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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > B > Bulls and Briefs


BULLS AND BRIEFS

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A bulla was originally a circular plate or boss of metal, so called from its
resemblance in form to a bubble floating upon water (Latin bullire, to boil). In
the course of time the term came to be applied to the leaden seals with which
papal and royal documents were authenticated in the early Middle Ages, and by a
further development, the name, from designating the seal, was eventually
attached to the document itself. This did not happen before the thirteenth
century and the name bull was only a popular term used almost promiscuously for
all kinds of instruments which issued from the papal chancery. A much more
precise acceptance has prevailed since the fifteenth century, and a bull has
long stood in sharp contrast with certain other forms of papal documents. For
practical purposes a bull may be conveniently defined to be "an Apostolic letter
with a leaden seal," to which one may add that in its superscription the pope
invariably takes the title of episcopus, servus servorum Dei.



In official language papal documents have at all times been called by various
names, more or less descriptive of their character. For example, there are
"constitutions," i.e., decisions addressed to all the faithful and determining
some matter of faith or discipline; "encyclicals," which are letters sent to all
the bishops of Christendom, or at least to all those in one particular country,
and intended to guide them in their relations with their flocks; "decrees,"
pronouncements on points affecting the general welfare of the Church;
"decretals" (epistolae decretales), which are papal replies to some particular
difficulty submitted to the Holy See, but having the force of precedents to rule
on all analogous cases. "Rescript," again, is a form applicable to almost any
form of Apostolic letter which has been elicited by some previous appeal, while
the nature of a "privilege" speaks for itself. But all these, down to the
fifteenth century, seem to have been expedited by the papal chancery in the
shape of bulls authenticated with leaden seals, and it is common enough to apply
the term bull even to those very early papal letters of which we know little
more than the substance, independently of the forms under which they were
issued.

It will probably be most convenient to divide the subject into periods, noting
the more characteristic features of papal documents in each age.


EARLIEST TIMES TO ADRIAN I (772)

