44 LaCitadeSancta
structure of twelve columns. The medieval church of the Ascension in Bolo-
gna was, however, a cruciform structure quite different from the original in
Jerusalem.^174 Petronio’s Latin life tells us that during the thirteenth century
the monks and city added further embellishments, making the sanctuary
even more vividly a reproduction of Jerusalem. Among these was a ‘‘Column
of the Flagellation’’ and a basin (extant today in the courtyard and actually
Lombard) representing the ‘‘Washbowl of Pilate’’ (fig. 33 ).^175 With the com-
plex complete in this form, the citizens of Bologna could experience the
spiritual benefits of pilgrimage to the holiest sites of Christendom without
ever leaving home. Santo Stefano assimilated the city of Bologna to the Holy
City itself, and by that association suggested that the city was a representa-
tion on earth of the Heavenly City.^176 Until the coming of the mendicants, it
was, after the duomo, the geographic locus of spiritual power in the city.
TheCityClergy
People are as important to a city as buildings, indeed more important. The
ecclesiastical geography of the communes included the clergy, a group of
men who, as the canonist Gratian said, belonged to a ‘‘genus’’ of Christians
distinct from the laity.^177 At their head stood the bishop. In 1260 , when
Bishop Giacomo Buoncambio of Bologna died suddenly at his country house
in Massimatico, they brought him to the city for burial.^178 This somewhat
trivial incident suggests that although the bishop was the chief priest of the
diocese and the single most important figure of the Mother Church, he was
not always a physical presence in the commune. To the average citizen, a
bishop was most important ritually. As the universal baptizer of the city, he
was everyone’s spiritual father.^179 This did not mean, however, that people
looked to him as a spiritual guide. Bishop Giacomo was somewhat excep-
tional. As a former Dominican with a reputation for piety, he would have
given sage advice. He became bishop, in part at least, because his skills
qualified him for the office. In contrast, well into the 1100 s and beyond,
aristocratic families monopolized election to the bishopric in most cities.^180
Politics played as large a role as piety in those elections.
In the precommunal order, the bishops were also agents of the imperial
administration. This would change as the cities threw off imperial control.
In Piacenza, the independent commune arrived with relatively little conflict.
- Ousterhout, ‘‘Church of Santo Stefano,’’ 315 – 16 ; see also Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms
1473 , fols. 260 r–v—Vita S. Petronii, 2. 14 ,AS 50 (Oct.ii), 459 —and Lanzoni,San Petronio, 232. - Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria,ms 2060,c. 37 , fol. 16 r; Guidicini,Vita, 90 ; Corti,Vita, 36 – 39 ;
discussion: Lanzoni,San Petronio, 167 – 71. - On this dual significance of Jerusalem, see Sorbelli, ‘‘Sancta Jerusalem,’’ 23 – 24.
- Gratian,Decretum,C. 12 q. 1 c. 7.
- Matteo Griffoni ( 1260 ), 15.
- Cattaneo, ‘‘Battistero,’’ 185 – 86.
- See Mauro Ronzani, ‘‘Vescovi, capitoli e strategie famigliari nell’Italia comunale,’’Storia d’Italia:
Annali(Turin: Einaudi, 1986 ), 9 : 103 – 48.