Papal bull of Benedict XIII (1394–1417) from Grodno Castle

Łukasz Orlicki

doi:10.37190/arc210408

Abstract

The article aims at discussing a unique cultural property, which is the papal bull of Pope Benedict XIII that was discovered during the archaeological research conducted in Grodno Castle in 2017, as well as at determining the potential connections, as a result of which this cultural property found its place in Lower Silesia. The number of papal bulls which are discovered in contemporary Poland has been growing significantly from year to year. They are not only visually impressive artifacts, but above all good dating proofs due to the name of their issuer on each of them. In the case of identification of the papal bull discovered in Grodno Castle, initially there was a problem connected with the fact that in the history of the Catholic Church there were two popes bearing the name of Benedict XIII, i.e. Pedro de Luna who was in office at the turn of the 15th century and Francesco Orsini who ruled in the 18th century. Thanks to the source query and the comparative analysis, the issuer of the copy from Grodno Castle is undoubtedly the first of them – in historiography referred to as the Pope of Avignon obedience and colloquially as an anti-pope, due to the schism prevailing in the Church at that time. At the same time, it was ruled out that this cultural property might have been placed on the secondary deposit due to the analysis of the stratigraphy of the context layers in which it was discovered. On the basis of the query, the article also presents several hypotheses about a possible way the papal bull got to Lower Silesia. The conclusion which can be drawn from the research is the need to conduct further studies, not only on this particular cultural property, but first of all, in a broader aspect of papal bulls in Poland.

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DOI: 10.37190/arc210408

Łukasz Orlicki*

Papal bull of Benedict XIII (1394–1417) from Grodno Castle

Introduction

One of the results of archaeological research which was

conducted in Grodno Castle in 2017 was the discovery of

a cultural property of special value, i.e., a papal bull. The

article presents the results of the conducted queries as well

as comparative and typological analyses of this papal bull.

The analyses were aimed at identifying the author and at

determining potential circumstances in which this papal

bull appeared in Grodno Castle.

The papal bull was discovered during the subsequent

stage of archaeological research conducted under the su-

pervision of Dr. Paweł Konczewski in the zwinger area on

October 20, 2017 (Fig. 1). In April 2016, the study was

initiated by the Historical and Regional Research Institute

– the publisher of the monthly “Odkrywca” and the quar-

terly “Archeologia Żywa” [2], [3]

(Fig. 2).

The cultural property was discovered right next to the

wall of the upper castle in the lowest layer of the burnt

site, which according to researchers, dates back to the 15

century (Fig. 3)

. It is a round, heavy, and lead object with

a diameter of 3.9 cm. After it had been taken out of that

place and cleaned, the obverse featured the image of two

This article is a changed and completed version of quoted works.

The issue of dating the layer in which the papal bull was found

is discussed in more detail in the articles by Paweł Konczewski and Ra-

dosław Biel.

Fig. 1. Bremer’s plan of Grodno Castle with marking the place where

the papal bull of Benedict XIII was discovered (source: [1, p. 2])

Il. 1. Plan Bremera zamku Grodno z oznaczeniem miejsca odnalezienia

bulli Benedykta XIII (źródło: [1, s. 2])

Fig. 2. From left: Łukasz Orlicki, Jacek Milczarski,

Dorota Mikołajczyk, Radosław Biel

after the discovery of the seal on October 20, 2017

(photo by Ł. Orlicki)

Il. 2. Od lewej: Łukasz Orlicki, Jacek Milczarski,

Dorota Mikołajczyk, Radosław Biel

po odnalezieniu pieczęci 20 października 2017 r.

(fot. Ł. Orlicki)

* ORCID: 0000-0003-0356-7494. Redakcja „Odkrywcy”, Kaszub-

ska 4, 50-214 Wrocław, e-mail: orlickigemo@gmail.com

84 Łukasz Orlicki

bearded heads and clear inscription SPASPE. In connec-

tion with the name on the other side – BENEDICTUS XIII

– this undoubtedly indicated the discovery of an artifact

not often found during archaeological research, i.e., a pa-

pal bull – a personal papal seal.

The state of research on papal seals

The subject of papal bulls – papal seals as artifacts ob-

tained during archaeological research which is carried out

in Poland and Silesia is still insuciently well recognized.

Until relatively recently, cultural properties of this type

were considered extremely rare, however, this condition

is changing dynamically. In the text by Zbigniew Misiuk

from 2013 [4], only eight such artifacts were mentioned.