There can be no doubt that the formation of a chancery or bureau for drafting
and expediting of official papers was a work of time. Unfortunately, the
earliest papal documents known to us are only preserved in copies or abstracts
from which it is difficult to draw any safe conclusions as to the forms observed
in issuing the originals. For all that, it is practically certain that no
uniform rules can have been followed as to superscription, formula of
salutation, conclusion, or signature. It was only when some sort of registry was
organized, and copies of earlier official correspondence became available, that
a tradition gradually grew up of certain customary forms that ought not to be
departed from. Except for the unsatisfactory mention of a body of notaries
charged with keeping a record of the Acts of the Martyrs, c. 235 (Duchesne,
Liber Pontificalis, I, pp. c-cl), we meet with no clear reference to the papal
archives until the time of Julius I (337-353), though in the pontificate of
Damascus, before the end of the same century, there is mention of a building
appropriate to this special purpose. Here, in the scrinium, or archivium sanctæ
Romanæ ecclesiæ, the documents must have been registered and kept in a definite
order, for extracts and copies still in existence preserve traces of their
numbering. These collections or regesta went back to the time of Pope Gelasius
(492-496) and probably earlier. In the correspondence of Pope Hormisdas
(514-525) there are indications of some official endorsement recording the date
at which letters addressed to him were received, and for the time of St. Gregory
the Great (590-604) Ewald has been at least partially successful in
reconstructing the books which contained the copies of the pope's epistles.
There can be little doubt that the Pontifical chancery of which we thus infer
the existence was modeled upon that of the imperial court. The scrinium, the
regionary notaries, the higher officials such as the primicerius and the
secundarius, the arrangement of the Regesta by indictions, etc., are all
probably imitations of the practice of the later empire. Hence we may infer that
the code of recognized forms soon established itself, analogous to that observed
by the imperial notaries. One formulary of this description is probably still
preserved to us in the book called "Liber Diurnus", the bulk of which seems to
be inspired by the official correspondence of Pope Gregory the Great. In the
earlier papal letters, however, there are as yet but few signs of the observance
of traditional forms. Sometimes the document names the pope first, sometimes the
addressee. For the most part the pope bears no title except Sixtus episcopus or
Leo episcopus catholicae ecclesiæ, sometimes, but more rarely he is called Papa.
Under Gregory the Great, servus servorum Dei (servant of the servants of God)
was often added after episcopus — Gregory, it is said, having selected this
designation as a protest against the arrogance of the Patriarch of
Constantinople, John the Faster, who called himself "Ecumenical Bishop." But
though several of St. Gregory's successors followed him in this preference, it
was not until the ninth century that the phrase came to be used invariably in
documents of moment. Before Pope Adeodatus (elected 672) few salutations were
found, but he used the form "salutatem a Deo et benedictionem nostram." The now
consecrated phrase "salutatem et apostolicam benedictionem" hardly ever occurs
before the tenth century. The Benedictine authors of "Nouveau traité de
diplomatique" in ascribing a much earlier date to this formula were misled by a
forged bull purporting to be addressed to the monastery at St. Benignus at
Dijon. Again, in these early letters the pope often addressed his correspondent,
more especially when he was a king or a person of high dignity, by the plural
Vos. As ages went on, this became rarer, and by the second half of the twelfth
century, it had completely disappeared. On the other hand, it may be noticed
incidentally that persons of all ranks, in writing to the pope, invariably
addressed him as Vos. Sometimes a salutation was introduced by the pope at the
end of his letter just before the date--for example, "Deus te incolumem
custodiat" or "Bene vale frater carissime." This final salutation was a matter
of importance, and it is held by high authorities (Bresslau, "Papyrus und
Pergament, 21; Ewald in Neues Archiv," III, 548) that it was added in the pope's
own hand, and that it was the equivalent of his signature. The fact that in
classical times the Romans authenticated their letters not by signing their
names, but by a word of farewell, lends probability to this view. In the
earliest original Bulls preserved to us BENE VALETE is written at full length in
capitals. Moreover, we have at least some contemporary evidence of the practice
before the time of Pope Adrian. The text of a letter of Pope Gregory the Great
is preserved in a marble inscription at the basilica of St. Paul Outside the
Walls. As the letter directs that the document itself is to be returned to the
papal archives (Scrinium), we may assume that the copy on stone accurately
represents the original. It is addressed to Felix the subdeacon and concludes
with the formula BENE VALE. Dat. VIII Kalend. Februarius imp. du. n. Phoca PP.
anno secundo, et consultatus eius anno primo, indict. 7. This suggests that such
letters were fully dated and indeed we find traces of dating even in extant
copies as early as the time of Pope Siricius (384-398). We have also some bullæ
or leaden seals preserved apart from the documents to which they were once
attached. One of these dates back perhaps to the pontificate of John III
(560-573) and another certainly belongs to Deusdedit (615-618). The earliest
specimens simply bear the pope's name on one side and the word papæ on the
other.




SECOND PERIOD (772-1048)

