Whats the history behind signatures and stamps? When did people start signing?
Since signatures and postage stamps aren’t directly related, I wondered if you meant stamps as in the seals used instead of or in conjuntion with signatures. The seal was like a signature, but the identifying mark was graphic instead of written, thereby making the identity knowable to those who could not read. You knew it came from the king if it had the king’s seal, from the duke if it had his. Of course you still couldn’t read the document, but you knew it was official. Many people who couldn’t read or write would hire a scribe to handle any corredpondence they had. If they wer not of a certain social level, they would not have had a seal, and may or may not have made an identifying mark on the document the scribe prepared. Even the very poor and illiterate could send messages this way, but not often as the services of a scribe were not something you’d spend money on often if you weren’t wealthy. As to when people started signing, I don’t beleive it is known, and would be different i
