The Great Seal of France (french: Grand Sceau de la République française) is the official

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

of the

French Republic France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. After the 1792 revolution established the First French Republic, the insignia of the monarchy was removed from the seal. Over time, the new seal changed. At first, it featured

Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed in ...

, symbol of the revolution. It evolved to show that the people developed their culture and politics. In modern times, it depicts liberty, along with aspects of culture such as art, education, and agriculture.

Description

The Great Seal features

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, wearing a crown with seven arches. She holds a

fasces Fasces ( ; ; a ''plurale tantum'', from the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbo ...

and is supported by a ship's

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

with a cock carved or printed on it, representing the

Gallic rooster The Gallic rooster (french: le coq gaulois) is a national symbol of France as a nation, as opposed to Marianne representing France as a state and its values: the Republic. The rooster is also the symbol of the Wallonia region and the French Commu ...

(''le coq gaulois''), a symbol of the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...

and early French nation. At her feet is a vase with the letters "SU" ("''Suffrage Universel''", "Universal suffrage"). At her right, in the background, are symbols of the arts (painter's tools), architecture (Ionic order), education (burning lamp), agriculture (a sheaf of wheat) and industry (a cog wheel). The scene is surrounded by the legend "RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE, DÉMOCRATIQUE, UNE ET INDIVISIBLE" ("French Republic, democratic, one and indivisible") and "24 FEV.1848" (24 February 1848) at the bottom. The reverse bears the words "AU NOM DU PEUPLE FRANÇAIS" ("in the name of the French people") surrounded by a crown of oak (symbol of perennity and justice) and laurel (symbol of glory) leaves tied together with wheat and grapes (agriculture and wealth), with the circular national motto " LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ".

History

Pre-Revolution

The first seals were created by the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

kings to authenticate their orders. Merely rings originally, later worn on a necklace, the royal seals grew bigger and bigger under the

House of Capet The House of Capet (french: Maison capétienne) or the Direct Capetians (''Capétiens directs''), also called the House of France (''la maison de France''), or simply the Capets, ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most s ...

to reach around . These are the modern dimensions of the seal. All the seals under the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

featured the king sitting on this throne and giving justice, yet every king had his own personal seal, a unique item which passed with him. All edicts, orders, decrees and declarations were then sealed.

Revolutionary period

On August 13, 1792, representatives of the

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

arrested

King Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

. He was imprisoned, and later executed on January 21, 1793. This act of regicide demonstrated that "the Convention had irreversibly ruled out any compromise with the Revolution's opponents." With the absence of the king, the

sought a new national symbol. It was from these tumultuous times that the French symbol of

emerged. The

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

not only challenged the political authority of the

Old Regime Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

led by the monarchy; it also challenged the traditional symbols that had thus far defined the French people. Anthropologists have argued that every society needs a "center" which includes social and political mapping that gives the people a sense of their place. In the traditional model of authority, "the king was the sacred center and culture was firmly fixed in the longstanding notions of a catholic hierarchical order." By de-centering this frame of traditional authority while overthrowing the monarchy, revolutionaries realized that the cultural framework of the past could not be carried into the future, and that the use of the king as the insignia of the seal had to be replaced with a new seal signifying the Republic. Revolutionaries began iconoclastically destroying tangible reminders of the Old Regime, such as breaking the seals of royalty, the scepter and the crown and melting them into republican coins. The abolition of royalty, however, led to questions about the importance of having a unified symbol. In the beginning, seals were only used to compensate for the imperfection of writing.Hunt, 91. Yet as

Henri Grégoire Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire (; 4 December 1750 – 28 May 1831), often referred to as the Abbé Grégoire, was a French Catholic priest, Constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader. He was an ardent slavery abolitionist and sup ...

argued, civilized people found that "a sign, a type, was necessary to give character to authenticity" to all public acts. The nation would only be recognizable by its public symbolic representation, and hence it was agreed that a new seal of state would be created to give the new republic a sense of permanence. The seal was not only a representation of public authority, but it signified the new republican mold. As

Lynn Hunt Lynn Avery Hunt (born November 16, 1945) is the Eugen Weber Professor of Modern European History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her area of expertise is the French Revolution, but she is also well known for her work in European cu ...