In the time of Pope Adrian the support of Pepin and Charlemagne had converted
the patrimony of the Holy See into a sort of principality. This no doubt paved
the way for changes in the forms observed in the chancery. The pope now takes
the first place in the superscription of letters unless they are addressed to
sovereigns. We also find the leaden seal used more uniformly. But especially we
must attribute to the time of Adrian the introduction of the "double date"
endorsed at the foot of the bull. The first date began with the word Scriptum
and after a chronological entry, which mentioned only the month and the
indiction, added the name of the functionary who drafted or engrossed the
document. The other, beginning with Data (in later ages Datum), indicated, with
a new and more detailed specification of year and day, the name of the dignitary
who issued the bull after it had received its final stamp of authenticity by the
addition of the seal. The pope still wrote the words BENE VALETE in capitals
with a cross before and after, and in certain bulls of Pope Sylvester II we find
some few words added in shorthand or "Tyronian notes." In other cases the BENE
VALETE is followed by certain dots and by a big comma, by a S S (subscripsi), or
by a flourish, all of which no doubt served as a personal authentication. To
this period belong the earliest extant bulls preserved to us in their original
shape. They are all written upon very large sheets of papyrus in a peculiar
handwriting of the Lombard type, called sometimes littera romana. The annexed
copy of a facsimile in Mabillion's "De re diplomaticâ" reproducing part of a
bull of Pope Nicolaus I (863), with the editor's interlinear decipherment, will
serve to give an idea of the style of writing. As these characters were even
then not easily read outside of Italy it seems to have been customary in some
cases to issue at the same time a copy upon parchment in ordinary minuscule. A
French writer of the tenth century speaking of a privilege obtained from Pope
Benedict VII (975-984) says that the petitioner going to Rome obtained a decree
duly expedited and ratified by apostolic authority, two copies of which, one in
our own character (nostra littera) on parchment, the other in the Roman
character on papyrus, he deposited on his return in our archives. (Migne, P.L.,
CXXXVII, 817) Papyrus seems to have been used almost uniformly as the material
for these official documents until the early years of the eleventh century,
after which it was rapidly superseded by a rough kind of parchment. Apart from a
small fragment of a bull from Adrian I (22 January, 788) preserved in the
national library at Paris, the earliest original bull that remains to us is one
of Pope Paschal I (11 July, 819). It is still to be found in the capitular
archives of Ravenna, to which church it was originally addressed. The total
number of papyrus bulls at present known to be in existence is twenty-three, the
latest being one issued by Benedict VIII (1012-24) for the monastery of
Hildesheim. All these documents at one time had leaden seals appended to them,
though in most cases these have disappeared. The seal was attached with laces of
hemp and it still bore only the name of the pontiff and the word papæ on the
other. After the year 885, the letters of the pope's name were usually stamped
round the seal in a circle with a cross in the middle.

The details specified in the "double dates" of these early bulls afford a
certain amount of indirect information about the personnel of the papal
chancery. The phrase scriptum per manum is vague and leaves uncertain whether
the person mentioned was the official who drafted or merely engrossed the bull,
but we hear in this connection of persons described as notarius, scriniarius
(archivist), proto scrinarius sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ, cancellarius,
ypocancellarius, and after 1057 of camerarius, or later still notarius S.
palatii. On the other hand, the datarius, the official mentioned under the
heading data, who presumably delivered the instrument to the parties, after
having superintended the subscriptions and the apposition of the seal, seems to
have been an official of still higher consequence. In earlier documents he bears
the titles primicerius sanctæ sedis apostolicae, senior et consiliarius, etc.,
but as early as the ninth century we have the well-known phrase bibliothecarius
sanctæ sedis apostolicæ, and later cancellarius and bibliothecarius, as a
combined title borne by a cardinal, or perhaps by more than one cardinal at
once. Somewhat later still (under Innocent III), the cancellarius seemed to have
threatened to develop into a functionary who was dangerously powerful, and the
office was suppressed. A vice-chancellor remained, but this dignity also was
abolished before 1352. But this of course was much later than the period we have
now reached.


THIRD PERIOD (1048-1198)

The accession of Leo IX, in 1048, seems to have inaugurated a new era in the
procedure of the chancery. A definite tradition had by this time been created,
and though there is still much development we find uniformity of usage in
documents of the same nature. It is at this point that we begin to have clear
distinctions between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The
Benedictine authors of "Nouveau traité de diplomatique" call them great and
little bulls. Despite a protest in modern times from M. Léopold Delisle, who
would prefer to describe the former class as "privileges" and the latter as
"letters," this nomenclature has been found sufficiently convenient, and it
corresponds, at any rate, to a very marked distinction observable in the papal
documents of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries. The most
characteristic features of the "great bulls" are the following:

