The 'verso' side of a cast lead papal bulla of Urban III dating from 1185-7 AD.
Description
English: A cast lead circular papal bulla of Urban III, between 1185-7 (diameter: 37.9mm; thickness: 4mm; weight: 45.28g). On the 'recta' side of the bulla, the faces of Saints Peter and Paul are depicted with a cross between. Over the images appears the abbrievation 'SPA SPE'. Paul is depicted with a long beard but bald or with little hair, and Peter has a crimped beard with curly hair. On the 'verso' side, the name of the Pope is written in the nominative with his abbrievated title and ordinal number, distributed over three lines. Both faces of the bullae are encircled with a ring of dots or 'pearls'. The bulla is slightly worn but in a fari condition.
The papal bulla is a formal seal of office used by the Popes to stamp and authenticate documents produced by the papal curia.
Depicted place
(County of findspot) Norfolk
Date
between 1185 and 1187
date QS:P571,+1185-00-00T00:00:00Z/8,P1319,+1185-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1187-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Accession number
FindID: 81923 Old ref: WMID-C81864 Filename: WMID-C81864 2.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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