Manuscript leaf from a Bull (Exigentibus vestræ devotionis) of Pope Clement IV, in...

Text: From a Bull (Exigentibus vestræ devotionis) of Pope Clement IV, in Latin

Script: Papal Documentary Script (Littera Documentaria Pontificalis)

This Papal Bull of Pope Clement IV grants to the Franciscans the privilege to preach and to hear confessions at the times when the archiepiscopal seat was vacant.

The bull was issued in Perugia (Latin name Perusia) about 100 miles north of Viterbo on 15th June 1265. It is now published in Bullarium Franciscanum, Volume III (1765) pp. 12-13.

The structure of the bull

A Papal Bull had to be written in a prescribed manner following very strict rules. The lines for writing were to be marked with a hard point - ink or lead-point was not permitted. This bull is written in brown ink in one column of twelve lines in a Papal Documentary Script, which is a variant of Caroline Minuscule, mainly with added flourishes. The document is called a bull because before it was issued a seal in the form of a lead bulla, showing the name of the pope on one side and images of Saint Paul and Saint Peter on the other side, had to be attached to it. Before the bulla was attached the vellum was folded along the lower edge, the fold being known as a plica, in order to strengthen the vellum. Two slits were made through the double thickness of the vellum so that the bulla could then be attached by threads. With more important Papal Bulls these threads were made of silk. This document lacks its bulla, which most likely would have been attached by silk threads, but the four slits and the plica fold in the vellum can still be seen. Finally two vertical folds were made in the vellum to make the document more compact and protect the writing of the text. This double folding gives rise to the term diploma and similar words.

Because the bull is a complete document, and not a leaf extracted from a manuscript, the two sides are referred to as recto and dorse (rather than recto and verso). The recto is the side which contains the text of the bull whilst the dorse contains administrative information including in the bottom left-hand corner the initials of the scribe who actually wrote the bull - in this instance “D. L.”.

The text of a bull is very formulaic in nature. Some words are not allowed to be abbreviated whilst others have to be abbreviated in a prescribed manner. For less important bulls abbreviations are indicated by a standard bar drawn above a word, but for more important bulls, as in the case of this bull, the abbreviation is shown by an s-shaped sign commonly known as a “papal knot”. Certain specific words are not permitted to be split over two lines, whilst others are.

In this bull at the start of line 1 is “CLEMENS” which denotes Pope Clement IV. The numbering of popes was not included in bulls until about the fifteenth century. Apart from the very large letter “C”, which is adorned with “nodules” and a “horn” the other letters in his name are very tall and stylised. Following his name, in a bull, the pope always refers to himself as “servant of the servants of God”. Then come the titles and names of the addressee(s) followed by a greeting and a blessing. Following this is the message, or instruction, being conveyed by the bull. The first two or three words of this text are used to identify the bull. With this bull we have in the second line the words “Exigentibus vestre”. These two words are also prominently seen written in red in the top portion of the dorse, although unfortunately the first two letters “Ex” are smudged. In this bull the message continues up to the middle of the ninth line. Then we find the words “Nulli ergo . . .” which are the start of a standard warning that no-one must interfere with the document or oppose it. In case anyone should ignore this warning there then follows a description of the dire consequences of such action starting with the words “Si quis . . . ”. Lastly the place where the bull was written and the date when it was written are given. The date is relative to the pontifical year.

On the dorse there are three areas which contain text, the principal one being the central one in the upper part of the vellum. On this side the Papal Documentary Script is not used. This is positioned to lie within the two vertical folds and, no doubt, was used for administrative filing purposes. In the first line, in red, are the initials “D.L.” of the scribe. The later insertion of the word ‘Minorum’ is to indicate that the bull relates to the Franciscans. On the next line is “Anno 1265” - the year of issue of the bull. This is followed on the third line, in red, by “Clemens P(a)p(e) IIII” which is the first explicit indication that the pope is Clement IV. Then following in the next six lines is a brief description of the contents of the bull, and then finally in the tenth line, in red, are the important identifying words “Exigentibus vestræ” (sadly the letters “Ex” are smudged) and then below these the place and date of the bull.

