142 LaCitadeSancta
Its rituals laid the foundation of the civic order. Over the family was the
father, its head and patriarch. Those related by blood composed webs of
relations, extended families or clans, but these webs were not the domestic
unit. That unit was the couple, a husband and wife, along with their children
and the unattached relations, servants, and others who lived under the same
roof. Subordination to the patriarchal father affected the newly married, or
even long married, as long as they shared space with their parents. Creating
a new family was the father’s responsibility or, should he be dead or absent,
that of older brothers or uncles. Marriage of children was a family project,
and, as such, the fathers of both future spouses arranged it. If they were wise,
the fathers took their children’s desires into account; Church law explicitly
required free consent of the parties, and without it, no marriage was valid.
The bride’s and the groom’s status changed once they had married; they
formed a family. In the case of the woman, the change was visible. An un-
married woman wore her hair uncovered; the married woman veiled it.
Francesco Piperino, looking back from the 1300 s at what he perceived as a
golden age of female modesty in the 1230 s and 1240 s, described the proper
garb for a virgin. She wore a plain tunic, thesotano,of simple cloth. Over it,
she threw a mantle of linen, thesocca.Piperino claimed that in the old days
young women wore their hair plainly dressed, not elaborately decorated and
‘‘styled’’ as in his own day.^4 Perhaps it was wishful thinking. Exposed hair
was the mark of the virgin, a sign of availability for marriage. Certainly
women looking for husbands tried to make themselves attractive. If a woman
did not wish to marry, she might do just the opposite. In the 1350 s, the young
Saint Catherine of Siena announced her rejection of marriage by cutting off
her hair. Unveiled hair attracted male attention. In the 1270 s, Verona for-
bade women to comb their hair in doorways or under porticoes. The city
also forbade them to spin thread in public. At Vercelli, a generation earlier,
the city fathers complained that some young women had taken to walking
through the streets spinning. They fined such 2 d. and awarded the fine to
any man who threw the maid’s distaff and thread in the mud.^5 Perhaps the
women were looking for suitors, advertising their availability. Such public
appearances had the effect of short-circuiting the ‘‘correct’’ way of finding a
husband: negotiations between the patriarchs.
Propriety required that new families be created with decency and with
attention to civic needs and order. Marriage to a foreigner meant that the
wealth of the woman’s dowry might be lost to the city. Vicenza legislated to
prevent such losses.^6 Fathers’ rights might also be thwarted. Catherine of
Siena was not the only woman to rebel against family marriage planning.
When the pious Oringa Christiana reached marriageable age, her brothers
4. Francesco Pipino,Chronicon ab Annomclxxviusque ad Annum circitermcccxiv, 2. 49 ,RIS 9 : 669 – 70.
5. Verona Stat.ii( 1276 ), 4. 113 – 15 , pp. 582 – 83 ; Vercelli Stat., 348 ( 1241 ), col. 1223.
6. Vicenza Stat. ( 1264 ), 141 – 42.