page_title: Pope Boniface VIII
section_title: Abdication of Celestine V and election of Boniface VIII
hierarchical_section_title: Pope Boniface VIII / Biography / Abdication of Celestine V and election of Boniface VIII
caption_attribution_description: English: A complete, but reused cast lead alloy papal bulla of Pope Boniface VIII (AD 1294 to AD 1303), dating to the period AD 1294 to AD 1303. The reverse depicts St. Paul is on the left of the seal looking right, depicted with a long pointed beard. St. Peter is on the right facing left and has a rounded face with beard and hair formed of pellets. Both faces are contained within beaded borders and separated from one another by a crozier. Across the top of the obverse, the inscription reads SPA SPE (an abbreviation of St Paul and St Peter. The pellet border around the outside of the obverse has been mostly erased by the edge being folded over it. A sub circular perforation (hole) is present slightly off centre, with an internal diameter of 4.3 mm. A ridge is present around the outside of the perforation, on both the obverse and reverse, suggesting that a drill was used to perforate the bulla. The reverse exhibits several vertical and diagonal scratches, across the faces of St Peter &amp; St Paul, probably as part of a deliberate defacement. Four vertical scratches are present on St Peter's face, and two vertical and two diagonal across St Paul's face. The obverse bears an inscription of BONI FA[ ]VS PP:VIII, split into three lines, identifying it as a bulla of Pope Boniface VIII. Like the obverse, the pelleted border around the outside has mostly been erased by the edge being folded over. The edge of the bulla is plain and undecorated. A short horizontal slit is present at the base of the bulla, measuring 4.11 mm and a small hole is present at the top of the bulla. These holes are where the original cord, either silk or hemp, was placed to seal it to the papal decree that the bulla authenticated. The bulla has a diameter 35.68 mm and is 5.33 mm thick. It weighs 39.7 g. It is a mid grey colour, with an even surface patina. The papal bulla is a formal seal of office used by the Popes to stamp and authenticate documents produced by the papal curia. Dr Tim Pestell has commented: "Papal bulls came as two basic types, according to the contents of the document: Tituli, or "Letters of Grace", essentially granted or confirmed rights, conferred benefices or promulgated statutes. They generally had their lead bullae attached with cords of silk. Mandamenta, or "Letters of Justice" were mandates that conveyed papal orders, prohibitions or injunctions, and had their bullae attached by hemp threads". Two other examples of papal bulla with a central perforation have been recorded on the PAS database as SWYOR-F52016 and HESH-1517A7. It is possible that the bulla was reused as a spindle whorl, but if this were the case then much of the detail would probably have been lost. The other reason would be to suspend it either to wear or more likely to display. This example has been sent to Tim Pestell, of Norwich Castle Museum for his comments. Tim Pestell comments: The use of a central perforation is quite enigmatic but is a recurring feature found on at least eight other papal bullae I know of. Others have piercings at the top, apparently for them to be suspended. Quite why so many should be pierced is unclear but they may have been used as apotropaic pieces and affixed through the centre. Alternatively they may just have been convenient pieces of lead to make into spindle whorls.
context_page_description: Pope Boniface VIII was pope from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. Caetani was of baronial origin with family connections to the papacy.
  He succeeded Pope Celestine V, a Benedictine, who had resigned from the papal throne. Boniface spent his early career abroad in diplomatic roles. In the College of Cardinals, he discriminated not only against the Benedictines but also members of the Colonna family, some of whom had contested the validity of the 1294 papal conclave that elected him following the unusual resignation of Pope Celestine V. The dispute resulted in battles between troops of Boniface and his adversaries and the deliberate destruction and salting of the town of Palestrina, despite the pope's assurances that the surrendering city would be spared.
  Boniface VIII put forward some of the strongest claims of any pope to temporal as well as spiritual power. He involved himself often with foreign affairs, including in France, Sicily, Italy and the First War of Scottish Independence.
context_section_description: Pope Celestine V (who had been Brother Peter, the hermit of Mount Murrone near Sulmone) resigned on 13 December 1294 at Naples, where, much to the discomfort of a number of cardinals, he had established the papal court under the patronage of Charles II of Naples. He had continued to live like a monk there, even turning a room in the papal apartment into the semblance of a monastic cell. A contemporary, Bartholomew of Lucca, who was present in Naples in December 1294 and witnessed many of the events of the abdication and election, said that Benedetto Caetani was only one of several cardinals who pressured Celestine to resign. However, it is also on record that Celestine V resigned by his own design after consultation with experts, and that Benedetto merely showed that it was allowed by Church law. Either way, Celestine V vacated the throne and Benedetto Caetani was elected in his place as pope, taking the name Boniface VIII.
  The 1294 papal conclave began on 23 December, ten days after Celestine's resignation. The regulations promulgated in the papal bull Ubi periculum by Pope Gregory X at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274 had not envisioned a papal resignation, but the cardinals waited the usual ten days from the papal resignation. This gave all twenty-two cardinals the chance to assemble at the Castel Nuovo in Naples, the site of the resignation. Hugh Aycelin presided over the papal conclave as the senior cardinal bishop. Benedetto Caetani was elected by ballot and accession on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1294, taking the name Boniface VIII. On the first (secret) ballot, he had a majority of the votes, and at the accessio a sufficient number joined his majority to form the required two-thirds. He was consecrated bishop of Rome in Rome by Cardinal Hugh Aycelin on 23 January 1295. He immediately returned the Papal Curia to Rome, where he was crowned at the Vatican Basilica on Sunday, 23 January 1295. One of his first acts as pontiff was to grant his predecessor residence in the Castle of Fumone in Ferentino, where he died the next year at the age of 81, attended by two monks of his order. Boniface VIII is occasionally discussed in academic literature as possibly implicated in the demise of his predecessor. In 1300, Boniface VIII formalized the custom of the Roman Jubilee, which afterwards became a source of both profit and scandal to the church. Boniface VIII founded Sapienza University of Rome in 1303.
caption: Papal bulla of Boniface VIII (pierced subsequent to original use)
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