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THE UNIFYING POWER OF MOVING PICTURES
IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE UMBRIA
BY
PASCALE RIHOUET
B.A. UNIVERSITY OF PARIS-SORBONNE V, 1994
M.A. UNIVERSITY OF PARIS-SORBONNE IV, 1999
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE AT
BROWN UNIVERSITY
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
MAY 2008
2
THANKS
Throughout this study, I have received the unconditional support of several people.
First of all, I wish to thank my advisor Dr. Evelyn Lincoln whom I first met in 1998 and
without whom I may never have embraced a Ph.D. program so enthusiastically. Through our
numerous conversations, her rebuttals, and her insightful comments on my written work, I
have gained a greater appreciation for the ―unifying power‖ of multi-disciplinary theory and I
have matured intellectually. Hopefully, I have by now shed my ―listing instinct.‖ Dr. Sheila
Bonde is my second mentor and a fine medieval scholar who spurred my interest in many
fields, from Islamic art to methodology to monasticism. Contact with my French advisor, Dr.
Jean-Claude Schmitt, thanks to a dual PhD program with EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes
en Sciences Sociales) has been quite stimulating for my thinking on several aspects for this
dissertation. He graciously accepted my two invitations to Brown University. I am
particularly grateful for his second trip in early April 2008 which will allow me to defend my
dissertation and earn the French ―doctorat.‖ Of course, all my other readers deserve their
share of thanks: Dr. Jeffrey Muller (Brown University), Dr. Joelle Rollo-Koster (University
of Rhode Island), and Dr. Daniel Russo (Université de Bourgogne).
I have received financial aid from Brown University since the Fall 2000 without
which I would never have been able to become a Ph.D. candidate and bring my graduate
studies to an end. I wish to thank the Graduate School; the Department of History of Art and
Architecture; Medieval Studies; and Renaissance and Early Modern Studies. Other funding
sources have also contributed to my field sojourns in Italy: I am very grateful to the Kress
Foundation, the EHESS, and the Social Science Research Council.
I must also express my deepest thanks to several scholars from Perugia. Professor
Bartoli-Langeli for his help and patience in reviewing my transcriptions of the inventories
and the format of my publication in the Bollettino della Deputazione di Storia Patria per
l‟Umbria. Professor Carla Frova has provided me with constructive criticism for Chapter
Five. The staff from the Archivio di stato, from the Sopr‘intendenza per I Beni Culturali,
from the Archivio Braccio Fortebraccio, from the Archivio Diocesano, and from the
Biblioteca Augusta have very kindly assisted me. I have benefited from conversations with
professors Giovanna Casagrande, Elvio Lunghi, Rita Staccini, Paola Passalacqua, and Mirko
Santanicchia. Special thanks to other Perugians: Francesco Pignani, Mario Gasperini, Erika
Bellini, the Maiotti family, Isabella Farinelli, Maria-Rita Valli. Last but not least, best wishes
to Ph.D. candidate Maria Sensi, my best Umbrian friend.
3
The Unifying Power of Moving Pictures in
Late Medieval and Renaissance Umbria
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………….……………………...6
- Social identity......................................................................................................................7
- The lexicography of ―gonfaloni‖.......................................................................................11
- Flags in renaissance culture……………………………..……………………………….14
- Markers of identity and rituals...........................................................................................21
- Perugia and Umbrian banners as a case-study..................................................................24
- The historiography of gonfaloni and the case of Umbria.................................................29
- Outline of the dissertation................................................................................................32
CHAPTER ONE: Perugian identity and processional rhythms…………………………………36
1) The political dimension of the urban space
- Heraldic and civic imagery: the griffon.................................................................................41
- The civic flag in its representations......................................................................................46
- The civic flag in its ritual use................................................................................................49
2) The ―bel ordine‖ of general processions
- The necessity of general processions…………………….…………………………………53
- Order and precedence...........................................................................................................56
- Experiencing a semblance of a community...........................................................................63
3) The symbolic paraphernalia of political representation
- Staging the officials‘ public appearances...............................................................................67
- City employees.......................................................................................................................71
- Conflict...................................................................................................................................74
Excursus no. 1: The Perugian griffon………………………………………………………………....79
CHAPTER TWO: The formation of group identity through the use of symbolic representations
1) Graphic and material signs of identity
- Professional associations……………………………………………………………………83
- Confraternities........................................................................................................................91
- Neighborhoods.....................................................................................................................105
2) Death as a ritual stage for social cohesion..............................................................................110
- The Confraternita della Giustizia and the trappings of redemptive identity.......................111
- Advertising single-group identity in funerals......................................................................118
- Elite funerals: constructing relationships of authority and submission .............................121
3) Papal entries in Perugia: princely and civic identity..............................................................143
- Symbolic representations in Pius II‘s entry in 1459...........................................................146
- Ritual keys...........................................................................................................................149
- Flags....................................................................................................................................150
- The canopy or baldacchino.................................................................................................153
- Motion and Emotion……………………………………………………………………...157
Excursus no. 2: Neighborhood associations: urban militias and ―compagnie di porta‖…………....161
Excursus no. 3: Cloth paintings vs. banners........................................................................................167
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CHAPTER THREE: Extraordinary banners “per placare l’ira di Dio” ………………………170
1) The plague in Umbria and the pictorial remedy…………………………………………….171
- The Umbrian context…………………………………………………………………...…172
- The ritual process of penitential processions…………………………………………..….175
- Relics vs. banners…………………………………………………………………………179
- The pictorial solution………………………………………………………………..……184
2) Banner patronage and iconography
- The role of the clergy………………………………………………..................................188
- The role of confraternities………………………………………………………………...197
- The civic authorities and the responsibility of purifying the city………………….……..202
- Appeal to the civic patron saints…………………………………………….…………….204
3) The depiction of civic identity………………………………………………….……...……206
- The city as the privileged locus for salvation………………………………………….….207