The lower portion of the dorse contains other administrative notes which are rather indistinct and have not been transcribed. There are however two interesting marks in the lower right-hand area. The first is a loop, rather like a letter “l” and written between two dots. We do not know what this signifies. The second mark is rather more interesting. It is a small circle of diameter 4 mm with a “T” drawn in it in the manner of the early medieval T-O map representing the known world, with the top sector representing Asia and the two lower sectors representing Europe and Africa. Could this perhaps signify that that this bull was applicable world-wide?

References:

1 The bull is published in Bullarium Franciscanum, Volume III (1765) pp. 12-13.

2 Brown, Michelle P. A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600. London, 1990.

3 Clemens, Raymond, and Timothy Graham. Introduction to Manuscript Studies. Cornell, 2007.

Translation of the bull:

(1) Bishop Clement, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons in the general ministry, and to his brothers of the order of lesser friars: greetings and

(2) apostolic blessing. We have freely shown favour to your rightful wishes and the demands of your devotions, and we have listened to your petitions as favourably as we can

(3) with the help of God. Since indeed on your part it was proposed in our presence that because it is allowed to you by some

(4) patriarchs, archbishops, bishops and other prelates of the churches, that permission to hear the confessions of their subjects, and also to preach,

(5) and to exchange some prayers for other works of piety in their states, should be granted to the dioceses; since however,

(6) when the same prelates die, you hesitate to use permission of this kind when there is such a vacancy in the churches. You have humbly beseeched us

(7) to make provision to you in this matter with paternal diligence. Therefore, favourably inclined to your supplications

(8) in the present circumstances, we with authority grant to you that in a situation of this kind you may freely use the afore-mentioned permission

(9) until provision has been made for a pastor in the vacant churches. Therefore let no one at all be allowed to infringe this document giving our permission,

(10) or oppose it in an audacious attempt. If however anyone ventures to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation

(11) of almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. Granted at Perugia on 17 Kalends July *

(12) in the first year of our pontificate.

* This Roman date corresponds to 15th June 1265.

Transcription

Recto:

1 CLEMENS ep(iscopu)s servus servor(um) dei . Dilectis filiis . . Ministro Generali et Fratribus ordinis Minor(um) . Sal(u)t(em) et

2 ap(osto)licam ben(edictionem) . Exigentibus vestre devotionis meritis votis v(est)ris libenter annuimus et petitiones v(est)ras quantum cum

3 deo possumus favorabiliter exaudimus . Ex parte siquidem v(est)ra fuit propositum coram nobis q(uo)d licet vobis a non(n)ullis

4 Patriarchis Archiepi(scopi)s Epi(scopi)s et aliis eccl(es)iar(um) Prelatis audiendi confessiones subditor(um) suor(um) necnon predicandi

5 et aliqua vota in alia pietatis opera commutandi in suis Civitatibus et diœc(esibus) licentia sit concessa quia tamen

6 eisdem Prelatis decedentibus uti hui(us)modi licentia eccl(es)iis sic vacantibus dubitatis nobis humiliter supplicastis

7 ut providere vobis super hoc paterna diligentia curaremus . Vestris igitur supplicationibus inclinati presen-

8 tium vobis auctoritate concedimus ut in hui(us)modi casu possitis uti tandiu libere p(re)dicta licentia donec vi-

9 duatis eccl(es)iis provisum fuerit de pastore . Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam n(ost)re concessio-

10 nis infringere vel ei ausu temerario contraire . Si quis autem hoc attemptare presumpserit indignationem

11 om(n)ipotentis dei (et) beator(um) Petri et Pauli ap(osto)lor(um) se noverit incursurum . Dat(um) Perusii xvii k(a)l(endas) Iulii

12 Pontificatus n(ost)ri Anno Primo

Notes concerning the recto:

A Letters: a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u/v,x.

B Alternative forms of letters with ‘i’(2), ‘m’(2), ‘n’(2), ‘r’(2), ‘s’(2) and ‘t’(2).

Where two letters ‘i’ are adjacent the second one has a descender with a hook curling round to the right, as in ‘Perusii’ (line 11).

The letter ‘k’ very rarely occurs in Latin and ‘k(a)l(endas)’ (line 11) is one such place.

If a word ends with an ‘m’ or an ‘n’ then the final minim has a descender curling round to the right as in ‘siquidem’ (line 3).

The letter ‘r’ has both an upright form and a round form, the latter occurring in the ‘-r(um)’ ending as in ‘suor(um)’ (line 4).