In turn, already in 2018, Borys Paszkiewicz in the article

entitled Bulla papieża Benedykta XI [Papal bull of Pope

Benedict XI] lists 22 of them in total [5]. The latter re-

searcher also points out that the avalanche increase may be

connected with the fact that so far these cultural properties

have not been recognized in the discovered mobile materi-

al [5]. Therefore, even an attempt at estimating the number

of such nds in the territory of Poland is dicult. Accord-

ing to the author, at present this number amounts to over

30 copies and is certainly only a part of the total number

of papal bulls which should be in the area of our country

The author’s estimates are based on tracking information pub-

lished on online news services.

To compare – in Great Britain the number of papal bulls

reported by detectorists only by November 2021 was 515

and did not take into account those discovered during ar-

chaeological research [6].

In the event of discovering new cultural properties,

eld researchers and explorers often limit themselves to

short press releases published in online news and social

networking services

or entries in databases such as the

Portable Antiquities Scheme [6], [7]. They less frequent-

ly devote longer publications to specic copies (such as

the already cited [4], [5]) and there are only few synthetic

studies for a given region (e.g., [8]). At the same time,

a completely separate category of publications are sphrag-

istic works, which by denition do not deal with eld

nds. As regards this type of studies, the most important

synthetic study of papal bulls is a four-volume work by

Camill Serani entitled Le monete e le bolle plumbee pon-

ticie del Medagliere Vaticano [9], however, the article

by Francesco de Lasala [10] is much more often cited be-

cause it is widely available

Papal bulls

In Lain, the word “bull” means “ball, water-bubble” or

“tumor”. This expression was used to describe the charac-

teristic round papal seal axed with a hemp cord or, more

rarely, a silk one at the bottom of a document which was

issued by the oce of the Holy Father. As early as in

the Middle Ages, the term papal bull was used to dene

the entire document leaving the papal chancellery and

to which a seal was attached [11]. In the 2

half of the

cen tury, this term was fully established and for the

rst time a collection of major papal documents entitled

“bullarium” was published by Roman carnist and historian

of law Laertio Cherubini [12]. Papal bulls were of various

character, ranging from ocial, ceremonial documents

which were connected with a specic stance of the pope

– such as the famous Gniezno papal bull of 1136 which

abolished the authority of the Archbishopric of Magde-

burg over the Polish church or papal bull Ad extirpanda

issued by Pope Innocent IV in 1252 concerning the use of

tortures in inquisition processes against heretics – through

a huge number of legal documents conrming privileges

for universities, churches, monasteries, approval of the

abbot, and ending with private privileges issued at the re-

quest of interested persons, letters of safe conduct (Latin

salvus conductus) for envoys and recipients of many other

cases in which medieval society required acceptance from

the spiritual head of the Catholic Church

. Regardless of

the importance of the document leaving the papal oce,

An exemplary comparison of such press releases is presented by

Paszkiewicz in his article [5].

In a number of publications it is mentioned in the bibliograph-

ic list as Tipologia dei sigilli dei papi or Typology of the papal seals.

The author is not sure until what time it was available on the Pontical

Gregorian University website, but at present it is available thanks to the

Internet Archive service exclusively [9].

Like, for example, Bulla Ex commisso nobis a Deo, promulgated

on July 7, 1136, in Pisa, or Ad extirpanda, papal bull of Innocent IV, pro-

mul gated on May 15, 1252 [12].

Fig. 3. Probing excavation No. 5 at the wall of the upper castle

(photo by Ł. Orlicki)

Il. 3. Wykop sondażowy nr 5 przy murze zamku górnego

(fot. Ł. Orlicki)

Papal bull of Benedict XIII (1394–1417) from Grodno Castle 85

its preparation was very careful and required the partic-

ipation of many people such as notaries, referendaries,

proofreaders and editors. Each document had to be signed

by the pope’s oce by axing his personal seal. Lead

papal bulls were attached to documents until the mid-18

century, when they began to be replaced with red seals

imprinted in wax, keeping traditional papal bulls for more

sumptuous and representative occasions.

Practically throughout the whole history of the Church,

a papal bull–seal contained the same unchanging elements

from the early Middle Ages to the present day. On one side

of the lead seal there are St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s bearded

heads which are presented in prole, between which there

is a papal processional cross. Above them there is Latin

inscription “SPASPE”, which means the abbreviation of

the words Sanctus Petrus (Saint Peter) and Sanctus Paulus

(Saint Paul). On the reverse there is a Latin name of the

pope and letters “PP”, meaning pastor pastorum – “shep-

herd of shepherds”.

