York Museums Trust, Rebecca Griffiths, 2014-04-22 11:26:26
Title
Medieval : Papal bulla
Description
English: A lead papal bulla of Pope Innocent IV dating to the medieval period. Innocent IV was Pope from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
The obverse of the bulla is stamped with the faces of the saints Peter and Paul within a border of raised pellets. Above the heads within the border, the saints' abbreviations are visible with 'SPA' for St. Paul to the left and 'SPE' for St. Peter to the right. The reverse is stamped with INNO//CENTIVS//.PP .IIII. also within a border of raised pellets. The 'PP' stands for 'pastor pastorum' which translates as 'shepherd of the shepherds'.
Papal Bulla such as this acted as seals on official Papal documents to authenticate their provenance and authority.
The metal is a mid greyish-white colour and survives in very good condition. The bulla is 37.9mm in diameter, 5.1mm thick and weighs 39.7g.
Depicted place
(County of findspot) East Riding of Yorkshire
Date
between 1243 and 1254
date QS:P571,+1250-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1243-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1254-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Accession number
FindID: 610950 Old ref: YORYM-7B3582 Filename: JoP0001.jpg
Credit line
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme started in 1997 and now covers most of England and Wales. Finds are published at https://finds.org.uk
Attribution: The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum
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