BULLS
56
BULLS
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 labour. The little bulls
were much more expeditious. Hence we are con-
fronted 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 litterce communes
and curiales seems rather to have belonged to a
later period, and to have primarily concerned the
manner of entry in the official "Regesta", the com-
munes being copied 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
mmidamenta. The tituli were letters of a gracious
character — donations, favours, or confirmations con-
stituting a "title". The}' 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 in-
structions, 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 litterw, and notably
of the mandamenta. that the whole papal administra-
tion, both political and religious, was conducted.
In particular the Decretals, upon which the whole
science of Canon Law is built up, invariably took
this form.
IV. Fourth Period (1198-1431).— Under In- nocent III, there again took place what was prac- tically 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 later medieval popes, and this alone is a matter of con- siderable importance. In the light of the Regesta we are able to understand more clearly the working of the papal chancery. There were, it seems, four principal bureaux or offices. At the office of the "Minutes" certain clerks (chrici), in those days really clerics, and known then or later as dbbn via drew up in concise form tin- draft (litem 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-chan- cellor) 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 "Regis-
tration" 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 many cases this
was done at the request of the parties interested,
who were made to pay for the privilege which they
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 (see cut), was affixed by the
Boniface VIII
officials called bullatorrs or bullarii. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the great bulls, or priri- legia, 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 (litterce) 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 formula? but in the manner of writing. Moreover, the rule of authen- ticating the letter with a leaden seal began in certain cases to be broken through, in favour of a seal of wax bearing the impression of the "ring of the fisherman". The earliest mention of the new prac- tice 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 un- der the signet of the fisherman which the Roman pontiffs use in their private affairs" (Potthast, Regesta, no. 19,051). Other exam- ples are forthcoming belonging to the same century. The earliest impression of this seal now preserved seems to 1 >e one lately discovered iu the treasury of the Sancta Sanctorum at the Lateran, and be- longing to the time of Nicholas III (1277-80). It represents St. Peter fishing with rod and line and nut as ai present drawing in his net.
V. Fifth Period (1431-1878).— The introduction of briefs, which occurred at the beginning of the pontificate of Eugenius IV. was clearly prompted by the same desire for greater simplicity and ex- pedition 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 for- malities previously insisted on. It was written on vellum, generally closed, i. e. folded, and sealed
HON'ORIUS III