 1. In the superscription the words servus servorum Dei are followed by a clause
    of perpetuity, e.g., in perpetuam memoriam (abbreviated into IN PP. M) or ad
    perpetuam rei memoriam. In contrast to this the little bulls usually have
    salutatem et apostolicam benedictionem, but those words also appear in some
    great bulls after the clause of perpetuity.
 2. After the second quarter of the twelfth century, the great bulls were always
    subscribed by the pope and a certain number of cardinals (bishops, priests,
    and deacons). The names of the cardinal-bishops are written in the center,
    under that of the pope; those of cardinal-priests on the left, and those of
    cardinal-deacons on the right, while an occasional blank shows that space
    has been left for the name of a cardinal who accidentally failed to be
    present. The pope has no cross before his name; the cardinals have. Earlier
    than this, even the great bulls were subscribed by the pope alone, unless
    they embodied conciliar or consistorial decrees, in which case the names of
    cardinals and bishops were also appended.
 3. At the foot of the document to the left of the signature of the pope is
    placed the rota or wheel. In this the outer portion of the wheel is formed
    by two concentric circles and within the space between these circles is
    written the pope's signum or motto, generally a brief text of scripture
    chosen by the new pontiff at the beginning of his reign. Thus Leo IX's motto
    was "Miseracordia domini plena est terra," Adrian IV's "Oculi mei semper ad
    dominum." Before the words of the motto a cross is always marked, and this
    is believed to have been traced by the hand of the pope himself. Not only in
    the case of the pope, but even in the case of the cardinals, the signatures
    appear not to have been their own actual handwriting. In the center of the
    rota we have the names of Sts. Peter and Paul, above and beneath them the
    name of the reigning pope.
 4. To the right of the signature opposite the rota stands monogram which stands
    for Bene Valete. From the time of Leo IX, and possibly somewhat earlier, the
    words are never written in full, but as a sort of grotesque. It seems clear
    that the Bene Valete is no longer to be regarded as the equivalent of the
    pope's signature or authentification. It is simply an interesting survival
    of an earlier form of salutation.
 5. As regards the body of the document, the pope's letter, in the case of great
    bulls always ends with certain imprecatory and prohibitory clauses,
    Decernimus ergo, etc., Siqua igitur, etc. On the other hand, Cunctis autem,
    etc., is a formula of blessing. These and the like clauses are generally
    absent from the "little bulls," but when they appear--and this happens
    sometimes--the wording used is somewhat different.
 6. In the eleventh century it was usual to write Amen at the end of the text of
    a bull and to repeat it as many time as necessary to fill up the line.
 7. In appending the date, or more precisely, in adding the clause which begins
    the datum, the custom was to enter the place, the name of the datarius, the
    day of the month (expressed according to the Roman method) the indiction,
    the year of Our Lord's Incarnation, and the regnal year of the pontiff, who
    is mentioned by his name. An example from a bull of Adrian IV will make the
    matter clear: "Datum Laterani per manu Rolandi sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ
    presbyteri cardinalis et cancellarii, XII Kl. Junii, indic. Vo, anno
    dominicae incar. MCLVIIo pontificatus vero domini Adriani papæ quarti anno
    tertio."



Before this period it was also usual to insert the first dating clause,
"Scriptum," and there was sometimes an interval of a few days between the
"Scriptum" and the "Datum." The use of the double date, however, soon came to be
neglected even in "great bulls" and before 1124 it had gone out of fashion. This
was probably a result of the general employment of "little bulls," the more
distinctive features of which may now be specified.

 1. Although great and little bulls alike begin with the pope's name--Urbanius,
    let us say, or Leo, "episcopus, servus servorum Dei"--in the little bulls we
    have no clause of perpetuity, but instead of it there follows immediately
    "salutatem et apostolicam benedictionem."
 2. The formulae of imprecation, etc., at the end only occur by exception, and
    they are in any case more precise than those of the great bulls.
 3. The little bulls have no rota, no Bene Valete monogram and no subscription
    of pope and cardinals.

