106 LaCitadeSancta
vated alliances with important ecclesiastics by granting them citizenship, as
Bologna did to Bishop Tommaso of Imola in 1254 , and again to the powerful
abbot of Nonantola in 1259.^21 In 1254 the bishop-elect of Ravenna, Filippo,
served as podesta of his city, promulgating statutes to guarantee internal
peace.^22 Filippo and his city also cooperated on defense: the bishop was
responsible for the upkeep of the tower over the Porta San Mama.^23
Unity was in the interest of both city and bishop. In the early 1200 s,
their mutual enemy Emperor Frederick II connived to divide communes and
bishops. In 1219 he confirmed Parma’s prerogative, granted at the Peace of
Costanza, to abolish the temporal jurisdiction of its bishop, Obizzo Fieschi—
who was then happily cooperating with the communal government. The
podesta Negro di Mariano took up the challenge and dispossessed the
bishop. In retaliation, on 25 November 1220 , a papal legate excommunicated
the commune—with the hearty approval of Emperor Frederick, now seeking
a papal coronation. The following year, a new podesta, Torello of Strada,
reached an agreement with the bishop that, among other provisions, re-
turned episcopal properties, promised the bishop control over clergy and
tithes, and confirmed his jurisdiction in disputed areas. The bishop agreed
that the army would have free passage through his lands, the commune
would get half of episcopal court fines, and he would refrain from meddling
in wardship cases. Such a partition of jurisdictions became typical of the age
of the later communes, but overlaps always remained.
In 1233 , new Parma city statutes stipulated that the commune and the
bishop would act together in mediating feuds.^24 Parma’s was a typical condo-
minium, reaffirmed by both parties as late as 1262.^25 Ever since the arrival
of the Peace of God movement in Lombardy during 1042 , peace possessed a
sacral flavor. Throughout the communal period, ecclesiastics and penitents
held a privileged place in peacemaking. In 1204 and in 1207 , Fra Alberto of
Mantua preached peace and reconciled factions at Bologna, a task taken up
again in the 1230 s by the Dominican Guala of Brescia.^26 In 1231 , the Francis-
can Anthony of Padua combined peacemaking with debt relief, emptying
Paduan prisons of their paupers.^27 During the revival known as the Alleluia
of 1233 , Dominican and Franciscan preachers orchestrated peacemaking be-
tween feuding factions and between warring cities. Bishops and communal
governments supported the project, and the religious ritual for peacemaking,
the ‘‘Kiss of Peace,’’ entered city statutes.^28 The preachers prevailed on the
- Bologna Stat.i, 5. 22 , 1 : 455 – 56.
- E.g.: Ravenna Stat., 199 , pp. 110 – 11 (stipulates the terms of a podesta’s service); 334 , pp. 154 – 55
(regulations and fines); 365 b– 368 , pp. 175 – 77 (on peacekeeping). - Ibid., 335 b, pp. 155 – 56.
- See addition to podesta’s oath: Parma Stat.i, 3.
- See ibid. ( 10 July 1221 ), 194 – 97.
26 .CCB:A, B, Vill., Bol. ( 1204 and 1207 ), 67 , 69 ;CCB:B, 98. - Padua Stat. ( 1231 ), 2. 9 ,p. 178 , no. 551 ;( 1258 ), 2. 2 ,p. 162 , no. 498.
- E.g., Verona Stat.ii( 1276 ), 3. 40 ,p. 415.