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

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ings.^143 Private individuals commissioned ex-voto frescoes of diverse sizes,


shapes, and subjects to adorn the walls.


In the early 1200 s, private corporations and craft guilds established their


own churches, adding ‘‘intentional parishes’’ to the network of loosely geo-


graphical ones. In 1202 , Bishop Gerardo Ariosti of Bologna entrusted a foun-


dation stone to the consuls of the new merchants and money changers’


society for their new church of San Bartolomeo.^144 Communes themselves


added to the network. Siena provided funds to build a church at the baths


of Petriolo, contingent upon approval from their bishop, Fra Tommaso Bal-


zetti.^145 The place was becoming more populated and lacked pastoral


care—or perhaps the city fathers had found the baths a congenial place to


spend their Sundays and wanted a convenient place to go to Mass. The


coming of the mendicants triggered further building projects and yet more


new construction during the religious revivals they preached. In 1233 , for


example, Archdeacon Alberto of Reggio blessed the foundation stone of the


new church of San Giacomo, for which the citizens themselves provided


labor.^146 A sizable percentage of the new urban foundations in the late 1100 s


and early 1200 s were collegiate churches, staffed by communities of priests


and endowed. Bologna affords the example of the large church of Santa


Maria Maggiore, which stands to this day.^147 Bishop Girardo Scannabecchi


took a role in the foundation, and on 10 July 1187 he joined in the ceremonies


of the church’s consecration by Pope Gregory VIII.^148 The new collegiate


churches certainly relieved the pressure to erect new urban chapels and,


with such a large staff, lent their services a degree of solemnity lacking to


neighborhood chapels. As new foundations continued in the thirteenth cen-


tury, some consolidation of chapels occurred, such as that of the churches of


San Silvestro and Santa Tecla at Bologna in 1222.^149


The Padua tithe returns of 1297 list the clerics of each chapel, revealing


how urban churches were staffed. In the duomo quarter, the larger-than-


average chapel of Santa Lucia had two priests, Don Francesco (tithed at £ 5 )


and Don Corradino (£ 4 ). Assisting them had been two clerics, Antonio de’


Guizi and Zeno (£ 34 s.), but, unfortunately, Antonio had just died and no


replacement had appeared.^150 By contrast, in the nearby tiny chapel of


Sant’Agnese, assessed at £ 88 s. 16 d., the chaplain, Don Scalco, had to get


143 .In 1253 , the Societa`dei Quartieri installed two such benches in their church of Sant’Ambrogio:
Bol. Pop. Stat., 1 (Quartieri, 1256 ,c. 18 ), 1 : 300.
144. Ibid., 2 : 485 – 86. This church later become the seat of the smiths; see ibid., 2 (Ferratori, 1248 ,c.
43 ), 190.
145. Siena Stat.i( 1262 ), 3. 270 ,p. 358.
146 .Mem. Pot. Reg.( 1233 ), col. 1107.
147. See Francesco Bocchi, ‘‘Il necrologio della canonica di Santa Maria di Reno e di San Salvatore
di Bologna: Note su un testo quasi dimenticato,’’AMDSPPR,n.s., 24 ( 1973 ): 53 – 65 , on this church.
148 .CCB, 49 – 50.
149 .CCB:A, Vill. ( 1222 ), 85.
150. Rat. Dec. Ven. (Padua, 1297 ), 109.

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