The purpose served by this distinction between the great and little bulls
becomes tolerably clear when we look more narrowly into the nature of their
contents and the procedure followed in expediting them. Excepting those which
are concerned with purposes of great solemnity or public interest, the majority
of the "great bulls" now in existence are in the nature of confirmations of
property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries and religious
institutions. At an epoch when there was much fabrication of such documents,
those who procured bulls from Rome wished at any cost to secure that the
authenticity of their bulls should be above suspicion. A papal confirmation,
under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient
evidence of title in cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed.
Now the "great bulls" on account of their many formalities and the number of
hands they passed through, were much more secure from fraud of all kinds, and
the parties interested were probably willing to defray the additional
expenditure that might be entailed by this form of instrument. On the other
hand, by reason of the same multiplication of formalities, the drafting,
signing, stamping, and delivery of a great bull was necessarily a matter of
considerable time and labor. The little bulls were much more expeditious. Hence
we are confronted by the curious anomaly that during the eleventh, twelfth, and
thirteenth centuries, when both forms of document were in use, the contents of
the little bulls are, from an historical point of view immensely more
interesting and important than those of the bulls in solemn form. Of course the
little bulls may themselves be divided into various categories. The distinction
between litteræ communes and curiales seems rather to have belonged to a later
period, and to have rather concerned the manner of entry in the official
"Regesta," the communes being copies into the general collection, the curiales
into a special volume in which documents were preserved which by reason of their
form or their contents stood apart from the rest. We may note, however, the
distinction between tituli and mandamenta. The tituli were letters of a gracious
character--donations, favors, or confirmations constituting a "title." They were
indeed little bulls and lacked the subscriptions of cardinals, the rota etc.,
but on the other hand, they preserved certain features of solemnity. Brief
imprecatory clauses, like Nulli ergo, Si quis autem, are usually included, the
pope's name at the beginning is written in large letters, and the initial is an
ornamental capital, while the leaden seal is attached with silken laces of red
and yellow. As contrasted with the tituli, the mandamenta, which were the
"orders," or instructions, of the popes, observe fewer formalities, but are more
business-like and expeditious. They have no imprecatory clauses, the pope's name
is written with an ordinary capital letter, and the leaden seal is attached with
hemp. But it was by means of these little bulls, or litteræ, and notably of the
mandamenta, that the whole papal administration, both political and religious,
was conducted. In particular, the decretals, on which the whole science of Canon
Law is built up, invariably took this form.


FOURTH PERIOD (1198-1431)

Under Innocent III, there again took place what was practically a reorganization
of the papal chancery. But even apart from this, we might find sufficient reason
for beginning a new epoch at this date in the fact that the almost complete
series of Regesta preserved in the Vatican archives go back to this pontificate.
It must not, of course, be supposed that all the genuine bulls issued at Rome
were copied into the Regesta before they were transmitted to their destination.
There are many perfectly authentic bulls which are not found there, but the
existence of this series of documents places the study of papal administration
from this time forward on a new footing. Moreover, with their aid it is possible
to make out an almost complete itinerary of the medieval popes, and this alone
is a matter of considerable importance. In light of the Regesta were are able to
understand more clearly the working of the papal chancery. There were, it seems,
four principals bureaus or offices. At the office of the "Minutes" certain
clerks (clerici), in those days really clerics, and known then or later as
abbreviatores, drew up in precise form the draft (litera notata) of the document
to be issued in the pope's name. Then this draft, after being revised by a
higher official (either one of the notaries or the vice-chancellor) passed to
the "Engrossing" office, where other clerks, called grossatores or scriptores,
transcribed in a large official hand (in grossam literam) the copy or copies to
be sent to the parties. At the "Registration" office again it was the duty of
the clerks to copy such documents into the books, known as Regesta, specially
kept for the purpose. Why only some were copied and others not, is still
uncertain, though it seems probable that in any cases this was done at the
request of the parties interested, who were made to pay for the privilege which
was regarded as an additional security. Lastly, at the office of "Bulls," the
seal, which now bore the heads of the two apostles on one side, and the name of
the pope on the other, was affixed by the officials called bullatores or
bullarii. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the great bulls, or
privilegia, as they were then usually called, with their complex forms and
multiple signatures became notably more rare, and when the papal court was
transferred to Avignon in 1309 they fell practically into disuse save for a few
extraordinary occasions. The lesser bulls (litteræ) were divided, as we have
seen, into tituli and mandamenta, which became more and more clearly
distinguished from each other not only in their contents and formulæ but in the
matter of writing. Moreover, the rule of authenticating the letter with a leaden
seal began in certain cases to be broken through, in favor of a seal of wax
bearing the impression of the "ring of the fisherman." The earliest mention of
the new practice seems to occur in a letter of Pope Clement IV to his nephew (7
March, 1265). We do not write [he says] to thee or to our intimates under a
[leaden] bull, but under the signet of the fisherman which the Roman pontiffs
use in their private affairs. (Potthast, Regesta, no, 19,051) Other examples are
forthcoming belonging to the same century. The earliest impression of this seal
now preserved seems to be one lately discovered in the treasury of the Sancta
Sanctorum at the Lateran, and belonging to the time of Nicholas III (1277-80).
It represents St. Peter fishing with a rod and line and not as at present
drawing his net.


