A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent , or charter issued by a pope of the Catholic Church . It is named after the leaden seal ( bulla ) traditionally appended to authenticate it.
73-473: Papal bulls have been in use at least since the 6th century, but the phrase was not used until around the end of the 13th century, and then only internally for unofficial administrative purposes. However, it had become official by the 15th century, when one of the offices of the Apostolic Chancery was named the "register of bulls" (" registrum bullarum "). By the accession of Pope Leo IX in 1048,
146-514: A motu proprio of 8 December 1910 approved the new formulae and ordered them to be used exclusively after 1 January 1911. The College of the Abbreviators of the greater presidency having been suppressed and the abbreviators of the lesser presidency having become extinct in fact, the apostolic prothonotaries in actual office were appointed to sign the bulls. The mode of dating papal bulls was also changed. Formerly they were dated according to
219-441: A state as guarantor of the value: either as trustworthy guarantor of the kind and amount of metal in a coin , or as powerful guarantor of the continuing acceptance of token coins . Traditionally, most states have been monarchies where the person of the monarch and the state were equivalent for most purposes. For this reason, the obverse side of a modern piece of currency is the one that evokes that reaction by invoking
292-431: A book or other paper document. The obverse is usually assumed to be the side visible when the hoist , the edge attached to the mast , is on the viewer's left and the opposite fly side to their right, while the reverse is the side visible with the hoist on the right and the fly on the left. Most flags reversed feature a mirror copy of the obverse, a format accommodated by most flag manufacturers. The flag of Saudi Arabia
365-526: A cardinal of the order of priests was placed) or "deaconry" (a church over which was placed a cardinal-deacon). The Basilica, on the contrary, became a titular for a Chancellor of the order of priests and a deaconry for one of the order of deacons; when the Chancellor was a suburbicarian bishop, he retained the Basilica in commendam . The office of regent, the next office in the order of precedence of
438-418: A clear distinction developed between two classes of bulls of greater and less solemnity. The majority of the "great bulls" now in existence are in the nature of confirmations of property or charters of protection accorded to monasteries and religious institutions. In an era when there was much fabrication of such documents, those who procured bulls from Rome wished to ensure that the authenticity of their bull
511-463: A grant of the right of succession to the heirs of the purchaser. Offices that entailed grave obligations and for which only pious and learned men were eligible were sold without this right and therefore reverted to the Roman Curia on the death of the purchaser. An aleatory contract , therefore, was formed, its uncertainties being the amount of the income of the office and the length of the life of
584-557: A heraldic device of the Farnese family, from which Pope Paul III descended. Since the late 18th century, the lead bulla has been replaced with a red ink stamp of Saints Peter and Paul with the reigning pope's name encircling the picture, though very formal letters, e.g. the bull of Pope John XXIII convoking the Second Vatican Council , still receive the leaden seal. Original papal bulls exist in quantity only after
657-468: A notary, a secretary and archivist, a protocolist, and four amanuenses . The majority of the minor offices of the Cancellaria were suppressed and its faculties were reduced only to the expedition of Papal bulls for Consistorial benefices , erection of new dioceses and chapters, and other more important ecclesiastical affairs that required various forms of apostolic letters . Thus Pius X restored
730-431: A shorter beard made of dome-shaped globetti (beads in relief). Each head was surrounded by a circle of globetti , and the rim of the seal was surrounded by an additional ring of such beads, while the heads themselves were separated by a depiction of a cross. On the reverse was the name of the issuing pope in the nominative Latin form, with the letters "PP", for Pastor Pastorum ("Shepherd of Shepherds"). This disc
803-447: Is an exception to both conventions, with a right-hoisted ("sinister" [REDACTED] ) obverse and an equal reverse to correctly arrange the calligraphic Shahada on both sides. Truly two-sided flags include the flag of Paraguay and the flag of Oregon , but are otherwise rare in the modern day. Some national flag protocols include provisions for when and how the reverse should be displayed. The United States flag code states that
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#1732766050379876-479: Is regarded as the obverse of those coins. The opposite side may have varied from time to time. In ancient Greek monarchical coinage, the situation continued whereby a larger image of a deity , is called the obverse, but a smaller image of a monarch appears on the other side which is called the reverse. In a Western monarchy , it has been customary, following the tradition of the Hellenistic monarchs and then
