Papal Bull, with bulla, Lyon, 1250

POPE INNOCENT [IV (D.1254)] GIVES AUTHORITY TO CARRY OUT A SENTENCE OF EXCOMMUNICATION, IN LATIN

Lyon, 17 December 1250

manuscript on vellum, single sheet, c.165x190mm, the lower 15mm folded up, 11 lines in a fine Italian documentary script, with lead bulla c.35m in diameter, on a twisted double cord, one side depicting the heads of Sts Peter and Paul below ‘S P[aulus S P]E[trus]’, the other side with ‘INNO/CENTIUS / PP IIII’, laid down on vellum, one horizontal and two vertical creases, small losses at top and bottom, a few small holes, and a tear, affecting legibility of a few words, the bull worn

By this deed Pope Innocent IV (who was in exile at Lyon due to his dispute with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II), gives Richard le Duc, canon of Warwick, authority to assist Robert, rector of St Mary’s, Gateshead ('Gatesheut'), in carrying out a sentence of excommunication against certain clerks of the diocese of Durham, who had refused a papal summons in a cause concerning tithes.