This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

Jerusalem Ruler Seals Comparison

This page is referenced by:

What is this?
By Omar Afifi '24

This is a seal of King Amalric. It’s fairly small; it has a diameter of 35 mm. He ruled from 1163 until 1174 when he died of dysentery. He ruled about sixty years after the founding of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem.

The seal would travel with documents attached with a string. If we take a closer look at the seal’s top and bottom, we see indentations–more prevalent at the bottom. These indentations are the locations where the string would wrap around the seal to attach it to the documents. The string would go across the seal and wrap over both indentations multiple times. The seal was used to authenticate government documents.

The obverse side shows Amalric seated on a backless throne with a trefoil ornament in his left hand and a scepter in his right hand. At the border of the seal, there is a Latin inscription that translates to “Seal of Amalric.” If we take a look at the seals of the immediately preceding king and a successor king of Jerusalem, we can see that they followed the same design.

For example, the seal of King Baldwin III (1143-1163) and the seal of John Brienne (1210-1212) shows the respective kings seated in the same seated position as King Amalric on his seal. There is consistency among the seals of the kingdom, which makes sense because their value is driven from how widely recognized they are, similar to coins used as currency.

The reverse side has three iconic buildings: the Holy Sepulchre on the left, the Tower of David in the middle, and the Temple on the right. The pilgrimage of a crusader was not considered complete until they had prayed at the Holy Sepulchre. Many kings of Jerusalem were also crowned and buried there. It’s believed that Christ was crucified then buried, before his resurrection, at the Holy Sepulchre which gives it its significance to the crusader movement. The Tower of David served as a strategic spot for guards, and the crusaders thought that it was King David’s palace. The Temple is the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine that was transformed into a church, known as the Templum Domini (see this page to learn more about the effect of the Crusaders on the Dome of the Rock). At the edge of the seal, a Latin inscription translates to “King of Jerusalem.” The reverse of the seals of the kings mentioned previously also had the same design as King Amalric’s seal.
Who made the Seal of Amalric?
By Omar Afifi '24

King Amalric’s seal is similar to the seal of previous rulers and successor rulers. If we take a look at drawings of the Seal of Baldwin III (1143-1163), Seal of Amalric (1163-1174), and Seal of John of Brienne (1210-1212), we can see that the seals stayed consistent across reigning rulers. It’s extremely important for the seals to stay consistent because an inconsistency signaled inauthenticity. As a result, the individuals that created these seals had to be skilled people, craftspeople, that are able to draw and do metal work. The ruler could make suggestions to the craftspeople about the design of the seal. However, the ruler was not involved in the creation process of the seal.
The design of the seal remained consistent across rulers to also solidify the kingdom’s divine supported mission. For instance, all the seals observed represented the king on one side and the three religious buildings on the other side. This approach of including two different, yet connected, themes on either side of the seal drives the mission of the newly created kingdom even further; a kingdom of political and religious guidance. This approach is not limited to Christian Jerusalem seals only. In fact, the seal of Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders (1206-1216)--included in this exhibition–had political and religious features on it as well.