- The social rhythms of immobile banners ………………………………..……….………213
- Banners as cult objects……………………………………………………………………219
4) Mary‘s supreme authority: the aura of textile……………………………….………………222
- Mary‘s extraordinary attire……………………………………………………..…………223
- Expressing Authority through clothing: color, patterns, and form....................................226
5) Ordinary banners against the plague.......................................................................................230
CHAPTER FOUR: The unifying power of Bernardinian images.................................................236
1) Ritual settings for wondrous panels: the tablets with the trigram………….…..….………….237
- Extant tavolette of San Bernardino: text or image?...........................................................238
- Empowering the tablets.....................................................................................................240
- From homelitic tool to processional object........................................................................243
- The tablets as cult objects..................................................................................................246
-The visibility of the trigram................................................................................................249
2) Images and processional paraphernalia for Bernardinian cults……………………….….…...251
- Establishing Bernardino‘s cult in Perugia: the Gonfalone of San Bernardino……….…..253
- A Franciscan appropriation and a failed civic adoption……………………………...….263
- The politics of wax distribution........................................................................................266
CHAPTER 5: Immobile and mobile images for unity and identity............................................270
1) The Gonfalone dell‘Annunziata………………………………………………................….271
- Connections to the Servites...........................................................................................273
- Social composition and elite members..........................................................................278
- Mary as a scholar...........................................................................................................284
- Canvassing unity despite heterogeneity ........................................................................287
- The Power of Place: Santa Maria dei Servi and the Nunziata chapel...........................291
2) Public life and Easter rituals...................................................................................................299
- At the heart of the ecclesiastical year.............................................................................300
- An extraordinary crucifix……………………………………………………….……301
5
-
Ritual trappings………………………………………………………………………304
Easter Friday…………………………………………………………………………308
3) The Assumption festival: multiple collective identities
- Adapting a Roman ritual................................................................................................314
- A civic procession..........................................................................................................317
- The leading role of the Nunziata...................................................................................319
- Monastic identity ………………………………………………………..……………321
Excursus no. 4: ―The scholarly inscription of the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata‖….……..…….……324
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….………………327
APPENDICES ………………………………………….………………………………….………332
GLOSSARY………………………………………………….………………………….….………396
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.............................................................................................................399
BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................................407
6
INTRODUCTION
Most banners, flags, and other types of portable images, once prestigious signs of
identity for the groups that carried them in processions, have disappeared through wear and
tear, vandalism, or disinterest in their devotional, aesthetic, or thaumaturgic qualities.
Nowadays, extant ―moving pictures‖ can be found in private and public collections, museum
storage, or churches, alienated from their original functions. My goal is thus to reconstruct
their original settings and their past role in building social cohesion and reinforcing collective
ties within a ritual framework in Central Italy (Umbria). My background is the ritual motion
of public processions as they were enacted by single groups or the entire civic population, for
feast days, funerals, and princely entries during the fourteen-sixteenth centuries. Although
anthropologists and sociologists have investigated how ritual works to produce group identity
for participants and observers, my contribution lies in stressing the visual components of such
rituals and the significance of symbolic representations.
I concentrate on ―gonfaloni‖ (usually translated as banners) and other portable images
on textile or wood that could also have a stationary function. My analysis, rooted in social
history, engages the processional images with a broader visual and material culture that
includes sculptures, relics, heraldry, objects such as canopies, chests, and clothes, nonprocessional paintings, and choreographed gesture. What unites all these symbolic
representations is their ceremonial functions and their role forming and nurturing collective
identity.
Scholarship of the past decades has shown that, in fourteenth- to sixteenth-century
Italy, individuals primarily defined themselves as members of one or several groups such as
guilds, confraternities, or neighbourhood. I ask in what ways rituals and symbolic
representations contributed to the self-conception of groups, but also to the entire notion of
civic identity, i.e., the awareness of belonging to a specific city such as Perugia. My interest
7
lies in ―moving pictures‖ that symbolically represented these groups and in the strategic
motivations and historical circumstances for setting such markers of identity in motion.
However, since many gonfaloni also served as altarpieces (for example, figs. 51; 53; 57a;
62a; 63a; 64a; 65a; 66), I investigate both ritual mobility and ritual immobility in order to
obtain a more complete understanding of the ritual images discussed in this dissertation.
The ritual transportation of images raises issues about the formation of collective
consciousness and about the power of artistic or devotional artifacts to transcend human sins,
to purify, and to spur the expression and experience of cleansing emotions. Without ―moving
pictures‖ and their cognitive effects on all of the observers and participants, orderly public
gatherings and the impression of unity would not be possible. Since conflict and exclusion
are part of the liminal experience of rituals, I revisit the ideal representation of harmony that
literary and pictorial representations of collective motion tend to offer.
Social identity
For nineteenth-century historian Jakob Burckhardt, individualism was a defining
principle of the Renaissance man who was freed from medieval corporatism. A main
objection to this influential interpretation is that his evidence relied mainly on humanist
figures whose self-consciousness about their inner experiences was exceptional. For Norbert
Elias, writing in the 1930s, early modern Europe (from the sixteenth to the eighteenth
centuries) saw the emergence of behavior patterns and constraints, ushering in new models of
comportment that he termed the ―civilizing process‖. However, Elias‘ insightful enterprise
concentrated on only one specific social formation, court society, while I am looking
primarily at urban social structures of Italian communes.1 In terms of this aspect of the social
1
On the definition of the Italian commune, see Giorgio Chittolini, ―Cities, ‗city-states,‘ and regional states in
north-central Italy,‖ in Theory and Society 18 (1989): 689-706; Quentin Skinner, ―The Italian City-Republics,‖
in John Dunn, ed., Democracy: The Unfinished Journey. 508 BC to 1993 AD (Oxford & New York: Oxford
University Press, 1992), 57-69.