puts it, "new symbols could make new men." The French Revolution stood for the notion that members of a society could invent culture and politics for themselves. As the National Convention worked to unify the Republic after the fall of the monarchy, the process to declare a national symbol became more urgent. In the end, "the choice of a new insignia seemed almost automatic."Hunt, 93. In order to dispel all traces of monarchical influence, the members of the National Convention "proposed the choice of Liberty." The choice was a clear one and deputies of the Convention like Abbe Grégoire proposed that the Republic's image should be "Liberty, 'so that our emblem, circulating all over the globe, should present to all peoples the beloved image of Republican liberty and pride.'" This notion of Liberty is, in a sense, "the very essence of the Republic." Liberty was officially represented by the female figure of Marianne, which adheres to traditional iconographic expectations. The Phrygian cap worn by this figure of liberty was representative of the inherent freedom of the French people and provided a sharp contrast to the crown of the monarchy. According to Maurice Agulhon, an expert on this particular symbol of the French Revolution, Marianne "represented both Liberty, an eternal value, and at the same time the newly constituted regime of the French Republic." She was depicted as "a woman holding a stave surmounted by a cap and trampling a yoke underfoot; this is the emblem that the ancients gave to Liberty won through valor."Agulhon, 12. The feminine civic allegory of Marianne was distant from the controversial personalities of National Convention; therefore, Marianne's "abstraction and impersonality" allowed the symbol to endure the different phases of the Revolution. In addition, Marianne's close resemblance to the Catholic figure of Mary created unity between the rational revolutionaries and the devout peasantry. The emblem of Marianne was not only widely accepted, but also widely diffused in France.Hunt, 94. However, as the Revolution radicalized in 1793 with the rise of the Committee on Public Safety, the emblem of Marianne was replaced by a far more formidable symbol of the Revolution:

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

's statue of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Post-Revolution

Napoléon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

and

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Lou ...

all used monarchical seals like the Old Regime,

Louis-Philippe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wa ...

used one showing only his bust. The present seal dates back to the Second Republic, which briefly used the seals of the First Republic before having a new design made by the artist

Jacques-Jean Barre Jacques-Jean Barre (3 August 1793 in Paris-10 June 1855 in Paris) was the general engraver at the Monnaie de Paris between 1842 and 1855. In this position, he engraved and designed French medals, the Great Seal of France, bank notes and postag ...

on the 8 September 1848.

Usage

Under the Second Republic, usage of the Great Seal of France tended to be reduced to sealing laws, decrees of the National Assembly and diplomatic treaties. The function of

Keeper of the seals The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial offi ...

was officially linked to that of

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

at that time (the French Minister of Justice is popularly referred to "'"). After the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

, the practice of applying seals to laws was gradually abandoned and restricted to constitutional acts and diplomatic treaties (for instance, the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

was sealed in this way). Under the Fourth Republic, the only document to be sealed was the Constitution of October 27, 1946. Since the Fifth Republic, after sealing the Constitution of October 4, 1958, it became common practice to seal some constitutional modifications. Used in 1946, and twice at the beginning of the Fifth Republic, the sealing ceremonies became much less common from 1963 to 1991 period when only two laws - ordinary, but of great symbolic importance - were sealed. Since 1992, the pace of ceremonies has increased again: the constitutional changes since then were often the subject of a seal. The date of the ceremony was very close to the date of passage of the law until 1964. It was subsequently clearly separated from the vote and publication of the text. An extreme case consists in the Constitutional Law no. 99-569 of July 8, 1999 on equality between women and men, sealed March 8, 2002, two and a half years after the entry into force of the law. Sealing ceremonies are always held at the ' where the

Keeper of the Seals The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial offi ...

, the

, holds a sealing press affixed to a best and the unique matrices of the Seal of the State. Since 2017, this role is carried out by

Nicole Belloubet Nicole Belloubet (born 15 June 1955) is a French jurist and politician who served as Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe 21 June 2017 to 6 July 2020. A former member of the Socialist Party (PS), she was appoi ...

