BSG.CS.00821 — Cloth Seal, Polish, Wschowa / Fraustadt

Found in Jönköping, Sweden during excavations of the Royal Chartered Textile Manufacture in 2007*, 20mm.

Patriarchal cross (with equal horizontals, also known in modern times as the Cross of Lorraine), an annulet in each of the two open squares // 75, flower head? above

The symbol is thought to be the arms of Wschowa (Fraustadt in German).

From History of Wschowa, Interklasa. "1385 - Wiązek Hanzeatycki (The Hanzeatycki Union) agreed to sell Wschowa`s cloth in Nowogród Wielki [Veliky Novgorod, Russia] together with the Netherland`s cloth. ... 1493 - From this year on Wschowa`s cloths had a seal with the arms of Wschowa and a royal stamp as a sign of their good grality."

The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000, eds. Dr Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk, Mr Els Hiemstra-Kuperus, Prof Dr Lex Heerma van Voss, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 28 Jun 2013, p.399, "The main centres for the woolen cloth industry in Greater Poland, and especially of the weaving industry, were the towns of Wschowa, Rawicz, Bojanow and Leszno. In Wschowa there were 180 weaving shops ..." This quote was taken from a passage concerned with the years from 1650 - 1815.

*The seal is in the collections of the Jönköping County Museum, and published in an excavation report - Den centrala periferin Arkeologisk undersökning i kvarteret Diplomaten, faktori- och hantverksgårdar i Jönköping 1620–1790, RAÄ 50, Jönköpings stad, ANN-MARIE NORDMAN & CLAES PETTERSSON, p.157.