutive part of the iconography of papal bu (...)
  • 18 A. Katzenellenbogen, “Varianten in der Darstellung des Apostelkollegiums um 1200”, in Stil und Übe (...)

5Although the iconographical gathering of the Virgin with the Apostles had a long tradition in various media of the visual arts, in particular in Pentecost iconography13, their mergence in a seal image was rather unique by the early 13th century14. According to standards of sigillographic imagery this conventual seal combined tradition and innovation: by appearing in majesty, the central figure follows the most important motive of medieval personal seals15. This image was adopted by many religious communities from the 12th century onwards in order to secure their representation through the patron saint16. The depiction of the Apostles’heads on this seal, however, was rather an unconventional iconography, on both: seals as well as other visual media. It clearly refers to an ambitious model: Since Gregory VII’s papacy bust figures of Saint Peter and Paul in half-profile were shown on the obverse of papal bulls17. As usual in the iconography of the Apostles around 120018, the aspect of individuation and collectivity in the representation of Christ’s disciples also remains ambivalent in the Cologne seal image: while their placement in medallions stresses their subordination under the collective on one hand, the individualized physiognomies contradict this tendency on the other.

  • 19 On the foundation history see A. Berners, St. Aposteln in Köln. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte eine (...)
  • 20 G. Stracke, Koln: Sankt Aposteln, Cologne, 1992 (Stadtspuren 19), p. 122-123.
  • 21 After the gigantic cathedral chapter with 70 canons, Holy Apostels was-together with St Gereon-sec (...)
  • 22 For the reconstruction of architectural history see Stracke, Koln: Sankt Aposteln..., op. cit. p. (...)
  • 23 Kosch, Kölns Romanische Kitchen..., op. cit., p. 28. On the development of the Apostles'patrociny (...)

6Although the seal’s legend only names the Apostles as the collegiate’s patrons (+sigillvm ecclesie sanctorvm apostolorvm in colonia), this extraordinary composition was obviously made to visualize the complex universitas of a double patronage, which is evident since its foundation in the earlier 11th century by archbishop Pilgrim (1021-1036). He dedicated this church to the Virgin Mary, an individual patron saint, and to the Twelve Apostles, a collective of saints with a particular emphasis on the veneration of Saint Paul19. According to the adoption of the Roman entity of stational liturgy in medieval Cologne, archbishop Pilgrim considered his foundation as the equivalent to San Paolo fuori le mura in Rome as Holy Apostles lay just outside the Roman city walls of Cologne at this time20. Therefore it was perceived to be second among the city’s churches only after the Cathedral21, which itself had a double patronage of St Mary and St Peter, at that time expressed through a double choir arrangement. Accordingly the church of Holy Apostles had an east choir to venerate Mary and a west sanctuary with the altar of St Paul and the founder’s tomb (ill. 6)22. While the first building of the 11th century as well as the mid 12th century rebuilding architectonically emphasized the Apostles’choir, the dominance of the corporate patron saints was challenged by the increasing importance of the Virgin Mary, which was manifested by the erection of a more elaborate eastern triconch sanctuary during the 1190s (ill. 7)23, just few years before the design of the new conventual seal (ill. 1).

  • 24 UB Heisterbach..., op.cit., n° 30, p. 131: Gerardus dei gratia prepositus, Lambertus decanus, totu (...)
  • 25 Berners, St. Aposteln..., op. cit., p. 114-116, points out that there is no evidence for common ro (...)
  • 26 In urban communes the aldermen considered themselves as remodellings of the Apostles'collective, s (...)
  • 27 Odenthal, Der älteste Liber Ordinarius..., op. cit., p. 28-32.
  • 28 Odenthal, Der diteste Liber Ordinarius..., op. cit., p. 115-116 and p. 121-143.

7All these arguments point to the fact, that the seal image just represented the hierarchy of the patron saints in the second decade of the 13th century. But as Holy Apostles’community underwent a process of corporate formalization at that time, a closer view might reveal further levels of meaning beyond this very direct representational mode: The oldest surviving impression of the new conventual seal is attached to that charter of 1213, in which the canons named themselves as a corporate capitulum for the first time24. Nonetheless this collegiate community never performed a strictly coherent common life such as monastic convent, which re-enacted the life of Christ und his Disciples in their daily customs. Each member of the chapter had his own individual benefices. It remains unclear in how far the canons lived together in enclosure or individually in own houses25. Nonetheless the collective patronage of the Twelve Apostles meant an obligation for the canons to follow an ambitious form of common life26. The daily performed re-enactment of the Apostolic model is reflected in the oldest surviving Liber ordinarius of the collegiate church, most certainly compiled in the 1270s27. Apostolic feasts, in particular those commemorating the Apostles interaction with Mary as the mother of Christ, were essential parts of the liturgy, which was preferentially performed in the east choir dedicated to the Virgin.28 Therefore the seal image, which expressed the hierarchical difference between the Heavenly Queen and the Apostles through the different status of their bodily representation, might have carried two further connotations: through celebrating this liturgy the canons perceived themselves as the Apostles serviving Mary in Biblical tradition. Therefore the composition of the seal image could be read as a reference to the concrete liturgical space of the church underlining the increasing importance of the St Mary’s altar.

  • 29 B. Bedos[-Rezak], Corpus des sceaux français du Moyen Age. T. I: Les sceaux des villes, Paris, Arc (...)
  • 30 Original matrix: BnF, département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques. First impression (1234): Tr (...)

