122 LaCitadeSancta
was fitting for celestial defenders of the republic, one held a cross and the
other the communal banner. The image carried the inscription ‘‘Justice,
Mercy, Truth, and Peace.’’^136 As for the Mother Church, so for the city’s
nonecclesiastical buildings. On 20 May of the same year, the fathers commis-
sioned a painting of the Virgin and San Giminiano for the Palazzo del Po-
polo, ‘‘that they might protect and extend the liberty of the people of
Modena.’’ Oil lamps illuminated the new images at night.^137
Such artistic embellishments made a doctrinal statement. Cities placed
images over their gates to proclaim communal orthodoxy. ‘‘Let images be
placed over the five major gates of the city in honor of the Blessed Virgin,
Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Christopher, Saint Peter, and the blessed
martyrs Felix and Fortunatus; and let this be completed between Easter and
the first of August,’’ ordered the commune of Vicenza in 1262 —a visible
declaration of orthodoxy after the expulsion of the impious and heretical da
Romano tyranny.^138 Attitude toward cultic images of the saints could, in fact,
be a litmus test of orthodoxy. The notary Ugonetto de’ Molari was walking
one day with two acquaintances. He suggested that they drop into a church
and pray there before the images of the saints. His friends agreed to come
and pray, but refused to venerate the images. Such images were made ‘‘more
for worldly use than out of devotion.’’ They certainly were ‘‘worldly’’ in the
sense of ‘‘communal’’ and ‘‘civic.’’ But they were holy objects of devotion as
well. The inquisitor who took down Ugonetto’s words concluded the men
were heretics, under the influence of some Waldensian preacher.^139 Perhaps
they were from another city as well. Honoring images of the saints proved
both Catholic and communal identity.
Bologna commissioned marble images of Saints Peter and Paul to embel-
lish the major portal of the duomo, a sign of fidelity to the Roman See.^140 At
Pisa in 1275 , the new podesta pledged himself to assure, in cooperation with
the officials of the city, that images of the Virgin, Saint Peter, and Saint
Mark be painted over the principal gates. He became responsible for their
preservation.^141 Sacred images embellished city palaces—sometimes flanked
by paintings of condemned criminals. Heaven might mix with hell in scenes
worthy of Dante. Padua ordered counterfeiters to be depicted on the com-
munal palace walls, with bags of false money around their necks. The Pa-
duan damned took their place beside the city’s saints. The city’sLiber
Falsariorumlists the names of some one hundred counterfeiters for the period
- Modena Stat. ( 1306 / 7 ), 1 : 99 ; on this sculpture, see Webb,Patrons, 124 – 25.
- Modena Stat. ( 1306 / 7 ), 1 : 158 – 59.
- Vicenza Stat. ( 1264 ), 3 – 7.
- Alberto of Castellario, ‘‘Inquisicio que fit et fieri intenditur per fratrem Albertum de Castelario
de Cuneo inquisitorem ( 1335 ),’’ ed. Grado G. Merlo, ( 13 ), Merlo,Eretici e inquisitori, 166.
140 .CCB:Vill. ( 1223 ), 87 ; later further embellished with columns:CCB:A, B, Vill. ( 1252 ), 131. - Pisa Stat.i( 1275 ), pp. 46 and 52 ; repairs were ordered a decade later: ibid. ( 1286 ), 1. 154 , pp.
264 – 65.