949-772: The motu proprio Quo Aptius of Pope Paul VI of 27 February 1973 completely suppressed the Cancellaria Apostolica . Prior to the Apostolic constitution Etsi ad Singula of Pope Clement VII of 5 July 1532, the presiding cardinal of the Cancellaria was titled " Vice Chancellor ". Scholars writing of the Cancellaria provided many ingenious reasons why that dignitary did not have the more obvious title of "Chancellor". The Italian jurist Giovanni Battista Cardinal De Luca regarded these explanations as senseless ( simplicitates et fabulae ) and proposed an explanation of his own, without insisting on its correctness: it
1022-595: The Cancellaria ( per Cancellarium ), secretly ( per viam secretam ), and by way of the Apostolic Camera ( per viam Camerae ); because while some bulls were taxed, others were not, and it was necessary to determine upon what bulls the proprietors of the vacabili offices (see above) had a right to receive taxes. Thus papal bulls concerning the government of the Roman Catholic Church, being exempt from all taxation, were said to be issued by way of
1095-455: The Cancellaria were instituted in various Apostolic constitutions that the popes customarily promulgated at the beginning of their pontificates regarding judicial causes and benefices . In many cases the pope merely confirmed the provisions of his predecessor, but in others added or suppressed provisions. The result was an ancient collection of rules in force, and this mode of governing the Cancellaria continued even after Pope Pius X reformed
1168-740: The Cancellaria . Note: some chancellors before 1144 used the ancient title " Bibliothecarius " instead of " Cancellarius ". This office should not be confused with that of the Cardinal Camerlengo of Holy Roman Church , which is a cardinalatial office with competence regarding the vacancy of the Apostolic See . Obverse and reverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money , flags , seals , medals , drawings , old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means
1241-412: The Cancellaria Apostolica after that of the chancellor, was instituted in 1377, when Pope Gregory XI returned from Avignon , France to his see. Cardinal Pierre de Monteruc, the chancellor at that time, refused to follow the pope from Avignon to Rome ; as it was necessary that someone should direct the office of the Cancellaria , the pope, leaving the title of vice chancellor to Montéruc, appointed
1314-463: The Roman Curia . These rules were usually divided into 3 classes: rules of direction or expedition that regarded the expedition of papal bulls; beneficial or reservatory rules that regarded benefices and reservations; and judicial rules that regarded specific prescriptions for judicial matters, especially appeals. The rules of the Cancellaria had the force of law unless exception was made by a concordat . In ancient times, these rules lost their force on
1387-422: The Roman Curia ; those of which the expedition was by way of the Cancellaria were the common bulls, which, after being reviewed by the abbreviators of the greater presidency, were signed by them and by the proprietors of the vacabili , the latter of whom received the established taxes; the bulls said to be issued secretly were those in favour of some privileged persons, e. g. the palatine prelates , auditors of
1460-519: The Roman emperors , for the currency to bear the head of the monarch on one side, which is almost always regarded as the obverse. This change happened in the coinage of Alexander the Great , which continued to be minted long after his death. After his conquest of ancient Egypt , he allowed himself to be depicted on the obverse of coins as a god-king , at least partly because he thought this would help secure
1533-571: The Sacra Rota , and relatives of cardinals, and were signed by the vice chancellor, also exempt from taxation; finally, the bulls of which the expedition was said to be by way of the Apostolic Camera were those that concerned it. Because the style and the rules of the Cancellaria could not be adapted to these bulls, they were issued by the Sommista , whose office Pope Alexander VI instituted and later united by Pope Alexander VIII with that of
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#17327660503791606-549: The Six Kalimas (the Islamic profession of faith) is usually defined as the obverse. A convention exists typically to display the obverse to the left (or above) and the reverse to the right (or below) in photographs and museum displays, but this is not invariably observed. The form of currency follows its function, which is to serve as a readily accepted medium of exchange of value . Normally, this function rests on
1679-466: The obverse it depicted, originally somewhat crudely, the early Fathers of the Church of Rome , the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul , identified by the letters S anctus PA ulus and S anctus PE trus (thus, SPA •SPE or SPASPE ). St. Paul, on the left, was shown with flowing hair and a long pointed beard composed of curved lines, while St. Peter, on the right, was shown with curly hair and
1752-399: The pope 's books as well as redacting documents. The role of cancellarius first appears under Silvester II. The cancellarius produced documents for the pope, while the bibliotecarius would date them. Subsequently, both roles tended to be filled by the same person. The use of the term bibliotecarius ended under Celestine II (1143–1144). From Honorius III (1216–1227) onwards the head of