8The inclusion of a central and comprehensive figure with fragmented bodies on the periphery appeared at about the same time in the image of Dijon’s first city seal29. The citizens of the Burgundian capital were granted the right to gather in a conjuratio for the first time by their lord, Duke Hugo III of Burgundy, in 1183. The communio's use of this seal is only evident in 1234, when it issued a charter to the abbey of Clairvaux. The brass matrix for its first seal was made at any time between 1183 and 123430 (ill. 3) – stylistic evidence indicates its fabrication shortly after 1200. The artistic value is outstanding, gathering a complex composition in a picture field of only 8 cm in diameter. The centre is covered by the image of a young, obviously bearded man riding on a horseback. While he holds the horses reins in his left hand, the right is risen in a gesture of greeting. This image is framed by the inscription + sigillvm. conmvnie. divionis. At the time of the seal’s fabrication, the named image and its surrounding inscription would have perfectly fit into the contemporary sigillographic conventions. The young and unarmed man on the horseback clearly resembles seal images from a high aristocratic background, in particular those of uncrowned successors (“Jungherrensiegel”).

9But contradictory to the traditions of personal seals, the Dijon seal’s image extends beyond the inscription to a peripheral zone displaying twenty human heads. They are obviously arranged in pairs, as always two of them turn their faces towards each other. What is even more remarkable is the variety of appearance in terms of age, physiognomy and hairstyle. Men with long straggly hair are placed next to those with short curly hair, etc. A wide range of types varies between ancient models and grotesque figures with oversized noses and lips, resembling contemporary marginal imagery. To sum up: Both the patrons as well as the artist were obviously concerned that none of the twenty heads appear identical.

  • 31 R Gras, “Etudes de sigillographie bourguignonne [2 parts]”, Annales de Bourgogne, 23, 1951, p. 194 (...)
  • 32 Dijon, AM, Trésor des Chartes, B, liasse 2, cote 1; ed. in H.-F. Delaborde (ed.), Recueil des Acte (...)
  • 33 G. Bourgin, La commune de Soissons et le groupe communal soissonais, Paris: Champion, 1908 (Biblio (...)
  • 34 For detailed argumentation see M. Spath, “Individuum und Gruppe. Zu einem Bildkonzept nord-und ost (...)
  • 35 Richard, “Le Dijon des ducs...”, art. cit., p. 52.

10So far scholars have stressed, with good reason, that this extraordinary seal image represented the key figures in urban government31. The central man on the horseback has been identified as the maior. The total number of the twenty heads meanwhile recalls the quantity of the council of the iurati, the city’s leading board of aldermen. This constitutional disposition of a single leading figure and a supporting board was based on the communal statutes of Soissons. Their adoption by the commune of Dijon was already ordered in the first royal confirmation charter by Philipp II Augustus of 118332. Considering the spirit of the constitutiones Suessiones, which were widely spread among northern French towns by that time33, more levels of meaning become apparent in this seal image34: the statutes draw a particular emphasis on the interaction of individual and collective in governing a commune to avoid absolute power by any of the named players. The specific composition of the Dijon seal image, combining the traditional sigillographic motive of the horseman with the innovative element of the circle of human heads on the periphery, could have pointed out this essence of communal identity. This can clearly be ascertained by the following example: In Dijon the mayor was annually elected out of the iurati’s circle. In a decision made by the civic assembly in 1235 – only one year after the first evident print of the seal – the mayors term of office was limited to three consecutive years before he had to take his place as iuratius again35. Therefore the principle of rotation could have been represented in the composition as every single head from the fringe could replace the one on the horseman’s shoulders in the centre.

  • 36 For instance the 1248 petition of maior Thomas de Buro and the scabini communie to the maior, scab (...)

11Furthermore, the identification of the presented figures should not exclusively be limited to communal officials, but rather consider the communio as a totality. And indeed the inscription of the seal explicitly names the communio as its holder in whose name legal action is being taken. This attribution is underlined through the standardized phrase of corroboration in the communal charters throughout the 13th and 14th centuries36. It could therefore be argued, that the peripheral heads did not only represent the exclusive circle of the alderman, but rather the commune as a universitas. The remarkable individuality as well as the variety of the heads’ design underline this hypothesis: By applying a pars pro toto-represe n tatio n, the social, political and economical heterogeneity of Dijon’s municipality could be brought to a focus in only twenty heads.

  • 37 Spath, “Individuum und Gruppe...”, art. cit., p. 86-90.
  • 38 Reudenbach, “Die Gemeinschaft...”, art. cit., p. 180-183.
  • 39 Such as the images of the city seal of the northern French commune of Bapaume, see AN, sc/Vi 76-76(...)
  • 40 For a critical view Le Goff Andturong, Une histoire du corps..., op. cit., p. 195-197, who outline (...)

12The compositional concept of the Dijon seal was widespread among those communes in north-eastern France during the 13th century, which adopted the communal statutes of Soissons as the model for their own self-governance37. As the constitutiones Suessiones stressed the principle of political interaction between the individual and the commune in many regards, these seal images were able to represent the essence of urban corporality. Interestingly a striking similarity of composition can be witnessed in the image of the contemporary second seal of Holy Apostles in Cologne, although the chapters corporate character was rather distinct from that of an urban commune and there is no evidence at all for an intellectual link between such diverse corporate and geographical environments. Nonetheless one might presume the existence of an overall concept rather than a strict iconographic type to represent corporate identity around 1200 in Latin Europe. This hypothesis can be underlined by the fact, that the human body was a key visual metaphor in representing society or mankind in general in the Middle Ages38. Even displaced body parts were known from diagrammatic images of the cosmos held by God’s hands, which signified universality. In seal imagery they played only a minor role39, whereas the head dominated among the body parts. Deriving from ancient thought, this part was always considered to take control over and take action for the whole of the body40. In the later medieval corporate environment more than one person was necessary to achieve self-governance. As the collective itself became an acting one, the compositions of the seal images discussed here could deliver the idea of corporality to a contemporary beholder.

