This remarkable book is more than an expert analysis of medieval English seals as objects. It the first to adequately recognise the value of seals used by men and women of non-elite status to the wider field of medieval studies. Readably written, and full of fresh information on those aspects of seals that mattered most to medieval people, Seals and the Culture of Sealing in Medieval England will be a front-line resource for scholars working in many disciplines.

Julian Luxford, Professor of Art History, University of St Andrews, UK

In Seals and the Culture of Sealing in Medieval England, Elizabeth New, a foremost scholar of insular sealing practices, magisterially reveals the agency and significance of seals and their use within the workings of middling and lower strata of English society. Drawing on some twenty years of exemplary and probing scholarship, New builds on the pioneering work of Paul D.A. Harvey to make a compelling case for the widespread importance of a sealing culture that extended far beyond elite contexts. Seals, she demonstrates, facilitated communication, enabled broad participation in legal, economic, and political activities, and provided individuals with powerful means for expressing identity and piety. Elizabeth New's sigillographic study thus opens a new social history of medieval England and Wales, one in which the practices of sealing illuminate the aspirations, relationships, and agency of a much wider range of medieval people.

Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak, New York University, USA