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HISTORY NOW

Have a story? Please email Matt Elton at matt.elton@immediate.co.uk

Codebreaking the seal Wax seals such as these were attached to medieval documents – and many bear palmand fingerprints that may reveal details about their owners’ status

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CSI history: experts analyse ngerprints to crack medieval mysteries

What can modern forensic techniques tell us about life in the Middle Ages – and could they be used to solve crimes? Matt Elton reports

Medieval documents are renowned for their intricate illuminations and ornate calligraphy. But now experts are turning to another, less-celebrated feature to find out more about the Middle Ages: the wax seal.

The physical effort used to stamp these seals often left on them the fingerand palm-prints of the people who drew up the documents. A new project will use the latest technology to examine thousands of examples created in business transactions from the 12th to 14th century, and may help transform our understanding of social relationships in the period.

How common were such seals? Project members Philippa Hoskin, of the University of Lincoln, and Elizabeth New, of Aberystwyth University, suggest there were rather more than you might think. “Most people know that noblemen used seals,” says New, “but even many historians don’t appreciate that in medieval England and parts of Wales and Scotland, men and women low down the social scale could and did have seals. It was a personal possession at a time when possessions were very few.”

Such seals weren’t used to secure documents, but were lumps of wax affixed to the foot of a parchment, heated and imprinted

BBC History Magazine

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