8
structure, I see no divide between the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a period that
spans the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Medieval and Renaissance people were always
functionally attached to social groups such as family, neighborhood, guilds and devotional
associations, on which they relied in order to express their own sense of who they were, and
that portion of the larger social structure to which they could claim to belong.
This study deals with what sociologists and psychologists define today as social
identity, ―that part of the individual‘s self concept which derives from his membership of a
social group together with the value and emotional significance attached to that
membership.‖2 The social identity approach provides explanations of group membership,
behavior, and intergroup relations in the present.3 My research shows that for the fourteenthsixteenth centuries, and probably beyond that period, visual imagery was essential to
formulating the dynamics of intragroup and intergroup relationships. Thus, clans,
neighborhood companies, professional groupings, the clergy, and lay confraternities used
visual markers of identity and artistic images to distinguish each group from the other.
This study is not about what makes individuals distinctive from one another. Even
proper names are irrevocably tied to collective identity. Nobles‘ patronymics equated
individual identity with their belonging to a clan (Braccio ―dei Baglioni,‖ of the Baglioni
family), whether this meant solidarity or rivalry within the clan. Common men had only a
first name followed by a grammatical connector meaning ―son of‖ stressing patrilinear origin.
For example, a painter Niccolò working in Foligno in the second half of the fifteenth century
was called ―Niccolò di Liberatore‖, that is ―Niccolò, son of Liberatore.‖ But he was also
known as ―Nicolaus pictor‖ and thus he was characterized, like many other men, by his
profession. Notaries preceded their first names by the honorific ―Ser‖ and university
2
As defined by Henry Tajfel in 1978. Quoted in D. Abrams, Daniel Frings, Georgina Randsley de Moura,
―Group Identity and Self-Definition,‖ in Susan Wheelan, ed., The Handbook of Group Research and Practice
(Thousand Oaks and London: Sage Publications, 2005), 329-350, here 332.
3
See Michael Hogg, ―The Social Identity Perspective,‖ in: ibid., 133-157.
9
professors by the title ―Doctor‖, thus advertising their professional ability and their
membership in a consortium of their equals. Much like today, members of religious
communities announced their status by adding ―brother‖ or ―sister‖ (―fra / ―frate‖ / ―suor‖) to
their names. All these examples show that individuals defined themselves according to
kinship, to their professional organizations or their religious community.4 Self-conception
was primarily connected to group membership and this is still true of today according to the
social psychology of group processes.
In a recent book, J. J. Martin has proposed that Renaissance people understood
themselves as social beings with an inward experience (defined as their own thoughts) that
they may not be able to express.5 Martin analyses inquisitorial trials in sixteenth-century
Venice in order to explore ―the relation of one‘s inner experience to one‘s experience in the
world‖. By contrast, my own focus discloses collective voices and the strong corporate nature
of Renaissance characters. Ronald Weissman, applying an Interactionist approach to
Renaissance identity, sees a ―problem of social ambiguity‖ and argues that ―if anything, the
Renaissance town suffered from too much community.‖ He stresses the necessity of viewing
all social relations simultaneously in order to gain an awareness of the complexity of social
ties.6 By examining the importance of imagery to the articulation of the identity of several
groups in my study, I hope to reach this ambitious goal.
Confraternal membership is an essential component of social categorization in my
work. Weissman, John Henderson, and Konrad Eisenbichler for Florence, Nicholas Terpstra
for Bologna, and Giovanna Casagrande for Umbria (to name but a few) have demonstrated
4
S. Blanshei analyzes this emphasis on kinship bond vs. patronymic and professional names for identification
from an economical and fiscal point of view. Sarah Rubin Blanshei, "Population, Wealth, and Patronage in
Medieval and Renaissance Perugia," Journal of Interdisciplinary History IX, no. 4 (1979): 597-619, in
particular 605-608.
5
John Jeffries Martin, Myths of Renaissance Individualism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
6
R. Weissman, ―Reconstructing Renaissance Sociology: The ‗Chicago School‘ and the Study of Renaissance
Society,‖ in R. Trexler, ed., Persons in Groups. Social Behavior as Identity Formation in Medieval and
Renaissance Europe (Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1985), 39-46.
10
how tightly-knit these devotional groups were, even though they tended to include people
from different parishes, social classes, and professions.7 Although most confraternities drew
their members from the laity, some also included ecclesiastics. Even women were accepted in
some brotherhoods, although they played a minimal role, especially in public performances.
These groups appear throughout this dissertation because most extant gonfaloni were once
(and sometimes still are) placed in the custody of confratelli who guaranteed their
maintenance and safekeeping. In the past two decades, art historians have shown how
important confraternities were as patrons of art.8 Andreas Dehmer‘s recent study stressed the
significance of confraternity banners in the development of Italian Renaissance painting. 9
The fact that gonfaloni were commonly called the ―segno‖ (sign) or ―insegna‖
(insignia) of specific groups is an indication of the strong identifying function of these
paintings. In medieval Latin, ‗signum‘ referred to a signature, a seal, a flag or, in its Christian
sense, signs of divinity (signum Christi), whereas ‗insignia‘ meant a distinctive, particular
sign that was associated originally with military troops on the move.10 Additionally, ―segno‖
and ―insegna‖ frequently recur as synonyms for coats of arms (―arme‖) which can be defined
as an association of colors (within seven hues) and figures inscribed on a shield or on a
variety of shapes.11 This emblematic system provided a means for identification of an
7
For a typology and characteristics of confraternities, and recent overview of the scholarship, see Andreas
Dehmer, Italienische Bruderschaftsbanner des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (Berlin: Deutscher
Kunstverlag, 2004), 16-34.
