Feasting,Fasting,andDoingPenance 279
man escaped death by hanging because the Virgin came and supported his
feet. When the thief revealed the miracle, the podesta pardoned him, and
both gave thanks to God and his Blessed Mother.^43
Sicardo of Cremona, as a theologian, might emphasize the Christological
dimension of the five Marian feasts celebrated at Cremona: Immaculate
Conception, Christmas, Annunciation, Assumption, and the Virgin’s Nativ-
ity. And he ruefully observed that among these two, Annunciation and
Christmas, were not Marian at all and that the Immaculate Conception was
nonbiblical and boasted only a vision to authenticate it.^44 For the laity, the
four feasts other than Christmas were the pivots of the year, marking the
seasons—and they were the preserve of the Virgin. Two stood above all the
rest, Mary’s Assumption and her Nativity. In Padua and its contado, Mary’s
birthday, on 8 September, was the Marian center of the year. They honored
her with yet anothernundinain the Piazza Este.^45 For that feast in 1208 , the
podesta Viscontino of Piacenza organized pageants, singing, and parades in
the Prato della Valle. The companies of the contrade marched, dressed in
splendid outfits made especially for the occasion. The events ranged from
the singing of psalms and hymns to feats of arms and included ‘‘the great
game of the wild man’’ (magnus ludus de quodam homine salvatico).^46
But no feast matched the Assumption as a time of devotion and festivity.^47
This, the feast of Saint Mary in August, was the great civic festival of sum-
mer. Parma detailed the municipal trumpeters, Santo di Ugolino de’ Vega-
tuli and Vetulo of Palanzano, to play at the festivities of that day and
provided each with a stipend of £ 3 parm. and a new suit of clothing.^48 A
document of 1273 records Brescia’s August celebration of the Virgin.^49 The
general council of the city publicized it in city and countryside. Heralds went
through the whole district for the eight to ten days previous, summoning all
to come and bring their offerings. Courts closed three days before the feast,
and at Terce on the vigil all shops, except the candle sellers, closed. The
captain of the people assembled the officials of the corporations (antiani parati-
corum) with their offerings to honor the Virgin and to support work on the
church of Santa Maria e San Pietro. Corporations and guilds suspended
business during the feast.^50
From the Annunciation, on 25 March, whose Lenten and winter date
precluded festivities, to the Assumption, on 15 August, not a single Marian
- Ibid., fols. 138 r–v.
- Sicardo,Mitrale, 9. 40 , col. 420.
- Padua Stat. ( 1275 ), 2. 10 ,p. 182 , no. 565.
- Rolandino of Padua,Cronica in Factis et circa Facta Marchie Trivixiane( 1208 ), 232 ;Liber Regiminum
Padue( 1208 ), 300 – 301. - Sicardo,Mitrale, 9. 40 – 43 , cols. 420 – 21.
- Parma Stat.i, 436 , 470.
49 .Statuti bresciani del secoloxiii, ed. Federico Odorici (Turin: Reale Tipografica, 1876 ), col. 1584 ; see
also Pini, ‘‘Le arti in processione,’’ 72 – 73 , on this text. - E.g., the knife makers at Bologna: Bol. Pop. Stat., 2 : 412.