Identification of the issuer of the papal bull

from Grodno Castle

Identifying legibly preserved papal seals is not a com-

plicated problem due to the clearly visible name of the

pope. However, in the case of the seal which was found in

Grodno Castle (German: Kynsburg), the situation was ex-

ceptional

. The name of Benedict XIII, which appears on

the seal, might have referred to two people, i.e. the Pope

of Avignon obedience Pedro Martinez de Luna (1342

–1422) at the turn of the 15

century, who was practical-

ly unconnected with the lands of Silesia, or Pietro Fran-

cesco Orsini (1650–1730) who ruled in the 18

century.

The latter, as a modest Dominican, although he came from

one of the most inuential Italian families, made a stun-

ning career by becoming Archbishop of Manfredonia at

the age of 25 only. In 1724 he was elected Pope, taking

initially the name of Benedict XIV, which he changed

to Benedict XIII, thus emphasizing that his predecessor

was not ocially recognized by the Vatican as the head

of the Catholic Church. The ponticate of Pope Pietro F.

Orsini lasted six years [15, pp. 411–413]. During those

years, he issued various types of documents for Polish,

Silesian, and Czech dioceses, inter alia, for the monastery

in Henryków

. At the same time, he issued many archi-

val regulations and instructions regarding preservation of

documents and contributed to the canonization of John of

Nepomuk, a popular Bohemian saint in Silesia [16].

The papal bull which was found during the archaeolog-

ical research in Grodno Castle was in the late medieval

layer, which allowed us to accept a more likely hypothe-

sis, namely that it belonged to the rst Benedict XIII (Pe-

dro de Luna). The full identication of the papal bull was

Grodno Castle was mentioned in sources as Kinsperch, Kinsberg,

Kinnigsperg, Kunigsperg, and even Königsberg. In the interwar period

the name was Kynsburg [13].

Bull of Benedict XIII (Pietro Francesco Orsini) conrming con-

sent to the use of ponticals and the granting of lower orders to monks

by the abbot of Henryków [14].

achieved by comparing external features as well as style

of the found artifact and the preserved seals of both popes.

As mentioned above, in the Middle Ages, the appear-

ance of a papal bull, apart from the name of the pope, was

almost identical, however, changes in architecture and

art brought by the Renaissance, and then the Baroque,

were reected even in the conservative form of the papal

seal. Only a few decades after the death of the rst Bene -

dict XIII, images of St. Peter and St. Paul began to change.

The papal chancellery also introduced changes to the font

and arrangement of inscriptions on the seal. These chang-

es can already be seen in the seal of Sixtus IV from the

1470s. Subsequent ponticates brought further evolution

and changes in style

. The seal of Benedict XIII, i.e., Fran-

cesco Orsini, which was preserved on the document from

1725, showed both the reverse and the obverse of the papal

bull in a changed baroque convention signicantly dier-

ent from the medieval style (Fig. 4). However, the com-

parison of the papal bull found in Grodno Castle with the

photographs of the well-preserved seals of Benedict XIII,

i.e., Pedro de Luna (found in the document conrming the

rights of the oldest Scottish University in St. Andrews from

1413 and the papal bull stored in the Carthusian monastery

in Valldemossa) conrmed the hypothesis of the medieval

origin of the seals (Fig. 5). On this basis, it can be assumed

that the seal from Grodno Castle was attached to the doc-

ument which was issued by the “antipope”, or rather the

Pope of Avignon obedience, namely Benedict XIII

. This

is an exceptional situation. Under the walls of the Silesian

castle, which did not yet belong to the most signicant

knightly seats at the beginning of the 15

century, a seal

was abandoned, or perhaps a document issued by the pope,

who during those years was fully recognized by the king-

doms of France, Naples, Scotland, Aragon and Castile only.

“El Papa Luna”

Pedro Martinez de Luna was born in around 1342 in

Illueca in the Kingdom of Aragon to a signicant noble

family related to the royal house. At the age of nine, he be-

came a subdeacon, taking obligatory ordinations for can-

didates for the priesthood. As a young man and candidate

for the clergy, he was to take part in the Castilian-Ara-

gonese war. Thanks to his family’s eorts, he quickly be-

gan his church career, studying and teaching canon law

and receiving holy orders in 1366. In 1375 he was ap-

pointed a cardinal deacon.

