Lead, 52.93 grams, 40.78 mm dia, approx. 5mm thickness. 1513 - 1521 AD. A lead seal from a document issued by Pope Leo X, with the remains of the securing cords which attached it to the document still clearly visible. The iconography of papal bullas has not altered since the time of Pope Pasquale II (1099-1118) - one face bears the name of the issuing Pope and the other the opposed profile heads of SS. Peter and Paul with a cruciform emblem between and a form of the identifying abbreviated legend SPESPA (Sanctus Petrus Sanctus Paulus 'Saint Peter, Saint Paul') on the other. The present example shows on the recto the two faces executed in a slightly stylized manner within a beaded border under the legend 'PA.PE' written in two columns vertically. The verso bears the legend '[+]/LEO/PAP[A]/:X' within a pelleted border. Reference: Pateman, B. Collecting Seals page 134-135. Reference: Pateman, B. Collecting Seals page 134-135. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Pope Leo X was born Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici in Florence in 1475, the second son of Lorenzo, then ruler of the Florentine Republic, and Clarissa of the redoubtable Orsini family. Giovanni was marked for an ecclesiastical career from an early age, sponsored by his kinsman, Pope Innocent VIII, and received several important positions. He unsuccessfully opposed the Borgia family's domination of European politics. When he became head of the Medici family in 1503 he devoted much attention to the acquisition of art and books, and was on apparently good terms with Pope Alexander VI, head of the Borgia family. In 1511 he was appointed papal legate of Bologna and the Romagna, and had to lead a papal army against his native city in order to root out separatists; fortunately a peaceful revolution re-instated the de Medici rule through his younger brother, Giuliano. In 1513 he was voted to the papacy, but only ordained as a priest a few days later. In the following years, Leo X had to call on his experience of the politics of European countries to deal with the conflicting ambitions of France, Spain, Venice, Naples and England: it was he who made Thomas Wolsey a cardinal. The threat of Turkish incursions in the east united many European states behind the pope, although internal wrangling continued much as before and the pope was able to extract money and favours from many countries in return for official sanction. He also created thirty-one new cardinals in 1517 and benefitted from these appointments. However, the lucrative practice of selling papal indulgences brought the whole office and authority of Rome into disrepute and led to Martin Luther's famous ninety-five theses and the birth of the Protestant movement. Leo did not comprehend the strength of popular objection to his money-making schemes and simply issued edicts to bolster his own authority, which had the effect of further undermining it. The Lutheran church grew in importance in northern Europe, thus depriving Rome of income and authority and creating a powerbase for England and the Scandinavian countries which no longer required the blessing of Rome for their enterprises. Leo died of malaria in 1521. His posthumous reputation for lavishness and extravagent splendour - such as riding round the streets of Rome on a white elephant - overlooks some of the charitable institutions he established and his patronage of education and the arts.