The letter ‘s’ has a tall form for general use except at the end of a word when the round form is used as in ‘possumus’ (line 3). The round ‘s’ has a height slightly taller than the x-height.

With the letter ‘t’ the short form is always used except when it is in a ‘ct’ ligature and then the ‘t’ is much taller.

C Small capitals: A,C,E,G,M,P,S

These are either slightly larger than the small letters, e.g. ‘Ministro’ (line 1), or alternatively the small letter has a small vertical line drawn in it, for example the ‘P’ in ‘Pauli’ (line 11). Compare this with the ‘p’ in ‘opera’ (line 5).

D Important capitals: C,D,E,N,S,V.

Note the nodules and horns adorning the ‘C’ in ‘Clemens’ and ‘D’ in ‘Dilectis’ (line 1).

E There is no fusion except perhaps between letters ‘pp’ as in ‘supplicationibus’ (line 7).

F Note the elision between letters ‘cu’, ‘fu’, ‘ta’, ‘ti’, ‘to’, ‘tr’ and ‘tu’, and possibly others.

G Note the ligature with ‘st’, e.g. in ‘Ministro’ (line 1). A long horizontal line joins the top of the tall ‘s’ with the top of a tall ‘t’.

H Note the ligature with ‘ct’, e.g. in ‘Dilectus’ (line 1). A long horizontal bar starting with a loop above the letter ‘c’ joining a tall letter ‘t’. There is a gap between the letter ‘c’ and the horizontal bar.

I Ascenders are very tall with a curl to the right, as with the ‘b’ in ‘Fratribus’ (line 1).

With ‘d’, as in ‘ordinis’ (line 1), the ascender curls in a large loop to the right.

J As well as descenders with letters ‘g’, ‘p’, ‘q’ and tall ‘s’ other letters have descenders including letters ‘f’, ‘h’ and ‘x’, as well as some cases of ‘m’ and ‘n’ (see Note B above).

With ‘g’ the descender is an elaborate twisted loop as in ‘igitur’ (line 7).

With ‘f’, ‘p’, ‘q’ and tall ‘s’ the descender is a vertical line with a hook at the bottom.

With ‘h’, ‘x’, ‘m’ and ‘n’ the descender is a large sweeping hook.

K Some words ending with a ‘r’ or ‘t’ the final letter has a little flourish, as in ‘libenter’ (line 2).

L There is space in line 1 for the letters ‘s’ in ‘servus servor(um)’ to be drawn with elaborate flourishes.

M The word ‘et’ is normally written as such but in line 11 between ‘dei’ and ‘beator(um)’ there is symbol which is an unusual form of Tironian ‘et’.

N Note the use of a papal knot indicating the abbreviation of ‘ep(iscopu)s’ (line 1), and elsewhere.

O Note the ‘-r(um)’ ending as in ‘suor(um)’ (line 4).

Dorse:

Dorse central upper text:

1 Minor(um) D . L . [ Initials of the scribe in red

2 Anno 1265 .

3 Clemens P(a)P(e) IIII

4 Declarat , quod (Fratres) Minores Sede Archi Ep(iscop)ali ,

5 Patriarchali que vacante possint uti licentia

6 a Dictis prælatis concessa circa prædicationem

7 Confessionum exceptionem et Votorum Commu-

8 talionem , usq(u)e dum viduata eius modi Ecclesia

9 de novo fuerit provisum pastore .

10 (Ex)igentibus Vestræ . [ Phrase identifying the bull

11 Dat(um) . Perusii 15 Iunii Pont(ificate) . 1 .

Dorse left lower text:

[This is indistinct and has not been transcribed.]

Dorse left lower corner:

1 D . L . [ Initials of the scribe

Dorse right lower text:

[This is indistinct and has not been transcribed.]

Notes concerning the central description on the dorse:

P The writing is in a different hand from the writing on the recto and was almost certainly written later than that on the recto.

Q In line 4 note the use of ‘FF’ to represent ‘Fratres’.

R In line 6 with both ‘prælatis’ and ‘prædicationem’ a little mark to the right of the letter ‘a’ indicates that the letter ‘a’ should really be a diphthong ‘æ’.

This is clearer in line 10 in word ‘Vestræ’.

S With numbers, ‘1’ has a dot above it and ‘2’ somewhat resembles ‘Z’.