  • 41 Reudenbach, “Die Gemeinschaft...”, art. cit., p. 175.
  • 42 Ibid., p. 177-180.
  • 43 For the evidence of this seal’s impression see Gras, “Sigillographie bourguignonne.. art. cit., p. (...)

13Bruno Reudenbach has pointed out the fact that visual representations of society in the Middle Ages could equally and even simultaneously adopt the metaphorical language of the human body as well as of architecture. Accordingly there was a discursive concordance between the different districts and buildings of a city and the parts of the body41. As both modes consisted of elements clearly differentiated through form in order that their distinct functions should serve for the entirety, they were ideal to represent social heterogeneity42. Although both seal images analyzed here seem to represent the holding corporation solely through body metaphors, a closer view reveals the interrelation to the architectural mode: When the canons of Holy Apostles in Cologne replaced their first seal showing a church building (ill. 5), by the second seal, the changed liturgical setting of their church was still evident in apparent body metaphors (ill. 1-2). In Dijon, the commune is recorded to have been changing their seal matrix in the time after 139143: although the second seal’s image strongly resembles the earlier’s composition, architectural design was used in order to structure the picture field (ill. 8). Here the peripheral twenty heads are arranged in round headed arcades, providing a determined circular frame for both the legend and the horseman in the central zones of the picture field.

  • 44 Although almost all of the seal images show the city in an abbreviated manner, sigillographic rese (...)
  • 45 Johanek, “Die Mauer...”, art. cit, p. 33f. LeGoff and Turong, Une histoire du corps..., op. cit., (...)

14Thus one might ask if the compositional concept to represent the entirety of a corporation through the interaction of a central comprehensive structure and a peripheral fragmented one was not only limited to those images operating through iconographical metaphors of the human body. The compositional concept can be even found in contemporary seals, which follow a totally different iconographical type in that they show architecture. Such images were particularly widespread among communes from the late 12th century onwards, presenting elaborated settings of mostly abbreviated urban architecture comprised of buildings like churches or town halls as well as city walls, towers or gates44. In particular this architecture of fortification became the dominant seal image of the medieval European town, although this iconographical mode does not address the essence of urban corporality: in the Middle Ages communes were not preliminarily bound by the wall as a physical boundary, but rather by the ties of the oath of their members45. Despite this totally different iconographical content, I will argue in the following that these latter seal images followed the same compositional concept of juxtaposing centre and fringe in order to represent corporate identity.

  • 46 On this seal in general: Westfälische Siegel, vol. 2, pl. 98, n° 2; A. Kônig, S. Krabath and H. Ra (...)
  • 47 Paderborn, StA, Urkunde Höxter 1264; calendered in: Westfälisches Urkundenbuch. Vol. 4: Die Urkund (...)
  • 48 Kônig, Krabath and Rabe, “Sigillum Burgensium in Huxuria.art. cit., p. 33f.
  • 49 Ibid., p. 34-36. W. Ehbrecht, “Ältere Stadtsiegel als Abbild Jerusalems”, in G. Signori (ed.), Das (...)
  • 50 Difficulties are caused by a problematic situation around the sources on Hoxters communal history: (...)
  • 51 See note 46.

15In this regard the first city seal of Höxter in Westphalia is a striking example46. Until recently only one broken impression at a charter of 126447 was known, before an excavation in 1994 brought into light the fragment of its matrix, referring to a fabrication date in the later 12th century (ill. 9)48. This matrix originally had a diameter of 6 cm. The particularity of the Höxter seal’s iconography is a highly sophisticated combination of both, the human body parts and architecture. The picture field is dominated by a church with two towers, seen from the eave's side. This building might be identified as the parish church of St Kilian, Höxter’s Carolingian nucleus. It is surrounded by a chaplet crowned with eight pinnacles. This arrangement seems to suggest a city wall. In between every pinnacle, apart from the upper most ones, one can find a human head. Unlike the two seals discussed earlier, the heads of the Höxter city seal seem to have been identical as their matrix was punched with the same head model. Scholarly interpretations range from reliquary busts to the communal representatives, namely the six consules and the iudex49. Considering the fact that the citizens of Hôxter had already gained the right to erect a city wall in 1152, this reading seems convincing. But on the other hand written evidence is so small for the period before the mid 13th century that even the character of these offices is rather unclear to us50. By 1200, when the matrix was made, both the iudex and the consules might still have been dependent clerks to the city’s lord, the abbot of Corvey. Only for the time after 1264, when the seal appears for the first time on a charter of iudex, consules ac universitas civium oppidi Huxariensis51, does their transformed character as civic institutions of mayor and his aldermen become evident.

  • 52 London, British Museum, Inv. n° 1842.0926.6. Ewald, Rheinische Siegel. III..., op. cit., plate 42, (...)

