Cloth Seal, Belgian, Malines, Image & Found by ExpIInut.
Found on the east coast of Lincolnshire, 15mm.
Crosier, + E P S.L E O (D I) // shield bearing paly of three, LIER+BERTOMVL
Two disc cloth seal showing a crozier with +EPS.LEO(DI) around and the other disc shows a shield bearing paly of three, inscription - LIER+BERT(O?)MV.. around.
Unlike BSG.CS.00083 which clearly has a connecting strip this seal does not show obvious signs of one. This is not uncommon with damaged, incomplete seals but this seems to be a complete seal in near perfect condition and matches well with the unused blank seal found in Michelin.
Malines was a wealthy city in late middle ages due to the cloth trade and even became the capital of the Low Countries in the first half of the sixteenth century under Archduchess Margaret of Austria.
A very similar seal is listed as No.325 Fig.43, Geoff Egan, Lead cloth seals and related items in the British Museum but the inscriptions do not appear to match,
"The legend may be restored from a number of parallels found in London and Yorkshire as FLO BERTHUL. EPS LEODI.., i.e. 'Florent Berthoult, Bishopric of Liege'. Florent (or Floris) Berthoult ... c.1275 - 1331+, was among the leading potentates in the region, and Malines acknowledged the authority of the bishop-princes of Liege from 1305 onwards. ... Another of these seals with Berthoult's name was excavated in London in a deposit attributed to the late fourteenth century."
Today Malines, now known as Michelin, is a Dutch speaking city in Belgium. Modern Belgium was not formed until 1830. At the time of this seal Malines was part of a smaller state, see MECHELEN: History and History of Belgium.
