VANCOUVER—The University of British Columbia has obtained a 770-year-old religious document that its professors say will be an invaluable resource for students and teachers.
The handwritten decree on parchment was issued by Pope Innocent IV to affirm the rights of the San Michele monastery in Trent, Italy.
The so-called papal bull document is believed to be the oldest of its kind in Canada. Included with the 62-by-58-centimetre document, made from sheep or calf skin, is the pope’s lead seal, or “bulla” in Latin, the reason it’s called a papal bull.
Access to such documents is normally tightly restricted, but this decree will be available to anyone who wants to study it.
“I’m going to use it in all my classes on the European Middle Ages,” said UBC history instructor Richard Pollard. “This is the foundational Western document. It’s a wonderful illustration of papal power in the 13th century.”