8
For example, Barbara Wisch has analyzed the decoration of the oratory of the Confraternity of the Gonfalone
in Rome where the group‘s banner was placed above the altar in a visual relationship to the fresco cycle and the
ceiling paintings. This lay-out reflected the brothers‘ devotional practices and asserted the confraternity‘s
significance for the city. Diane Cole Ahl has similarly reconstructed how the San Zanobi confratelli‘s altarpiece
in their Florentine premises shaped their collective expressions of piety and conveyed the ideals professed in
their statutes. B. Wisch, "The Archiconfraternita del Gonfalone and Its Oratory in Rome: Art and CounterReformation Spiritual Values" (University of California, PhD, 1985); D. Cole Ahl, " 'In corpo di compania'. Art
and Devotion in the Compania della Purificazione e di San Zanobi Florence," in B. Wisch and D. Cole Ahl,
eds., Confraternities and the Visual Arts in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
9
Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 34-40, including an overview of the scholarship on confraternal art patronage.
10
Insignia is "a distinguishing badge or emblem of military rank, office, or membership.‖ Oxford English
Dictionary (2nd ed., 1989), entry ―insignia, noun‖.
11
Michel Pastoureau, Traité d‟héraldique (Paris : Picard, 1979), 91; 100.
11
individual or a group appeared on battlefields and in tournaments. It originated in flags from
which heraldry borrowed the basic colors and figures.12
Well-established in everyday life by 1300, heraldry was the most common way to
mark one‘s individual or corporate identity. Anyone could legally assume arms of his own
free will, and this practice secured identification of a specific individual or his family. Jurist
Bartolo da Sassoferrato‘s De insignis, an influential treatise on the use of coats of arms is an
essential source for understanding the perception of visual signs that dominated everyday life
in Medieval and Renaissance Italy.13 Bartolo‘s attempt to legalize armorial insignia was
spurred by the need to differentiate people bearing the same name and the necessity to
proclaim property ownership. Coats of arms extended across the social spectrum but they
quickly acquired a connotation of higher status. In France, they were abolished during the
early stages of the French revolution because they were perceived as ―signs of feudality‖ or
―markers of nobility‖.14 Flags were among the most visible media for heraldry in civic,
military, or religious contexts. Displaying flags outside of specific ritual times and occasions
was potentially dangerous and could signal rebellion. I deal with this aspect in a section on
the Perugian civic flag in my first chapter.
The lexicography of ―gonfaloni‖
For Italian art historians, ―gonfaloni‖ are banners on cloth while ―stendardi‖
(standards) designate smaller processional paintings on wood. This terminology, which
makes a neat discrimination between processional images based on their material supports,
12
Ibid., 28. See also by same author, Figures et couleurs. Etudes sur la symbolique et la sensibilité médiévales
(Paris: Le Léopard d‘or, 1986), 51-57.
13
Although his tract dates back to 1348, it was transmitted through a hundred manuscripts and first printed in
1472. It became an authoritative source for all later works on heraldic questions. See Osvaldo Cavallar, Susanne
Degenring, Julius Kirshner, A Grammar of Signs: Bartolo da Sassoferrato's Tract on Insignia and Coats of
Arms, Studies in Comparative Legal History (Berkeley, CA: Robbins Collection University of California at
Berkeley, 1994).
14
Pastoureau, Traité d‟héraldique, 11.
12
poses problems and contradicts archival evidence.15 The etymology of ―gonfalone‖ is the old
High German ―gundfano,‖ or ―battle cloth,‖ originally probably pictureless. ―Fano‖ gave
Fahne in German while again a word for fabric (―drap‖) gave ―drapeau‖ in French, meaning
―flag‖. ―Banner‖ in English (German: Banner / medieval German: Panner) comes from the
French ―bannière‖ that itself derives from the Latin ―bandum‖ of Germanic origin. 16 The
closely related ―pannus‖ is a Medieval Latin word for a cloth. The Italian, Spanish and
Portuguese words for flag (bandiera; bandera; bandeira) have a similar etymology.
―Pennon‖ in English (as well as ―pennant‖) and French meaning a small triangular flag is
probably a derivative of the Latin penna (feather); the Italian ―pennone,‖ is a typical word for
trumpet flags in historical records but it also has a more generic sense for flag. 17 The Latin
―vexillum‖ did not generate a linguistic template, but in recent decades it has allowed for the
term ―vexillology‖ (the scholarly study of flags) to be coined. 18 Thus, etymologically and in
practice, ―flags‖ and ―banners‖ refer to objects painted on cloth, linen or silk for our period,
and bunting later on.
15
In his essay on ―stendardi‖ from the Marches, Victor Schmidt admits that his adoption of this word may well
lack historical correctness. Chiara Savettieri avoids the term ―stendardi‖ and designates Pisan processional
panels under their local name, ―bandinelle.‖ See V. Schmidt, ―Gli stendardi processionali su tavola nelle Marche
del Quattrocento,‖ in A. de Marchi, ed., I Da varano e le arti (San Benedetto del Tronbo: Maroni, 2003), 551578; C. Savettieri, "Zeugnisse der Frömmigkeit," in Mariagiulia Burresi, ed., Schätze sakraler Kunst aus dem
Pisa des 14. Jahrhunderts (Pisa: Ministero per i beni culturali e le attività culturale, 1999), 21-37.