1825-470: The vacabili offices and ordered his pro-datary to redeem them, when necessary substituting the office of the Apostolic Datary for their proprietors. The Apostolic constitution Sapienti Consilio of Pope Pius X of 29 June 1908 reduced the Cancellaria Apostolica to a forwarding office ( Ufficio di Spedizione ) consisting only of the cardinal chancellor, regent, apostolic prothonotaries,
1898-586: The vacabili , which resulted in few remaining. Pope Pius VII , after his return to Rome , reformed the Cancellaria and prudently decreased its offices. But as he granted to the vacabili the privilege that, by a legal fiction, time of their tenures was regarded as not having transpired (" quod tempus et tempera non currant "), and many proprietors of vacabili having had obtained grants of sopravivevza , by which deceased intestataries were regarded to be alive, some offices remained vacabili nominally, but not factually. Finally, in 1901 Pope Leo XIII suppressed all
1971-704: The "Papal" or "Roman Chanc(ell)ery") was a dicastery of the Roman Curia at the service of the pope . The principal and presiding official was the Grand Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church who was always the cardinal-priest of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso . The principal function of the office was to collect money to maintain the Papal army and to produce documents and correspondence for
2044-537: The "intestatary". The purchaser was also permitted to substitute a different intestatary if this substitution was expressed 40 days before the death of the immediately preceding intestatary. Other offices that Pope Sixtus V classified as vacabili were of greater importance, including that of Regent and those of the 25 solicitors, 12 notaries, and auditors of the Causes of the Holy Palace. Pope Sixtus V assigned
2117-556: The 11th century onward, when the transition from fragile papyrus to the more durable parchment was made. None survives in entirety from before 819. Some original lead bullae , however, still survive from as early as the 6th century. In terms of content, the bull is simply the format in which a decree of the pope appears. Any subject may be treated in a bull, and many were and are, including statutory decrees, episcopal appointments, dispensations , excommunications , apostolic constitutions , canonizations , and convocations . The bull
2190-513: The Britains' – that is, Britain and its dominions) and, before 1949, IND[IAE] IMP[ERATOR] (' Emperor of India '). The United States specifies what appears on the obverse and reverse of its currency. The specifications mentioned here imply the use of all upper-case letters, although they appear here in upper and lower case letters for the legibility of the article. The United States government long adhered to including all of
2263-488: The Florentine engraver Benvenuto Cellini was paid 50 scudi to recreate the metal matrix which would be used to impress the lead bullae of Pope Paul III . Cellini retained definitive iconographic items like the faces of the two apostles, but he carved them with a much greater attention to detail and artistic sensibility than had previously been in evidence. On the reverse of the seal he added several fleurs-de-lis ,
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2336-469: The Servants of God "), and its incipit , i.e., the first few Latin words from which the bull took its title for record-keeping purposes, but which might not be directly indicative of the bull's purpose. The body of the text was often very simple in layout, and it had no specific conventions for its formatting. The closing section consisted of a short " datum " that mentioned the place of issuance, day of
2409-520: The Servants of God"). While papal bulls always used to bear a metal seal, they now do so only on the most solemn occasions. A papal bull is today the most formal type of public decree or letters patent issued by the Vatican Chancery in the name of the pope. A bull's format formerly began with one line in tall, elongated letters containing three elements: the pope's name, the papal title " Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei " ("Bishop, Servant of
2482-634: The State Arms, as on its earlier issues. In Japan, from 1897 to the end of World War II , the following informal conventions existed: The Chrysanthemum Crest was no longer used after the war, and so (equally informally): Following ancient tradition, the obverse of coins of the United Kingdom (and predecessor kingdoms going back to the Middle Ages ) almost always feature the head of the monarch. By tradition, each British monarch faces in
2555-623: The Vice Chancellor to the majestic Palazzo Riario in the Campo di Fiori was due to the confiscation of the property of Cardinal Raffaele Riario for his share, with Cardinals Petrucci , Sacchi, Soderini , and Castellesi, in a conspiracy against the life of Pope Leo X . Contiguous to the Cancellaria qua edifice, in fact forming part of it, is the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso . When Pope Clement VII assigned this palace as
2628-511: The absolutist King Louis XIV ). The reclassification of many of the offices of the Cancellaria as vacabili was motivated by the need of the pope for money. The pope was often compelled to defend the Church by waging war, equipping martial expeditions, or at least financially assisting the princes who waged such wars at his exhortation, but the Papal treasury was often insufficient to defray even