Conclusions regarding changes in the style of the representa-

tions were drawn on the basis of a comparative analysis which was car-

ried out by the author.

The term antipapa (Latin antipapa) means a person appointed

to the papal throne without taking into account all the requirements of

canon law, who most often remains a competitor of the rightful pope.

However, this term does not reect the full essence of the events which

took place during the Western Schism, and the very assessment of the

activity and role of “antipopes”, in particular Benedict XIII, evolved

over the

centuries. At present, the most appropriate term for Benedict XIII

is the Avignon Pope obedience. A review of historians’ opinions such as

A. Fran zen, G. Mollat, L. Suarez Fernandez, on the role of Benedict XIII,

was included in the work by Ovidio Cuella Esteban [17, Vol. 1, pp. 19, 20].

86 Łukasz Orlicki

Fig. 5. Papal bull of

Pedro de Luna from 1413,

which is kept at St. Andrews’

Scottish University

(source: courtesy of the

University of St. Andrews

Libraries and Museums)

Il. 5. Bulla Pedra de Luny

z 1413 r. przechowywana

w szkockim uniwersytecie

St. Andrews

(źródło: dzięki uprzejmości

University of St. Andrews

Libraries and Museums)

Fig. 4. Comparison of the style

of seals of two popes bearing

the name of Benedict XIII.

At the top, the 18

-century papal

bull of Pietro Francesco Orsini

(source: courtesy of Vcoin.com).

At the bottom, the 14

/15

century papal bull of Pedro de

Luna discovered in Grodno Castle

(photo by Ł. Orlicki)

Il. 4. Porównanie stylistyki

pieczęci dwóch papieży

noszących imię Benedykta XIII.

U góry XVIII-wieczna bulla

Pietra Francesca Orsiniego

(źródło: dzięki uprzejmości

Vcoin.com).

U dołu odnaleziona na zamku

Grodno XIV/XV-wieczna bulla

Pedra de Luny

(fot. Ł. Orlicki)

Three years later, the Catholic Church suered one of

the greatest crises in its history, i.e. the Western Schism.

After the death of Pope Gregory XI, the cardinals elected

Italian Archbishop of Bari as his successor who took the

name of Urban VI. The political awkwardness and dif-

cult temperament of the new pope led to the situation

in which most of the cardinals met a few months later

and decided to annul the election, appointing to the papal

throne Ro bert de Genève from France as Clement VII.

A real war began between the two competitors. It culmi-

nated in the Battle of Marine where the French merce-

naries of Cle ment VII capitulated to the Italian condot-

tieri serving Urban VI. Clement went to French Avignon,

where he still considered himself the rightful heir to the

throne of St. Peter. Apart from France, he was supported

by Scotland, Sabaudia, Naples and, after some hesitation,

Castile and Aragon. The kingdoms of England, Portugal,

most of the lands of the Holy Roman Empire and the

kingdoms of Central Europe, i.e., Poland and Hungary

remained faithful to the Roman obedience. The then Ro-

Papal bull of Benedict XIII (1394–1417) from Grodno Castle 87

man (1378–1400) and Bohemian (1378–1419) King Wen-

ceslaus IV of Luxembourg also remained faithful to the

Roman obedience.

After the death of Clement VII in 1394, he was suc-

ceeded by Pedro de Luna who took the name of Bene-

dict XIII. Thus, he began the hottest period of the schism,

which determined fates of the Avignon popes. The color -

ful history of his life and struggles with successive Roman

popes as well as the successive antipope who worsened the

chaos abounded in dramatic events, including a four-year

siege in Avignon and a six-month defense of the palace,

during which Benedict XIII was lightly wounded in the

shoulder. Pedro de Luna showed consistency and stub-

bornness, believing – truthfully – that of all the “popes

and anti-popes” who lived in his time, he was the only

cardinal appointed by the undoubtedly last Pope Gregory

XI. Ultimately, the dynamically changing political situa-

tion resulted in the fact that France and Castile withdrew

their support for him. In 1408, he moved his seat to Per-

pignan, the capital of the Kingdom of Majorca, where he

remained in oce until 1417 and waited for the decision

of the Council of Constance to end the schism. He spent

the last years of his life in the Kingdom of Aragon in Pe-

niscola Castle. After his death, in 1423, the body of Pedro

de Luna was moved to the place of his birth. His tomb

was plundered during the Napoleonic Wars. Only the skull

survived [15], [17].