16
See the entries ―banner‖ in American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Boston : Houghton
Mifflin, c2000) and ―bannière‖ in Paul Robert, Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue francaise
(Paris: PUF, 1953). Schramm points out that ―Banner‖ comes from the Germanic bandva (which gave in
German ―binden, ‖ binding / bond) and that in the medieval Chansons de geste, ―baniere,‖ carried by knights
banneret refers to a larger flag than a ―pennon‖ or ―pennoncel.‖ Percy Ernst Schramm, ed., Herrschaftszeichen
und Staatssymbolik. Beiträge zu ihrer Geschichte vom dritten zum sechzehnten Jahrhundert, 3 vols (Stuttgart:
Anton Hiesemann, 1955), 647-648. The Oxford English Dictionary accordingly associates banners with the
nobility:
―A piece of stout taffeta, or other cloth, attached by one side to the upper part of a long pole or staff,
and used as the standard of an emperor, king, lord, or knight, under (or after) which he and his men
marched to war, and which served as their rallying-point in battle. (…) Heraldically, a banner means a
square or quadrangular flag, displaying the arms of the person in whose honour it is borne, and varying
in size from that of an emperor, six feet square, to that of a knight banneret, three feet square‖.
17
The Oxford English Dictionary defines ―pennon‖ and ―pennant‖ as synonyms for a ―long narrow triangular or
swallow-tailed flag.‖ ―Pennon‖ is a term that this book documents from the 14 th century. See also Helmut
Nickel, ―Flags and Standards, §1 ‗True flags‘: (v) European, from the Middle Ages ‖ in Grove Art Online,
Oxford University Press, accessed 15/01/2008, http://www.groveart.com.
18
It was coined in 1957 by Dr. Whitney Smith, director of the Flag Research Center. See
www.flagresearchcenter.com
13
In present-day usage, ―banner‖ usually indicates a religious processional painting that
hangs from a cross bar so that it offers a depiction that reads vertically. Cords and straps were
often used to provide tension that would secure the hanging piece of textile when in motion,
as can still be seen in present-day festivals (fig. 127). Flags, strictly speaking, offer a
horizontal reading when they billow in the wind or when they are moved. 19 However, ―flag‖
is also a generic and convenient term for all shapes and functions of symbolic painted cloths
attached to a staff.
In historical records, flags and banners have a variety of names, from ―vexillum‖ and
―insignia‖ to the Italian ―gonfalone‖, ―bandiera‖, ―stendardo‖, ―penello‖, ―segno‖, ―insegna‖,
―drappelone‖, ―pallio‖, ―benda‖, and ―pennone‖.20 The semantic differences are blurred and
quite often these words seem to be interchangeable. However, criteria for distinguishing
between these terms include medium (segno, insegna and penello may be on wood), size
(stendardi being larger than bandiere), format (bende being small, narrow cloths), and bearer
(for example, knights, the infantry, or trumpeters).21 Processional paintings on wood are
called ―segni‖, ―insegne‖, ―tavole‖, ―bandinelle‖ (in the Pisan area), or gonfaloni (in Sicily).22
19
Schramm, Herrschaftszeichen, 647-648. Vexilli in ancient Rome could hang from a cross bar such as the
cavalry flags described by Livy. W. J. Gordon and F. Edward Hulme, Flags of the World, Past and Present.
Their Story and Associations (London, New York: F. Warne, 1915), 13.
20
Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 42.
21
Chroniclers describe flags according to the status of who carried them: ―Fuorce aquistate ii bandiere de
soldate e le tronbe de meser Galiotto‖, 230]; ―aquistarce parechie bandiere de cavaliere.‖ Francesco Ugolini,
"Annali e cronaca di Perugia in volgare dal 1191 al 1336," Annali della facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia
dell'Università degli Studi di Perugia I (1963-4): 1-336, here 230; 96; ―Quindici bandiere de fanti a piedi e
trentatre d‘uomini a cavallo:‖ Ariodante Fabretti, ―Memorie 1309-1379,‖ in Cronache della città di Perugia, 5
vols. (Torino, 1887-1894), I: 179. Standards were of a major size than flags as this line from a chronicle
indicates: ―furono strascinati sette stendardi grandi e trentasei bandiere,‖ ibid., II: 105, or the traditional
translation for ―gonfaloniere della Chiesa / vexillifer Ecclesiae‖ as ―standard-bearer of the Church‖.
―Drappelloni‖ also mean smaller pieces of cloths such as lambrequins. ―Bende da croce‖ in inventories refer to
bands of cloth attached to crosses. Confraternities and religious orders typically owned them.
22
The Sicilian gonfaloni are characterized by a gothicizing and delicately carved frame. For example, the
Gonfalone from Tusa (205 x 101 cm) whose frame only is extant (Galleria Regionale di Sicilia); the Gonfalone
of Forza d‘Agro, once in the church of the Triade but stolen in 1976 (140 x 90 cm). See also Geneviève BrescBautier, Artistes, patriciens et confréries. Productions et consommations de l‟œuvre d‟art à palerme et en Sicile
occidentale (Rome: Ecole Française de Rome 40, 1979). For the Marches, the seminal article is Victor
Schmidt‘s ―Stendardi processionali.‖
14
For Umbria, I found out that the double-sided panel of the Duomo (fig. 124a-b) was also
called a ―gonfalone‖ at least from the mid-seventeenth-century.23
I define gonfaloni as single or double-sided paintings, on wood or textile, whatever
their outer shape. They are either encased in a wooden frame, supported by a shaft, or
hanging freely from a cross bar. However, I call small portable panels in wood ―tavolette‖
(tablets), a term traditionally used to indicate the processional paintings of societies
conforting the condemned (Chapter Two) or the square panels bearing YHS launched by
Bernardino da Siena (Chapter Four). Although the oldest gonfalone in Umbria is a doublesided wooden panel from Assisi dating back to 1378 (fig. 23), most extant processional
paintings of this region are banners, that is, cloth paintings with a vertical format. 24 In this
sense, banners are akin to flags, a more generic term.
