Imagine discovering a piece of history that's been hidden away for centuries. That's exactly what happened to Dr. Guilhem Dorandeu, a researcher at the University of Exeter. He was going through a collection of historical documents in the French National Archives in Paris when he came across an 11th-century seal once owned by King Edward the Confessor.

This seal is a big deal because it's a complete example of its design from before the Norman Conquest, which took place in 1066. It's about three inches wide and made of beeswax, which is a type of wax that was commonly used at the time.

The seal had been hidden away for over 40 years because it was stuck in a section of the archives that hadn't been prioritized for digital cataloging. Dr. Dorandeu knew that this seal was important, and he felt like he'd hit the jackpot. He even called it a 'career-defining moment.'

So, what makes this seal so special? Well, for one, it's one of the most intact and well-preserved examples of King Edward's 'Great Seal' ever discovered. The seal also shows an interesting change in how early English kings saw their authority. In the image, King Edward is sitting on a throne, holding a sceptre and an orb, which were symbols inspired by the Byzantine Empire's 'Chrysobulls' (Golden Bulls).

Historians believe that this 'Eastern' influence wasn't accidental. The House of Wessex wanted people to see them as having imperial grandeur, like the Roman Emperors in Constantinople, not just as regional rulers. This seal is a connection between the late Anglo-Saxon era and the Norman Conquest. It reveals that complex administrative practices, like using a 'Great Seal' for legal documents, were already well-developed during King Edward's reign.

The seal itself has also survived remarkably well, considering it's over 950 years old. This is thanks to the stable conditions of the Parisian vaults where it was kept since the late 1700s.