The gure of Pope Pedro de Luna, almost unknown

in Poland, is very popular in the countries which recog-

nized him. First of all in Spain, France and Scotland. The

coat of arms of St. Andrews’ Scottish University still has

an inverted crescent moon – the personal coat of arms of

Benedict XIII. In France and Spain, he became the hero

of many publications [17], [18], including non-scientic

ones. For example, Spanish author Vicent Melià i Bom-

boí tries to connect Benedict XIII with the Order of the

Dragon, which was founded by Sigismund of Luxem-

bourg (King of Rome, Hungary and the future emperor).

Famous Polish knight Zawisza Czarny was also supposed

to be a knight of this order [19].

Sigismund of Luxembourg actually met Pedro de Luna

in Perpignan, staying there from September to November

in 1415 [20]. Most probably, Zawisza Czarny was in his

retinue. According to Jan Długosz, during the tournament,

he was supposed to defeat a mysterious knight called John

of Aragon in front of Benedict XIII, Sigismund of Luxem-

burg, and King Ferdinand I of Aragon [21].

The memory of Pedro de Luna remains strong in Spain,

especially in the regions which are connected with the last

period of his life. The Association of Friends of Pope Luna

(Asociacion Amics del Papa Luna) is located in Peniscola.

It collects documents and inspires scientic publications

about the life and activities of the Pope, and also conducts

activities aimed at the rehabilitation of Pedro de Luna in

the light of canon law. In December 2019, this Associ-

ation presented detailed documentation to the Vatican’s

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was ap-

proved by Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria on December

21, 2019 [22].

Grodno Castle

and a papal seal?

The issue concerning the circumstances in which the

lead seal of Benedict XIII (Fig. 6) was on the premises of

Grodno Castle, or with what specic document it is con-

nected, in fact remains impossible to explain unequivoc -

ally

. From the Middle Ages, the papal curia and chan -

cellery acted in many cases in a purely reactive way.

A client – a ruler, bishop, city council, monastery, chapter

or private person – submitted a supplication (request) along

with an oce fee. The supplication could concern the ap-

proval or acquisition of a privilege, election for a position,

indulgence of sins, obtaining a benece and many other

matters in which the response of the papal chan cellery was

expected. This type of correspondence might have also con-

cerned a specic person, after whose death the document

lost its validity and became worthless [23]. The number

of Benedict XIII’s documents preserved to this day varies,

depending on the location and the state of research on the

legacy of Pedro de Luna. In the Paris

Archives Nationales

I express my thanks to Professor Marek Daniel Kowalski (Ja -

giellonian University) and dr. Stanisław Jujeczko (University of Wro-

cław) for their research advice, information and discussion.

Fig. 6. Papal bull

of Benedict XIII (1394–1417)

from Grodno Castle

after conservation.

On the left: obverse,

on the right: reverse

(photo by Ł. Orlicki)

Il. 6. Bulla Benedykta XIII

(1394–1417) z zamku Grodno

po konserwacji.

Po lewej: awers,

po prawej: rewers

(fot. Ł. Orlicki)

88 Łukasz Orlicki

there are only 44 published documents issued by the oce

of Benedict XIII [24]. About 25,000 papal bulls of Pedro

de Luna are kept in the Vatican Secret Archives, of which

4,480 documents connected with the area of present-day

Spain have been published [17].

In the case of the oce of Benedict XIII, we are deal-

ing with a specic situation when it comes to the area of

the then lands of Silesia, under the reign of the Bohemi-

an Crown. The turn of the 15

century is the time of the

aforementioned Western Schism, which primarily con-

cerned the Church, at the same time introducing a division

between countries. Both the Kingdom of Bohemia, which

was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Kingdom of

Poland, adjacent to Silesia, recognized Roman or Pisan

obedience, not submitting to the Popes of Avignon. The

confusion over the schism resulted even in the fact that

in some regions of Upper Hungary – today’s Slovakia

– cler gymen were not required to be consecrated by any

of the popes who were in conict with each other [25]. So

far, no document regarding Polish lands issued by Bene-

dict XIII has been located in archives, private collections

and publications [26]. A similar situation occurs among

papal bulls issued with reference to German territories

[27]. In the territory of the Czech Republic, among the

documents published in collections, there are eight which

are connected with the pope we are interested in. Howev-

er, none of them could have had his seal. Five documents

constitute supplications which are connected with benets

in France. The others were issued by the cardinal cham-

berlain and as such were sealed with his own wax seal [28,

pp. 721–725].