16While such one-sided readings of the iconography are rather problematic, a structural approach of interpretation can reveal more possible meanings: In the context discussed here, I would like to point to the fact, that even in this sigillographic image a comprehensive structure – the church – is surrounded by fragmentary features such as the heads and by repetitive ones such as the wall’s pinnacles. Furthermore it is important to notice, that the entire circle of fortification and heads is made visible to the beholder. Both characteristics, the central position of an outstanding building and the visibility of the entire city wall surrounding, can be ascertained in the compositions of many city images throughout the earlier 13th century. The second communal seal of the imperial town of Boppard in the Middle Rhine Valley is a typical as well as arbitrary example (ill. 10). The first evident use of its still existing matrix with a diameter of 9 cm is in 123652. The picture field is dominated by the representation of the town’s main church of St Severus in a noticeable high relief, whereas the surrounding city wall appears in very flat relief. To make the visibility of the entire fortification possible, its front parts appear from the outside, while its background can be seen from the inside. Again the compositional duality of an outstanding centre and a periphery, which is entirely surrounding it, becomes evident such as it can be found in the conventual seal of Holy Apostles in Cologne or the city seals of Dijon. Therefore the comprehensive building in the middle was certainly not only considered as the recognizable landmark like St Severus on the Boppard seal, which strikingly resembles the appearance of this building even today. Even more the image communicated that the landmark was part of a more differentiated structure, entirely surrounding it. However iconographically different from those seals, displaying the body and its parts, the necessary social and functional diversity of a corporation was represented through the distinct character and design of the buildings.

17In closing, within the enormous variety of common seals’ imagery, a generic concept emerged around 1200, which represented the holding corporation as a universitas by display of the human body and its physical parts. The images in accordance with this pattern had a mix of compositions: They combined traditional sigillographic iconography from earlier personal seals in the centre – for instance the enthroned Virgin or the man on horseback – and new elements – such as body parts-in the margins of the picture field. This interaction of determined centre and periphery – of the entire body and the fragment-evoked a series of references to the holders’corporate identity as a metaphorical body. Similar compositional strategies can be found in many corporate seals bearing images of urban architecture. Although they seem to follow a totally different iconographic type they functioned accordingly: In displaying an individual central building and repetitive structures such as city walls, towers and gates on the fringe, they did not only stress the corporative holders military strength, but also its constitutional principle of individual and collective interaction as a universitas comprehensive in itself.

Légendes

Ill. 1 - Matrix of the second seal of Holy Apostles, Cologne (around 1205-1213) Original, H. 80 mm Pfarrarchiv St. Aposteln, unsigned

Ill. 2 - Second seal of Holy Apostles, Cologne 19th century cast, H. 80 mm Historisches Archiv des Erzbistums, Siegelslg. Beissel, S.K. 282

Ill. 3 - Matrix of the first city seal of Dijon (before 1234) Original, ø 80 mm BNF, dép. des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques, unsigned

Ill. 4 - First city seal of Dijon 19th century cast, ø 80 mm Historisches Archiv des Erzbistums, Siegelslg. Beissel, S.K. 219

Ill. 5 - First seal of Holy Apostles, Cologne (before 1205) Original, ø 60 mm Düsseldorf, Hauptstaatsarchiv, Kloster Heisterbach, U. 0011

Ill. 6 - Cologne, Holy Apostles, floorplan of the church with reconstructed sites of canons’choirs, c. 1200
Reconstruction by author based on floorplan in B. Schütz, Romanik. Die Kirchen der Kaiser, Bischöfe und Kloster zwischen Rhein und Elbe, Freiburg: Herder, 1990, p. 278

Ill. 7 - Cologne, Holy Apostles, arial view form northeast (1984)
Reproduced after Ornament a ecclesiae 2..., op. cit., p. 113.

Ill. 8 - Second city seal of Dijon 19th century cast, 0 90 mm ANF, sc/D 5475

Ill. 9 - First city seal of Höxter (later 12th century), ø 65 mm.
a. Reconstruction drawing of the matrix. Reproduced after A. König, S. Krabath, H. Rabe, Sigillum Burgensium in Huxuria..., op.cit., fig. 1.
b. Original, Paderborn, Stadtarchiv, U 3 (1264).

Ill. 10 - Matrix of the second city seal of Boppard (c. 1236) Original, ø 90 mm London, BM, Inv. n° 1842.0926.6
© Trustees of the British Museum

Note

1 B.M. Bedos-Rezak, “Ego, Ordo, Communitas. Seals and The Medieval Semiotics of Personality (1200-1350)“, in M. Späth (ed.), Bildlichkeit korporativer Siegel im Mittelalter. Kunstgeschichte und Geschichte im Gespräch, Cologne: Böhlau, 2009 (Sensus. Studien zur mittelalterlichen Kunst 1), p. 47-64, at p. 48-53. The following essay summarizes first results of a larger project on corporate seals made possible through a Dilthey-Fellowship by the Volkswagen Foundation. I thank Kristin Böse and Scott Budzynski for their critical reading of this paper.

2 B. Abou-El-Haj, “Feudal Conflicts and the Image of Power at the Monastery of St. Amand d’Elnone”, in Kritische berichte, 13, 1985, p. 5-30, at p. 16f.

3 O.G. Oexle, “Soziale Gruppen in der Ständegesellschaft: Lebensformen des Mittelalters und ihre historischen Wirkungcn”, in O.G. Oexle and A. von Hülsen-Esch (eds.), Die Repräsentation der Gruppen. Texte-Bilder-Objekte, Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1998 (Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte 141), p. 9-44, at p. 29.

