Description of Medieval Monastic Seals from the Cabinet of Peter I: at the Origins of Scientific Sphragistics

Abstract

A document containing unique information about the seals on medieval acts that were stored in the early 18th century in the archives of the “Moscow” (i. e. Kremlin) monasteries is examined and published in the article. It has been established that this description was compiled by the Monastyrskii Prikaz in 1709 in response to the request of Tsar Peter I and was attached to the letter of I. A. Musin-Pushkin, the Prikaz’s Head. The document was not found and was considered lost, when the Letters and Papers of Emperor Peter the Great were published in 1709. The description contains information about official seals from the archives of two of the four Kremlin monasteries that existed that time — Chudov and Afanasievsky (the courtyard of the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery). Four seals were discovered, described and drawn in the Chudov archive, and one in the Afanasevsky archive. The author considers the description as the origins of scientific sphragistics, since the compilation of this document is clearly out of the scope of practical tasks (identification of the act in the monastic archive and indication of its proper certification).

Keywords

• sphragistics
• diplomatics
• seals
• acts
• monasteries