Flags in renaissance culture
Flags, whatever their shape, are quintessentially symbols. They stand either for a
single, high-ranking person, a group, an institution, a city, a military ward, etc. 25 But as
Raymond Firth puts it ―a symbol is essentially not an object but a relationship,‖ and in this
case, flags point to a relationship of patronage, ownership, submission and domination. 26 On
the streets, they hung in a stationary position in order to announce the function of a corporate
23
See Ottaviano Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, ―Assumption festival,‖ transcribed in my appendix 17. The Diario
perugino of 1660 and the Diario perugino ecclesiastico e civico per l‟anno bisestile di 1772 (Perugia: Maio
Reginaldi, 1771) call it the ―confalone della Vergine.‖
24
The Museo dell‘Opera del Duomo in Florence has a heavily repainted panel with a half-figure of Saint Agatha
on both its sides that goes back to the thirteenth century. Martin Wackernagel, The World of Florentine
Renaissance Artist: Projects and Patrons, Workshop and Market, transl. A. Luchs (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1982 [1938]) 139, note 70.
25
For example, city flags are evoked in a chronicle: ―lo stendardo de Roma, 2 stendardi del commune di
Fiorenza, e poi stendardi de Bologna, e uno del commune de Siena,‖ were present at the funeral of Francesco
dei Copoglie]. See "Cronaca della città di Perugia del 1309 al 1491 nota col nome di Diario del Graziani," in
Archivio Storico Italiano XVI (1850): 469. This compilation of chronicles, known in the form of a sixteenthcentury adapted copy, is conventionally named after its putative owner, Graziani. I quote it as Diario del
Graziani hereafter. Private flags include ―un confalone o stendardo con l‘arme del imperatore.‖ See Ariodante
Fabretti, Cronache della città di Perugia, 5 vols. (Torino, 1887-1894), here I: 97. Ecclesiastical flags
represented religious orders or parishes, or prelates.
26
Raymond Firth, Symbols. Public and Private (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1973), 361.
15
building (such as the premises of a confraternity, or the headquarters of a militia or of a
guild), or the residence of a lord. The city standard provided a concrete means for visualizing
abstract concepts such civic authority and citizenship. In churches, gonfaloni hung from the
vaults in order to make known a single person‘s identity, usually the tomb of a military
commander, or of the nobility (fig. 44). Flags in political events worked as symbols of
authority and could serve as diplomatic gifts. In a military context, besides rallying the troops
on the battlefield or signaling departure to war, they identified the vanquished when paraded
as trophies in cities. Flags as war booties were proudly hung from the municipal palace and
afterwards, carefully stored and shown to visitors of distinction.27 In a funeral situation, flags
dragged on the ground upside down marked the loss of a military commander, in other
circumstances they denoted conquered territories, while in ceremonious entries into a city,
their upright position declared the power of the distinguished visitor. In short, flags and
banners evoked feelings of authority, pride, and honor about one‘s collective or selfawareness.
Most medieval and Renaissance European gonfaloni have disappeared through wear
and tear, wars in which they were captured and physically insulted, or through simple
vandalism. It is essential to understand why some were preserved to this day. While around
200 religious or confraternal gonfaloni have been preserved in Italy, most extant European
flags of the Medieval and Renaissance periods are military or heraldic ones, and most of them
can be found in Switzerland.28 This location can be explained by the success of the Swiss
confederation that, from the early fourteenth century, sent local infantry to battlefields
27
Cola di Rienzo sent a flag with Emperor Constantine‘s arms in 1347 and the Priors stored it together with the
―memorable things of glory.‖ Diario del Graziani, 200-201; Fabretti, ―Memorie 1358-1382,‖ in Cronache, I:
87-88.
28
My estimate of 200 religious or confraternal gonfaloni is based on Dehmer catalogue of 120 banners, adding
missing wood gonfaloni and other textile paintings.
16
throughout Europe.29 Victors typically brought home the flags of the enemy as war booties
and kept them safely in churches, special chests, or sturdy arsenals. Many of these trophies
are still in local museums today throughout the country.30 Because they were likely to
disintegrate with the passage of time, copies on linen and illustrated flag books were created,
sometimes only a few decades after their acquisition.31 The Swiss have also hoarded for five
hundred years the sumptuous silk banners that Pope Julius II presented to 15 allied towns
after the battle of Marignan in 1512, in reward for their help in his conquest of Italian
territories. Made of costly Milanese damask, an embroidered square pattern on the top left
distinguishes each flag as pertaining to a specific canton (fig. 128). As diplomatic gifts, these
flags honoured their recipients and were reproduced in prints, and exhibited on special
occasions. Vexilli as royal or princely gifts to monastic communities are documented from the
eleventh century. They were placed in the church treasury, but that did not guarantee their
preservation to this day.
Civic flags are extremely rare. The Venetian ―gonfalone of San Marco,‖ for example,
is documented from the eleventh century but only seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
specimens are preserved.32 The city of Ghent in Belgium has kept a flag painted by Agnes
van den Bossch around 1481. It is in such a good condition that it was probably stored and
never used.33 From the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries, several European cities sent to the
battlefield a chariot (currus/ carroccio) on which a huge flag attached to a pole as tall as a
29
François Lot, L'art militaire et les armées au moyen âge en Europe et dans le Proche Orient, 2 vols (Paris:
Payot, 1946), II: 132-133.
30
For example, the Historisches Museum in Luzern has 20 flags dating before 1500; the altes Zeughaus
(arsenal) of Solothurn has 34 flags dating before 1798; and the Historisches Museum of Bern has 155 flags for
the 14-19th centuries. See the articles of J. Brülisauer, M. Leutenegger, F. Bächtiger in Fahnen, Flags,
Drapeaux. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Vexillology. Zurich, 23-27 August 1993 (Swiss
Society of Vexillology, 1999), 47-65.
31
The seminal study and inventory of flags kept in Switzerland is: Albert and Berty Bruckner, Schweizer
Fahnenbuch (St. Gallen: Zollikofer & co., 1942). See also Florens Deuchler, Die Burgunderbeute. Inventar der
Beutestücke aus den Schlachten von Grandson, Murten und Nancy, 1476-1477 (Bern: Stämpfli, 1963).