2701-545: The allegiance of the Egyptians, who had regarded their previous monarchs, the pharaohs , as divine. The various Hellenistic rulers who were his successors followed his tradition and kept their images on the obverse of coins. A movement back to the earlier tradition of a deity being placed on the obverse occurred in Byzantine coinage , where a head of Christ became the obverse and a head or portrait (half or full-length) of
2774-452: The archbishop of Ban, Bartolommeo Prignano, as regent. At the death of Pope Gregory XI in 1378, Prignano was elected pope, and he appointed a successor to himself in the office of regent, which was thereafter maintained, even when the vice chancellor re-established his residence in Rome. There were four modes of issuing papal bulls : by way of the Roman Curia ( per viam Curiae ), by way of
2847-552: The chancery was called the vicecancellarius . The Cancellaria Apostolica was of ancient origin in its essence, but it derived its name from that of civil " chanceries ", including that of the Imperial Chancery. The primacy of the Roman pontiff required that he have in his service officials to write and transmit his answers to the numerous petitions for favours and consultations addressed to him. Throughout its duration
2920-463: The coin value) is the reverse . This rule does not apply to the collector coins as they do not have a common side. A number of the designs used for obverse national sides of euro coins were taken from the reverse of the nations' former pre-euro coins. Several countries (such as Spain and Belgium ) continue to use portraits of the reigning monarch, while the Republic of Ireland continues to use
2993-404: The death of the pope, and revived only upon the express confirmation of his successor, but Pope Urban VIII declared that without an express confirmation the rules of the Cancellaria were restored to validity on the day after the election of the succeeding pope. The commission of cardinals responsible for the reformation of the formulae of papal bulls was responsible also for revising the rules of
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3066-468: The emperor became considered the reverse. The introduction of this style in the gold coins of Justinian II from the year 695 provoked the Islamic Caliph , Abd al-Malik , who previously had copied Byzantine designs, replacing Christian symbols with Islamic equivalents, finally to develop a distinctive Islamic style , with just lettering on both sides of their coins. This script alone style then
3139-560: The expenses of the Papal States . Accordingly, the popes resorted to the expedient of selling several lucrative offices of the Roman Curia to the highest bidder; however, these sales were not of the offices per se , but of the receipts of the offices, e. g., the taxes paid for the favours that were granted through the pertinent office. Some of the offices that Pope Sixtus V classified as vacabili were of minor importance and therefore did not require special competence were sold with
3212-409: The following: The ten-year series of Statehood quarters , whose issue began in 1999, was seen as calling for more space and more flexibility in the design of the reverse. A law specific to this series and the corresponding time period permits the following: In vexillology , the obverse of a flag is the side taken as the default illustration of a flag, for example the side used to display a design in
3285-427: The front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads , because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse tails . In numismatics , the abbreviation obv. is used for obverse , while ℞, )( and rev. are used for reverse . Vexillologists use the symbols "normal" [REDACTED] for the obverse and "reverse" [REDACTED] for
3358-610: The future Pope Leo X , who received as residence from his successor Pope Clement VII the Palazzo Riario , long known as the " Cancellaria Apostolica ", where he remained. His former residence was in the Palazzo Borgia , from which he moved to the Palazzo Sforza Cesarini , the latter palace being, on this account, long known as the " Cancellaria Vecchia ". The removal of the residence and office of
3431-560: The liberal proceeds of these sales as part of the remuneration of the cardinal vice chancellor of the Cancellaria (see below), but later Pope Innocent XI rescinded them and assigned the revenue to the Apostolic Camera . Pope Alexander VIII restored the revenue to the vice chancellor, who at that time was his nephew Pietro Ottoboni . The authority of the vice chancellor increased when in 1690 Pope Alexander VIII added to his office that of Compiler ( Sommista ) in perpetuity. The government of Emperor Napoleon I of France redeemed many of
3504-474: The month and year of the pope's pontificate on which issued, and signatures, near which was attached the seal. For the most solemn bulls, the pope signed the document himself, in which case he used the formula " Ego N. Catholicae Ecclesiae Episcopus " ("I, N., Bishop of the Catholic Church"). Following the signature in this case would be an elaborate monogram , the signatures of any witnesses, and then
3577-553: The new organization of the Cancellaria as merely an issuing office. "Sapienti Consilio" further provided that the ancient formulae of papal bulls be modified, and a commission of cardinals consisting of the chancellor, the apostolic datary , and the secretary of the Congregation of the Consistory was charged with the preparation of new ones. This commission having reformed the bulls for Consistorial benefices , Pius X by
