It was one of the privileges of the Council to have a seal of its own. Both Mayor and Council had their own seals. The Mayor’s seal, known to have existed from A.D. 1225 onwards, was of red wax bearing the Imperial Eagle originally looking to

SEALS OF NUREMBURG
SEALS OF NUREMBURG

the sinister but afterwards to the dexter, with the legend Sigillum Sculteti de Nuremberg (seal of the Mayor of Nuremberg) which subsequently became Sigillum Judicii de Nurenberch (seal of the Court of Nuremberg). The Council’s seal (which first appears on documents of 1243) bore an eagle closely feathered up to the neck, with a human head surrounded by flowing locks and wearing a crown. This town-seal usually bears the legend Sigillum Universitatis civium de Nurenberch (i.e. seal of the community of the citizens of Nuremberg) or even civitatis Norimbergue (of the city of Nuremberg). Somewhat later than the middle of the fourteenth century it had a black letter N for counter-seal, and bore the following legend in abbreviated writing, Sigillum secretum Nurembergense, i.e. Nuremberg secret or privy seal. A little later it bore for its counter-seal the proper arms of the city, of which we must shortly speak. Towards the end of the fourteenth century (in 1386) a smaller privy seal appears, similar in form, and bearing the legend Secretum civium de Nuremberch. This was always used as a privy seal for letters of importance. Before this seal came into use the city seal was used for all purposes, and even appended (for greater security) to private documents such as contracts of sale, entailing deeds, testaments and jointures. At a later date this seal was chiefly appended to testaments.

The seals, both of the Mayor and of the Council, though not arms, were used as such; however, their real character was well understood. Even in 1477 the Council decreed that the window which the city proposed to place in the choir of St. Lawrence’s Church should be adorned “with the arms of the Council and the privy and common arms of the city.” Here a distinction is expressly made between the seal and the arms.

However, the proper arms of the town were—Bendy of six Gules and Argent impaling Or an Imperial eagle dimidiated, sable. The dexter side of the shield is often incorrectly represented as Gules, three bendlets argent. It is also wrong to describe it (as many writers have done), as Barry of six, gules and argent.

Meisterlin applies to the dexter side the term Field of Swabia, which we only mention here because it is still occasionally employed. He gives the same name to the district in which Nuremberg lies (apparently by confusion with the “Gau” of Sualafeld). Nuremberg has accordingly nothing to do with Swabia, as was probably inferred centuries ago. The origin of the arms is obscure. It is however worth mentioning that the Burggraves of Nuremberg bore this “Field of Swabia” as a bordure on their arms. These arms, as we said before, have been used since the second half of the fourteenth century as the counter-seal of the city seal above mentioned, as also on stamped parchment and stamped paper (only introduced towards the end of the seventeenth century), on coins struck at Nuremberg, on public buildings, etc.

The human head on the eagle of the privy seal, afterwards called the “Eagle-Maiden,” is explained by Mummenhoff as the face of an emperor with long flowing locks and the Imperial crown on his head. It retains this character throughout the Middle Ages both on the seal, and also when the seal was used as a coat-of-arms. Mummenhoff instances in particular the fine eagle on the town side of the upper story of the ThiergÄrtner-Gate-Tower. With Albert Durer, however, begins the quite unhistorical transfiguration of this eagle. The emperor’s face was no longer understood and was mistaken for a female face; and thus in course of time a series of unjustifiable embellishments produced a coat-of-arms bearing a maiden, described by even a modern historian as an “Eagle-Maiden.” In quite recent times a mural crown has been set upon her head. We will pass over the jesting explanations formerly given for this seeming Eagle-Maiden, which would be untenable, were they even serious. We need only mention that when the arms are set out in colours the eagle is Or and the field Azure (and very often Vert). These three coats-of-arms (counting the seals as coats) arranged in different ways were employed on public monuments, buildings and coins, and afterwards on all publications, commissions, ordinances, etc., issued by the Council. Usually the simple eagle is at the top, the so-called Eagle-Maiden below on the right, and the Bends impaling the dimidiated eagle on the left. Frequently, especially on the coins, only the eagle-maiden and the dimidiated eagle appear. Sometimes also we find the Imperial eagle without the shield surmounting the two lower coats, and, as it were, protecting them with its wings.

The double-headed crowned eagle also frequently occurs, for example on the old FÜnferhaus (now the Post-Office) with the date 1521. Here it appears alone, whereas on the Tugendbrunnen it is associated with the eagle-maiden and the impaled dimidiated eagle. It was also employed on the eastern part of the city wall, both on the bastion near the WÖhrderthÜrlein (pulled down in 1871) and on the line of wall. A really handsome example of this double-headed eagle is to be seen on the entrance to the new Rathaus building from the FÜnferplatz. This eagle dates from the seventeenth century and was formerly placed on the arsenal, and consequently bears the inscription:—

According to Lochner it appears to have been left to the taste of the artist whether in such combinations this the real Imperial eagle, or the one-headed, uncrowned eagle of the Mayor should be used.