TheMotherChurch 21
As a symbol of the city, the duomo came first in municipal charity. In
1262 , Siena limited city poor alms to a mere 10 d. a day, so they could divert
funds to buy concrete for the cathedral.^41 They granted the Opera of Santa
Maria fodder rights in the city woods and hired a night watchman for the
construction site.^42 At Bologna a fire destroyed the old cathedral in 1131.
When the bishop had still not begun reconstruction some thirty-four years
later, the city fathers took control of the project. They completed the new
building in just four years.^43 Chronicles and city legislation record Bologna’s
solicitude for its Mother Church. When the cathedral vaults collapsed on
Christmas Day 1228 , the city fathers engaged Maestro Ventura to restore
them, a task he completed by 1232.^44 In 1250 , they appropriated £ 15 bon.—
allowing for cost overruns of up to £ 10 —so that the newcapomaestroAlberto
might buy marble to enhance the duomo, as well as its tower and cloister.^45
The campanile got a lead roof in 1254.^46 Perhaps these projects proved too
much for the organizational skills of the industrious Alberto. In 1259 , the city
ordered the return of all unspent funds within two months of the promulga-
tion of the statute and commissioned an audit.^47 Their concern was to get
value for money and get it promptly. Subsequent legislation showed no re-
luctance to lavish funds on the Mother Church. In 1260 , the city charged
Alberto to redo the piazza surrounding the baptistery of San Giovanni,
which stood directly before the west portal of the cathedral, to allow for
more light and thus show off the facade.^48 Once this construction was fin-
ished, they kept Alberto on the city payroll to provide maintenance and
repairs.
Care of the ritual center, however, was a matter of concern to all, not just
the city fathers, and private citizens garnered public gratitude and recogni-
tion by sharing in the work. Two women at Orvieto, Milita of Monte Amiata
and her friend Giulitta, gained a reputation as great patrons of the duomo
by funding a new roof. In gratitude, the clergy confraternity of the cathedral
included their names in public prayers. Imagine the horror of Bishop Ric-
cardo ( 1169 – 1200 ) when he discovered that both women were active Cathars
and that their good citizenship had blinded people to their heterodox
views.^49 If a good citizen of Orvieto, so also a good Catholic, the bishop had
- Siena Stat.i( 1262 ), 1. 20 ,p. 31.
- Siena Stat.ii( 1310 ), 1. 13 – 14 , 1 : 56 – 57.
- Enrico Bottrigari Manzini,Cenni storici sopra le antiche e sulla odierna cattedrale di Bologna(Modena:
Vincenzi, 1877 ), 26 – 43.
44 .CCB:A, Vill. ( 1228 ), 94 ; Matteo Griffoni ( 1234 ), 10 ;CCB:A( 1234 ), 103 ; on this collapse, see
Manzini,Cenni storici, 32 – 34. - Bologna Stat.i( 1250 ), 5. 4 , 1 : 442.
- Matteo Griffoni ( 1254 ), 13.
- Bologna Stat.i, 5. 23 , 1 : 457.
- Ibid. ( 1260 / 67 ), 5. 2 , 1 : 440.
- Giovanni of Orvieto,Vita [S. Petri Parentii], 1. 2 ,AS 18 (Mayv), 87. Grado G. Merlo, ‘‘Militia
Christi come impegno antiereticale ( 1179 – 1233 ),’’Militia Christi e crociata nei secolixi–xiii: Atti della undecima
Settimana internazionale di studio, Mendola, 28 agosto– 1 settembre 1989 (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1992 ), 364 ,
considers the vita of Saint Pietro Parenzo amanifesto antiereticale. Pope Gregory IX in 1235 specifically