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.