Sealing documents

Sealing wax

Originally, sealers used a

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

sealing wax Sealing wax is a wax material of a seal which, after melting, hardens quickly (to paper, parchment, ribbons and wire, and other material) forming a bond that is difficult to separate without noticeable tampering. Wax is used to verify something ...

which they shaped by hand into generally circular pieces which were definitely shaped by a press. Nowadays, a liquid wax is fed directly into the inferior part of a shape made of a stamp and a mobile metallic ring; the shape is closed and the wax cools down until it becomes pasty before it is applied. Usage of the Great Seal having become obsolete between 1920 and 1946, the recipe for the wax was lost. In 1946, trials had to be made by the

Sigillographic Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the wax, lead, clay, and other seals used to authenticate archival documents. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design a ...

service of the National Archives.

Color

The ''

'' used a green wax for important documents, and a yellow for less important ones. The

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

, the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...

and the Third Republic kept the yellow wax, while the First Republic, the

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...

and the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

used a red wax. The Constitution of 1946 is sealed with red wax. The Constitution of 1958 and subsequent documents were sealed with yellow wax, until 2002 when green was again used.

Ribbons

The

sealed on wide yellow and blue silk ribbons; the Republic and the Consulate, on a tricolor braid. The Third Republic used the same red and green ribbon as the Monarchy. Since 1946 (the Fourth and Fifth Republics), a tricolor ribbon is in use.

Notes

Bibliography

*Agulhon, Maurice. ''Marianne into Battle: Republican Imagery and Symbolism in France 1789-1880''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. *Bourgin (Georges), ''Introduction à l'état sommaire des versements faits aux archives nationales par les ministères et les administrations qui en dépendant (série BB Justice)'', t. IV, lxxxxiii pages, Paris, Didier, 1947. *''Les constitutions de la France, 1791-1992. Exposition réalisée par le Ministère de la Justice et l'association « Expo 200 »,'' Paris, 6 novembre-31 décembre 1992. *Durand-Barthez (Pascal), ''Histoire des structures du Ministère de la Justice, 1789-1945,'' Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1973, 92 p. : 35-36. *Durand-Barthez (Pascal), "Qu'est-ce que le Sceau de France", ''Histoire pour tous,'' n° 22, February 1962. *Guillaume (Marc), "Le Sceau de France, titre nobiliaire et changement de nom", paper delivered at the Académie des sciences morales et politiques
www.asmp.fr
*Hunt, Lynn. ''Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. *Monnerie (Michel), "Sceller avec le grand Sceau de l'État. Mode d'emploi", Histoire de la Justice, 7, 1994, p. 199-207. *Nave (Guilhem), ''Les textes constitutionnels de 1791 à 1995. Analyse technique des documents,'' Unpublished report, October 1996, 27 p. o be consulted at the French Archives nationales *Nielen-Vandevoorde (Marie-Adélaïde), "Le sceau de la 5e République", ''Revue de l'AMOPA'', 161, July 2003, p. 27 à 29. *Popkin, Jeremy D. ''A Short History of the French Revolution''. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010. *Rouvier (Louis), ''Les Sceaux de la Grande Chancellerie de France de 458 à nos jours'', Marseille, imprimerie de la société du Petit Marseillais, 1935, 94 p. : 83-84.

bout the great and the little seals of the third Republic Bout can mean: People *Viktor Bout, suspected arms dealer * Jan Everts Bout, early settler to New Netherland * Marcel Bout Musical instruments * The outward-facing round parts of the body shape of violins, guitars, and other stringed instrum ...

*Rouvier (Louis), ''La Chancellerie et les Sceaux de France,'' Marseille, Imprimerie marseillaise-Moullot, 1950, 181 p. : p. 87-89. *Vallet (J.), "Le Sceau de France", ''La Vie judiciaire,'' August, 14-20 1977, p. 5. *Yvorel (Jean-Jacques), " 'Déritualisation' et désacralisation de l'audience du sceau (XVIIIe-XIXe siècles)", ''Le sanglot judiciaire, la désacralisation de la justice, VIIIe-XXe siècles, Séminaire de Royaumont sous la direction de Frédéric Chauvaud'', Créaphis, 1999, p. 209-224.