Papal bulla of Pius II

Photo: The Portable Antiquities Scheme CC By SA2.0
Object type: Bulla
Period: Medieval
Primary material: Lead alloy
Date found: 06/09/2022
Location: St Keverne, Cornwall

Description

Pius II is the only pope to write an autobiography during his reign. In it he describes Scotland as “wild, bare and never visited by the sun in winter” and only on reaching Newcastle did he recall reaching “a civilised part of the world and the inhabitable face of the Earth“. His time in Scotland couldn’t have been all bad as he managed to father a child. It is only the third example of a bulla of Pius II on PAS and hence a Find of Note of County Importance.