Monday, May 28, 2007

Rabbi’ s Seal from Spanish Inquisition Period

Magen David seal This is a seal of a Rabbi, in the shape of a Magen David, and it is from the Spanish Inquisition period . In other words it is not later than the 1492 Expulsion of the Jews from Spain and no sooner than 13th century, when the Inquisition was founded.
This is a very rare item but there were other Magen David items from that period, as Gershom Scholem wrote in his article about the origin of the Star of David , which was published in the Encyclopedia Judaica:
The ornamental use of the hexagram continued in the Middle Ages, especially in Muslim and Christian countries. The kings of Navarre used it on their seals (10th and 11th centuries) and (like the pentagram) it was frequently employed on notaries’ signs in Spain, France, Denmark, and Germany, by Christian and Jewish notaries alike. Sometimes drawn with slightly curved lines.

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