Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, David Bigode, David & Goliath
Cloth Seal, Clothier's Seal, David Bigode, David & Goliath, Image & Found by Huite van der Meer.
Found in Friesland, Holland, east of Leeuwarden, 75mm.
David and Goliath, DA VID BIGODE around above // missing
From the finder, "The picture on the seal is David and Goliath or [representing] the expulsion of David Bigode out of the city of Lille during the French Reformation in the 16e century - Robert S. DuPlessis, Lille and the Dutch Revolt: Urban Stability in an Era of Revolution, 1500-1582.
After his expulsion David Bigode started as a merchand in Londen. When he died he made a will (1596) in which he left some looms capable of making fine cloth.
A second seal with the same name David Bigode is probably a clothseal (also found in the Netherlands)."
From Mike Patrick, "apparently David left his son, Peter Bigode a Loom and Tools to continue the manufacture of 'Tuffe taffeta'. I'm sure that others will know what this is but I have found a dictionary definition of it as 'a kind of inferior silk used in church-hangings'. ... As far as can be ascertained, the decision to make peace with Spain did not divide the current Magistrat, although certain members may have taken the lead in urging the step. But the city government does seem to have felt that the move was sufficiently unpopular to make it wise to exile influential men - some of whom may have already shown themselves opposed to the Loi during one or another incident in the recent past - rather than to allow resistance to coalesce around them. So on 25 May (1579), fourteen townspeople were summoned before the Loi. Informed that for unspecified 'good reasons and motives,' and to uphold public order, they would have to leave Lille by three in the afternoon, they were forbidden to return without explicit permission of the aldermen on pain of death or other severe punishment. Several asked that they be told the basis of the expulsion order but their requests were denied. Others were more defiant. David Bigode, for instance, declared that 'the sun shines as brightly elsewhere as here.' No matter what their attitude, however, all were forced to leave.
It so happens that the Bigode family of Nord/Pas de Calais has been studied by modern descendants who have managed to construct a basic family tree as follows:
John Bigod, Knt (1281-1333) m. Joan
John Bigod, (1310-)
Jehan Bigod
Jacques Bigode (1410-)
Simon Bigode (1470-1506)
Jehan Bigode (1462-1514)
Jacques Bigode (1500-)
David Bigode (1525-) m. Simone Malbranque (1525)
Birth: 1525 - Camphin-en-Pévèle, Nord, Nord-pas-de-Calais, France
Pierre (Peter) Bigo (1543-)
Birth or Bapt: 22 Apr 1543 - Lille, Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
Jacques Bigo (1590) m. Michelle Lesaige
Ambroise Bigo (1630-1701) m. Francoise de Hennion (1630)
Antoine D Bigo (1653-1720) m. Marie Claire Reinart (1660-1722)
Antoine B Bigo (1705-1744) m. Marie-Barbe F Crepy (1700-1763)
Jacques F Bigo (1734-1790) m. Ann P F Quivy
Joseph F Bigo (1775-1854) m. Catherine J Guillotaux (1774-)
Louis F A Bigo (1800) m. Eugenie Stievenard (1814-)
Charles E Bigo (1883-1955) m. Marie E Lesourd (1876-1967)
Yvonne Bigo (1913-2003) m. Karl Belfort Johnson (1906-1967)
This of course doesn't help with the lead seal identification but, at least, contact with the family will give more pairs of eyes to assist with the search.
The information is published on the ANCESTRY (subscription) web-site.
Interestingly Camphin-en-Pévèle is right on the modern France/ Belgium border."