CommunalPiety and theMendicants 443
including a lay sister from San Domenico, Sor Migliore di Giuliano, who
objected. Saviabona flew at her, shouting that the Dominicans were sons of
the Devil and that they had turned her into a pauper through a fraudulent
will, perhaps that of her parents.^153 The confrontation between the two
women was noticed by others further back in the crowd, like Angeleria di
Simone Guidolini from San Martino dell’Aposa, who asked someone in
front what the ruckus was about. ‘‘Saviabona is attacking the friars,’’ she was
told.^154 On 9 June, Fra Guido fined Saviabona £ 30 bon., required her to
wear crosses, attend sermons on all Sundays and feast days, fast every Friday,
and say twenty-five Aves and Paters each day. But five days later, in consider-
ation of her age and poverty, he relented, reducing her punishment to hear-
ing sermons on feast days. He canceled the fine.^155
Among those leaving the piazza after the podesta’s sentence, some simply
grumbled against the injustice of Bompietro’s condemnation, cursing the
inquisitor and the friars under their breath.^156 But some, such as Tommaso
di Porcondino and Giovanni di Caldario, agreed with Saviabona that people
should go burn San Domenico, just as they had burned the house of the
inquisition in Parma.^157 It was dangerous talk. Word spread that Bompietro
would spend the night in the prison of the commune at the foot of the
Arenga and then go to the stake unshriven and without Communion.^158
Donna Contessa di Ugolino from Santa Maria della Mascarella, who did
not know Bompietro well enough to know which one of the communal socie-
ties he belonged to, demanded among her friends, ‘‘What are the members
of the Societa`dei Vari doing that they don’t go to the Palazzo Comunale
and free Bompietro?’’^159 Others also suggested that the militia take up their
arms and storm the friars’ convent at San Domenico.^160 Meanwhile, some
women prayed that Christ would come to the good Bompietro’s aid and
miraculously free him.^161 At least one matron urged her servants to destroy
- SeeASOB,nos. 26 , 37 , 379 , 1 : 54 , 66 , 240 : ‘‘Isti fratres predicatores vellent comburri cum Sancto
Dominico, nisi essent picture, que sunt in ecclesia.’’ ‘‘Fratres conduxerunt me ad paupertatem, propter
malum testimentum quod fecerunt fieri.’’ - Ibid., no. 42 , 1 : 71.
- Sentence: ibid., no. 568 , 1 : 310 – 12 ; reduction: 2 : 329 – 31.
- E.g., ibid., nos. 167 , 199 , 270.
- Ibid., no. 150 , 1 : 164. Others mistakenly thought this had occurred at Padua or ‘‘in alia civitate,’’
ibid., nos. 284 , 349 , 1 : 207 – 8 , 228. - Twenty-four of those interrogated identify themselves as speaking on the day of the condemna-
tion, but give no place or a place other than the Piazza Maggiore. In contrast to those present in the
piazza, most of these are women, who would logically have heard about the events from returning male
relatives. Those who are represented by a single entry in the register follow. From S. Martino dell’Aposa:
ibid., nos. 155 , 202 , 203 , 206 , 207 , 211 , 235 , 212 , 277 ; from S. Maria de Mascarella: nos. 193 , 236 , 237 , 261 ,
280 ; from other parishes: nos. 200 , 201 , 208 , 239 , 242 , 248 , 313 , 420. - Ibid., no. 380 , 1 : 241 , ‘‘Quid faciunt illi, qui sunt de societate varorum, quare on vadunt ad
pallatium communis et non liberant ipsum Bompetrum?’’ It was a natural error; the Vari met in the
church of S. Martino dell’Aposa. See Bol. Pop. Stat., 2 : 347 – 61. - E.g.,ASOB,no. 241 , 1 : 194 ; no. 300 , 1 : 212.
- See ibid., nos. 238 , 277 , 351 , 1 : 193 , 206 , 229.