The buldero was a character who worked for the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages and his function was to deliver bulls in exchange for money. These bulls were privileges, graces and pardons granted by the Pope to those who died unconfessed when they went to war or were accused of witchcraft or heresy.
But why was the work of a bulldozer of the Middle Ages necessary? This medieval official aimed to obtain money through the granting of indulgences from the Pope.
The Middle Ages or Middle Ages is the historical period that developed between the 5th and 16th centuries. Specifically, it began in the year 476, when the Roman Empire fell, and ended in 1492 with the arrival of Columbus in the New World, although there are those who mark 1453 as the culmination of this historical period with the end of the Byzantine Empire.
At that time there were few scientific advances, and although in those years the printing press was invented and America was colonized, it is known as the dark age of humanity.
This obscurantism in the Middle Ages was also due to the persecutions carried out by the Catholic Church against those accused of heresy and witchcraft.
Those who manifested a behavior or said something that violated the system established by the Catholic Church were considered heretics.
Copernicus, Galileo and the bulderos
For example, a famous heretic of that time was Nicolás Copernicus, who wrote a treatise where he stated that the heavenly bodies, including the Earth, revolved around the Sun, something that contradicted the religious ideas of that time.
However, Copernicus was never formally accused of heresy, mainly because his uncle was an influential bishop. Therefore, it did not require the trades of a buldero.
On the other hand, Galileo Galilei did have to negotiate his forgiveness with the biggest buldero, that is, with the Pope of that time, Urban VIII, because he dared to say that the Earth revolved around the Sun. It contradicted what religious power affirmed; that God had created the Earth and everything revolved around it.
Specifically, in 1633, the court that used the church to try witches and heretics and that was called the Holy Inquisition, tried Galileo Galilei for being suspected of heresy, condemning him to life imprisonment.
However, after retracting what he had stated about his hypothesis of the movement of rotation and translation, the sentence of life imprisonment was changed to that of house arrest.
In other words, the Pope himself granted Galileo Galilei one of the bulls that he gave to distribute the buldero.
What was the importance of the buldero of the Middle Ages?
This official was mainly important for the Catholic Church, because thanks to his functions, the Holy See was able to amass an immense fortune through the granting of these benefits.
These abundant riches obtained by the power of the Papacy in Rome were managed by the buldero, especially through the distribution of the bulls of the Holy Crusade.
The bulls of the Holy Crusade were privileges, graces and pardons contained in a document sealed with the papal ring, which the buldero had to deliver to those who gave an economic contribution.
At first these bulls were indulgences granted by the Pope to those who were going to fight against the Saracens in the so-called holy wars, but on one occasion he empowered the bishops to give a plenary absolution on his behalf to those who paid a certain amount if they had minor sins.
Later, the Pope fixed the price that had to be paid for the fact that a soul in purgatory could leave there to obtain eternal rest, this being a more expensive bull.