However, it should be remembered that the lack of

known to us and identied papal bulls of Benedict XIII

concerning the region of Poland, Silesia and Bohemia,

which might have appeared in Grodno Castle, does not

prove that such documents did not exist.

Identification of the document

accompanied by the stamp

The document, together with the seal found in Grodno

Castle, might have left the papal chancellery at various

times during the ponticate of Benedict XIII. The most

likely of them are the rst months and years immediate-

ly after being elected pope in 1394. Pedro de Luna must

have sent various letters calling for delity to individu-

al representatives of the Church and secular authorities.

Although in Silesia such letters have not survived, after

being delivered to the addressees, they might have been

ignored or destroyed. The second probable period when

a larger number of Benedict’s documents could have

reached the region of Silesia, Bohemia and Poland might

be year 1404, after the death of the Pope of Roman obedi-

ence, Boniface IX. According to Ovidio Cuella Esteban,

an expert on Pedro de Luna’s correspondence, it was one

of the few moments when Benedict XIII, respected for

his steadfastness and defense, began to be recognized by

some Italian, German, Hungarian and even Polish dioces-

es [17, Vol. 1, p. 12]. The pope himself even thought of an

armed expedition to Rome.

However, this streak of good luck did not last long. As

a result of another reshue of political parties, Pedro de

Luna moved his seat to the Kingdom of Majorca and the

probability of issuing documents concerning Poland or

Silesia decreased signicantly. Of course, there is a pos-

sibility that the seal from Grodno Castle was attached to

a much more important document which was sent out

throughout the Christian world. For example, the papal

bull of 1408 calling the council of Perpignan or ocial

papal bull Etsi doctoribus Gentium of 1415, restricting the

rights of Jews and resulting from a long dispute organized

by Benedict in Tortosa [29].

At the time when Pedro de Luna was elected Pope,

Grodno Castle along with the entire Świdnica and Jawor

Principality was already under the reign of the Bohemian

Crown, which happened in 1392 after the death of Duch-

ess Agnes, widow of Bolko II. The history of the castle at

that time is not entirely clear. Its owners were probably

knights from the Scho-Heinz family, then his brother Ul-

rich, after whose death in 1412 the castle was to be taken

over by the von Mühlheim family, or in fact its branch

called Puschke (Pastuchów) after the name of its estate.

The latter soon became known as robber knights who

were known for enforcing tolls due to them and some-

times dealing with ordinary robberies. After the death of

Benedict XIII, Grodno Castle was still in the hands of this

family. Then it was taken over by other knightly fami-

lies with an equally bad reputation [1], [13]. There is no

indication that any of these knights was trying to obtain

any letter of Benedict XIII. However, it is not ruled out.

Perhaps the document was taken by of one of the robber

knights during numerous plundering raids, for which suc-

cessive lords at Grodno Castle became famous in the 15

century, or perhaps it found its way to the castle as a re-

sult of one of the Hussite military expeditions. Of course,

there are many hypotheses, speculations or possible paths

through which the seal found its way to the castle walls

from distant Avignon or Aragon

. It is worth remember-

ing that regardless of them, nding Pedro de Luna’s seal

in this part of Europe is a unique discovery.

Summary

Despite the unusual fact of the existence of two popes

in the history of the Catholic Church bearing the name of

Benedict XIII, on the basis of the analyses carried out,

we can certainly assume that the issuer of the papal bull,

which was discovered during the archaeological research

conducted in 2017 in Grodno Castle, was Pedro de Luna

who was in oce under this name at the turn of the 15

century. This is indicated rst of all by the results of com-

parative analyses of the style of representations on papal

bulls from the 15

century and on later cultural proper-

One of the most daring speculations is the possibility of receiv-

ing the document by one of the knights accompanying Sigismund of

Luxemburg on his visit to Benedict XIII in Perpignion. One of them was,

after all, the aforementioned Zawisza Czarny, who later visited Lower

Silesia many times in the service of Sigismund, while at the same time

being captured by the Hussites [30].

Papal bull of Benedict XIII (1394–1417) from Grodno Castle 89

ties. These ndings are conrmed by the results of the

stratigraphic analysis of the context in which this artifact

was found.

