John. Edward III .'s long reign produced eight or nine seals, including two " Seals of Absence," one of which is shown in No. 7. These seals of absence were provided for use when the King was out of England. For example, on July 10, 1338, a proclamation was issued — says Rymer the antiquary — stating that the King was about to leave the country upon certain great and weighty
the first in which an English King used the title " Rex Franciae," and in which the arms of France are quartered with those of Eng land. It is also the first seal in which the lion statant guardant with extended tail ap pears as the royal crest of England. This third Great Seal was delivered up to the King by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on board ship off Harwich, when the King was
matters (namely, to prosecute his claim to the throne of France), and intended to take with him his Great Seal, and that he had pro vided another seal, which was to be used for the rule of the kingdom during his ab sence. All these seals of Edward were alike in their chief features — viz., that the obverse showed the King enthroned, and the reverse showed him galloping in more or less warlike and vigorous fashion. Edward III.'s third seal [of Presence] was
about to sail for Flanders, June 20, 1340, and was then broken, another seal — that shown in No. 7 — having been provided for the rule of the kingdom during the King's absence. We pass, without illustration, the seals of Richard II., who had two, one specially for French affairs; of Henry IV., who also had two Great Seals; of Henry V., who had a golden and a silver seal; of Henry VI., who had two silver seals and a golden seal. A
