168 LaCitadeSancta
rituals. In practice, not every adult male had to come, but only householders
and heads of families. The podesta imposed attendance on them under
oath.^169 At Pisa, the director of the Opera Sanctae Mariae, the cathedral
building fund, stood in a prominent place on the reviewing stand, holding
the city Gospel book on which officials took their oath of office.^170 Next to
him, the officials of each contrada checked attendance and rigorously ex-
cluded anyone suspect as a ‘‘forger, traitor, or rebel’’ against the city.^171
The citizenry arrived for Vespers just as the great bells of the duomo
sounded. Absence from Vespers or failure to bring one’s candle resulted in a
fine.^172 Assembled in the church, each citizen attentively listened to the ser-
vice, holding in his hand the candle he would offer the following day. At
their head stood communal officials, the podesta, and the captain of the
people.^173 During Vespers focus was on the Glorious Virgin in heaven; the
city would be the center of attention the following day. At this evening rite,
leaders were not to call attention to themselves. Gilberto de Gente, podesta
of Parma, showed singular bad taste in 1252 when he showed up for the vigil
amid great pomp—and armed no less! He came in for bitter criticism. Did
he have ambitions for princely status? Such was the suspicion of Fra Salim-
bene of Parma.^174
The feast-day offering began with a grand marshaling of the city.^175 Stan-
dard-bearers led each district in procession to the piazza before the church
where the offering would be made. Neighborhoods and municipal associa-
tions formed committees by quarters to assure the dignity and order of the
assembly.^176 Once all had arrived, the citizens, each holding his candle, fell
into formation by companies. Before each company stood its captain, hold-
ing a larger, decorated candle inscribed with the name of their chapel, to
represent the group as a whole.^177 At the sounding of trumpets, each com-
pany, led by a standard-bearer or by cross and candles, marched past the
reviewing stand and, under the watchful eyes of the city fathers and (perhaps)
the bishop, approached the sacristy door or the commune’s ceremonial door
in the side of the cathedral.^178 There they offered their candles to an official
- Pisa Stat.i( 1275 ), p. 45 ; Pisa Stat.ii( 1313 ) 1. 207 ; Brescia Stat. ( 1313 ), 1. 118 , cols. 35 – 36 ; Parma
Stat.iii( 1316 ), 114. - Pisa Stat.i( 1275 ), pp. 48 , 51.
- Siena Stat.ii( 1310 ), 1. 64 , on ‘‘falsatori et traditori et ribelli.’’
- Parma Stat.i( 1228 ), p. 201 ( 20 s. parm.)
- Pisa Stat.i( 1286 ), 1. 154 ,p. 265 ; Pisa Stat.ii( 1313 ), Popolo 128 ,p. 566. Florence had the standard-
bearers of the districts present at this service: Florence Stat.ii( 1325 ), 4. 1 ,p. 304. - Salimbene,Cronica( 1252 ), 654 , Baird trans., 549.
- On this kind of offering, see esp. Florence Stat.ii( 1325 ), 4. 1 , pp. 303 – 5.
- E.g., the fifteen-member committee for thecorredoin Bol. Pop. Stat., 1 (Lombardi, 1291 ,c. 19 ),
67 – 68. - Parma Stat.i( 1248 ), p. 203 ; Pisa Stat.i( 1275 ), p. 46 ; repeated in Pisa Stat.ii( 1313 ), 1. 207 , pp.
222 – 24. - Siena Stat.ii( 1310 ), 1. 36 , 1 : 66 (which legislation actually dates to 1200 ); Parma Stat.iii( 1316 ),
- On the ceremonial door and use of crosses instead of standards, see Vicenza Stat. ( 1264 ), 202 .At
Modena, this was one of the rare times when the Porta Regia was used: Modena Stat. ( 1327 ), 6. 1 – 2 , pp.
680 – 85.