FromConversion toCommunity 81
versus,’’ only if the individual was the servant of a city church (part of its
familia), wore a religious habit, and lived off the ‘‘proceeds of the altar’’ rather
than from his own property.^74 The city fathers of Parma seemed to favor, by
their restriction of privileges, withdrawal from secular affairs as typical, if not
obligatory, for conversi.
No penitent privilege posed more problems for the communes than that
exemption from military service. It was an integral part of public penance
and, in ecclesiastical law, went back to Gratian’s compilations (ca. 1140 ) and
beyond.^75 The ‘‘Memoriale’’ made mandatory a penitent’s abstinence from
military activity.^76 From the late 1100 s until the early 1200 s communes did
not protest this privilege. In the 1220 s this changed, undoubtedly because the
multiplication of penitents threatened the cities’ ability to raise the urban
militia. On 16 December 1221 Pope Honorius III wrote Archbishop Picino
of Ravenna, asking him to intervene with the podesta of Faenza, who had
violated the penitents’ exception from military service. The penitents in-
volved, the pope allowed, did live in the world (in saeculo), but they wore
distinctive garb and dedicated themselves full-time to pious practices.^77 What
came of the pope’s intervention is unknown, but Pope Gregory IX also pro-
tested in 1227 and 1231 against the impress of penitents into military service.^78
The archdeacon of Bologna wrote to Pope Innocent IV on the matter, at
the request of the ‘‘council and commune of Bologna,’’ in 1251. The pope
explained that only individual penitents, not their children or grandchildren,
were entitled to the military exemption.^79 Perhaps some convert couples had
claimed their whole families as ‘‘penitents.’’ Siena granted tax and military
exemptions to the local penitent and holy man, Pietro Pettinaio, even when
he remained in the world, practiced his trade, and supported his family.
Bologna probably did not object to the exemption for conversi living at
home, but they balked at extending it to their children and relatives. By
1260 , Bologna exempted penitents who were properly vowed and enrolled
in the matricula of the Brothers of Penance, even if they lived at home.^80 For
reasons of self-interest, then, the cities supported papal and hierarchical
moves to reduce the hordes of self-made penitents to groups of vowed celi-
bates under ecclesiastical supervision.
The communes granted other privileges to penitents with less misgiving.
- Bologna Stat.i( 1250 ), 6 .17 1: 470 ; see also Modena Stat. ( 1327 ), 2. 48 ,p. 265.
- Gratian,Decretum,C. 33 q. 3 c. 5 ( 12 Toledo, c. 2 ); Meersseman,Dossier, 8 and 101 n. 16 .; id.,Ordo,
1 : 363. - ‘‘Memoriale,’’ 16 , Meersseman,Dossier, 101.
- ‘‘Bullarium,’’ 1 (Honorius III, 16 December 1221 ), Meersseman,Dossier, 41 ; for which, see also
Potthast,Regesta, 6736. - ‘‘Bullarium,’’ 5 (Gregory IX, 26 May 1227 ), Meersseman,Dossier, 46 – 47 ; for which, see alsoBF
1 : 30 ;BOP 1 : 536 ; Potthast,Regesta, 7919. ‘‘Bullarium,’’ 9 ( 5 April 1231 ), Meersseman,Dossier, 48. - ‘‘Bullarium,’’ 32 (Innocent IV, 5 December 1251 ), Meersseman,Dossier, 62 ; for which, see also
Potthast,Regesta, 14429. - Bologna Stat.i( 1259 – 67 ), 6. 14 , 1 : 478 (military service); ( 1250 ), 6. 18 , 1 : 479 – 80 (taxes).