The identication of the document is much more prob-

lematic and thus the way in which this papal bull could get

to Grodno Castle. All of the proposed hypotheses seem to

be equally probable. Certainly, the solution to this prob-

lem requires further research and potential discoveries of

new, hitherto unknown papal bulls of this pope will be

crucial for the whole process. Therefore, potential discov-

erers must bear in mind that the context of their discovery,

i.e. its location, depth or accompanying cultural properties

should be documented as precisely as possible.

Translated by

Bogusław Setkowicz

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Institute for Historical and Sightseeing

Research, publisher of “Odkrywca” and “Living Archaeology” magazine.

90 Łukasz Orlicki

Abstract

Papal bull of Benedict XIII (1394–1417) from Grodno Castle

The article aims at discussing a unique cultural property, which is the papal bull of Pope Benedict XIII that was discovered during the archaeo-

logical research conducted in Grodno Castle in 2017, as well as at determining the potential connections, as a result of which this cultural property

found its place in Lower Silesia. The number of papal bulls which are discovered in contemporary Poland has been growing signicantly from year

to year. They are not only visually impressive artifacts, but above all good dating proofs due to the name of their issuer on each of them. In the case

of identication of the papal bull discovered in Grodno Castle, initially there was a problem connected with the fact that in the history of the Catholic

Church there were two popes bearing the name of Benedict XIII, i.e. Pedro de Luna who was in oce at the turn of the 15

century and Francesco

Orsini who ruled in the 18

century. Thanks to the source query and the comparative analysis, the issuer of the copy from Grodno Castle is undoubt-

edly the rst of them – in historiography referred to as the Pope of Avignon obedience and colloquially as an anti-pope, due to the schism prevailing

in the Church at that time. At the same time, it was ruled out that this cultural property might have been placed on the secondary deposit due to the

analysis of the stratigraphy of the context layers in which it was discovered. On the basis of the query, the article also presents several hypotheses

about a possible way the papal bull got to Lower Silesia. The conclusion which can be drawn from the research is the need to conduct further studies,

not only on this particular cultural property, but rst of all, in a broader aspect of papal bulls in Poland.

Key words: Grodno Castle, Middle Ages, papal bull, Benedict XIII, Pedro de Luna

Streszczenie

Bulla Benedykta XIII (1394–1417) z zamku Grodno

Artykuł ma na celu omówienie unikatowego zabytku, jakim jest bulla papieża Benedykta XIII odkryta w trakcie badań archeologicznych prowa-

dzonych na zamku Grodno w 2017 r., a także ustalenie potencjalnych powiązań, na skutek których zabytek znalazł się na terenie Dolnego Śląska.

Z roku na rok liczba bulli odkrywanych na obszarze współczesnej Polski znacząco wzrasta. Są one nie tylko wizualnie imponującymi artefaktami,

ale przede wszystkim dobrymi datownikami, z racji imienia swojego wystawcy znajdującego się na każdej z nich. W przypadku identykacji

egzemplarza odkrytego na zamku Grodno natraono początkowo na problem związany z faktem występowania w historii Kościoła katolickiego

dwóch papieży noszących imię Benedykta XIII – Pedra de Luny pełniącego urząd na przełomie XIV i XV w. oraz Francesca Orsiniego sprawują-

cego władzę w wieku XVIII. Dzięki przeprowadzonej kwerendzie źródłowej i analizie porównawczej bezsprzecznie jako wydawcę egzemplarza

z zamku Grodno można wskazać pierwszego z nich – w historiograi określanego mianem papieża obediencji awiniońskiej, a potocznie antypapieża,

ze względu na panującą wówczas w Kościele schizmę. Jednocześnie wykluczono, że zabytek mógł znaleźć się na złożu wtórnym z racji analizy

stratygrai nawarstwień kontekstu, w którym go odnaleziono. W oparciu o przeprowadzoną kwerendę w artykule zaprezentowano też kilka hipotez

dotyczących sposobu, w jaki bulla trała na Dolny Śląsk. Wnioskiem płynącym z przedstawionych badań jest potrzeba przeprowadzenia dalszych

studiów, nie tylko nad tym konkretnym zabytkiem, ale przede wszystkim w szerszym aspekcie bulli papieskich na terenie Polski.

Słowa kluczowe: zamek Grodno, średniowiecze, bulla papieska, Benedykt XIII, Pedro de Luna