148 LaCitadeSancta
did include a nuptial Mass (Missa pro sponso et sponsa). This Mass inserted
special prayers for the couple into the Canon, the most sacred prayer of the
Mass.^40 If it had not been given at the time of the vows, the priest imparted
the nuptial blessing to the couple during Mass, after the recitation of the
Lord’s Prayer. This blessing invoked God’s care for the couple and asked
that they be conformed to all the holy married couples of Scripture. Follow-
ing the ancient and Pauline preference that a Christian marry only once, the
blessing was given only at a first marriage, even when a subsequent marriage
occurred after the death of a spouse.^41
After the chanting of Mass, the procession returned to the home of the
groom for the wedding banquet. To this day, in Italy, the banquet overshad-
ows the solemnities at the church. Oddly, in the Middle Ages, the couple
departed before the banquet, leaving the festivities to the families and invited
guests.^42 The spouses presumably had other things on their minds. At this
midday feast, one course followed another, and wine flowed freely. Those
who could afford it hired mimes and minstrels to entertain at the party.^43
There was dancing, and when the crowds grew large and boisterous, there
might be problems. After Don Scanabecco de’ Ramponi of Bologna had
married the daughter of Don Scappo de’ Scappi, his faithful retainer Gurono
of Sala drew blood from a guest of the bride’s family, Bartolomeo de’ Becca-
delli, because the latter had performed a lewd dance with a certain ‘‘woman
of low character’’ (domicella minus honesta). This had dishonored the family and
the couple. Bartolomeo probably meant it as a joke, but relatives on both
sides unsheathed their swords. The podesta himself had to come and recon-
cile the parties.^44 Weddings could make families, but wedding parties could
cause feuds. Both were a public matter. Many concerns led late-thirteenth-
century communes to limit the numbers present at wedding banquets. But
even they excepted men of rank, such as doctors, lawyers, and university
professors, from limits on the number of wedding guests.^45
Communities inProcession
Like families, the larger communities of neighborhood and city created and
expressed their order and unity by public rituals. As for families at weddings,
processions provided a finely tuned expression for corporate identity. Any-
- For the Roman rite, see Pont. Rom. (xii), 37. 1 – 15 , pp. 260 – 61. On this pontifical, see Cyrille
Vogel,Introduction aux sources de l’histoire du culte chre ́tien au Moyen Aˆge(Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi
sull’Alto Medioevo, n.d.), 206 – 8. For a local Italian version, see Gabriella Airaldi,Le carte di Santa Maria
delle Vigne di Genova ( 1103 – 1392 ),Collana storia di fonti e studi, 3 (Genoa: Bozzi, 1969 ), docs. 113 – 15 ; even
monastic rituals included this Mass, as in Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 1767, fol. 114 v.
41 .X 4. 21. 1 and 3 ; Pont. Rom. (xii), App. 8. 1 – 23 , pp. 300 – 302. - As is implied in Florence Stat.i( 1322 ), 5. 12 , pp. 226 – 27.
- See Ravenna Council ( 1286 ), 1 ,p. 615.
- Girolamo de’ Borselli,Cronica Gestorum( 1269 ), 29.
- Ferrara Stat. ( 1287 ), 77 ,p. 399 (six women, ten men); Florence Stat.i( 1322 ), 5. 7 ,p. 222 (ten of
each sex—exceptions for professionals); Pisa Stat.ii( 1313 ), 3. 59 , pp. 352 – 53 (ten of each sex); Modena
Stat. ( 1327 ), 4. 176 ,p. 478 (no more than twelve total).