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 (blood diarrhea). He was also the eighth king of the newly found 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. This gives us an idea of how the seal was used to authenticate government documents and the method it accompanied the documents. 

The obverse side has 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, 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 exact seating position as King Amalric in his seal. This tells us that there is a sense of consistency among the seals of the kingdom which makes sense because their value is driven from how consistent 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. However, the Crusaders thought that it was King David’s palace. The Temple is Templum Domini, which is the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine (see this page to learn more about the effect of the Crusaders on the Dome of the Rock). At the border as well, there is a latin inscription that translates to “King of Jerusalem.” It's possible to tell which building is which simply by analyzing the texture of each of the buildings on the seal which was done purposefully. Overall, the reverse of the seals of the kings mentioned previously had the exact design as King Amalric’s seal with a slight variation in design detail as shown to the right.