Bridlington

The s-Bek-tre (geddit?) of the Durham bishopric is apparent in the seals of Gisburne and Moxby, and it certainly is on this seal.

Spot the difference.  Left is Bridlington, late 13th-century.  Right is Anthony Bek's seal from 1284.  Charles Clay noted that 'Two of the Bridlington seals are closely similar in design to certain episcopal seals at Durham, indicating the probability of a local school of workmanship.'





















It seems to me that Bek's seal is of a superior workmanship, although that could just be the quality of impressions.  Both show the Coronation of the Virgin, and we can imagine a canon worshipping where Bek himself is, at the bottom.  The diapering recalls the seal of an earlier bishop of Durham, Richard Poor, but also (of course!), Merton Priory.  Its inscription S’ COMMVNE : ECCLE….BRIDELINGTONA.


Its counterseal was the chapter seal ad causas.  This is exciting - it's a matrix!  The BVM (crowned) holds the Child (nimbed) under a crocketed trefoiled arch supported by slender columns with pinnacles.  Either side are quatrefoils, and she stands on a corbel which slightly suggests Gisburne's first seal.  The similarity of Gisburne's second seal with Bek's obverse is commented on in that post.  So perhaps Clay is right, and there's a workshop with a number of house styles, which produced seals for Bek, Gisburne and Bridlington.  The BVM's folds are rather splendid.  Inscription S’ CAPITVLI : SCE : MARIE : …. BRIDELINGTONA AD CAVSAS.