OrderingFamilies,Neighborhoods,andCities 171
towns’ vigils or offerings, since this implied subjection.^192 At Pisa, the subject
lords of Sardinia and the communes of the contado offered candles along
with the city officials, chapels, and societies in the August ceremonies, but
they did not deliver them to the sacristy. As a mark of their subjection to
Pisa, they brought them directly to the city office (curia). Their wax acknowl-
edged, not the overlordship of Saint Mary, but that of the commune of Pisa.
They surrendered candles, and these were to be big ones too (candeli grossi).^193
Size did not represent power here; this was tribute. There were candles
offered to the Virgin and candles offered to the city; no one forgot the differ-
ence.
Candle offerings at the end of a parade—for what is a procession but a
parade?—provided a suitable ritual for patronal and Marian feasts, but they
did not make the feast a festival. Suspension of work, the presence of people
from the contado inside the walls, and even operation of the market gave
license for other entertainments.^194 The clergy of Novara in 1210 complained
that people were dancing and singing ‘‘lascivious’’ songs in the streets after
Mass on feast days. If they did not desist, the clergy would bar them from
entering the church for services.^195 Much as the city fathers loved a festival
themselves, disorder had to be kept within bounds, lest the piety of the com-
monwealth come into question. The Vicentines did not outlaw dancing,
chatting, littering, and children’s games on their festival of the Crown of
Thorns, the city’s chief relic. They removed such goings-on from the church
of Santa Corona, its piazza, and cemetery to other parts of the city, lest
they disrupt candle offerings or interrupt the sermon. Prostitutes relocated
to another neighborhood for the day too.^196 Cities struggled to control the
rock fights between teams of youths (battaglie dei giovani) that happened during
festivals. ‘‘Youth battles’’ continued, with teams representing the various
neighborhoods, but outside the walls.^197 If left unsupervised, the festival fun
could become rowdy. At Lucca, the consuls dispatched police to the con-
trade, the neighborhoods, of San Martino and San Regolo on their patronal
feasts. On Holy Cross Day, they stationed armed men around the church of
San Frediano, where that relic was enshrined. Exuberance still got out of
hand. The Lucchese fretted over immodest acts (turpitudines) and assaults on
women (rapina) during patronal festivities. Consuls of contrade who failed to
control such disorders were fined £ 10.^198 Feasts drew both the pious and the
profane.
- E.g., Biella Stat. ( 1245 ), 3. 14 ( 74 ).
- Pisa Stat.i( 1286 ), 1. 154 ,p. 265.
- On feast-day markets, see Ravenna Stat., 290 ,p. 133 , and 294 – 95 , pp. 136 – 37 ; Modena Stat.
( 1306 / 7 ), 2 : 143. - Novara Synodi( 1210 ), 29.
- Vicenza Stat. ( 1264 ), 201 – 2 ; on the prostitutes, see ibid., 203.
- On such games in Florence, see Giovanni Ciappelli, ‘‘Carnevale e quaresima: Rituali e spazio
urbano a Firenze (secc.xiii–xvi),’’Riti e rituali nelle societa`medievali,ed. Chiffoleau, Martines, and Paravicini
Bagliani, 163 – 65. - Lucca Stat. ( 1308 ), 1. 7 ,p. 12.