FIFTH PERIOD (1431-1878)

The introduction of briefs, which occurred at the beginning of the pontificate
of Eugenius IV, was clearly prompted for the same desire for greater simplicity
and expedition which had already been responsible for the disappearance of the
greater bulls and the general adoption of the less cumbersome mandamenta. A
brief (breve, i.e., "short") was a compendious papal letter which dispensed with
some of the formalities previously insisted on. It was written on vellum,
generally closed, i.e., folded, and sealed in red wax with the ring of the
fisherman. The pope's name stands first, at the top, normally written in capital
letters thus: PIUS PP III; and instead of the formal salutation in the third
person used in bulls, the brief at once adopts a direct form of address, e.g.,
Dilecte fili--Carissime in Christo fili, the phrase being adapted to the rank
and character of the addressee. The letter begins by way of preamble with a
statement of the case and cause of writing and this is followed by certain
instructions without minatory clauses or other formulæ. At the end the date is
expressed by the day of the month and year with a mention of the seal--for
example in this form: Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum, sub annulo Piscatoris die
V Marii, MDLXXXXI, pont. nostri anno primo. The year here specified, which is
used in dating briefs, is probably to be understood in any particular case as
the year of the Nativity, beginning 25 December. Still this is not an absolute
rule, and the sweeping statements sometimes made in this matter are not to be
trusted, for it is certain that in some instances the years meant are ordinary
years, beginning with the first of January. (See Giry, "Manuel de diplomatique,"
pp. 126, 696, 700.) A similar want of uniformity is observed in the dating of
bulls though, speaking generally, from the middle of the eleventh century to the
end of the eighteenth, bulls are dated by the years of the incarnation, counted
from 25 March. After the institution of briefs by Pope Eugenius IV, the use of
even lesser bulls, in the form of mandamenta, became notably less frequent.
Still, for many purposes, bulls continued to be employed--for example in
canonizations (in which case special forms are observed, the pope by exception
signing his own name, under which is added a stamp imitating the rota as well as
the signatures of several cardinals), as also in the nomination of bishops,
promotion to certain benefices, some particular marriage dispensations, etc. But
the choice of the precise form of instrument was often quite arbitrary. For
example, in granting the dispensation which enabled Henry VIII to marry his
brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, two forms of dispensation were issued by
Julius II, one a brief, seemingly expedited in great haste, and the other a bull
which was sent on afterwards. Similarly we may notice that, while the English
Catholic hierarchy was restored in 1850 by a brief, Leo XIII in the first year
of his reign used a bull to establish the Catholic episcopate of Scotland. So
also the Society of Jesus, suppressed by a brief in 1773, was restored by a bull
in 1818. A very interesting account of the formalities which had to be observed
in procuring bulls in Rome at the end of the fifteenth century in contained in
the "Practica" recently published by Schmitz-Kalemberg.