4 B.M. Bedos-Rezak, “Du modèle à l’image: Des signes de l’identité au Moyen Âge”, in Μ. Boone, Ε. Lecuppre-Desjardin and J.-P. Sosson (eds.), Le verbe, l’image et les représentations de la société urbaine au Moyen Âge, Louvain: Garant, 2002 (Studies in Urban Social, Economic, Political History of Medieval and Early Modern Low Countries 13), p. 189-205, at p. 205.

5 For the most differentiated methodological approach on typology see T. Diederich, “Prolegomena zu einer neuen Siegeltypologie”, in Archiv fur Diplomatik, 29, 1983, p. 242-284, at p. 258-263. A problemtatic attempt to create a pan-european typology of city seals: H. Jakobs and H. Drôs, “Die Zeichen einer neuen Klasse. Zur Typologie der friihen Stadtsiegel“, in Bild und Geschichte. Studien zur politischen Ikonographie. Festschrift fiir Hansmartin Schwarzmeier, Sigmaringen: Thorbeke, 1997, p. 125-178.

6 T. Struve, Die Entwicklungderorganologischen Staatsauffassung im Mittelalter, Stuttgart: Hirsemann, 1978 (Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 16). J. Le Goff and N. Truong, Une histoire du corps au Moyen Âge, Paris: Liana Levi, 2006.

7 B. Reudenbach, “Die Gemeinschaft als Körper und Gebäude. Francesco di Giorgios Stadttheorie und die Visualisierung von Sozialmetaphern im Mittelalter”, in K. Schreiner and N. Schnitzler (eds.), Gepeinigt, begehrt, vergessen. Symbolik und Sozialbezug des Korpers im späten Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit, Munich: Fink, 1992, p. 171-198, at p. 181-186. W. Brückle, Civitas terrena: Staatsrepräsentation und politischer Aristotelismus in derfranzösischen Kunst 1270-1380, Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2005 (Kunstwissenschaftliche Studien 124), p. 97-100.

8 P. Michaud-Quantin, Universitas. Expressions du mouvement communautaire dans le Moyen-Age latin, Paris: J. Vrin, 1970 (L’Église et l’État au Moyen Âge 13), p. 11-57 on the medieval meaning of the term.

9 W. Ewald, continued by E. Meyer-Wurmbach (eds.), Rheinische Siegel. IV: Die Siegel der Stifte, Kloster und geistlichen Dignitâre, Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1931-1972 (Publikationen der Gesellschaft fur Rheinische Geschichtskunde 27-4), plate 11, n° 5. Meyer-Wurmbach adresses this seal as the ‘third’ conventual, presuming the temporary existence of an ‘second’ seal bearing the same image (see ibid., plate 11, n° 5a): She identifies the impression attached to the 1213-charter Düsseldorf, Hauptstaatsarchiv, Kloster Heisterbach, U. 0013-ed. in Urkundenbuch (hereafter: UB) der Abtei Heisterbach, ed. F. Schmitz, Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1908 (UB der geistlichen Stiftungen des Niederrheins 1), n° 30 –, as the only surviving of this seal. Its matrix should have been replaced immediately by the still existing one, preserved in Cologne, Pfarrarchiv St. Aposteln, unsigned. From this brass stamp all other surviving impressions were made. A comparative analysis of both, matrix and the foresaid impression, has shown for two reasons, that her hypothesis is wrong: firstly, the same, obviously unintentional skretches to the right of the Virgin’s head appear in either object. This damage of a potential earlier matrix would not have been remodelled in its renewed version. Secondly, she argues that the image of the 1213-impression has smaller proportions than the equivalent image on the matrix. A measuring analysis of both has clearly proven, that proportions of the picture fields are identical; the perception of difference might be caused by the damaged condition of the named 1213-impression. Cf. R. Kahsnitz, “Kanonikerstift St. Aposteln, 2. Siegel (Typar)”, in A. Legner (ed.), Ornamenta ecclesiae. Kunst und Künstler der Romanik, Katalog zur Ausstellung des Schnütgen-Museums in der Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, 3 vols., Cologne: Schnütgen-Museum, 1985, at vol. 2, n° D 55, p. 56; he argues that the missing inscription PE and PA in the 1213-impression could have been carved into the matrix at a later stage without problem. A. Mann, “Das romanische Typar mit dem Bilde der Kirche aus dem Kölner Apostelstift”, in A. Mann and J. Hoster (eds.), Vom Bauen, Bilden und Bewahren. Festschrift für Willy Weyres zur Vollendung seines 60. Lebensjahres, Cologne: Greven, 1964, p. 83-92, at p. 90-91.

10 Ewald and E. Meyer-Wurmbach (eds), Rheinische Siegel. IV..., op.cit., plate 11, n° 1; Legner (ed.), Ornamenta ecclesiae..., op. cit., vol. 2, n° D 38, p. 43. Only known impression: Düsseldorf, Hauptstaatsarchiv: Kloster Heisterbach, U. 0011; ed.: UB Heisterbach..., op.cit., n° 20.

11 Cologne, Historisches Archiv, Urkunden St. Aposteln 1; altough the major parts of the archives’vast charter collections were rescued unharmed after the collapse of 3 March 2009, it remains yet unclear, if this document is among the salvaged ones.

12 For the importance of [the trophaia] memory of St Peter and Paul in late Antiquity for the emergence of patrocinies see M. Jost, Die Patrozinien der Kitchen der Stadt Rom vom Anfang bis in das 10. Jahrhundert, 2 vols., Neuried: Ars una, 2000 (Horrea. Beiträge zur römischen Kunst und Geschichte 2), at vol. 1, p. 37-42.