32
Giorgio Aldrighetti and Mario De Biasi, Il gonfalone di San Marco (Venice: Filippi Editore, 1998).
33
It measures 277 x 104 cm and is kept in the Musée de la Byloke. See Diane Wolfthal, The Beginnings of
Netherlandish Canvas Painting: 1400-1530 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 50.
17
tree stood as a civic symbol.34 The visibility and clear heraldic colors of such flags were a
means to instill courage and patriotism in urban militias. Kept for hundreds of years as civic
symbols and historical artifacts that were paraded on certain feast days, only a handful have
survived, such as the carrocio flag of Würzburg (1266) showing St. Kilian and that of
Strasburg (1336) showing the Virgin. Italian carrocio flags, on the contrary, did not show
holy figures but heraldic devices, sometimes consisting of plain colors.35
The first occurrence of a flag with a Christian connotation was the labarum of
emperor Constantine, said to have been sent by God as a sign for the victory of the emperor
(―in hoc signo vinces‖).36 Before troops departed for the battlefield, their flags were
commonly blessed by a priest or even a bishop, and many manuscripts such as pontificals
offer an illustration of the performance of this religious rite. This practice started in
Byzantium and is documented from the time of Emperor Maurice (ruled 582-602).37 Blessed
flags, either secular ones or vexilli in possession of ecclesiastics, were taken to battlefields
and prayers were said to them.38 They were a spiritual inspiration for soldiers and a sign of
divine guidance in the minds of contemporaries.39 Because relics were too precious to be
34
Erdmann, Alle origini dell'idea di Crociata, translated by Roberto Lambertini (Spoleto: Centro italiano di
studi sull' alto medio evo, 1976 [1935]), 55-58. The Italian translation provides four excursi missing in the
Princeton publication; Hannelore Zug Tucci, "Il carroccio nella vita comunale," Quellen und Forschungen aus
der Italienischen Archiven LXV (1985): 1-104; Ernst Voltmer, Il carroccio, transl. G. Albertoni (Torino:
Einaudi, 1994).
35
The currus of Cologne was destroyed by the French in 1793. The Sienese flag from the battle of Montaperti
was sold in 1775 and then disappeared. The carroccio flag of Würzburg (3 x 4.93 m) used to hang in the choir of
the cathedral. It is kept at the Mainfränkishes Museum in Mainz; and that of Strasbourg (4 x 4.5 m) in the local
cathedral. See Voltmer, Il carroccio, 187; 193; Zug Tucci, ―Il carrocio,‖ 20.
36
Alexander Kazhdan, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1991), II: 1167.
37
Lot, L‟art militaire, I: 59. For miniatures illustrating a bishop blessing a banner from Durandus of Mende‘s
pontifical, see V. Leroquais, Les Pontificaux manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France (Paris, 1937),
ch. 138.
38
Guy Marchal, "De la 'Passion du Christ' à la 'Croix Suisse'. Quelques réflexions sur une enseigne suisse,"
Itinera, series: Histoire et belles Histoires de la Suisse, fasc. 9 (1989): 107-31. The author reproduces a
watercolor of the Confederates‘ departure for Nancy, from the Schweizer Chronik of Diebold Schilling made in
1513, in which soldiers kneel with opened arms and prayer their war banner adorned with a cross. Ibid., 129, fig.
III.8.
39
As a thirteenth-century notary noted, the sacred force of the currus of his city regularly blocked the Saracens.
Voltmer, Il carroccio, 127.
18
used in warfare with any frequency, a flag with a depiction of a saint could satisfactorily
replace them. Sacred military flags were not necessarily adorned with an image of a holy
figure, as were typical confraternity gonfaloni. However, war flags kept in a monastery
maintained a special aura, such as the French royal oriflamme in St-Denis, and flags that were
also contact relics, such as the flags that had touched relics or a saint‘s tomb, were imbued
with special sacred power.40 Even political flags could be found in church treasures, such as
St. George‘s banner, possibly Cola di Rienzo‘s, that was safely placed in a reliquary and kept
in S. Giorgio in Velabro in Rome for hundreds of years.41
In the West, it is only around the late tenth century that the Church appropriated
secular flags for devotion and to signify the Resurrection of Christ.42 In addition, the Church,
in imitation of the imperial insignia, turned secular war standards into Christian models.43 But
for centuries, rather than the vanity infused flags associated with chivalry, the sign of the
cross or the cross itself, in its processional or fixed forms, was the preferred symbol for the
triumph of Christianity.44 Guilds also adopted flags adorned with images of their patron
saints, and my research documents a few such (non- extant) examples made for Perugia.
These vexilli were paraded during general processions or for the saint‘s feast day. They
honoured the holy figure depicted on them but they mainly served to identify and advertise
the corporate body in public, and were not sacred per se. These artistic commodities could be
easily replaced when worn. Among the rarest surviving Medieval and Renaissance
40
Philippe Contamine, ―L'oriflamme de Saint-Denis aux XIVe et XVe siècles : étude de symbolique religieuse
et royale,‖ in Annales de l‟Est 25 (1975), 179-245; Erdmann, Crociata, 43-48.
41
It is made of silk and painted leather sewn together. It measures 420 x 280 cm. See Schramm,
Herrschaftszeichen, 671-672 and W.F. Volbach, ―La bandiera di San Giorgio,‖ in Archivio della Regia
Deputazione romana di Storia Patria LVIII (1935), 153-170. Today, the flag is kept in the municipal palace on
the Campidoglio.
42
Erdman interprets the famous passages from Prudentius (―Dic tropaeum passionis / dic triumfalem crucem /
pange vexillum, notatis / quod refulgent frontibus‖) and Fortunatus (―Vexilla regis prodeunt, / fulget curcis
mysterium‖) as referring to the symbolic sign of the cross made with one‘s hand, not to flags as objects.
