FromConversion toCommunity 99
vehicle for doing penance in a traditional conversi fashion. Popular desire
for peace in the wake of the bloody victory of Siena over Florence at Mon-
taperti ( 4 September 1260 ) may have triggered this movement.^196 These peni-
tents are famous, almost exclusively, for their practice of self-flagellation, a
ritual they practiced in private and, most famously, in public processions.^197
An illumination in an early-fourteenth-century manuscript of their statutes
from Pavia shows them kneeling before the Crucifix, robed in belted white
tunics (thesaccoof the document) with hoods that cover the head and face,
save for two eye slits. They apply the ‘‘discipline,’’ scourging their shoulders
with cords though an opening in their tunics.^198 The weirdness of the image
obscures the movement’s profound continuity with earlier conversi and peni-
tents. Reading their legislation, one might easily miss their distinctive peni-
tential practice, so much do their statutes resemble earlier legislation. The
preface to the statutes of the Pavia flagellants mentions their dedication to
the Madonna and the court of heaven, as well as their fidelity to the overlord
city of Milan, but never mentions flagellation. The 1299 introduction to the
statutes of the Lucca flagellants speaks exclusively of their purpose, to honor
the Passion of Christ.^199 Only much later in the document does the practice
of self-flagellation appear. Arresting as flagellation might be to modern ob-
servers, thedisciplinatispeak of themselves as a traditional confraternity of
penitents, albeit one practicing a distinctive form of penance.
Flagellants were all laymen and tenaciously preserved their movement’s
lay character.^200 They maintained the self-government, organization, prayer
forms, monthly Mass, and autonomy of the early conversi. Flagellant groups
borrowed wholesale structures and provisions dating back to the ‘‘Memori-
ale.’’^201 Like the early penitenti, they placed special emphasis on cultivation
of fraternal unity, civic peace, and love of neighbor.^202 The flagellants fa-
- Meersseman,Ordo, 1 : 457 – 58 ; on the flagellants, see John Henderson, ‘‘The Flagellant Movement
and the Flagellant Confraternities in Central Italy, 1260 – 1400 ,’’Religious Motivation: Biographical and Socio-
logical Problems for the Church Historian,ed. Derek Baker, Ecclesiastical History Society, 15 (Oxford: Black-
well, 1978 ), 147 – 60 , and Gary Dickson, ‘‘The Flagellants of 1260 and the Crusades,’’Journal of Medieval
History 15 ( 1989 ): 227 – 67 , esp. 261 – 66 , for bibliography. - For the rituals of flagellation, consult Lucca, Biblioteca Statale,ms 1310, fols. 10 v– 11 v(Lucca,
1299 ); Piacenza, Biblioteca Comunale,msPallestrelli 323 , fols. 8 v– 11 v(Piacenza, 1317 ); Milan, Biblioteca
Nazionale Braidense,msAC.viii. 2 , fols. 9 v– 10 r(Pavia, 1332 , discipline in the house of the society); ibid.,
fols. 21 r– 25 v(Pavia, 1332 , public procession). On indulgences for self-flagellation, see Meersseman,Ordo,
2 : 1059. - Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense,msAC.viii. 2 , fol. 1 r; the robes and blessing are given on
fols. 13 v– 14 r. See Weissman, ‘‘From Brotherhood,’’ 76 , on modern stereotypes of the flagellants. - Lucca, Biblioteca Statale,ms 1310, fol. 2 r, promulgated on 5 March 1299.
- See Casagrande, ‘‘I veri laici: I disciplinati,’’Religiosita`, 353 – 438 , esp. 388 – 90.
- E.g., the table of contents of the 1332 Pavia flagellant statutes, Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale
Braidense,msAC.viii. 2 , fols. 1 v– 3 v, lists admissions, daily prayers and Mass, fasts, Communion and
confession, Sunday flagellation, processions, elections, obedience to superiors, sick care, suffrages, funer-
als, poor assistance, officials, and provision for hearing sermons. - The 1317 statutes of the Piacenza flagellants, Piacenza, Biblioteca Comunale,msPallestrelli 323 ,
fol. 2 v, lift that triad from the Rule of Saint Augustine. Cf. Lucca, Biblioteca Statale,ms 1310, fols. 10 r–v
(Lucca flagellants, 1299 ); Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense,msAC.viii. 2 , fols. 7 r–v(Pavia flagellants,
1332 ).