13 Around 1200 for instance on the carrying beems of monumental crosses such as in the collegiate church of St. Maternian and Nicolas at Bücken, see M. Beer, Triumphkreuze des Mittelalters. Ein Beitrag zu Typus und Genese im 12. Jahrhundert, Regensburg: Schnell und Steiner, 2005, n° 16 and p. 133-134. See G. Stracke, “Die Kolner Kirchen und ihre mittelalterliche Ausstattung, part 1”, Colonia Romanica, 10, 1995, p. 70-93, on an inventory of the surviving art works from Holy Apostels.

14 One of the few examples is the conventual seal of the hospital of Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome, showing the Apostels surrounding the depiction of the Holy Cross. See G.C. Bascapé, Sigillografia. Il sigillo nella diplomatica, neldiritto, nella storia, nell’arte, vol. 2: Sigillografia ecclesiastica, Milan, Giuffré, 1978 (Archivio della Fondazione Italiana per la Stiria Amministrativa: Collana 1, Monografie 14), p. 97. For an excellent reproduction see the online-exhibition “Sigilli” at http://expo.khi.fi.it/galaerie/sigilli/Zeichen/.

15 On the application as an image of power see Abou-El-Haj, “Feudal Conflicts...”, art. cit., p. 13-16.

16 B.M. Bedos-Rezak, “Towns and Seals: Representation and Signification in Medieval France”, in Town Life and Culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Essays in Memory of J.K. Heyde, Manchester: Scholarly Publications, 1990 (Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 72), p. 35-47, at p. 37-38.

17 For the invention and tradition of this motive as constitutive part of the iconography of papal bulls since Paschale II., see I. Herklotz, “Zur Ikonographie der Papstsiegel im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert”, in H.-R. Meier, C. Jäggi and. P. Büttner (eds.), Für irdischen Ruhm und himmlischen Lohn. Stifter und Auftraggeber in der mittelalterlichen Kunst, Berlin: Reimer, 1995, p. 116-130, at p. 119. He identifies this motive as a reception of late Antique models, ibid., p. 123-124.

18 A. Katzenellenbogen, “Varianten in der Darstellung des Apostelkollegiums um 1200”, in Stil und Überlieferung in der Kunst des Abendlandes. Akten des 21. Internationalen Kongresses fur Kunstgeschichte in Bonn 1964, Berlin: Gebrüder Mann, 1968, vol. 1, p. 163-169, here p. 166 and 169.

19 On the foundation history see A. Berners, St. Aposteln in Köln. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte eines mittelalterlichen Kollegiatsstifts bis ins 15. Jahrhundert, Bonn: PhD thesis, 2004, p. 59-105.

20 G. Stracke, Koln: Sankt Aposteln, Cologne, 1992 (Stadtspuren 19), p. 122-123.

21 After the gigantic cathedral chapter with 70 canons, Holy Apostels was-together with St Gereon-second among the city’s chapters with a constant number of 40 canons, see Berners, St. Aposteln in Koln..., op. cit., p. 119-120; A. Odenthal, Der alteste Liber Ordinarius der Stiftskirche St. Aposteln in Koln. Untersuchungen zur Liturgie eines mittelalterlichen kolnischen Stifts, Siegburg: Verlag Franz Schmitt, 1994 (Studien zur Kölner Kirchengeschichte 28), p. 114.

22 For the reconstruction of architectural history see Stracke, Koln: Sankt Aposteln..., op. cit. p. 172-191. With emphasis on the liturgical setting see C. Kosch, Kôlns Romanische Kitchen. Architektur und Liturgie im Hochmittelalter, Regensburg: Schnell und Steiner, 2005 (Grosser Kunstführer 207), p. 23-30, and Odenthal, Der alteste Liber Ordinarius..., op. cit., p. 114-118.

23 Kosch, Kölns Romanische Kitchen..., op. cit., p. 28. On the development of the Apostles'patrociny see Stracke, Koln: Sankt Aposteln..., op. cit., p. 124-125.

24 UB Heisterbach..., op.cit., n° 30, p. 131: Gerardus dei gratia prepositus, Lambertus decanus, totumque capitulum sanctorum Apostolorum in Colonia universis Christi fidelibus [...]salutem in domino.Berners, St. Aposteln..., op. cit.,p. 114-115.

25 Berners, St. Aposteln..., op. cit., p. 114-116, points out that there is no evidence for common rooms such as a dormitorium; for the individual income of each canon see ibid., ch. 2.4. Kosch, Kölns Romanische Kirchen..., op.cit., p. 28, presumes a nightstair leading from a dormitory in the eastern cloister wing to the St Mary’s choir.

26 In urban communes the aldermen considered themselves as remodellings of the Apostles'collective, see D.W. Poeck, “Zahl, Tag und Stuhl. Zur Semiotik der Ratswahl”, Frühmittelalterliche Studien, 33, 1999, p.396-427, at p. 413-414, and C. Winterer, “An den Anfängen der Stadtsiegel: Das Volk und seine Anführer zwischen Heiligkeit und feudaler Ordnung“, in Spath (ed.), Bildlichkeit korporativer Siegel..., op. cit., p. 185-208, at p. 207-208.

