The Broken Seal of a Pope’s 14th-Century Decree Has Been Found in Poland

A 650-year-old fragment of an engraved lead seal used on a pope’s official communications has been unearthed in Poland. The artifact is the third of its kind to be found in the region.

Jacek Ukowski, a metal detectorist, stumbled upon the small object during a routine search for historic artifacts near railroad tracks in the village of Wysoka Kamieńska, according to a translated announcement from the nearby Museum of the History of the Kamień Land. Researchers have determined that his discovery is part of a 14th-century papal bull: an official decree issued by the head of the Roman Catholic church, traditionally featuring a metal seal.

Ukowski wasn’t expecting to find something so old—especially so far from a city or church.

“We were more focused on finding military items [from World War II],” he tells Science in Poland’s Małgorzata Miszczuk, per Google Translate. “We don’t know where the bull came from [or how it ended up] near this road. Maybe it was transported with soil from another area … during the construction of a new road surface, or was lost.”

The bull’s inscription has provided little insight into its origins. Featuring a few Roman numerals and “a partial name,” the jagged object can’t definitively be connected to a specific pope, according to CBS News’ Kerry Breen.

“Originally, below the name, there was an abbreviation of the title PP (Pastor Pastorum) and a Roman numeral with the subsequent name of the pope,” archaeologist Grzegorz Kurka, the museum’s director, tells Science in Poland.

Based on its letters and iconography, researchers say the artifact could plausibly be linked to Benedict XI, Clement V, Benedict XII or Clement VI. These popes reigned in the first half of the 14th century, which “means that the bull can be dated between 1303 and 1352,” writes the museum.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the term “papal bull” was employed to describe the pope’s most important messages, such as “canonizations of saints” and “dogmatic pronouncements.”

“Only a dozen or so [objects] of this type have been discovered in the country, and they are considered unique,” Kurka tells Science in Poland. Three bulls have now been found in this Polish province; Ukowski, who identified a second bull earlier this year, is responsible for two of them, as CBS News reports.

The first, a complete seal found in 2020, dates to the era of Pope Benedict XII, who served between 1334 and 1342. The second specimen, a fragment, may have been created during the time of Pope Innocent VIII, between 1484 and 1492. All three are now housed in the museum.

Thanks to the newly discovered fragment, the museum now boasts Poland’s second-largest papal bull collection, per the announcement. Still, many questions about the artifact’s origins remain unanswered.

“This will probably be another unsolved mystery for us,” writes the museum. “It’s likely that we won’t find an answer to it.”

Sonja Anderson | READ MORE

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in New York City.