TheMotherChurch 23
erated there and officially proclaimed their treaties with other communes.^53
Consecration of an altar in the duomo could bring important personages
from far away, enhancing the stature of the city. At Bologna in 1261 , when
Cardinal Ottaviano consecrated the new altar of San Pietro, the archbishops
of Ravenna and Bari and no fewer than thirteen other bishops assisted him.^54
The installation of monumental doors for exclusive use in civic ceremonies
made visible the link of commune and cathedral. Such a door exists to this
day on the flank of the duomo at Modena (fig. 3 ), next to the smaller one for
ordinary use. It opens off the south aisle into the Piazza Comunale. It was
opened only once a year, when the city officers came in procession to offer
candles to the city’s patron, Saint Giminiano, at his tomb-altar in the crypt
(fig. 4 ). Ferrara cathedral had a similar door, the Porta dei Mesi, of which
only vestiges remain today (fig. 5 ). In 1222 , the Bolognese constructed their
ceremonial door on the south flank of San Pietro, the famous Porta de’
Lioni.^55 Sadly, only the lions carved by Maestro Ventura remain, now dis-
played inside the west doors of the building (fig. 6 ).
The nave belonged to all the people of the city, not just its government.
Various groups created their own semiprivate spaces there by constructing
chapels off the side aisles and by endowing altars. Bologna’s duomo had at
least eight such chapels, each supplied with a chaplain.^56 Chapels multiplied
in cathedrals and larger churches throughout the 1200 s. City and commer-
cial corporations built them; wealthy families endowed them as replacements
for the oldercappelle gentiliziein their own houses.^57 This switch marks, per-
haps, the older aristocracy’s integration into the new republican regime.
Such chapels were tiny churches in themselves, separated from the aisle by
an openwork iron or wooden grill, which left them visible to those outside.
Inside, patrons found themselves in an intimate space, standing only a few
feet from the altar. Each chaplain was obliged to perform the Office and
Mass, and in this age when the quiet Low Mass did not yet exist, he sang
them. Sometimes worshipers at one chapel service would have been aware
of the music coming from other parts of the building. If the singers tried to
match each other in volume, morning in the nave would have presented
visitors with a holy dissonance.
After the morning services, the nave reverted to the laity. Here was a
natural place to conduct business, at least when daytime services were not
- L. Salvatorelli,L’Italia comunale dal secoloxialla meta`del secoloxiv, 318 ; on this, see Enrico Cattaneo,
‘‘Il battistero in Italia dopo il Mille,’’Miscellanea Gilles Ge ́rard Meersseman,ed. Maccarrone et al., 1 : 186. - Matteo Griffoni ( 1261 ), 15.
- Ibid. ( 1220 ), 8 ;CCB:A, Vill. ( 1220 ), 82. On this door, see Manzini,Cenni storici, 29 – 32.
- Pietro Sella, ‘‘La diocesi di Bologna nel 1300 ,’’AMDSPPR, 4 th ser., 18 ( 1927 / 28 ): 106 – 7 : chapels
dedicated to S. Andrea, S. Maria, S. Nicola, S. Petri, S. Biagio, S. Paolo, S. Vitale, and S. Martino were
all rendering tithes in 1300. These would appear to be the chapels of the duomo. By 1315 , they had been
reduced to four: Mario Fanti, ‘‘Sulla costituzione ecclesiastica del bologneseiv: La decima del 1315 ,’’
AMDSPPR,n.s., 17 – 19 ( 1965 – 68 ): 117. - Cattaneo, ‘‘Spazio ecclesiale,’’Pievi e parrocchie,ed. Erba et al., 1 : 472 – 73.