27 Odenthal, Der älteste Liber Ordinarius..., op. cit., p. 28-32.

28 Odenthal, Der diteste Liber Ordinarius..., op. cit., p. 115-116 and p. 121-143.

29 B. Bedos[-Rezak], Corpus des sceaux français du Moyen Age. T. I: Les sceaux des villes, Paris, Archives nationales, 1980, n° 244 (ANF, sc/Vi 244).

30 Original matrix: BnF, département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques. First impression (1234): Troyes, AD10, H 3 1849.

31 R Gras, “Etudes de sigillographie bourguignonne [2 parts]”, Annales de Bourgogne, 23, 1951, p. 194-201 and p. 287-295, at p. 289; J. Richard, “Le Dijon des ducs et de la commune (XIe-XIVe siècle)”, in P. Gras (ed.), Histoire de Dijon, Toulouse: Privat, 1987 (Univers de la France et des pays francophone), p. 41-74, at p. 53; D. W. Poeck, Rituale der Ratswahl. Zeichen und Zeremoniell der Ratssetzung in Europa (12.-18. Jahrhundert), Cologne: Böhlau 2003 (Städteforschung, A 60), p. 288. For communes in the north of France see B.M. Bedos[-Rezak], “Les types des plus anciens sceaux des communautés urbaines du Nord“, in Les chartes et le mouvement communal. Colloque regional (octobre 1980) organisé en commémoration du neuvième centenaire de la commune de Saint-Quentin, Saint-Quentin: Société Académique, 1982, p. 39-50, at p. 47-48.

32 Dijon, AM, Trésor des Chartes, B, liasse 2, cote 1; ed. in H.-F. Delaborde (ed.), Recueil des Actes de Philippe Auguste, roi de France, vol. 1, Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1916 (Chartes et diplômes relatifs à l’Histoire de France), η" 101, p. 124-125, at p. 124: Philippus Dei gratia Francorum rex, noverint universi presentes pariter et futuri, quam fidelis et consanguinus noster Hugo, dux Burgundie, suis hominibus de Divione communiam dedit ad formam communie Suessionensis.

33 G. Bourgin, La commune de Soissons et le groupe communal soissonais, Paris: Champion, 1908 (Bibliothèque de l’École practique des hautes études 167); on the affiliation of communal charters in medieval France in general see P. Viollet, Les communes francaises au moyen âge, Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1900, p. 32-33.

34 For detailed argumentation see M. Spath, “Individuum und Gruppe. Zu einem Bildkonzept nord-und ostfranzösischer Stadtsiegel im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert”, Francia, 36, 2009, p. 67-90, at p. 81-86.

35 Richard, “Le Dijon des ducs...”, art. cit., p. 52.

36 For instance the 1248 petition of maior Thomas de Buro and the scabini communie to the maior, scabini et iurati suessionensis; See Dijon, AM, Trésor de Chartes, C, liasse 9, cote 1bis: In cuius rei testimonium presentes litteras vobis mittimus sigilli communie divionis muniminem roboratas.

37 Spath, “Individuum und Gruppe...”, art. cit., p. 86-90.

38 Reudenbach, “Die Gemeinschaft...”, art. cit., p. 180-183.

39 Such as the images of the city seal of the northern French commune of Bapaume, see AN, sc/Vi 76-76bis, where hands seen from the palm’s side are an obvious playing on paume, the French word for palm.

40 For a critical view Le Goff Andturong, Une histoire du corps..., op. cit., p. 195-197, who outline the increasing importance of the heart among the body metaphors in later medieval France.

41 Reudenbach, “Die Gemeinschaft...”, art. cit., p. 175.

42 Ibid., p. 177-180.

43 For the evidence of this seal’s impression see Gras, “Sigillographie bourguignonne.. art. cit., p. 289-291: he points out, that by the mid 20th century there are no impressions surviving, whereas the former city archivist and scholar Joseph Gamier reported various impressions in the city archives in 1852.

44 Although almost all of the seal images show the city in an abbreviated manner, sigillographic research has distingished this category (”Stadtabbreviatursiegel”) from those, which are considered to be realistic representations of existing landmark building (”Stadtportratsiegel“); see T. Diederich, Rheinische Stadtesiegel, Neuss: Neusser Druckerei, 1984 (Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz. Jahrbuch 1984-1985), p. 100-107. On the image of the walled city able to defend itself see P. Johanek, “Die Mauer und die Heiligen. Stadtvorstellungen im Mittelalter”, in W. Behringer and B. Roeck (eds.), Das Bild der Stadt in der Neuzeit 1400-1800, Munich: Beck, 1999, p. 26-38 and 428-431, and J. Cherry, “Imago Castelli: the depiction of castles on medieval seals", Château-Gaillard. Publications du Centre de Recherches Archéologiques Médiévales, université de Caen, 15, 1992, p. 83-90.

45 Johanek, “Die Mauer...”, art. cit, p. 33f. LeGoff and Turong, Une histoire du corps..., op. cit., p. 201-202, pinpoint the difficulties to adopt body metaphors for urban communities in the medieval discourse. On the character of urban communes as conjurationes see F.-J. Arlinghaus, “Konstruktionen von Identität mittelalterlicher Korporationen-rechtliche und kulturelle Aspekte“, in Spath (ed.), Bildlichkeit korporativer Siegel..., op. cit., p. 33-46, at p. 38-42.

