22 
Vatican Archives 
the Archivio. In the first place there is the register kept by the Camera itself, 
in which were registered bulls expedited by that office, and occasionally others 
specially ordered to be registered in this series. The volumes of this register 
may generally be distinguished by the serial titles of “ Libri Officiorum ”, 
“ de Curia ”, “ secretarum ”, and “ patentium ”. Secondly, there are the 
volumes of bulls expedited by the chancery. These consist of the series label¬ 
led (( Expectatio ” and containing prospective appointments, to take effect 
when vacancies should occur, and " Diversorum ”, of which the contents are 
suggested by the title. Thirdly, there is the register of “ Litterae communes ”, 
registered by the secretaries and containing a great variety of matter, includ¬ 
ing much of a political nature. Among the earlier numbers of the Regesta 
are some volumes of bulls of the Dataria, of which the separate register is 
described later, and occasionally briefs are found registered with the bulls. 
For the earlier period these Regesta are largely duplicated by those of Avig¬ 
non, but not subsequently to 1492. 
The Regesta Vaticana consist of 2019 numbers of which 29 are double, 
making 2048 volumes in all. The extreme dates are from the pontificate of 
Innocent III. to 1605, but the volumes after 1572 are but few. There have 
been four systems of reference. First, the books of each class were num¬ 
bered separately for each pontificate and the label gives, generally incorrectly, 
the years of the reign included in each. Later all the books of each pontiff 
were numbered consecutively. De Pretis in his “ Inventarium Archivi Secreti 
Vaticani ”, now indice 133 , listed the volumes as he found them in the first 
29 armadii of that archive. All these methods of reference have been used 
by historians, and the volumes may still be drawn from the shelves by the 
last. The official method of reference, however, is that of Palmieri, who in 
his Manuductio 7 lists the whole series with a consecutive numeration, giving 
the popes whose bulls are registered in the various numbers and the years. 
This work is very unsatisfactory, as it gives no cross reference to the older 
systems of citation, and its lists of the years included in the several volumes 
are incorrect. 8 
The bulls are not entered in the registers in chronological order, their order 
being such that in many instances it is evident that the registration could not 
have taken place for several years after the issuance of the bull. Often several 
bulls on the same subject or to the same person are found together. It seems 
also that the copies were not usually entered in bound books, but on loose 
sheets or rather sheaves of sheets, which were sometimes prepared at the 
homes of the scriptores, and which were afterward bound. Thus there was 
a double chance of loss, and the registers are not, in fact, complete. On the 
left-hand margin at the head of each bull is the signature of the clerk who 
copied it. At the foot is occasionally the signature of a collator. Occasionally 
the official seal is sketched in, and the names of signers of the original bull 
added. 
Although the folios are numbered, reference is not easy. This difficulty 
is, to a certain extent, lessened by the fifth class of indici . 9 These are, ap¬ 
parently, office reference books. They vary in character and completeness 
for the various pontificates, but in general consist of rubricellae, or inventories 
7 See preceding note. 
s E. g., no. 880 , Palmieri says 2 and 3, whereas there are none of 2, and several of 1; 
881 , Palmieri, 2, 3, 5, actually 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; 882 , Palmieri, 4 to 11, actually, 4, 7, 8, 9, 
10, 11, and one of Pius IV. 
s Numbers 240 - 324 . 
