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

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 410 BuoniCattolici


and body (something becoming ever more common in the late 1100 s), since


dismembering seemed also a countersign of the resurrection.^193


Pisa was unusual in its great monumentalcamposantoat the cathedral com-


plex. The city buried all its citizens there. The canons of the duomo, just as


they strenuously defended their monopoly over baptisms throughout the


1200 s, defended their rite to bury all their fellow citizens.^194 Pisa’s single


cemetery symbolized the unity of the larger city community, but it could not


erase each Christian’s link to the local chapel. Elsewhere, cemeteries were


attached to each chapel (or occasionally groups of chapels). Parishioners


needed special permission to be buried elsewhere.^195 In the tight urban envi-


ronment, cemeteries were very small. Proximity to the church assured that


those entering and leaving would remember their own mortality and their


obligation to pray for the dead. The dead lay close to where they had re-


ceived the spiritual food of the Eucharist, where they had assisted at Office


and Mass. The union of cemetery and parish church showed the dead and


the living’s mutual sharing in the patrimony of Christ, salvation, and a future


home in heaven.^196 Identity with the neighborhood chapel was deeply felt; it


was one’s community, both in life and in death. The dead lay with their


relatives, ancestors, and neighbors, creating a community that transcended


time.^197


The small size of the cemeteries prevented permanent grave markers and


memorial stones; the common burial site was anonymous. There were, how-


ever, exceptions. At Bologna, where an inventory has been made of marked


tombs inside city churches, these unusual burials invariably have civic sig-


nificance. In the postcommunal age, in-church burials with lustral plaques


were mostly for priests or city officials.^198 The first authentic tomb slabs date


to the late communal period and invariably mark the tombs of lawyers.^199


Bologna was the city of the law, and its professors and practitioners reflected


honor on the entire commune. As ornaments of the city, these men deserved


special commemoration in death and were also worthy of mention in the



  1. Ibid. The prohibition entered canon law in Boniface VIII,Detestandae Feritatis,Extrav. Comm.

  2. 6 (Friedberg ed. 2 : 1271 – 73 ); on the practice, see Agostino Paravicini Bagliani,The Pope’s Body,trans.
    David S. Peterson (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000 ), 230 and 346 n. 39 , with bibliography,
    and Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ‘‘Death and the Human Body in the Later Middle Ages: The Legislation of
    Boniface VIII on the Division of the Corpse,’’Viator 12 ( 1981 ): 221 – 70.

  3. Ronzani, ‘‘Organizzazione,’’ 61 – 62.

  4. See, e.g., c. 31 from the Lucca Synod of 1302 ,inDei sinodi della diocesi di Lucca: Dissertazioni(Lucca:
    Bertini, 1834 ), 59.

  5. Sicardo,Mitrale, 1. 4 , col. 23.

  6. Novara Synodii( 1298 ), 1. 2. 4. 1 ,p. 208.

  7. E.g., that of Meo di Matteo di Madonna Chiara:Iscrizioni medievali bolognesi, 208 , no. 1 (S. Gio-
    vanni in Monte, 1322 ); or those of Don Benvenuto di Santa Maria in Duno, Damiano di Don Giacomo,
    and Bonventura di Don Domenico: ibid., 307 – 8 , no. 5 (San Giacomo Maggiore, 1294 ).
    199 .Iscrizioni medievali bolognesiincludes only fourteen inscriptions from the period considered ( 1180 –
    1340 ): four each from San Pietro and San Giacomo Maggiore, two from San Giovanni in Monte, and
    one each from San Vittore, Santi Naborre e Felice, Santo Stefano, and an unknown church. Nearly all
    commemorate lawyers.

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