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Amalric, king of Jerusalem (1163–1174)

 
 

Obverse

A king seated on a backless throne, wearing a crown, holding in his right hand a scepter surmounted by a cross, and in his left a globus surmounted by a trefoil ornament. Drawn curtains on the left and right. Within linear borders, a circular inscription beginning at 12 o'clock.

Sigillum A[malric]e

Reverse

The city of Jerusalem, represented by a crenelated wall with a central gate. Behind the wall on the left, the Holy Sepulchre; in the middle, the Tower of David; and on the right, the Temple. Within linear borders, a circular inscription beginning at 12 o'clock.

re[gis] Hierusalem.

Obverse

A king seated on a backless throne, wearing a crown, holding in his right hand a scepter surmounted by a cross, and in his left a globus surmounted by a trefoil ornament. Drawn curtains on the left and right. Within linear borders, a circular inscription beginning at 12 o'clock.

Sigillum A[malric]e

Reverse

The city of Jerusalem, represented by a crenelated wall with a central gate. Behind the wall on the left, the Holy Sepulchre; in the middle, the Tower of David; and on the right, the Temple. Within linear borders, a circular inscription beginning at 12 o'clock.

re[gis] Hierusalem.

Accession number BZS.1951.31.5.2939
Diameter 35.0 mm; field: 29.0 mm
Previous Editions

DO Seals 5 no. 19.2; H. E. Mayer, "Ein unbekanntes Kreuzfahrersiegel," 210.

Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore.

Translation

Sigillum Amalrice regis Hierusalem.

Seal of Amalric, king of Jerusalem.

Commentary

DO Seals 5 followed Mayer in printing an I for the final letter on the obverse inscription. It seems clear that it is a lunate E, which we have transcribed here.

Bibliography

  • Ein Unbekanntes Kreuzfahrersiegel (Open in Zotero)
  • Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 5: The East (continued), Constantinople and Environs, Unknown Locations, Addenda, Uncertain Readings (Open in Zotero)