- Object type
- Seals
- Date
- Production: 1207 - 1228
- Subject(s)
- Bearers of the Cross
- Associated person
- Subject: Pierre Guérin de Montaigu (d. 1228)
- Inscriptions
-
obverse: +GUARINUS:CUSTOS:
reverse: :HOSPITALIS:IHERUSALEM:+
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 39mm
Depth: 4mm - Materials and technique
- Lead
- References
-
Fincham, Henry Walter. Catalogue of the Museum at St. Johns Gate. Unpublished, Museum of the Order of St John, 1915.
Seal 50
King, Edwin James. Seals of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1932.
Pages 11-12 - Provenance
-
Former Curator, Henry Walter Fincham reported the bulla was found while digging near a church in Apulia.
Purchased in April 1930. - Exhibition history
- Holy City, Holy War: Devotion to the Sacred in Crusader Jerusalem, Museum of the Order of St John, 2 September 2017-22 December 2017
- Catalogue number
- 1601
Lead bulla of Grand Master Guérin de Montaigu
This seal depicts the Grand Master as a devotee of the cross. It is likely that it was intended to represent the True Cross relic that the crusaders had discovered in Jerusalem in 1099. Although this relic was lost at the Battle of Hattin in 1187, it was felt to be so valuable that twelfth- and thirteenth-century crusaders continued to prioritise its recovery.