Twelve deeds with fourteen seals, in Latin [England, mid-13th century to 1570s]

12 documents, all vellum: (a) Shropshire deed with a VERY FINE ARMORIAL SEAL, a very well preserved and clear impression, c.1252-63; (b-f) five deeds from Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire: Burton, 1352; Hawkesworth, 1341, 1344, and 1469, Lichfield, 1369; (g-i) three deeds from Hertfordshire and Nottinghamshire: Burton, 1352, 1398, etc.; (j-k) two deeds, each with the Great Seal of Elizabeth I, 1572 and 1577

A DIVERSE AND INTERESTING GROUP, WRITTEN IN A VARIETY OF SCRIPTS; EIGHT ARE EARLIER THAN 1400

The armorial seal appears to be the earliest record of the arms of the lords of Leighton, Shropshire; a deed concerning lands in Criddon, Shropshire, granted by a chaplain to his brother, FORBIDS TRANSFER OF THE PROPERTY TO RELIGIOUS OR JEWS (‘exceptis viris religiosis et Iudeis’), pre-dating the Expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290; three Staffordshire grants by husbands and wives, 1369-1425, have two grantors’ seals each; one of the two Elizabethan grants refers to former monastic lands in Essex.

Each document is accompanied by a more detailed description.