Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/82

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BULSTRODE


58


BULSTRODE


sire of protecting monastic property against tyran- nical 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 the consideration of their own house — were also operative, and while lax principles in this matter prevailed almost universally it is often diffi- cult 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 Ser- gius I (697), and which were accepted as genuine by Mabillon and his confreres. M. Delisle has, however, proved they are fabrications made out of a 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 fabrica- tions. Though deceived in this one instance, Ma- billon and his successors, Dom Toustain and Doin 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 Jaffl, Wattenbach, Ewald, and many more. In particular a new test has been furnished" by the more careful study of the laws 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. Noel Valois, who first in- vestigated 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 or other formalities. In the Middle Ages one of the principal tests of the genuine- ness of bulls seems to have been supplied by count- ing the number of points shown in the circular outline of the leaden seal or in the figure of St. Peter depicted upon it. The bullatores apparently fol- lowed 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 Apos- tles wen- stamped upon the bulla, without the pope's name. These are called bulla dimidiatm. The use of golden bulke (bulla aurece), though adopted seemingly from the thirteenth century (Giry, 634) for occasions of exceptional solemnity, is too rare to call for special remark. I hie noteworthy instance rn 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.

Ortolan in Diet, de thiol, cath., II, 1255-63 — see remark, page 49, col. 2; Grisar in Kirchenlex., Il, 1482-95; Giry, Manuel de diplomatique (Paris, 1894), 661-704 — an excellent summary of the whole subject; Pflugk-Harttung, Die Bullen der Pdpstc (Gotha, 1901) — mainly concerned with the period before Innocent III; Melampo in Miscellanea di Storia e Cul- ture. Eeclesiastica (1905-07), a valuable series of articles not too technical in character, by a Custodian of the Vatican Archives; Mas-Latrie, Les elements de la diplomatique pontiji- cale in Revue des questions historiques (Paris, 1S86-87), XXXIX and XLI; Diekamp, Zum pdpstiiehen Urkundenu-esen in Mit- theilunqen des Inst. f. Oesterr. Geschichtsforsch-ing l Vienna, 1SS2- 83), III and IV. and in Histurisches Jahrbuch. 1883, IV; De- lisle, Les rigistres d'Innocent III in Biblieitheque de I'ecole des chartes (Paris, 1S53-54), with many other articles; Bresslau, Handbuch der Urkundenlehre (Leipzig, 1SS9I. I, 120-25S; De Rossi, Preface to Codices Palatini Latini Bib. lot. (Home, ISSOl; Berger, preface to its rigistres d'Innocent I\ (Paris, 1884); Kehr and Brachmann, Paveturkwnden in various numbers of the Gottinger Nachrichten (Phil. Hist. CI., 1902-04); Kehr, Scrinium und Palatium in the Austrian Miltheilunqen. Enianzunqsband. VI; Pitra, Analeeta Novissima Solesmensia (Tuseulum. 1885), I; Schmitz-Kalemberg, Practica (1904). Among earlier works mention mav be made of Mabillon, De Re Diplomatic* (Pans, 1709). and the Nouveau traiti- de diplo- matique by the Benedictines of Saint-Maur (Paris, 1765, VI volumes).

Early Bulls. — Bresslau, Papyrus und Perqament in der papstlichen Kanzlei in the Miltheilunqen des Instituts, jur Oest. Geschichtsforschung (Innsbruck, 1888), IX; Omont, B idles pontificates sur papyrus in Bibl. de I'ecole des chartes (Paris, 1904\ LXV; Ewald, Zur Diplomalik Silvesters II in Neues Arcfiiv (Hanover, 18S4). IX; Kehr, Scrinium und Palatium in the Austrian M iltkeilunqen. Erganzumjsband ( Innsbruck, 1901), VI; Kehr. YerscholUne Papiirusbullen mtjuiilcn und Eor- schungen aus italienischen Archival (Rome, 1907\ X, 216-224; Hodolico, Note paleoqrafiche e diplomatiche (Bologna, 1900).

For facsimiles both of early bulls and of their seals, the great collection of Pfi.ugk-Harttcng. Specimina Selects 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 Noel Valois, Etudes sur le rythme des bulles pontificates in Bibl. de I'ecole des chartes (1881), XLII, and De Santi, II Cursus nella storia litter, e nella liturgia (Rome, 1903).

Herbert Thurston.

Bulstrode, Sir Richard, soldier, diplomatist, and author, b. 1610; d. 1711, was the second son of Edward Bulstrode by Margaret, daughter of Richard Astley, chamberlain of the queen's household and member of the Inner Temple. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and while at the university was the author of a poem on the birth of the Duke of York. At twenty-three years of age he entered the Inner Temple and in 1649, at his father's request and through bis interest, was made a bencher. During the Civil War he was loyal to the king, serving in the Prince of Wales's regiment and holding at times the post of adjutant. He was later promoted to the rank of Adjutant-General of Horse, and still later to be Quartermaster-General. He was appointed to take charge of the funeral of Lord Strafford and became responsible for the expenses attending it; on being pressed by his creditors he fled to Bruges. He subsequently underwent a short term of imprisonment, which was terminated by the payment of the debt by Charles II. On his return he was appointed auditor of a Scotch regiment then serving in the Nether- lands and in 1673 was appointed agent at the Court of Brussels. He was temporarily recalled two years later, and in 1675 was knighted and again sent to Brussels, this time as resident, where he remained until the accession of James II when he was made envoy. When the revolution of 16SS compelled James to leave England, Bulstrode accompanied him to the court of Saint-Germain, wdiere he remained until his death. Among his writings are: "Original Letters written to the Earl of Arlington, with an account uf the Author's Life and Family", "Life of James II", "Memoirs and Reflections on the Reign and Government of Charles I and Charles II" and a lartfe number of elegies and epigrams.

Henderson in Diet. Nat. Binq.. VII, 259; Gn.i.ow, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath., I, 340. Thomas Gaif.NEY Taaffe.