3650-456: The office had been occupied for centuries by cardinals. For the rest, the office in question was always regarded as one of the most dignified and important of the Roman Curia , as is evident from Moroni's account of the funeral of Cardinal Alexander Farnese, Vice Chancellor and Archpriest of the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano . The most splendid occupant of the office of Chancellor was
3723-467: The office was reformed numerous times. The Apostolic constitution Etsi ad Singula of Pope Clement VII of 5 July 1532 provided the cardinalatial title of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso to the chancellor. After Pope Martin V had instituted a large number of offices in the Cancellaria , Pope Sixtus V placed many of them in the class of " vacabili ", i. e. venal offices (a practice also of secular courts, e. g. those of France , even under
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#17327660503793796-692: The opposite direction of his or her predecessor; this is said to date from 1661, with Charles II turning his back on Oliver Cromwell . Hence, George VI faced left and Elizabeth II faced right. The only break in this tradition almost occurred in 1936 when Edward VIII , believing his left side to be superior to his right (to show the parting in his hair), insisted on his image facing left, as his father's image had. No official legislation prevented his wishes being granted, so left-facing obverses were prepared for minting. Very few examples were struck before he abdicated later that year, and none bearing this portrait were ever issued officially. When George VI acceded to
3869-548: The perpetual residence of the Vice Chancellor, he provided that the Vice Chancellor should always have the title of the Basilica; as the Chancellors were not always of the same order in the Sacred College , being either cardinal-deacons, cardinal-priests, or cardinal-bishops, this basilica could not follow the rule of the other cardinalitial titular churches that had the fixed grade of "titular" (a church over which
3942-402: The pope for many kinds of communication of a public nature, but by the 13th century, papal bulls were only used for the most formal or solemn of occasions. Papyrus seems to have been used almost uniformly as the material for these documents until the early years of the eleventh century, after which it was rapidly superseded by a rough kind of parchment . Modern scholars have retroactively used
4015-531: The pope. Pope Pius VII reformed the office when Emperor Napoleon I of France obviated the need for Papal armies. In the early 20th century the office collected money for missionary work. Pope Paul VI abolished the Apostolic Chancellary on 27 February 1973, transferring its functions to the Secretariat of State . The role of bibliotecarius first appears in 781, and was responsible for
4088-436: The purchaser. The prices of the offices, especially of the more desirable ones, were considerable: Lorenzo Corsini , afterwards Pope Clement XII , bought the office of regent of the Cancellaria for 30,000 Roman scudi , a large fortune at the time. The disadvantage of these uncertainties might not be confined to the purchaser because he was free to condition the purchased office on the life of another designated person, named
4161-458: The reverse is her owl. Similar versions of these two images, both symbols of the state, were used on the Athenian coins for more than two centuries. In the many republics of ancient Greece, such as Athens or Corinth , one side of their coins would have a symbol of the state, usually their patron goddess or her symbol, which remained constant through all of the coins minted by that state, which
4234-492: The reverse. The "two-sided" [REDACTED] , "mirror" [REDACTED] , and "equal" [REDACTED] symbols are further used to describe the relationship between the obverse and reverse sides of a flag. In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the term front is more commonly used than obverse , while usage of reverse is widespread. The equivalent terms used in codicology , manuscript studies , print studies and publishing are "recto" and "verso" . Generally,
4307-484: The seal. In modern times, a member of the Roman Curia signs the document on behalf of the pope, usually the Cardinal Secretary of State , and thus the monogram is omitted. The most distinctive characteristic of a bull was the metal seal ( bulla ), which was usually made of lead , but on very solemn occasions was made of gold , as those on Byzantine imperial instruments often were (see Golden Bull ). On
4380-407: The side of a coin with the larger-scale image will be called the obverse (especially if the image is a single head) and, if that does not serve to distinguish them, the side that is more typical of a wide range of coins from that location will be called the obverse. Following this principle, in the most famous of ancient Greek coins , the tetradrachm of Athens, the obverse is the head of Athena and
4453-482: The state's territory. Regarding the euro , some confusion regarding the obverse and reverse of the euro coins exists. Officially, as agreed by the informal Economic and Finance Ministers Council of Verona in April 1996, and despite the fact that a number of countries have a different design for each coin, the distinctive national side for the circulation coins is the obverse and the common European side (which includes
