TheHolyCity 107
cities to enact laws against heresy, which both removed a cause of commu-
nity division and protected orthodoxy.^29 Peacemaking in the late 1200 s re-
mained the prerogative of preachers like Fra Lorenzo at Bologna in 1287
and of lay religious movements like the flagellants in 1260.^30 Until the end of
the communal period, cities called on their clergy to administer peace oaths
to end internal conflicts.^31
By the 1240 s, civil governments had developed a more distinct identity,
and bishops began to lose their direct role in communal governance. The
spheres of jurisdiction were becoming separate. In the 1220 s, the Veronese
stopped enforcing summonses to the episcopal court, although they contin-
ued to respect clerical exemptions by sending cases of clerical truce breaking
to the bishop.^32 After midcentury, at least in legal matters, the distinction
between the civil administration and Church administration had become
clear and explicit everywhere. In 1250 , Bologna prohibited appeal to the
bishop’s court in secular matters.^33 But the commune continued to compel
clerics summoned to the episcopal court for ecclesiastical matters.^34 Bolo-
gna’s actions defined the different courts’ spheres of authority; they did not
reduce episcopal power per se. In theory, the communes vigorously rejected
the ecclesiastical claim that criminal clerics were subject only to the church
courts.^35 In practice, bishops yielded authority over such cases to the com-
mune and worked out agreements. At Padua, the bishop agreed to defrock
criminal clerics and hand them over.^36 Bishop Ottaviano of Bologna accom-
modated his city in the matter and handed over weapon-bearing clerics for
civil trial. He also enforced civil law by excommunicating the clerics of any
church or monastery who harbored criminals wanted by the commune. He
gave permission to the podesta’s men to enter convents and churches to
arrest offending clergy.^37 Reciprocally, the late-thirteenth-century com-
munes enacted legislation favoring the ‘‘liberties of the Church,’’ promised
to protect church property, and helped discipline (and execute) heretics.^38
The growing division of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions paradoxically
- On this movement, see Augustine Thompson,Revival Preachers and Politics in Thirteenth-Century Italy
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992 ). - For Lorenzo, see Matteo Griffoni, 23 ; for some peace statutes of 1260 , see Bologna Stat.i, 2. 15 ,
1 : 268. - As at Brescia in 1313 : Brescia Stat., Pax 98 , col. 282.
- Verona Stat.i( 1228 ), 74 ,p. 60 ; 109 ,p. 84.
- Bologna Stat.i( 1250 ), 4. 51 , 1 : 421.
- Ibid. ( 1250 ), 4. 22 , 1 : 404. Also, on property cases before the bishop, see ibid. ( 1252 and 1267 ), 4. 51 a,
1 : 422 – 23. - E.g., ibid. ( 1259 , 1260 , 1262 ), 11. 6 , 3 : 277.
- Padua Stat. ( 1270 ), 3. 10 ,p. 267 , no. 812.
- Bologna Stat.ii( 1288 ), 4. 68 , 1 : 228 – 29 ;( 1288 ), 4. 65 , 1 : 221 – 23.
- E.g., Parma stat.i(by 1255 ), p. 105 ; Verona Stat.ii( 1276 ), 1. 249 – 57 , pp. 197 – 202 ; Brescia Stat.
( 1313 ), 1. 22 , col. 11. For signs of growing tension after 1300 , see Lucca Synod ( 1300 ), 44 – 48 , pp. 226 – 30
(excommunicating officials who violate liberties of the Church); 37 ,p. 183 (disciplining clergy who draft
instruments harmful to the commune); Parma Stat.iii( 1316 ), 110 – 11 (excluding clerics from communal
offices).