SIXTH PERIOD (SINCE 1878)

Ever since the sixteenth century the briefs have been written in a clear Roman
hand upon a sheet of vellum of convenient size, while even the wax with its
guard of silk and the impression of the fisherman's ring was replaced in 1842 by
a stamp which affixed the same devices in red ink. The bulls, on the other hand,
down to the death of Pope Pius IX retained many medieval features apart from
their great size, leaden seal, and Roman fashion of dating. In particular,
although from about 1050 to the reformation the writing employed in the papal
chancery did not noticeably differ from the ordinary book-hand familiar
throughout Christendom, the engrossers of papal bulls, even after the sixteenth
century, went on using an archaic and very artificial type of writing known as
scrittura bollatica, with manifold contractions and an absence of all
punctuation, which was practically undecipherable by ordinary readers. It was in
fact the custom in issuing a bull to accompany it with a transsumption, or copy,
in ordinary handwriting. This condition of things was put an end to by a motu
proprio issued by Leo XIII shortly after his election. Bulls are now written in
the same clear Roman script that is used for briefs, and in view of the
difficulties arising from transmission by post, the old leaden seal is replaced
in many cases by a simple stamp bearing the same device in red ink. In spite,
however, of these simplifications, and although the pontifical chancery is now
as an establishment much reduced in numbers, the conditions under which bulls
are prepared are still very intricate. There are still four different "roads"
which a bull may follow in its making. The via di cancellaria, in which the
document is prepared by the abbreviatori of the chancery, is the ordinary way
but it is, and especially was, so beset with formalities and consequential
delays (see Schmitz-Kalemberg, Practica) that Paul III instituted the via di
camera (see APOSTOLIC CAMERA) to evade them, in the hope of making the procedure
more expeditious. But if the process was more expeditious, it was not less
costly, so St. Pius V, in 1570, arranged for the gratuitous issue of certain
bulls by the via segreta; and to these was added, in 1735, the via di curia,
intended to meet exceptional cases of less formal and more personal interest. In
the three former processes, the Cardinal Vice-Chancellor, who is at the same
time "Sommista," is the functionary now theoretically responsible. In the last
case it is the Cardinal "Pro-Datario," and he is assisted in this charge by the
"Cardinal Secretary of Briefs." As the mention of this last office suggests, the
minutanti employed in the preparation of briefs form a separate department under
the presidency of a Cardinal Secretary and a prelate his substitute.


SPURIOUS BULLS

There can be no doubt that during a great part of the Middle Ages papal and
other documents were fabricated in a very unscrupulous fashion. A considerable
portion of the early entries in chartularies of almost every class are not only
open to grave suspicion, but are often plainly spurious. It is probable,
however, that the motive for their forgeries was not criminal. They were
prompted by the desire of protecting monastic property against tyrannical
oppressors who, when title deeds were lost or illegible, persecuted the holders
and extorted large sums as the price of charters of confirmation. No doubt, less
creditable motives--e.g., an ambitious desire to exalt consideration of their
own house--were also operative, and while lax principles in this matter
prevailed almost universally it is often difficult to distinguish the purpose
for which a papal bull was forged. A famous early example of such forgery is
supplied by two papyrus bulls which profess to have been addressed to the Abbey
of St. Benignus at Dijon by Popes John V (685) and Sergius I (697), and which
were accepted as genuine by Mabillion and his confrères. M. Delisle has,
however, proved they are fabrications made out of later bull addressed by John
XV in 995 to Abbot William, one side of which was blank. The document was cut in
half by the forger and furnished him with sufficient papyrus for two not
unsuccessful fabrications. Though deceived in this one instance, Mabillion and
his successors, Dom Toustain and Dom Tassin, have supplied the most valuable
criteria by the aid of which to detect similar fabrications, and their work has
been ably carried on in modern times by scholars like Jaffé, Wattenbach, Ewald,
and many more. In particular a new test has been furnished by the more careful
study of the cursus, or rhythmical cadence of sentences, which were most
carefully observed in the authentic bulls of the twelfth and early thirteenth
centuries. It would be impossible to go into details here, but it may be said
that M. Noæl Valois, who first investigated the matter, seems to have touched
upon the points of primary importance. Apart from this, forged bulls are now
generally detected by blunders in the dating clauses and other formalities. In
the Middle Ages one of the principal tests of the genuineness of bulls seems to
have been supplied by counting the number of points in the circular outline of
the leaden seal or in the figure of St. Peter depicted on it. The bullatores
apparently followed some definite rule in engraving their dies. Finally,
regarding these same seals, it may be noted that when a bull was issued by a
newly elected pope before his consecration, only the heads of the Apostles were
stamped on the bulla, without the pope's name. These are called bullæ dimidiatæ.
The use of golden bullæ (bullæ aureæ), though adopted seemingly from the
thirteenth century (Giry, 634) for occasions of exceptional solemnity, is too
rare to call for special remark. One noteworthy instance in which a golden seal
was used was that of the bull by which Leo X conferred upon King Henry VIII the
title of Fidei Defensor.




SOURCES

Ortolan in Dict. de theol, cath., II, 1255-63--see remark, page 49, col. 2;
Grisar in Kirkenlex, II, 1482-95; Giry, Manuel de diplomatique (Paris, 1894),
661-704--an excellent summary of the whole subject; Pflugk-Harttung, Die Bullen
der Papste (Gotha, 1901)--mainly concerned with the period before Innocent III;
Melampo in Miscellanea di Storia e Cultura Ecclesiastica (1905-07), a valuable
series of articles not too technical in character, by a Custodian of the Vatican
Archives; Mas-Latrie, Les élementes de diplomatique pontificale in Revue des
questions historiques (Paris, 1886-87), XXXIX and XLI; De Kamp, Zum papstlichen
Urkundenvessen in Mittheilungen des Inst. f. Oesterr. Geschictesforschung
(Vienna, 1882-83), III and IV, and in Historiches Jahrbuch, 1883, 1883, IV;
Delisle, Des régitres d'Innocent III in Bibliothéque de l'écoles des chartres
(Paris, 1853-54), with many other articles; Bresslau, Handbuch der Urkundenlehre
(Leipzig, 1889), I, 120-258; De Rossi, Preface to Codices Palatini Latin Bib.
Vat. (Rome, 1886); Berger, preface to Les régistres d'Innocent IV (Paris, 1884);
Kehr and Brockman, Papsturkunden in various numbers of the Göttinger Nachrichten
(Phil. Hist. Cl., 1902-04); Kehr, Scrinium und Palatium in the Austrian
Mittheilungen, Ergènzungaband, VI; Pitra, Analecta Novissima Solesmensia
(Tusculum, 1885), I; Schmitz-Kahlemberg, Practica (1904). Among earlier works
mention may be made of Mabillion, De Re Diplomatica (Paris, 1709), and the
Nouveau traité de diplomatique by the Benedictines of Saint-Maur (Paris, 1765,
VI volumes).

Early Bulls--Bresslau, Papyrus und Pergament in der papstlichen Kanzlei in the
Mittheilungen der Instituts für Oest. Geschictsforschung (Innsbruck, 1888), IX;
Omont, Bulles pontificales sur papyrus in Bibl. les l'école des chartes (Paris,
1904), XLV; Ewald, Zur Diplomatik Silvesters II in Neues Archiv (Hanover, 1884),
IX; Kehr, Scrinium und Palatium in the Austrian Mittheilungen, Ergènzungaband,
(Innsbruck, 1901) VI; Kehe, Verschollene Papyrusbullen in Quellen und
Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven (Rome, 1907), X, 216-224; Rodolico, Note
paleografiche e diplomatiche (Bologna, 1900).

For facsimiles both of early bulls and their seals, the great collection of
Pflugk-Harttung, Specimena Selecta Chartarum Pontificum Romanorum (3 vols.,
Stuttgart, 1887) is of primary importance but isolated facsimiles are to be
found elsewhere.

On the cursus it will be sufficient to mention the article of Noæl Valois,
Etudes sur le rythme des bulles pontificales in Bibl de l'école des chartes
(1881), XLII, and De Santi, Il Cursus nella storia litter. e nella liturgia
(Rome, 1903).


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Thurston, H. (1908). Bulls and Briefs. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03052b.htm

MLA citation. Thurston, Herbert. "Bulls and Briefs." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03052b.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by M. Donahue.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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