LEAD SEALER OF THE APOSTOLIC CHANCERY. — Among the personnel of the Chancery responsible for the drafting and dispatch of papal bulls or the collection of related fees, the *plumbator* is properly the one who affixes the lead seal (v. BULL) and ensures the dispatch of the document. The first mention dates to 1198, during the pontificate of Innocent III, with the title of *bullator*, referring to a single individual.
From then on, there were numerous changes, both in number (2 under Boniface VIII, first 3, then 2 under the pontificates of Benedict XII and Clement VI, 4 under Martin V, again 2 under Eugenius IV) and in the title of the *plumbatores* of the Apostolic Chancery: *bullatores* (v.) throughout the 13th century, *frates de bulla* in 1367 under Urban V, *bullatores seu sigillatores* in 1412 under Gregory XII, *custodes bullae* under Martin V, *plumbatores* under Paul II, Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, and this title prevailed over the others and was retained even when, between the end of the 15th century and the pontificate of Leo X, the office was entrusted to laymen.
LEAD SEALER OF THE APOSTOLIC CHANCERY — PIONIO