96 LaCitadeSancta
Dominicans had, from their arrival in Italy, directed penitents to take part
in the detection of heresy.^174 The preacher Giacopino of Reggio founded the
most famous antiheresy society, the Societa`della Beata Virgine, at Bologna
in 1233. The city itself favored that society into the 1250 s and enlisted the
members in the struggle against heresy and sodomy. Thesocieta`played such
an important role in public morals and orthodoxy that the podesta and city
officials consulted with the Dominicans in the appointment of its officers.^175
Also about 1233 , at Parma, Fra Bartolomeo of Branganze founded the Mili-
tia of Jesus Christ, again dedicated to heresy hunting. It was an aristocratic
organization open only to knights.^176 The militia and groups like it departed
far from the freelance style of ascetic life typical of lay penitents. The militia
assisted the communal committees who reported on heretics to the inquisi-
tors. Secular princes also founded antiheresy organizations, such as Charles
of Anjou’s Societa`della Croce, described by the chronicler Salimbene of
Parma.^177 At Milan, a committee of twelve members appointed by the pode-
sta did this work. In 1252 , a papal decree made such committees mandatory
in the Lombard cities.^178 The antiheresy societies, while in form confraternit-
ies, did not reflect ordinary lay piety; they were police agencies. They tended
to be highly aristocratic, closed corporations. Saint Peter of Verona’s Socie-
tas Fidelium, formed to assist communes and inquisitors in detecting heresy,
was exclusive, even covert.^179 Antiheresy societies might have broader goals.
The Frati Gaudenti were antiheretical but also assisted the neighborhood
corporation in peacemaking and peacekeeping. In form, one might consider
them an offshoot of the penitents. But Salimbene, who considered the Jovial
Friars a mere clone of Bartolomeo’s militia, spoke for contemporaries (and
modern historians) when he characterized the Gaudenti as indolent, self-
serving, and lax.^180
As penitents entered antiheresy work, they became attached to the mendi-
- On Dominican Marian confraternities, see Gilles Ge ́rard Meersseman, ‘‘Le congregazioni della
Vergine,’’ Meersseman,Ordo, 2 : 921 – 1117 , esp. 927 – 32 , on origins. On antiheresy confraternities, see Lo-
renzo Paolini, ‘‘Le origini della ‘Societas Crucis,’ ’’Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa 15 ( 1979 ): 173 – 229. - Bologna Stat.i( 1259 ), 1. 145 – 47 , 1 : 408 – 9 ; on this group, see Meersseman,Ordo, 2 : 828 , 2 : 770 , and
Meersseman’s publications of source documents for thesocieta`inAFP 18 ( 1948 ): 136 – 40 ; 21 ( 1951 ): 67 – 68 ,
120 – 21 ; 22 ( 1952 ): 90 – 92 ; 20 ( 1950 ): 11 , 18 , 70. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1285 ), 891 , Baird trans., 619. On these groups, see Gilles Ge ́rard Meersse-
man, ‘‘Le varie Militie di Gesu`Cristo,’’ Meersseman,Ordo, 3 : 1233 – 70 , rpt. of his ‘‘E ́tudes sur les ancien-
nes confre ́ries dominicainesiv: Les Milices de Je ́sus Christ,’’AFP 23 ( 1953 ): 275 – 308 ; and Merlo, ‘‘Militia
Christi,’’ 373 – 86. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1250 ), 543 , Baird trans., 376 – 77.
- Innocent IV,Ad Extirpanda( 15 May 1252 ), Meersseman,Ordo, 2 : 764.
- On Peter of Verona’s groups, see Meersseman, ‘‘Le confraternite di san Pietro Martire,’’ Meers-
seman,Ordo, 2 : 754 – 920. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1260 / 61 ), 678 – 80 , Baird trans., 476 – 78 ; Matteo Griffoni, 15 ; for their rule,
see ‘‘Regula Militiae B. Mariae V. Gloriosae’’ ( 1261 ), Meersseman,Dossier, 295 – 309 ; documents on the
group at Bologna are collected inCronaca di Ronzano e memorie di Loderingo d’Anadalo, frate gaudente,ed. Giovanni Gozzadini (Bologna: SocietaTipografica Bolognese, 1851 ), 129 – 208. For the tomb of a wealthy
Jovial Friar, seeIscrizioni medievali bolognesi,ed. Giancarlo Roversi (Bologna: Istituto Storico di Bologna,
1982 ), 216 – 17 , no. 10 (San Giovanni in Monte).