Nieznana pieczęć opata rudzkiego Piotra Sebickiego z 1602 r.
An unknown seal belonging to the abbot of Rudy, Piotr Sebicki, from 1602

Summary/Abstract: The seals from the Cistercian monastery in Rudy have already been a subject for sphragistic consideration several times. However, the abbot of Rudy in the years 1595-1608, Piotr Sebicki’s (von Saebisch) stamp, which legalized a document from 1602 stored in the National Archive in Racibórz, has not been taken into account yet. The presented text is a contribution which complements the catalogue of seals owned by the superiors of the monastery in Rudy during the time of its existence (about 1254-1810). The seal, in an oval shape with a width of about 22 mm and height of about 25 mm, represents a heraldic type. The seal field presents an Iberian shield, party per cross, and decorated with a delicate volute fringe. It is crowned with an infula with scrolls formed in the shape of mantling, which flows down on both sides. On the left side (heraldically) of the infula there is a crook of a crosier slanting and protruding behind the shield, with a letter “R” centrally inscribed on it and on the right side – majuscules “PA”. They form a monogram of the owner of the seal: “Petrus Abbas R[a]udensis”. What is displayed on the shield is the Upper Silesian eagle (without a band on the chest and wings) wearing a duke’s coronet on its head, as well as the letters “MO” (dexter chief) and “RS” (sinister base, now blurred), which form a motto characteristic for Cistercians – “MORS” („Morimondus”). As regards iconography, the seal does not differ from the sigilla used by the abbots of other orders at that time. However, as opposed to many of the seals, it is devoid of the personal symbolism and refers only to a slightly modified monastic heraldry. The emblem relates to the classical coat of arms of the monastery in Rudy, but it does not expose a Morimond cross, which was replaced by a simple division of a shield into a cross. The eagle of the Silesian Piasts was placed on the whole surface of the shield and not in the inescutcheon. Therefore, they can be treated as a contribution of the owner to the heraldisation process of this sign of the abbey in Rudy, which lasted at least from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th century.

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