Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes 1125-1325

(Darren Dugan) #1

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,



  1. Salimbene,Cronica( 1283 ), 752 – 53 , Baird trans., 524.

  2. Bologna Stat.ii( 1288 ), 4. 91 , 1 : 247.

  3. Lucca, Biblioteca Statalems 1310( 1299 ), fol. 11 v; Novara Battuti Stat. (xiv), 281.

  4. As did Agnes of Montepulciano: Raimondo of Capua,Legenda Beate Agnetis de Monte Policiano, 3. 1 ,
    pp. 68 – 69.

  5. Florence Stat.ii( 1325 ), 5. 10 ,p. 371.
    98 .Ordo Senensis, 2. 93 , pp. 499.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.’’

  8. Modena Stat. ( 1327 ), 2. 46 ,p. 263 , tried to forbid this practice.

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