Links

 

This section presents websites dedicated to heraldry and sigillography. They are mainly institutional but some associative and personal websites are also mentionned as they offer scientific rigour and serious informations usefull to researchers and connoisseurs.

1. Institutional websites concerning heraldry and sigillography

Direction des archives de France : The Direction des Archives de France implements a database for archival orientation and research which will gradually give access to the description of all records held in french public archives. The website offers a directory of all french departmental archives.
Website address : http://www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr

Archives nationales :
A favoured partner of the Société française d’Héraldique et de Sigillographie, the Archives nationales host the seat of our association et our monthly conferences, each third thurday of the month in the Salle d’Albâtre (see the programm at « news »).
Website address : http://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr
• The Centre de sigillographie et d’héraldique, successor of the Service des sceaux, gathers the seal collections of the Archives nationales : detached impressions, matrices, casts of impressions held in Paris or in departmental archives.
Presentation : http://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/
Presentation of the collections : https://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/
• ARCHIM, the database of the Archives nationales, proposes images of casts from the Collection Bourgogne, inventoried by Auguste Coulon, and also of medieval documents held in the Musée de l’histoire de France, amongst which lots of sealed charters.
Website address : http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/archim/dossiers.htm

Bibliothèque nationale de France :
• Gallica, the database of the BnF, gives access to millions of documents (prints, manuscripts, seals, coins and tokens), amongst which many concern heraldry and sigillography.
Website address : http://gallica.bnf.fr/
• The images database of the BnF offers a large choice of seal or armorial images. It is possible to order reproductions on-line (key-words : sceau, armoiries, héraldique).
Website address : http://images.bnf.fr/
• Hypothèses is a triennial research project dedicated to the preservation, restoration and digitisation of sealed charters of the Bnf. The purpose of this project is to gather reseachers with various competences and to highlight the extensive seal collections of the BnF.
Website address http://sceau.hypotheses.org/
• The website of the digital exhibition « Rouge. Des costumes de scène vus par Christian Lacroix » offers, in the section « Les facettes du rouge », articles of Michel Pastoureau (« La théâtralité du rouge », « Les quatre rouges chrétiens »), Jean-Luc Chassel (« Rubis, prince des gemmes, gemme des princes »), Alain Carou (« L’écran incandescent ») and Inès Villela-Petit (« Palette et nuancier: les rouges des teinturiers et des peintres »)
Website address : http://expositions.bnf.fr/rouge/index.htm

École nationale des chartes : The École nationale des chartes offers a bibliography of french studies on medieval texts, which includes a large part dedicated to french and european medieval sigillography, as well as Claude Jeay’s thesis about history of validation marks in France (2000).
Official website address : http://www.enc-sorbonne.fr

Archives générales du Royaume de Belgique : The Archives générales du Royaume de Belgique present images of their seal collection. Created from 1864 on, this collection gathers 38,000 seal casts, all of which available on-line.
Website address : http://arch.arch.be/
Digitised casts : http://search.arch.be/

Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes : Located in Paris and Orléans, the laboratories of the IRHT research on medieval manuscripts, study and transmission of texts during the Middle Ages in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and Old French.
Website address : http://www.irht.cnrs.fr

Ménestrel : This is a web ressources directory devoted to Middle Ages. Two members of the S.F.H.S contribute to the pages on heraldry and sigillography.
Website address : http://www.menestrel.fr/

Laboratoire de Médiévistique occidentale de Paris : The LAMOP is part of the history research centers of the Université de Paris I (URF09) and of the FR 33 of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. This website presents the researches of the laboratory, some databases and news about seminaries and colloquiums.
Website address : http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr

Archives départementales de l’Aube : These archives hold the prestigious collection of documents of the Cistercian Clairvaux Abbey. The entire collection of XIIth and XIIIth Century charters and seals is now available on-line, as well as cartularies and inventories of all chapters, abbeys and commanderies of the department. A large collection of 288 detached seal impressions has also been on-line since 2012.
Website address : http://www.archives-aube.com/
• Since the exhibition « Sceaux et usages de sceaux », the agency 1 égal 2 has been producing a CD-ROM and a database on-line for the Archives de l’Aube.
Presentation on the website of 1 égal 2 : http://www.1egal2.com/a/185/sceaux-et-usages-de-sceaux/
Presentation on the website of the Archives de l’Aube : http://www.archives-aube.fr/r/54/

Archives départementales de l’Yonne : The celebration of the Ninth centenary of Pontigny Abbey was an opportunity to highlight the collections of nine Cistercians institutions. Numerous sealed charters have been especifically identified. Out of 900 documents, 504 images of the best or unique impressions have been digitalised, described and inventored.
Website address : http://archivesenligne.yonne-archives.fr/

Archives départementales de la Somme : The documents related to the church in these archives hold many medieval seal impressions. A database is being prepared with images, descriptions and inventory references, available on-line of the website of the Archives de la Somme.
Website address : http://archives.somme.fr/

Archives départementales d’Eure-et-Loir : They present an on-line gallery of the best documents held in their fonds, amongst which a Carolingian diploma and a sealed charter with explanations about sealing practices.
Website address : http://www.archives28.fr/

