A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse ; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.46
A recognition that at the beginning of the sixth century a.D. bishops were in possession of signet rings is offered by a circular letter addressed by Clovis I, in 511 a.D., after
his victory over the Visigoths at Vouglé, to the bishops of the many
cities that came under his domination as the fruits of this success. He
informs the bishops that he will free all prisoners, either clerical or
lay, for whom this favor shall be asked in letters " sealed with your
ring." This, however, only confirms the other testimony to the effect
that the bishops had signets, but does not suffice to establish the
existence at this time of rings given to them at their consecration as
symbols of their office.47
The
French kings of the Merovingian age stamped upon their royal documents
the design engraved on their signet rings, the accompanying formula
being frequently as follows : " By the impress of our ring we
corroborate (roborari fecimus)"; slightly different forms
appear sometimes. The following list gives, with the dates, a number of
seal impressions that have been found on such documents:48
46 SS.
Zenonis et Optati, " Opera omnia," in Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol.
xi, Paris, 1845 ; S. Optati, "De schismate Donatistiarum," lib. i, cap.
10, note.
47 Philippi Labbeei and Cossarti, " Sacrosancta concilia," voi. iv, col. 1403.
48 Deloche,
" Le port des anneaux dans l'antiquité romaine, et dans les premiers
siècles du moyen âge," Paris, 1896, pp. 108, 109; from Mémoires de
l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol. xxxv.