46 On this seal in general: Westfälische Siegel, vol. 2, pl. 98, n° 2; A. Kônig, S. Krabath and H. Rabe, “Sigillum Burgensium in Huxuria. Anmerkungen zum Fund des ältesten Siegelstempels der Bürger”, in Zeitschrift fiir Archdologie des Mittelalters, n° 29, 2001, p. 31-39. A. Kônig, H. Rabe and G. Streich (eds), Hôxter. Geschichte einer wesfälischen Stadt. Vol. 1: Höxter und Corvey im Früh-und Hochmittelalter, Hanover: Hahn, 2003, p. 187-191.

47 Paderborn, StA, Urkunde Höxter 1264; calendered in: Westfälisches Urkundenbuch. Vol. 4: Die Urkunden des Bisthums Paderborn vom J. 1201-1300, Münster: Regenberg’sche Buchhandlung, 1877-94, n° 990, p. 503.

48 Kônig, Krabath and Rabe, “Sigillum Burgensium in Huxuria.art. cit., p. 33f.

49 Ibid., p. 34-36. W. Ehbrecht, “Ältere Stadtsiegel als Abbild Jerusalems”, in G. Signori (ed.), Das Siegel. Gebrauch und Bedeutung, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2007, p. 107-120, here p. 117f.

50 Difficulties are caused by a problematic situation around the sources on Hoxters communal history: Whereas there is much evidence on the formation of civic community in conflict with the town’s lord, the abbot of the imperial abbey of Corvey, until the mid 12th century, there is little evidence for the next hundred years. Only at the time, when the burgers of Hôxter obviously secured their independence from their lord and adopted the communal statutes of Dortmund in 1256, things become clearer in our perspective: at this time the abbot's judge and jury men turned out what can be considered as civic aldermen. See König, Rabe and Streich (eds.), Höxter..., op. cit., vol. 1, p. 396-403, in particular p. 398.

51 See note 46.

52 London, British Museum, Inv. n° 1842.0926.6. Ewald, Rheinische Siegel. III..., op. cit., plate 42, n° 3. In detail on this seal: Diederich, Rheinische Städtesiegel.op. cit., p. 198-203.

Indice delle illustrazioni

Legenda Ill. 1 - Matrix of the second seal of Holy Apostles, Cologne (around 1205-1213) Original, H. 80 mm Pfarrarchiv St. Aposteln, unsigned
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-1.jpg
File image/jpeg, 22k
Legenda Ill. 2 - Second seal of Holy Apostles, Cologne 19th century cast, H. 80 mm Historisches Archiv des Erzbistums, Siegelslg. Beissel, S.K. 282
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-2.jpg
File image/jpeg, 17k
Legenda Ill. 3 - Matrix of the first city seal of Dijon (before 1234) Original, ø 80 mm BNF, dép. des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques, unsigned
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-3.jpg
File image/jpeg, 15k
Legenda Ill. 4 - First city seal of Dijon 19th century cast, ø 80 mm Historisches Archiv des Erzbistums, Siegelslg. Beissel, S.K. 219
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-4.jpg
File image/jpeg, 24k
Legenda Ill. 5 - First seal of Holy Apostles, Cologne (before 1205) Original, ø 60 mm Düsseldorf, Hauptstaatsarchiv, Kloster Heisterbach, U. 0011
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-5.jpg
File image/jpeg, 14k
Legenda Ill. 6 - Cologne, Holy Apostles, floorplan of the church with reconstructed sites of canons’choirs, c. 1200 Reconstruction by author based on floorplan in B. Schütz, Romanik. Die Kirchen der Kaiser, Bischöfe und Kloster zwischen Rhein und Elbe, Freiburg: Herder, 1990, p. 278
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-6.jpg
File image/jpeg, 23k
Legenda Ill. 7 - Cologne, Holy Apostles, arial view form northeast (1984) Reproduced after Ornament a ecclesiae 2..., op. cit., p. 113.
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-7.jpg
File image/jpeg, 30k
Legenda Ill. 8 - Second city seal of Dijon 19th century cast, 0 90 mm ANF, sc/D 5475
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-8.jpg
File image/jpeg, 23k
Legenda Ill. 9 - First city seal of Höxter (later 12th century), ø 65 mm. a. Reconstruction drawing of the matrix. Reproduced after A. König, S. Krabath, H. Rabe, Sigillum Burgensium in Huxuria..., op.cit., fig. 1.b. Original, Paderborn, Stadtarchiv, U 3 (1264).
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-9.jpg
File image/jpeg, 40k
Legenda Ill. 10 - Matrix of the second city seal of Boppard (c. 1236) Original, ø 90 mm London, BM, Inv. n° 1842.0926.6© Trustees of the British Museum
URL http://books.openedition.org/irhis/docannexe/image/2909/img-10.jpg
File image/jpeg, 13k

Autore

Docteur en histoire de l’art médiéval (2003). Enseignant-chercheur en histoire de l’art médiéval, à l’université Justus Liebig de Giessen (All.) de 2003 à 2008, il est actuellement Dilthey-Fellow de la fondation Volkswagen, avec un projet de recherche sur l’iconographie des sceaux des corporations au bas Moyen Âge. Il a notamment publié : Verflechtung von Erinnerung. Bildproduktion und Geschichtsschreibung im Kloster San Clemente a Casauria während des 12. Jahrhunderts, (Berlin, 2007) ; « Individuum und Gruppe. Zu einem Bildkonzept nord-und ostfranzösischer Stadtsiegel des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts », Francia. Zeitschrift für westeuropäische Geschichte, 36 (2009, 67-90) ; sous sa direction, Die Bildlichkeit korporativer Siegel im Mittelalter. Kunstgeschichte und Geschichte im Gespräch (Köln, 2009).

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