The seal matrix of the Cistercian convent at Wągrowiec from 1746 – A new acquisition of the State Archive in Poznań. A Communiqué

Abstract

In 1746, the Cistercians from the monastery at Wągrowiec ordered a new seal matrix, which also included a new coat of arms depicting three rivers. In unknown circumstances, the seal fell into the hands of a Czech owner, from whom it was purchased, and, in October 2020, it became part of the collection of the State Archives in Poznań. The article presents the circumstances of the introduction into the chancellery of the seal matrix, relating its production with the formal, legal, and economic changes which took place at the abbey after 1745. It also addresses the issue of the relationship between the convent’s coat of arms depicted on the seal and the coat of arms of the abbey at Wągrowiec, pointing to the durability of the solutions adopted and developed in the middle of the eighteenth century.