WorldWithoutEnd.Amen. 397
The laity recognized, in fact, their own hierarchy and orders. Fra Salim-
bene recorded how Ser Lodovico of San Bonifacio, former podesta of Reg-
gio, died on the feast of Saint Martin of Tours in 1283 in the presence of his
Franciscan confessors, after ‘‘setting his soul in order in the finest manner.’’
He left his horse and arms to the Franciscans of the city. All the townspeople
came to view his body, which was dressed in scarlet, with a cape and cap of
vair, girded with a sword, wearing golden spurs and fancy gloves.^93 Salim-
bene, cleric that he was, thought it a grand affair. At Bologna, home of the
great law school, city fathers specifically stipulated that not only knights but
also professors of civil and canon law go to the grave robed in scarlet silk.^94
Lay confraternities clothed their dead in the vesture of the society; flagellants
held in their hands the discipline with which they had scourged themselves
in life.^95 Lay penitents commonly held in their hands the Pater Noster cord.^96
In contrast to the clergy, who took their last vesture into the grave with
them, the deceased laity surrendered their finery before burial, and it was
given to the church as a burial offering. That was the rule in early-four-
teenth-century Florence, unless the deceased had by will provided otherwise
for dispersal of his clothing.^97
Washed and properly dressed, the dead were ready for viewing by the
mourners. In the case of clerics, lighted candles surrounded the bier, along
with a processional cross at the head and a smoking censer at the feet.^98
Laypeople made do with just the candles. The ‘‘wake’’ took place at home
and constituted the private, familial part of the obsequies. Liturgical books
assumed that the funeral followed death immediately, on the morning after
the preparation of the body. Some cities mandated rapid burials in the later
communal period, but everywhere the body remained at home for at least
a few days.^99 This allowed the gathering of family and neighbors, mutual
condolences, and shared mourning. Close relatives sat by the catafalque and
traditionally rose to give their seats to nearer relatives as they arrived.^100
Occasionally, a member of the family delivered a eulogy over the body.^101
When Francesco, the young son of Filippuzzo di Petronio Tudini, died, his
family waked him for three days. To the surprise of all, on 21 September
1286 , the day before the intended burial, Francesco came back to life, thanks,
- Salimbene,Cronica( 1283 ), 752 – 53 , Baird trans., 524.
- Bologna Stat.ii( 1288 ), 4. 91 , 1 : 247.
- Lucca, Biblioteca Statalems 1310( 1299 ), fol. 11 v; Novara Battuti Stat. (xiv), 281.
- As did Agnes of Montepulciano: Raimondo of Capua,Legenda Beate Agnetis de Monte Policiano, 3. 1 ,
pp. 68 – 69. - Florence Stat.ii( 1325 ), 5. 10 ,p. 371.
98 .Ordo Senensis, 2. 93 , pp. 499. - Ravenna Stat., 341 ,p. 159. Lett,Enfant, 204 , notes that France synodalia in the 1200 s also tried
to end ‘‘superstitious’’ wakes and enforce rapid burials. - If I have correctly understood Ravenna Stat., 339 ,p. 158 : ‘‘Et quod nullus sedens ad corroctum
surgere debeat pro aliquo vel aliquibus, nisi surgerent occasione loci dandi.’’ - Modena Stat. ( 1327 ), 2. 46 ,p. 263 , tried to forbid this practice.