Bart's

Photo: Christopher Fowler

St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, was founded by one of Henry I's chaplains, Rahere.  He fell ill, and, fearfully, vowed that if he recovered, he'd found a hospital. Presumably in some delirium, he was visited in a dream by St Bartholomew, who promised that if he founded a church in Smithfield, he would recover.  Rahere recovered, and therefore founded a church - an Austin priory, with a hospital attached.  You can read more about the hospital here.  Rahere died in 1145, and was buried in the church he founded and had been prior of.  Here he is (in a slightly later tomb).

The seals are described in full in The Records of St Bart's, and most are illustrated in An Illustrated Account of St. Bartholomew's Priory Church, Smithfield, by Normanus.

The earliest two seals, attached to a deed of 1137, show:i) (seal, left) Rahere as prior. Rahere is in typical prelate's pose - cross in right hand, Bible in left.  Inscription seems to be: SIGILL' RAE...IES C BARTHOLOMEO SMETHFELD

ii) (counterseal, right) a church with three towers.

Cf churches on the seals of Burscough and Canterbury, shown here. Legend:  [SIGILL]VM CONVENT. ECCLE. DI. ET S. BARTHOLOMEI DE SME[THFELD].  The two legends' lettering is very similar.  The seal and counterseal are depicted in an article from Archaeologia XIX (1817). 

The 12th-century hospital had its own seal (BM 3487), with St Bartholomew nimbed, right hand in benediction, left hand holding a cross crozier, and the inscription HOSPITALIS SANCTI [BART]HOLOME[I]. Normanus notes this seal ad causas (right) on a document from 1164, very similar to the description of the hospital's seal, but with the legend SIGILL' PRIORIS ET CONVENT' S BARTHOLI' LOND' AD CAUSAS.

The late 12th/ 13th-century priory had a stonking seal and counterseal.  The seal (below) shows Bartholomew, cross in hand, sitting on or standing behind (I don't quite trust this illustration) a Norman church with two circular side towers.  This seal really reminds me of London's seal from 1219 (below Bart's seal), with St Paul brandishing his sword and pennon.  The Records of St Bart's says that the seal was on documents from 1198 to 1289, and it also notes a similarity between the circular towers here and those in the 12th-century counterseal. The legend is SIGILL · CONVENTVS · ECCLIE · SCI · BARThOLOMEI · APL'I · DE LVDONIA.

The counterseal is also noteworthy (BM 3489).  It's the 'navis ecclesiae', or ship of the church.  The church often appears as a ship  - indeed, the word 'nave' comes from 'navis' - which goes back to that special biblical ship, the ark.  (Here's a nice one at Lincoln.) The influential 12th-century Augustinian Hugh of St Victor wrote De Arca Noe (Of Noah's Ark), which could be found in monastic libraries up and down the land.  Coventry Cathedral Priory also had a ship or ark on its seal.  Here, the ark is a church on a fine hull, with three crosses (west and east end, and central tower), and an estoile and crescent (sun and moon) which is a feature of many seals of the period. A hand extends from the sinister side of the ship; it is clutching - I think - the dove, although that's not quite clear.  The legend: SIGILL': PRIORIS: ECCLESIE: SCI: BARTOLOMEI.

The sigillum commune, or common seal, of the Priory from c.1300 (BM 3492) has Bartholomew seated on a carved throne.  This 18th-century illustration is from the Wellcome Collection, which has it in excellent resolution.  The Records and Birch note a resemblance with the Great Seal of Edward I (illustration below, but there's a better one here).  Bartholomew has his flaying-knife where Edward has his orb, and a book (though not illustrated here) instead of Edward's sceptre.  It even has a beaded border like Edward's.  In addition, there's a moon and sun and two groups of three spots, and the legend reads: SIGILLVM COMMVNE PRIOR' ET CO[N]VE[N]TVS S[AN]C[T]I BARTHOLOMEI LONDON'.

The counterseal is another navis ecclesiae.  The church itself is a lovely bit of Early English, with three lots of two lancets, east and west end surmounted by trefoils, centre by a quatrefoil. It's a nice updating of the previous counterseal. The legend is a couplet such as was all the rage on episcopal counterseals: CREDIMVS: ANTE: DEVM: PROVEHI: PER: BARTHOLOMEVM ('we believe that we are brought before God through St Bartholomew'.)

The hospital seal from around the same time is a pointed oval, with Bartholomew holding his knife and book. He has either side of him two saplings with shields hanging on them, with the English leopards on them, and he stands on a lion couchant guardant. Over his head is a trefoiled canopy, pinnacled and crocketed. Legend:  S: COMMUNE · hOSPITALIS · SANCTI · BARThI · LONDON.  A later version of this, on a document of 1529, is pictured right.

A 14th-century seal ad causas (BM 3495) is a pointed oval with Bartholomew standing on a corbel with a flaying knife in his hand and a cross crozier in his left. The legend is: [SIGILLUM PRIORIS] ET CONV[ENTUS SANCTI BAR]THOL'I LOND AD CAVS[AS].

After the Dissolution, Mary I established a Dominican friary here. St Bartholomew holds his flaying-knife in his right hand and a book (the Bible) in his left, and stands under a renaissance canopy, between two columns and on a decorated corbel.  The legend reads SIGILLV: COVET: S'CTI: BARTHOLOMEI: ORDINIS: FRATRV: PREDICATORV: LODO: