BULLS
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BULLS
scriniarius sanctce Romance ecclatice, cancellarius,
ypocanccllarius, etc., and after 1057 of camerarilts,
or later still notarius S. ixilatii. On the other hand,
the dalarius, the official mentioned under the head-
ing data, who presumably delivered the instrument
to the parties, after having superintended the sub-
scriptions and the apposition of the seal, seems to
have been an official of still higher consequence. In
earlier documents he bears the titles primicerius sanc-
t(r scdis apostolicce, senior et consiliarius, etc., but as
early as the ninth century we have the well-known
phrase bibliothecarius sanctce scdis apostolical, and later
cancellarius et bibliothecarius, as a combined title borne
by a cardinal, or perhaps by more than one cardinal
at once. Somewhat later still (under Innocent 111)
the cancellarius seems to have threatened to develop
into a functionary who was dangerously powerful,
and the office was suppressed. A vice-chancellor re-
mained, but this dignity also was abolished before
1352. But this of course was much later than the
period we have now reached.
III. 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 a clear distinction between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The Benedictine authors of the " Nouveau traite de diplomatique" call them great and little bulls. In spite of a protest in modern times from M. Leopold Delisle, who would prefer to describe the former class as "privileges", and the hitter as "letters", this nomenclature has been found suffi- ciently 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 ser- vorum 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 have usually salutem et apos- tolicam benediclionem, but these 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 cardinal-bishops are written in the centre, 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 had been left for the name of a car- dinal who accidentally failed to be present. The pope has no cross before his name; the cardinals have. Earlier than this, even great bulls were subscribed by the pope alone, unless they em- bodied 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 " Miscricordia 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 onlv 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 centre 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 the monogram which represents Bene Valele. 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 w'ith certain imprecatory and prohibitory clauses De- cernimus ergo, etc., Siqua igitur, etc. On the other hand, Cunclis 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 some- what 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 times as was necessary to fill up the line.
(7) In appending the date, or, more precisely, in adding the clause which begins datum, the custom was to inter 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 In- carnation, and the regnal year of the pontiff, who is mentioned by his name. An example taken from a bull of Adrian IV will make the matter clear: " Datum Laterani per manum Rolandi sanctae Romana> ecclesiae presbyteri cardinalis et cancellarii, XII Kl. Junii. indie. V°, anno dominicse incarn. MCLVII", pontificatus vero domini Adriani papa; 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 1121 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 both great and little bulls alike begin with the pope's name — Urbanus, let us say, or Leo, "episcopus, servus servorum Dei" — in the little bulls we have no clause of perpetuity, but in- stead of it there follows immediately "salutem et apostolicam benedictionem".
(2) The formulae of imprecation, etc.. at the end only occur by exception, and they are in any case more concise than those of the great bulls.
(3) The little bulls have no rota, no Bene Valete monogram and no subscriptions of pope and car- dinals.
The purpose served by this distinction between 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 of 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 con- stituting sufficient evidence of title in eases where the original deeds had been lost or destroyed. Now the "great bulls" on account of their many for- malities and the number of hands they passed through, were much more secure from fraud of all
