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Magisterial Authority, Philosophical Identity, and the Growth of Marian Devotion: The Seals of Parisian Masters, 1190–1308

On 25 March 1308 fourteen regent masters of the faculty of theology at Paris responded to a series of questions posed to them by King Philip IV concerning the Templars. At the bottom of the document, following “In testimonium autem omni predictorum sigilla nostra duximus presentibus apponenda” and date, are the seals of the masters (Fig. 1).1 Some of these masters held ecclesiastical posi­ tions or offices within their respective religious orders, but in each instance they were affixing their seals in their capacity as masters in theology. Their name on the strip of parchment used to attach each seal bore the title magister, or frater in the case of the two masters from the Dominican order and the regent master from the Collège de Cluny. This document not only has the largest number of magisterial seals of any sur­ viving document from the medieval University of Paris, albeit in fragmentary condition, but it is an example of the importance of personal seals in place of a corporate seal in authenticating a statement or action of a group, in this case the faculty of theology. Most of the attention to seals connected with the Uni­ versity of Paris has been focused on corporate seals, but individual magisterial seals precede the emergence of the university and at times were used in place of a corporate seal for the authentication of actions of the university or one of its faculties or nations. The following study redresses to some extent that imbalance in research on seals connected with the University of Paris, explores the circum­ stances in which a corporate seal or individual seals were chosen to be used on