The obverse
depicts the busts of St Peter and St Paul each within an inverted pear shaped
compartment defined by pellets. There is a cross pattee supported on a staff
between the busts. At the top of the bulla in the centre are the letters
'SPASPE', abbreviations for St Paul and St Peter.
The reverse is inscribed over three lines VR.BANVS.PP.IIII (the PP means
'pastor pastorum', translated as 'shepherd of the shepherds'. There is an omega
above the letters PP. Both obverse and reverse faces have a pelleted perimeter.
The hole for the attachment chord is now closed, originally running from top to
bottom through the centre of the seal.
Diameter 38.1 mms (1.5 ins). Weight 53.13 grams
Very Fine
example with clean crisp detail front and rear.
From a Norfolk collection.
The bulla was so named because they were attached to Papal
documents or Bulls. They were sent from the offices of the Pope in Rome and the
seal signified that the document was issued with the Pope's authority.
Alexander's pontificate was signalled by efforts to reunite the Eastern Orthodox churches with the Catholic Church, by the establishment of the Inquisition in France, by favours shown to the mendicant orders, and by an attempt to organize a crusade against the Mongols after the second Mongol raid against Poland in 1259.