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ThePrivy Seal ofEngland originally served to authenticate the king's personal communication and can be traced back to the reign ofKing John in the early thirteenth century. While theGreat Seal was required to remain inChancery, the Privy Seal travelled with the sovereign. However, during the second half of KingEdward III's reign, in the mid-fourteenth century, the Office of the Privy Seal took on various additional government roles. This led to the development of a third seal, known at first as the "secret" seal, to handle the private communication that had been the original remit of the Privy Seal.

By the end of Edward III's reign, this seal was known as theSignet and was in the custody of theKing's Secretary.^[1] As such it is the precursor to the seals of office held by today'sSecretaries of State.^[2]

TheGreat Seal Act 1884 (47 & 48 Vict. c. 30) effectively ended the use of the Privy Seal by providing that it was no longer necessary for any instrument to be passed under the Privy Seal.

The Privy Seal of England was originally overseen by the Clerks of the King's Chamber, but soon came to be kept by thecontroller of the wardrobe;^[2] by 1323, however, the distinct office of Keeper of the Privy Seal had emerged with the appointment ofAdam de Lymbergh (the first Keeper, who was not also Controller, having been appointed in 1307).^[3] The present-day title of this office,Lord Privy Seal, is first recorded in 1539.

• A. L. Brown, 'The Privy Seal in the Early Fifteenth Century', PhD thesis, University of Oxford, 1955
• A. L. Brown, ‘The Privy Seal Clerks in the Early Fifteenth Century’, inThe Study of Medieval Records: Essays in Honor of Kathleen Major, ed. by D A Bullough and R L Storey (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 260–81
• Brown, Alfred L. (1969).The early history of the clerkship of the council. University of Glasgow.OCLC 470235023.
• Sobecki, Sebastian (2021-06-03)."The Handwriting of Fifteenth-Century Privy Seal and Council Clerks".The Review of English Studies.72 (304):253–279.doi:10.1093/res/hgaa050.ISSN 0034-6551.

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