1921 393 Notes and Documents A List of Original Papal Bulls and Briefs in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum The following list was originally intended for use in the Department of Manuscripts only ; but after its compilation had been begun it was suggested that it might prove useful to a wider circle also. The department has hitherto possessed no single list of its bulls, which have therefore had to be looked for in many different places ; and many of them could not be found at all without reference to the manuscript descriptions of charters. I hardly venture to hope that even the present list is quite complete, but I trust that omissions, if such there be, will prove to be few and unimportant ; and in any case it will be of advantage to students of the papal chancery to have a handy guide to at least the great majority of the documents contained in the Museum collection. I have included only original documents ; and I have inter- preted this principle, with what some may consider excessive strictness, as ruling out even copies made or authenticated by officials of the papal chancery itself. Only the actual letters and privileges issued, under the pope's name are noticed. But even so there is room for some uncertainty. The Department of Manu- scripts possesses a fair number of more or less private letters from various popes. Such letters, when written before the writer's elevation to the papacy, can of course be excluded with- out hesitation ; but what of those written during tenure of the office ? It is not as if any hard and fast line could be drawn. Some are purely private ; but others deal with affairs of state, and the one class passes into the other by slight gradations. After long hesitation it was decided to rule out all letters written in Italian or any other modern language, even when they deal with state business, 1 and on the other hand to include all written in Latin, even if they are in the pope's holograph. The principle is not perhaps capable of defence on logical grounds, but it seemed best to have a definite, if somewhat 'arbitrary, dividing line. The single items in the list have, for purposes of reference, 1 There is one exception to this rule, no. 197 ; see the foot-note there.
