File:Medieval bulla of Boniface VIII - view one of two (FindID 130241).jpg

English: Medieval lead Papal bulla of Boniface VIII (1294-1303), in near-mint condition. The lettering is so sharp that the ridges have tended to open up (possibly by the beautifully-patinated surface flaking off) to reveal the darker, grey, core.

The obverse bears the lettering BONI/FATIVS/PP:VIII while the reverse has the usual depiction of SS Peter and Paul in pelleted aureoles.

The two flans used to make the seal are revealed as there is a slight bending up of the obverse flan on its right-hand side. The gap between the flans is only 9mm long and very little of the core is exposed. The two holes for the cords that ran through the bulla are clear and suggest that they were of hemp rather than silk, and therefore from a 'Letter of Justice', that is, a Papal ruling.

The reverse has been sealed 352° to the obverse. This bulla appears to have been lightly lacquered.

The chief interest of this bulla and bulla WILT-E551E3 lies in their having been found only a metre apart close to a monastic site. Their condition shows that they have suffered very little post-depositional movement or taphonomic stress, while their proximity to one another suggests that they probably derive from the same context. This must presumably be related to the loss or clearing of a monastic archive. However, the bulla of Benedict XI is also of importance because this pope’s reign was to last only a year.

The appearance of two bullae in such good condition, of successive popes, allows a consideration of the dies used to produce the seal. The reverses are clearly from the same die, but it is instructive to note how even light corrosion or flaking of the surface can create the impression of differences. Sufficient tiny flaws are visible to show they are identical: 1. The S of SPE has a faint line running up to the right from the upper terminal of the S, just running up to a pellet running around the outside of the flan. 2. The A of SPA has a very faint line running vertically up from the apex of the A. 3. Towards the bottom of St Paul’s beard (LHS figure) a faint line breaks the outer line.

4. The second and third pellets up from the bottom of the aureole surrounding St Paul (those running on the inside of the bulla, not around the flan edge) have two faint lines dropping down from them.