St John's Top 5: papal bulls
For April we have a selection of papal bulls (or papal charters) and church documents from the 13th to 16th centuries. (Bull or bulla is the name of the seal affixed to papal letters and charters to authenticate them. The term comes from the Latin bullire , "to boil" because whether made of wax, lead or gold, the material for the seal had to be melted to soften it and take on an impression. The seals on the College's papal bulls were made of lead and have the images of St Peter and St Paul on one side with the pope's signature on the reverse.
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