{"id":1349,"date":"2025-05-12T09:56:43","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T08:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/?p=1349"},"modified":"2025-11-07T16:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T16:05:48","slug":"new-pope-old-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/","title":{"rendered":"New Pope, Old Name"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Michael Lewis<\/p>\n<p><em>IMAGE: Bullae of Leo X found near Calbourne, Isle of Wight (<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/artefacts\/record\/id\/522639\"><em>IOW-87E365<\/em><\/a><em>), which has broken in half; this is not uncommon for bullae to break in half because of a natural weakness where the cord runs down the middle, top to bottom. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal <em>bullae<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>The design of these bullae has not changed much over time &#8211; those of the medieval period have similar designs to those issued today. One side (the reverse) depicts the busts of St Paul and St Peter with the abbreviation of their names (SPA SPE). The obverse gives the name of the Pope. These lead items were then attached (as they are now) to vellum documents with hemp or silk, thus providing the documents with authenticity.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/search\/results\/objecttype\/BULLA\">Portable Antiquities Scheme<\/a> (PAS) has recorded almost 700 papal bullae, most of which are medieval (1066-1540) in date; four are earlier, and nine are more modern. The AHRC-funded <a href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/\">Medieval Ritual Landscape<\/a> (MeRit) project has studied bullae recorded with the PAS to better understand \u2018lived religion\u2019. All recovered from the soil, somehow, many of these objects seem to have come into the possession of everyday people. Various examples show evidence of having been used (presumably in spiritual practices), modified (sometimes into other objects), and\/or damaged (probably during the Reformation).<\/p>\n<p>Of the PAS-recorded bullae studied by MeRit, only a small number were issued by popes called Leo. The earliest, a rare early-medieval\u00a0 bulla, found at Denton with Wootton, Kent (<a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/artefacts\/record\/id\/635763\">KENT-01AD9F<\/a>), is very likely to have been issued by Leo III (r. 795-816). Two others were issued in the name of Leo X (r. 1513-21), one found near Calbourne, Isle of Wight (<a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/artefacts\/record\/id\/522639\">IOW-87E365<\/a>), of which only half survives, and the other at Dunton, Norfolk (<a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/artefacts\/record\/id\/197147\">NMS-493185<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>This year, another bulla of Leo X was found in Norfolk, at Wicklewood (<a href=\"https:\/\/finds.org.uk\/database\/artefacts\/record\/id\/661767\">NMS-0D05B2<\/a>). Bullae of Leo X are interesting because papal bullae\u00a0 are rare so close to the Reformation, when the English Church broke from Rome. Perhaps more intriguing is why popes did not use the name Leo during the High Medieval period, when papal bullae were issued in significant numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Before Leo X, we must return to the 11th century to find another pope named Leo. This Leo, IX (r. 1049-54), was instrumental in the Great Schism of 1054, which resulted in the break between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Unsurprisingly, the name Leo was not popular thereafter, next adopted by Giovanni di Lorenzo de\u2019 Medici (of Florence) in 1513 on the eve of the Reformation; he was the last pope not to have been a priest when elected![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":852,"featured_media":1347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[47,66,49,67,65],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts","tag-merit","tag-papal-bulla","tag-pas","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-robert-francis-prevost"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Pope, Old Name - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Pope, Old Name - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-12T08:56:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-07T16:05:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2025\/05\/IOW2012-22-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1518\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"michaellewis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"michaellewis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/\",\"name\":\"New Pope, Old Name - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-12T08:56:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-07T16:05:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/0c4f39c42f9d4af50f2d93f7b68c238a\"},\"description\":\"Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Pope, Old Name\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/\",\"name\":\"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/0c4f39c42f9d4af50f2d93f7b68c238a\",\"name\":\"michaellewis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f6461c6ffcc4679ec9632c2ed39f1ffb\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a92cea013b622cb7d9c1363cf35158f53a61f9865b8e164dbac6442c78e9ee53?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a92cea013b622cb7d9c1363cf35158f53a61f9865b8e164dbac6442c78e9ee53?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"michaellewis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/author\/michaellewis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Pope, Old Name - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","description":"Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Pope, Old Name - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","og_description":"Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/","og_site_name":"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","article_published_time":"2025-05-12T08:56:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-07T16:05:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2479,"height":1518,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/319\/2025\/05\/IOW2012-22-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"michaellewis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"michaellewis","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/","name":"New Pope, Old Name - MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-05-12T08:56:43+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-07T16:05:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/0c4f39c42f9d4af50f2d93f7b68c238a"},"description":"Robert Francis Prevost (b. 1955) was elected Pope on Thursday (8 May 2025), taking the \u2018papal name\u2019 Leo, said to be after Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), who was committed to the \u2018social teaching of the Church\u2019 in an era of change. Like his thirteen predecessors, the curia under Leo XIV will issue proclamations and edicts with leaden seals (papal bullae).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/new-pope-old-name\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Pope, Old Name"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/","name":"MeRit: Medieval Ritual Landscape","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/0c4f39c42f9d4af50f2d93f7b68c238a","name":"michaellewis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f6461c6ffcc4679ec9632c2ed39f1ffb","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a92cea013b622cb7d9c1363cf35158f53a61f9865b8e164dbac6442c78e9ee53?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a92cea013b622cb7d9c1363cf35158f53a61f9865b8e164dbac6442c78e9ee53?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"michaellewis"},"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/author\/michaellewis\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Bullae of Leo X found near Calbourne, Isle of Wight (IOW-87E365), which has broken in half; this is not uncommon for bullae to break in half because of a natural weakness where the cord runs down the middle, top to bottom.","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/852"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1349"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/medieval-ritual-landscape\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}