Manuscripta juridica

Bullae Apostolicae Sedis - Copiae .

This is a collection of samples of manyfold concessions by popes (= 'gratiae'), granted on request by a large variety of petitioners. The collector was probably a lawyer at Rome who earned his living by assisting petitioners in drafting their envisaged request. This interpretation of the collection is suggested by the fact that many texts are not dated. One even encounters entire series of 'gratiae' which do not even mention the name of the granting pope (fol. 153r-176v). This shows that only the text of the papal concession mattered, no matter which pope had granted it. The main text was penned by professional scribes. At times other hands hastily added notes about the purpose of the request (in different ink, on the margins).

The collection has no visible order of arrangement. At times one can observe loose groupings of aims of requests. If the collector intended any order of arrangement at all, it must be an order difficult to see. There definitely exists no chronological order. It would be very time-consuming to make an inventory of all the many papal 'gratiae' which are collected here. I therefore restrict myself to merely list some examples which caught my eye

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Author(s): Alexander VI papa (most cases); Innocentius VIII papa (in a number of cases); Sixtus IV papa; Pius papa; Eugenius IV(?) papa; Julius papa; Benedictus papa; Leo papa; Nicolaus papa; Johannes XXII papa (fol. 178v-179r)

No. of pages: Fol. 1r-126r, 130v-212r, 215r-224v, 225r-346v