[Illustration]
The prefixed woodcut represents an impression from the seal of one of the
bishops of Kildare anterior to the Reformation, the matrix of which is in
the possession of a gentleman in Dublin.
The device exhibits three statues standing in canopied niches, of the
florid Gothic or pointed style of architecture of the fifteenth century.
The centre figure represents the Virgin and child, and the figures on each
side appear intended to represent the patron saints of Ireland. Patrick
and Brigid. Below the centre figure there is a smaller niche, containing a
figure of another ecclesiastic, with his hands raised, in the attitude of
prayer, and his arm supporting the pastoral staff. This figure, it is
probable, is intended to represent St Conlæth, the first bishop of
Kildare, who was cotemporary with St Brigid, and said to have been the
joint founder of that see. On each side of this figure is a shield, one of
which bears the arms of France and England quarterly; the other, two keys
in saltire, in chief a royal crown; a device which, it is worthy of
remark, constitutes the arms anciently and still borne by the archbishops
of York, and the appearance of which in this seal may therefore not be
easy to account for. The inscription reads as follows:--
“_Sigillum Willim dei gracia Kyldarens epi_,”
or, _Sigillum Willelmi dei gratia Kyldarensis Episcopus_ (the seal of
William, by the grace of God, Bishop of Kildare).
As among the bishops of Kildare two of the name of William occur in the
fifteenth century, it may not be easy to determine with certainty to which
of them this seal should be assigned; but there appears the greatest
reason to ascribe it to the first, who, according to Ware, having been
previously archdeacon of Kildare, was appointed to this see by the
provision of Pope Eugene IV, in 1432, and, having governed this see
fourteen years, died in April 1446.