Specifically, I’m talking about their signet rings, seals, etc.
Couldn’t someone just make a copy? Or make one that looks extremely similar?
Imagine “hacking” the king. You could start wars or do whatever you wanted just by getting a letter sent somewhere.
I understand it’s not as easy as it sounds and one would have to first obtain said seal or wax imprint from a letter or something but I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it being done.
EDIT: Anyone else now wanna see a movie get made about someone (or some team) pulling off a ‘heist’ like this?? Obviously set back in the olden days.
In: 2491
As others said the seal was not easily made. But there was more to it than just a seal. The sealed letter came with a known messenger of the king, not some rando. And the nobility knew each other and maybe knew the king and his court as well. The people delivering these things were known trusted messengers, and if there was reason to doubt they could run it up the chain, up to the king if need be to verify. Back then “who” you were mattered a lot in many different ways. Both in business and government. In fact someone you don’t know at all delivering a message like this, even with a seal, would be highly unusual. So it wasn’t just the seal, it was also the known network of people who delivered these messages too.
Could it be done? Yes in theory, but in practice it would be difficult.
To start with to make a copy you’d need to either steal the original (which would be noticed quickly as these things were often used daily), or steal something sealed with it (also dangerous as sealed documents were often expected by the recipient, so if it didn’t arrive questions would be asked).
Then you would need to find someone skilled enough to make a copy, and dishonest enough to not report it. Especially if they have to reverse it from a wax seal, which is much more difficult than copying from the original.
Then assuming you could make a passable copy without raising, you’d run into the next problem of actually using it. A royal seal in and of itself isn’t a master key. anyone who is used to receiving sealed letters would expect them to be delivered by particular messengers, and have a certain quality paper, ink, handwriting, etc. Anyone used to receiving one getting this imitation is going to ask questions. Anyone not used to receiving one directly will ask why the regent is sending them sealed letters and probably ask their local lord, and see above, questions will be asked.
I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, but the amount of effort required to get everything else to work with a copied seal would have to make any payout enormous. And the penalties for what is the early version of identity theft were steep.
Fun fact: one of my wife’s ancestors once stole a watch and seal of andEnglish gentleman, managed to escape custody, and when caught the next day charged with stealing hand cuffs as well. Then he was sent to Australia.
Signet rings and etc were done by engravers. Every country usually had single digit number of these craftsmen who usually only had a equally small handful of students.
Usually these craftsmen. Engravers, Painters, and weapon smiths were not only guarded, but also watched and not allowed to leave their city or town of work. As them defecting or getting captured can have disastrous effects on currency and like you said, false information.
[HERE’S A PREVIOUS REDDIT DISCUSSION VERY SUPER MUCH WORTH READING](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistory/comments/n976bb/credentials_in_antiquity_signet_rings_patent_of/)
Highly recommend posting this to r/AskHistorians instead. You’re getting a lot of armchair theorists giving theories with no actual evidence.
One of the great (rich) monasteries of England wanted to prove to a medieval king that they had rights to own some contested land, so they provided a charter, signed by one of his long-past predecessors, and sealed with the royal seal.
It wasn’t until modern times that it was noticed that the seal provided wasn’t real: it wasn’t appropriate to that era.
Henry VIII made that claim moot, anyway.
Availability of technology during a particular period is an important consideration.
Today we can say, oh it’s so easy to replicate a signet ring. We are looking at all our micrometer precision tools, computer aided manufacturing, laser engraving, etc.
But back in the day, remember, this was 800, 1000, years ago or more… there was no such tech readily available to even the most elite craftsmen, and of course the lesser folk would not have it at all. Therefore the signet ring was really the highest security tech available, and also therefore incredibly difficult to replicate or “hack” for identity theft purposes.
Similarly we use highly obfuscated cryptographic encryption techniques for our modern day security. SHA256 and all that. Heck, we even encode our nuclear missiles with it. The security is nigh unbreakable… to us today.
But who’s to know that 1000 years later, how advanced things will be? An elementary school child with his quantum personal AI assistant might be able to crack SHA256 in three minutes, and then the kid might ask, “Why did our ancestors safeguard their nuclear bombs with such a simple code?”
Many people are talking about the “why start a war”, when it clearly is just a vaporous example.
Forgeries like this did happen. Land deeds and territorial claims were prime targets. Even the church got involved. Bishops had as much influence as nobles.
You didn’t even have to forge the seal of a current ruler, you could create a forgery that signed over lands on the previous king’s, duke’s or count’s orders, or granted tax, market or usage rights. It was hard to keep track and verify things of the past.
Or why just one generation? Why not two or three. You could dispute contracts, based on “recently found” evidence that freed you of certain obligations.
Not quite what you were asking but during the second Punic War when Hannibal invaded Italy one of the Roman Proconsuls/Generals was defeated along with his entire army. Hannibal (or maybe it was one of his lieutenants-it’s been awhile) captured the Roman General’s signet ring and wrote an order to a nearby city to let in a garrison of soldiers who were dressed in captured Roman armor from the battle.
Fortunately for Rome the guy who was second in command of the Roman Army realized the danger in advance. Although mortally wounded, one of his last orders was to send messengers to all the nearby cities not to trust any messages from the late General. When Hannibal’s disguised troops made it to the city they opened their gates and let them in…and then promptly shut the gates and had all the fake soldiers slaughtered.
Regarding your edit, I’ve always wondered why we never got more stories like The Great Train Robbery, showcasing a heist from a bygone time period. I’d really love to see it become a genre.
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