CommunalPiety and theMendicants 447
Others present seem to have looked on in silence. At least some probably
blessed Bompietro in their hearts and cursed the injustice of the proceeding
against him. The burning of the old widow’s bones stirred a revulsion seem-
ingly equal to that of the execution.^181 To the onlookers it seemed not just
wrong to desecrate the remains of someone who had died in communion
with the Church, but also foolish and stupid, atruffa.^182 Some were curious
how they could be sure Don Giacomo had found the right bones in the
unmarked graves of the cemetery.^183 Others even smelled something hereti-
cal in the idea that burning the bones of the dead would hurt them. One
parishioner of San Tommaso, Donna Diana di Alberto degli Scalami, who
may well have known Rosafiore, would later wryly remark that it is better to
burn heretics while they are still alive.^184
That evening, under cover of darkness, Brandano, the son of one of the
most distinguished members of Bompietro’s parish, the notary Don Pace di
Giovanni of Salicetto, organized (with the help of Salvitto di Salvitto of the
same place) the gathering of the ashes and their decent burial in the market-
place. Brandano savored this quiet act of defiance against an inquisition that
had not only killed Bompietro but was also harassing (for reasons unknown
to us) his friend Benvenuto, a watchman on the city walls. A shoemaker from
Santa Maria della Mascarella, Bernardino di Biagio, led the large group of
men who dug the grave. When finally summoned before the inquisition, on
26 June, Brandano and Salvitto were each fined £ 25 bon. for their act of
mercy.^185 The shoemaker, who on 19 May was the first member of the burial
party to be identified, paid only £ 10 bon., being a man of humbler rank.^186
LaypeopleSpeak
When the Holy Office reopened on Thursday, 14 May, Fra Guido and his
associates began their initial investigation into the disturbances of the preced-
ing two days. That day they examined two protesters against whom accusa-
tions had been filed. Dotta di Giovanino, who had shouted support of
Bompietro in the Piazza Maggiore, gave no new leads. Nicola di Guido de’
Borromei, the malcontent whom passing friars had overheard attacking the
inquisition, must have seemed the tip of an iceberg of discontent in the parish
of San Bartolo di Porta Ravennate. Summonses were sent out. Fra Guido
spent a good part of the next day interrogating five other parishioners—
perhaps Nicola’s friends and acquaintances.^187 Everything turned up dry.
- Of the eleven people identifiable as present at the execution, six confessed objections to the
burning of the bones, and of these, three confessed to nothing else. - Of the eighty-four who confessed to objecting to burning the bones, thirty-six described it as a
truffa,or words to that effect. - E.g.,ASOB,no. 183 , 1 : 176 , ‘‘Quomodo scire, que sint sue?’’
- Ibid., no. 239 , 1 : 193 , ‘‘et melius fuisset comburere vivos quam mortuos.’’
- Ibid., nos. 475 – 76 , 1 : 274.
- Ibid., no. 225 , 1 : 187 – 88. Paolini,Eresia, 126 , suggests he was a friend of Bompietro.
187 .ASOB,nos. 134 – 38 , 1 : 157 – 58.