Certain medieval books were apparently protected by creatures of the sea.
As reported by The Guardian, scientists have discovered that the covers of books from 12th and 13th century French Cistercian monasteries are made not of boar or deerskin as initially thought, but sealskin.
That raises the question as to how said monasteries got sealskin, as they were located inland. And even if they were closer to the water, there’s little evidence suggesting mass amounts of seals were frolicking on the French coast in the Middle Ages.
“Contrary to the prevailing assumption that books were crafted from locally sourced materials, it appears that the Cistercians were deeply embedded in a global trading network,” says the Royal Society Open Science of its findings.
We don’t know if any signing was going on in this transaction, but clearly the books were sealed and delivered.