National archives : In 2003, the Public record office, founded in 1838, merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission, resulting in the creation of the British National Archives. A guide and a collection of 3,000 seal images are available on-line on their website.
Website address : http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Durham University Library : This University owns the charters of the Durham Cathedral, holding one of the most important collection of seals in Britain. A database gives access to the
Catalogue of the Seals in the Treasury of the Dean and Chapter of Durham written in 1911 by W. Greenwell et C.H. Hunter Blair, reviewed and updated. Furthermore, a large part of those charters is available on-line with photos and historical analysis.
Website address : http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/

Historische Kommision für Niedersachsen und Bremen : A database of 1,450 seal impressions belonging to the Welfes, from Henry the Lion up to the XVIIIth Century, is avaiblable on-line.
Website address : http://www.historische-datenbanken.niedersachsen.de/

2. Sigillographic websites

Sigillvm is an international organization born in 2007 on the initiative of several members of the former Committee on Sigillography of the International Council on Archives, which aims to disseminate and encourage scientific research. In addition to news, the website offers a history of the discipline and an overview of new research perspectives in this field.
Adresse : http://www.sigillvm.net/

Sigillo’web : This collective website is dedicated to medieval and modern unpublished seals and signets from Flanders, Artois and Hainaut, and from the cities of Cambrai and Tournai. This inventory concerns imprints held in public and private fonds.
Website address : http://sigilloweb.free.fr/

Signvm : The website of the Société de numismatique, héraldique et sigillographie du nord de la France presents this learned society and its activities, centered on the study of symbols, objects and texts related to the history of the French Netherland.
Website address : http://signvm.free.fr/

Le comté de Champagne au Moyen Âge : It is a personal website about the history of this region between the Tenth and the Thirteenth Century. It offers biographies of the counts of Champagne and informations about the economy, politics, religion heraldry and sigillography.
Website address : http://lamop.univ-paris1.fr/baudin/index.htm

Scel’Art : This private workshop of sigillographie, directed by Philippe Jacquet, a seal restorer, works with many french departemental archives. Scel’Art also undertake reproductions of original imprints or casts. The database SPHRAGIS offers to researchers about 67,000 references.
Website address : http://www.scelart.com/

The Shoyen collection : This is a virtual exhibition of 12,500 items gathered during the XXth Century by a Norvegian connoisseur, Martin Schoyen, and presented by the National Library of Norway. 222 items are presented on-line, amongst which a few medieval sealed charters.
Website address : http://www.schoyencollection.com/seals.html

Medieval Writing : John Tillotson, professor of medieval history at the Canberra University, created this website mainly dedicated to medieval written documents, paleography, chanceries, illuminations, etc. One section concerns seals. It is organised by categories of seal-owners.
Website address : http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/decoration/sealindex.htm

3. Heraldic websites

Heraldica Nova : This blog, available in five langages, is a forum devoted to heraldry in its cultural and historical context. It gives news about research projects, colloquiums, exhibitions and publications, as well as reading abstracts.
Website address : http://heraldica.hypotheses.org/

Studies in Heraldry : Realised by Brian Timms, this english personal website is clear and well organised. It presents many armorial documents (Armorial du Héraut Vermandois, Armorial des provinces de France, crests, etc) and a study of english barons’ heraldry on their seals, used in 1301 at the bottom of a letter – never sent and adressed to Boniface VIII. Notices present each baron, an image of his seal-cast, a colored drawing of his coat of arms with a description. Another sigillographic section presents French equestrian seals as well as a few heraldic seals showing lions.
Website address : http://www.briantimms.fr/

The Heraldry Society : Founded in 1947, this society aims at developing the understanding of coats of arms. Twice a year, they publish a journal, Coat of Arm, with good quality articles concerning heraldic archeology and original documents, and a quarterly bulletin, The Heraldry Gazette. This website offers a wide choice of old articles published in the journal Coat of Arms and a list of conferences dedicated to technical or historical aspects of heraldry.
Website address : http://www.theheraldrysociety.com/

Nederlandse Genealogische Vereniging : A branch of the Dutch Genealogy Society publishes every three months a richly illustrated journal dedicated to heraldry, Heraldisch Tijdschrift. Another quarterly journal in Dutch, Heraldicum disputationes, has been published in Belgium since 1995.
Website address : http://cbg-heraldiek.blogspot.fr

Medieval armorials : This Danish website, hosted by Steen Clemmensen in english, lists medieval armorial records. Documents are not presented as images : they take the form of overview tables and lists of coats of arms, which is usefull for researchers. The website is regularly completed.
Website address : http://www.armorial.dk

Anton Zeven : This webmaster offers, in Dutch, well-documented studies dedicated to heraldry and sigillography. There are also informations about marks, those combinations of characters (letters, geometrical designs) used by craftmen or trading companies, which are seldom studied.
Website address : http://antonzeven.nl/

4. Others

Cour de France : This scientific project offers a webplace to promote studies and documents related to the history of the French Court from the Middle Ages to the XIXth Century. This is also a thematic portal with links towards more than 2,000 articles and books (with free access).
Website address : http://cour-de-france.fr