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#17327660503794526-400: The strength of the state, and that side almost always depicts a symbol of the state, whether it be the monarch or otherwise. If not provided for on the obverse, the reverse side usually contains information relating to a coin's role as a medium of exchange (such as the value of the coin). Additional space typically reflects the issuing country's culture or government, or evokes some aspect of
4599-548: The throne, his image was placed to face left, implying that, had any coins been minted with Edward's portrait the obverses would have depicted Edward facing right and maintained the tradition. Current UK coinage features the following abbreviated Latin inscription: D[EI] G[RATIA] REX F[IDEI] D[EFENSOR] (' By the Grace of God King, Defender of the Faith '). Earlier issues, before 1954, included BRIT[ANNIARUM] OMN[IUM] ('of all
4672-415: The title of "Chancellor of Holy Roman Church" from the previous "Vice Chancellor" (see section below). The cardinalatial title of the chancellor remained the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Damaso , as it had been since 5 July 1532. However, the chancellor retained little of his former authority. He acted as notary of the cardinalatial consistories and directed the office of the Cancellaria Apostolica . Finally,
4745-430: The vice chancellor. After Pope Leo XIII suppressed all the vacabili in 1901, the aforementioned modes of expedition ceased. A little later, the apostolic constitution Sapienti Consilio of Pope Pius X of 29 June 1908 provided that all bulls be issued through the Cancellaria , by order of the Congregation of the Consistory for all matters of its competency and by order of the pope for all others, in keeping with
4818-418: The word "bull" to describe any elaborate papal document issued in the form of a decree or privilege , solemn or simple, and to some less elaborate ones issued in the form of a letter. Popularly, the name is used for any papal document that contains a metal seal. Today, the bull is the only written communication in which the pope will refer to himself as " Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei " ("Bishop, Servant of
4891-637: The year of the Incarnation , which year begins on 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation , which liturgically celebrates the Conception of Jesus . This mediaeval mode of dating remained peculiar to papal bulls, and over time caused much confusion. Pius X ordered that in the future these documents had to be dated according to the secular calendar year that begins on 1 January. The rules of
4964-409: Was above suspicion. A papal confirmation, under certain conditions, could be pleaded as itself constituting sufficient evidence of title in cases where the original deed had been lost or destroyed. Since the 12th century, papal bulls have carried a leaden seal with the heads of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul on one side and the pope's name on the other. Papal bulls were originally issued by
5037-409: Was improper to entitle a cardinal with "Datary". The same custom still obtains in the case of an apostolic nuncio who is elevated to the cardinalate : he retains his office for a time, but with the title of "Pro Nuncio ". This theory of De Luca is not certain, but is at least probable. Etsi ad Singula prescribed that the principal of the Cancellaria be titled "Chancellor", which was proper because
5110-579: Was probable that the title of "Vice Chancellor" arose in the same way as the title of " Prodatary " (" Prodatarius "), the custom having been to title the principal of the Dataria Apostolica the "Datary" (" Datarius ") if he were not a cardinal, and the "Prodatary" (" Prodatarius ") if he were. The rationale for the titular customs of the Dataria was that the office of Datary was not in essence cardinalatial but rather of minor dignity; wherefore it
5183-567: Was the exclusive letter format from the Vatican until the 14th century, when the papal brief appeared. The brief is the less formal form of papal communication and was authenticated with a wax impression, now a red ink impression, of the Ring of the Fisherman . Apostolic Chancery Former dicasteries The Apostolic Chancery ( Latin : Cancellaria Apostolica ; also known as
5256-508: Was then attached to the document either by cords of hemp , in the case of letters of justice and executory letters, or by red and yellow silk , in the case of letters of grace, that was looped through slits in the vellum of the document. The term " bulla " derives from the Latin " bullire " ("to boil"), and alludes to the fact that, whether of wax, lead, or gold, the material making the seal had to be melted to soften it for impression. In 1535,
5329-574: Was used on nearly all Islamic coinage until the modern period. The type of Justinian II was revived after the end of the Byzantine Iconoclasm , and with variations remained the norm until the end of the Empire. Without images, therefore, it is not always easy to tell which side will be regarded as the obverse without some knowledge. After 695, Islamic coins avoided all images of persons and usually contained script alone. The side expressing
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