14th c. papal bull seal found in Estonia

Archaeologists have discovered a 14th century papal bull in Tallinn, Estonia. It’s the first papal ever discovered in an archaeological context in Estonia. Only three other are known, and they are all still attached to the original documents that have been preserved in the Tallinn City Archives since they were sent.

The bull was unearthed in an excavation of the courtyard of the Soviet-era Eesti Projekt office building. Since excavations began last year, archaeologists have uncovered a medieval road, medieval ceramics, bricks, roof tiles and three wells. The lead bull was found this week.

Archaeologist Mihkel Tammet described the discovery as nothing short of sensational in the Estonian context. The object fits perfectly with the medieval finds of ceramics and other individual pieces that were recovered at this site.

The seal originates from a dark, medieval layer of soil that was deposited there over centuries. Mihkel Tammet suspects that the bulla was brought to its current location by waste or excavated earth from the old town.

Papal bulls are lead seals that were added to official letters or announcements issued by popes. This one was issued by Clement V who sat on the Throne of Peter from 1305 until his death in 1314. His name is inscribed on the obverse. The reverse bears the heads of saints Peter and Paul with beaded halos and a cruciform scepter between them.

Clement V issued several momentous papal bulls during his decade at the helm of the Church. He was French by birth and just an archbishop when King Philip IV of France strongarmed the conclave to elect him Pope. He never moved to Rome and was very much the French king’s man. He issued Vox in excelso abolishing the Templar order largely at Philip’s behest. He was also the pope who moved the curia to Avignon in 1309, launching the Avignon Papacy when seven popes in a row lived and administered the Church from Avignon. The papacy only returned to Rome in 1376.

The document the seal was attached to has not survived, so we don’t know exactly when it was sent to Tallinn, but very few of them made their way so far into Eastern Europe. For comparison, 24 papal bullae have been archaeologically excavated in London.

* This article was originally published here