BUL
Sealing with metals is an illuftrious privilege, belonging only to princes, tho' affumed alfo by prelates, as princes of the church. The doges of Venice durft not arrogate this honour, till, leave was given them by pope Alexander III. about theyear 1 1 70, to feal their diplomata with lead. Id. ibid. p. 91.
Bull, Bulla, is alfo a denomination given to the letters pa- tents and diplomata tbemfelves, on account of the large feal of wax, fometimes inclofed in a golden, fdver or leaden box, faf- tened to the fame. Du Cange, Gloff. Lat. T. 1 . p. 638.
Golden Bulls, X{u«0iAto, were in ufe among the eaftern em- perors for a confiderable time, leaden ones being confined to matters of fmaller moment. Spelman mentions a golden bull, in a treaty of alliance between our Henry VIII. and Fran- cis I. of France; and there are other inftances in Du Cange and Altaferra. We alfo find them in ufe among the kings of Italy, Sicily, Spain, is'e. but they chiefly obtained among the emperors of Germany. On fome occafions the popes alfo fealed their letters with golden bulk. Rainaldus affures, this was never done but in the confirmation of an emperor of Ger- many ; yet Spelman relates, that the infirument whereby Cle- ment VII. gave king Henry VIII. the title of defender of the faith, had a golden bulla affixed to it. Vid. Spelm. Gloff. p. 89. Du Cange, lib. cit. p. 639, feq. Ejufd. Gloff. Grax. T. I. p. 217. Montfaue. ubi fupra.
Silver Bulls, Apyopo&Miai, were not in fo frequent ufe, though we do not want inftances of them.
Leaden Bulls, M,*|33i,ga»«„ were fent by the emperors of C ftantinople to defpots, patriarchs and princes ; and the like were alfo ufed by the grandees of the imperial court ", as we] 1 as by the kings of France, Sicily, lie. and by bifhops, patrl archs, and popes ". It is to be obferved, the leaden built of thefe latter had on one fide the name of the pope or bifhop in- fcribed '.—[' Spelm. ibid. p. 90. Du Cange, Gloff. Grace, p, 218. » Montfaue. ubi fupra, p. 379. ' Vid. Fiodaard. Hift Remenf. Feci. 1. 3. c. 17. Spelm. p. 89. Du Cange, Gloff Lat. T. 1. p. 642.]
Polydore Virgil makes pope Stephen III. the firft who ufed leaden bulb, about the year 772- But others find inftances of them as early as Silveftcr, Leo I. and Gregory the Great. The later popes, befides their own names, flrike the figures of St. Peter and St. Paul on their bulls ; a pradice firft introduced by pope Pafchal II. But why, in thefe bulls, the figure of St. Paul is on the right, and that of St. Peter on the left fide, is a queftion which has occafioned many conjeflures and difputes Vid. Mattb. Paris, an. 1237. Leo Mat. de Confenfu utriuf- queEcclef. 1. 1. c. 6. Aleman. de La:va & Dextra. Du Cange, loc. cit. p. 643. Waxen Bulls, K>j..,i3aM.a„ are faid to have been firft brought in- to England by the Normans ». They were in frequent ufe among the Greek emperors b , who thus fealed letters to their wives, mothers, and fons. Of thefe there were two forts, one red, the other green =.—["£>» Cange, Gloff. Lat. T. 1 , p, 643. b Montfaue. ubi fupra. ' Spelm. ib. p. 90. Du Cange. Gloff. GiiEc. T. 1. p. 218.] BULLA, (Cycl.) in antiquity, a golden ornament, of a globular fisrure, and hollow within, wherein was contained fome amu- let, to ferve as a prefervative from witchcraft and envy, hung about the neck by thofe who triumphed among the Romans ; and alfo by the children of the patricians, and even ingenui, as a badge of their hereditary nobility and freedom, by which they might be animated to behave tbemfelves worthy of their birth. Kern. Rom. Ant. Not. P. 2. 1. 5. c 8. p. 309. Pitifii Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 301. Jquin. Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. 142. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 128.
The word is Latin, originally fignifying a bubble of wa- ter ; to which thefe ornaments bore a refemblance in figure a Juvenal calls the bulla, Etrufcum aurum, by reafon it had beer firft borrowed from the Hetrurians "■.— [* Ifii. Orig. 1. 19. c. 3 1 . Di£l<£ bulla: quod fint f miles rotunditatc bullis qua in aqua ■oento inflantur. " Juven. Sat. 5. v. 164. Fab. Thef. p. 384.] Pliny refers the original of this ornament to the elder Tarquin, who wave the bulla to his fon, on fome extraordinary courage he had fhewn at fourteen years of age, in the war againft the Sabines c ; in imitation of whom it was afterwards affumed by the patricians. . Others maintain, that the bulla was gi- ven by that king to the fons of all the patricians who had born civil offices d . Laftly, others allege, that Romulus firft intro- duced the bulla, and gave it to Hoitus Hoftilius, the firft child born of the rape of the Sabines ■=.— [ c Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 23. c. 1. d Macrob. Saturn. 1. 1. c. 6. ' Pigb. Annal. 1. 1. p. 44. Votf. Etym. in voc. Pitifc. loc. cit. Kenn, ubi fupra.] As to the figure of the bulla, it feems to have been flat in the fide next the breaft, and round, or emboffed on the other. Plutarch compares it to the figure of a half-moon r ; Macro- bius indeed feems to make it of the figure of a heart t, tho : his words may bear another fenfe. Danet affures, it was fome- times flat like a medal, and fometimes in the form of the privy parts of men, as well as beafts b . But this feems to be, to con- found the bulla with other Tnpairra.. What puts their form be- yond doubt, is a golden bulla lately found in a maufoleum in the ruins of the city Tibur ; of which we have figures given by M. de la Chauffe, and Sig. Ficoroni, in his Mufeum Roma- nian, in a differtation exprefs clella bolla d'or '. 'Tis fuppofed to have been a triumphal bulk, which feems to have been larger
BUL
than that worn by children. — [ f Plut. Qusft. Rom. 99. g Macrob. Saturn. I. 1. c. 6. h Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 301. ' Hift. Acad. Infer. T. 2. p. 350, feq.] The bulla was not allowed to the children of fiaves, or even of Hberti,who, in lieu thereof, wore a leather collar round the neck, much after the manner of the purple firing to which the bulla was hung. But the great veftal, and the Roman ladies, wore a bulla ; the former by way of diftindtion, the latter as a piece of drefs k . We may add, that bulla were fometimes allowed to ftatues ; whence the phrafe, jlatua bullata. M. Lep'idus, having killed an enemy, and faved a citizen, even when a boy, had zbidlated ftatue erected to him in the capitol, in memory of the exploit 10 . The Roman youth laid afide the bulla toge- ther with the pratexta, and confecrated it to the Lares, when they arrived at their fifteenth year, as appears from the Sa- tyrift",
Cumprimum pavido cuflos mihi purpura cefjit, Bullaque fucc'tntlh Laribus donuta pependit.
