140 LaCitadeSancta
any provisions for enforcement.^270 Pope Innocent IV reprimanded the Bo-
lognese for ignoring the local inquisition in 1254 ; three years later Alexander
IV complained to the bishop of Modena that the commune was not helping
root out heresy.^271 The Franciscan inquisitor Fra Bartolomeo Mascara com-
plained about the negligence of the bishop and commune of Treviso in 1263 ,
and Fra Alessio of Mantua made similar complaints against the podesta and
bishop of Padua in 1279.^272 The impression is one of general laxity. Reggio,
Siena, and Vicenza did enact antiheresy statutes with bite in the early
1260 s.^273 But in Vicenza, at least, the legislation seems to express communal
rejection of the perfidious and heretical da Romano more than the will to
persecute. Serious communal legislation supporting papal inquisitors had to
wait until the last years of the thirteenth century, a period that also saw
increased episcopal vigilance against heresy.^274 Why this lack of concern for
heresy? I suggest that in the holy cities of communal Italy private theological
error posed little perceived threat to the commonwealth. So long as people
frequented the sacraments, avoided profaning sacred places, and showed
respect for the names of God, the Virgin, and the saints, repression seemed
unnecessary.^275 The religion of the cities was a practical religion, best ex-
pressed in the common worship, processions, and civic rites by which the
city expressed its order and identity. Orthodoxy, like citizenship, meant par-
ticipation in them.
- Bergamo,Antiquae Collationes Statuti Veteris Civitatis Pergami, 9. 29 ( 1238 ), ed. Giovanni Finarzi,
Historiae Patriae Monumenta 16 : Leges Municipales 2 : 2 (Turin: Regius, 1876 ), cols. 1943 – 46 ; Padua
Stat., p. 423 , no. 1364 ; Vercelli Stat. 31 ( 1241 ), col. 1107 ; Bologna Stat.i( 1250 ), 5. 8 , 1 : 446 ; Brescia Stat.
(before 1277 ), cols. ( 125 )–( 128 ); Pisa Stat.i( 1286 ), 3. 4 ,p. 364 ; Ferrara Stat. ( 1287 ), 6. 1 – 8 , pp. 349 – 63.
Although Bologna did include a pledge to suppress heresy in the podesta’s oath (Bologna Stat.i[ 1250 ], - 1 , 1 : 67 ), as did Ravenna (Ravenna Stat., 1 ,p. 13 ). San Gimignano Stat. ( 1255 ), 4. 22 ,p. 724 , expelled
heretics from the city. - Bologna, Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio,msB. 3695 , doc. 22 (BOP 1 : 251 ) and doc. 28 (BOP 1 : 357 ),
both originals of 1257. - Zanella, ‘‘Malessere ereticale,’’ 32 – 33.
- Siena Stat.i( 1262 ), 1. 119 – 22 , pp. 53 – 54 (expels heretics); Reggio Stat. ( 1265 ), 1. 37 , pp. 107 – 8 (jails
heretics, imposes death penalty); Vicenza Stat. ( 1264 ), 11 – 12 , 131 – 32 (fines neighborhoods with heretics). - For statutes with practical import, see Pisa Stat.i( 1286 ), 1. 4 ,p. 63 ; Padua, ‘‘Statuti extravaganti
[padovani],’’ doc. 8 ( 1297 ), pp. 209 – 10 ; Lucca Stat. ( 1308 ), 3. 230 ,p. 230 ; Florence Stat.ii( 1325 ), 3. 3 , pp.
183 – 84. On episcopal repression of heresy, see Grado G. Merlo, ‘‘ ‘Cura Animarum’ ed eretici,’’Pievi e
parrocchie,ed. Erba et al., 1 : 555 n. 49. - On this I agree with Lansing,Power and Purity, 15 – 16 and esp. 83 – 84 , who finds that Orvietan
‘‘Cathars’’ regularly served as godparents, went to confession, and attended Mass.