248 KEMARKS ON ONE OF THE GREAT SEALS OF EDWARD III. being somewhat tedious, trace the history of this seal through all the notices relating to it to be found in Rymer, up to the date of these documents ; for it is a matter of the first importance, in elucidating the claim of this seal to be the seal E, to fix dates accurately. The history of the first four seals, a, b, c, d, of Edward III., is concisely stated iu Professor WiUis's account. We begin then with the seals e and F. The first of these, as mentioned above, was the seal of absence, used for the government of England, while the king was abroad ; the latter was the seal of presence, which always accompanied him in his peregrinations ; and on his return to England, was delivered to the chancellor, and the seal E, was taken from him, and sealed up, and deposited in the treasury, or committed to such other custody as the king thought fit. It first makes its appearance on the 20th June, 1340 ; when the Archbishop of Canterbury, on retiring from the Chancellorship, resigned its predecessor (d) into the hands of the king, who caused it to be immediately broken ; and delivered a new seal to John de St. Paul, to be kept b}^ him, until the coming of Robert, Bishop of Chichester, who had been appointed Chancellor, and to Avhom it was transferred on the 12th July ;^ the king having in the meantime gone abroad.^ He returned on the 30th November ; and on the 1st December, within the Tower of London, received from the Chancellor the great seal for the rule of England durino- his absence, and committed it to WiUiam de Kildesby, keeper of the Privy Seal, who carried it on the next Saturda}', with another great seal (f), which the king had brought w^ith him from abroad, to the church of All Hallows, Barking, and there sealed certain writs, dated before the king's return, with the seal which had been given up by the Chancellor ; and two royal charters, which had been made abroad, with the seal which the king had brought with him. Both seals were then carried back to the king, in the Tower, who ordered that the seal, which he had brought with him from abroad, should henceforth be used iu England.^ In 1342 the king again went abroad, and appointed his son Edward, then Duke of Cornwall, to be guardian of the realm. Just before his departure. Sir Robert Parnjmg, who had been appointed Chancellor October 28th, 1341, dehvered 3 Rymer,vol. ii., p. 1129. •• Ibid. Mbid. 1141.