[' Hift. Acad. Infer. T. 2. p. 352. m Vakr. Max. I. 3. c. r. Tigrcil.&z Stat. Rom. c. 20. n Perf Sat. 5. v. 30.] M. Baudelot takes the bulla to have been a talifman, inferibed with characters and figures under certain conitellations. The conjecture feems fupported by the account given by Macrobius, Bulla gejl amm erat triumphantium, quam in tnumpho pra fe ge- rebam, inclufis infra earn remediis, qua crcderent adverfus invi- diam tialentiffnna. The like may be faid of the bulla worn by children, to defend them from evil genii, and other dangers, or, as Varro exprelTes it, Ne quid obftt. Hence Afconius, on a pafiage in Cicero's firft Vcrrina, where mention is made of it, affures that thefe bulla, on the breafts of children, are as a ram- part which defends them, funis commumens, peclufque puerile. Mem. Acad. Infcript. T. 3. p. 476, feq. Bulla was alfo a denomination given to divers other metalline ornaments made after the form of bulla.
In which fenfe, bulla feem to include all golden and fdver or- naments of a roundifh form, whether worn on the habits of men, the trappings of horfes, or the like fl . Such were thofe decorations ufed by the autients on their belts and doors b . Virgil c , fpeakjng of Pallas's belt or girdle, fays,
Not'isfulferunt cingula butts Pallantis pmri.
[ 3 Aquhu Lex. Milit. T. t . p. 142. Du Cange, GloiT. Lat. T. 1. p. 637, feq. b Sagittar. de Januis Veterum, p. 175. Taub- man. ad Plaut. Afinar. Act, 2. Sc. 4- v. 20. Fab?: Thef, p. 384. c Virg. Mn. I. f 2. v. 942.]
The bulla of doors were a kind of large headed nails faftened on the doors of the rich, and kept bright with great care. The doors of temples were fometimes adorned with golden Invite d . Mr. Baudelot takes the bulla worn by foldicrs on their belts, as fomething more than mere ornaments. They feem to have been confidered as p refer vatives from dangers and difcafes, and even means of acquiring glory, and other advantages c . And the like may perhaps be extended to the bulla on doors, which were probably placed there as a fecurity to them from being broken or violated. — [ d Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 303. voc. Bidla. c Mem. Acad. Infer. T. 3. p. 477.]
Bulla alfo denoted a table hung up in the public courts, to di- ftinguifh which days were fajii and which ncfajli ; anfwering in fome meafure to our calendar. Petron- c. 30. Lot'ich. ad eund. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 302. See the article Ca- lendar.
BULLARII, in the court of Rome, the makers or drawers of bulls or conftitutions. Du Cange, GloIT. Lat. T. 1. p. 644. See the the article Bull.
BULLARY, Bullarium, a collection of papal bulls. See the article Bull, Cycl. and Suppl.
We have extant divers kinds of bullaries ; fome containing only the bulls of particular popes j fuch are the bullaries of Innocent XII. and Clement XI. Others contain the bulls granted to particular communities ; fuch is the bullary of the order of Cluny, °&c. Fabric. Bibl. Lat. Med. JEv. I 2. p. 816— S22.
Arrhenius has given a Sueco-Roman bullary, or collection of all the bulls fent into Sweden. Maracci promifed a Bullarium Marianum, or collection of bulls in honour of the worfhip of the Virgin Mary.
A general bullary of all the papal conftitutions from Gregory Vlf. to Sixtus Quintus,was compiled by order of pope Sixtus Quintus, in 1586 a ; fince which has been publifhed a great bullary, by Laert. Cherubin, containing the bulls of all the popes from Leo the Great, in 440, to Paul V. in 1559 b ; lince continued by Ang. Cherubin to the year 1644 e , and by Ang. a Lantufca and Jo. Paulus to the year 1676 d ; and, laft- ly, by an anonymous editor to the time of Benedict XIII. under the title of Bullarium magnum Romanum e . We have the fame digefted in a new method by Bouchardus ; a commentary on it begun by Vine. Petra, and a fummary of it by Novarias f .— [a Rom. 1 5 86. fol. cum Rubr. Laert. Cherub. b Rom. 16 17. fol. 3 vol. c Rom. 1638. 4 vol. fol.&Lugd. 1655. fol. It. Rothom. in 6 vol. additis Conftit. Innocent. X. d Rom.