Erdman, Crociata, 38-39.
43
Schramm, Herrschaftszeichen, 645-646.
44
Crosses surmount the shaft of flags in a fresco of San Clemente church (Rome) made in the 1080s.
19
professional flags, Bern has preserved the triangular flag of the butchers‘ guild that shows
Saint Agnes and an ox, while Venice has kept the banner of the Venetian comb-makers of
1532 that replicates an iconography also found in their statutes.45
Confraternity gonfaloni belong to the category of devotional flags that must be set
apart among the larger system of visual signs of identity. In this category, we also find
ecclesiastical, military, civic, and guild flags that had an intercessory imagery showing the
Virgin Mary, Christ, and/or a patron saint. Such flags were either blessed and, consequently,
in case of wear or damage, had to be buried in consecrated ground, or they were used in
sacred contexts and thus produced appropriate deference on the part of viewers and users.
While very few guild flags are extant, those of the confraternities have been preserved
because these groups specialized in collective demonstrations of piety in public or private in
the presence of their banners, therefore imbuing them with that deference and respect that
resulted in their careful preservation. In the sixteenth century, in Catholic regions, the
iconography and rituals attached to them enhanced their chances of surviving the
Reformation and further iconoclast events.
Confraternities modeled their corporate insignia after military flags not only because
of their practical qualities of lightness and clarity of design, but also because military
standards were strongly associated with authority, triumph, and sacred power, all desirable
features for groups that competed for visibility in the open sphere. Confraternity banners
were also kept in churches or oratories and surrounded by liturgical practices. These mobile
paintings dramatized rituals by lending a majestic visual presence to the chanting of prayers
and the spectacular, but very common, practice of self-flagellation in public or private.
45
Giovanni Mariacher, ed., Il museo Correr di Venezia. Dipinti dal XIV al XVI secolo (Venice: Neri Pozza,
1957), 89-90. For the flag of the butchers from Bern (ca. 1520) kept in the local Kunsthistorisches Museum, see
Bruckner, Schweizer Fahnenbuch, entry 174, 32. It was last shown in 1528; after this date saintly imagery was
banned from flags in protestant Bern.
20
I have described the linguistic interchangeability of terms designating flags.
Consequently, on a cognitive basis, processional paintings for devotion carry the same
associations as flags that link them with combat, triumph and honor. To fully grasp the
essence of devotional gonfaloni, iconography, technique, or medium are insufficient
categories of conceptualization. A simple but useful distinction in terms operative at the time
in which the paintings were used is whether they were deemed either ordinary or
extraordinary artifacts. Ordinary gonfaloni (see Chapter Two) were carefully handled but
they were regarded as commodities that could be repaired or replaced once they had worn
out. These ‗Old banners,‘ worn and well-used, are found in confraternity inventories but they
did not bestow much honor on the group members who eventually had new ones made.
Although their cost was certainly not negligible, gonfaloni were much cheaper than the
altarpieces that many confraternities also commissioned.
On the other hand, ―extraordinary gonfaloni‖ (Chapter Three) were usually paraded in
the specific cases of epidemics or natural disasters. They offered a visual dimension to the
supplications of the processing group for divine guidance and for the sincere repentance of
the sins that were believed to have caused the fatal event. My third chapter deals with these
miracle-working paintings and proposes that, in the Umbrian context, joint patronage by the
Mendicant orders and the city government promoted the emergence of this type of
intercessory artifact. These cult banners did not carry the responsibility for expressing
penance and piety on their own, however, and so other sacred works used in different
contexts must also be discussed. Chapter Four deals with wooden panels that were potentially
thaumaturgic thanks to their association with the famous Franciscan preacher, Bernardino of
Siena.
21
Markers of identity and rituals
Because gonfaloni belonged to the maerial culture of rituals, they cannot be fully
understood in isolation, as paintings in a museum. Ritual situations were, by definition,
repeated over the course of the year or occurred at predictable and regular times with similar
actors and trappings, thus enforcing visual associations of identification. How can ritual
theory help interpret gonfaloni? Catherine Bell‘s work on ritual surveys a variety of
approaches that have inspired my study.46 I have also relied on Arnold van Gennep‘s analysis
of rituals across cultures as rites of passage unfolding in a three-stage process (separation,
transition [or ―liminality‖], and re-incorporation). However, this model focuses more on the
change of status and the rhythm of this change rather than on the role of rituals and images
regarding group identity. Victor Turner and Clifford Geertz have both focused on the
interaction of social experience and cultural symbols, linking performance and practice
theories.47 Performance theory as discussed by Bell emphasizes the activity of ritual, its
kinesthetic, physical and sensual aspects, while practice theory looks at the ways in which
human activities are creative strategies that use rituals to construct authority, ideology, and
power.
These approaches are useful in understanding how rituals reproduce, establish, and
restore the social order in its ideal forms. I use the idea of performance theory throughout my
study, as I see processions as staged performances expressing an existing cultural system and
offering material for decoding.48 For example, I see the para-liturgical and identity
46
Catherine Bell, Ritual. Perspectives and Dimensions (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
V. Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1969) and
Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. An anthropological perspective (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1978), especially ―Notes on Processual Symbolic Analysis,‖ 243-255; Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation
of Cultures (Basic Books, New York, 2000 [1973]). For a historical survey of performance and practice
theories, see Catherine Bell, Ritual: Perspective and Dimensions (New York: Oxford university Press, 1997),
72-83.
48
Geertz defined culture as an ―assemblage of texts,‖ thus cultural forms such as rituals can be decoded
―penetrated‖ and decoded like literary texts. See his conclusion of ―Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese
Cockfight,‖ in Interpretation of Cultures, 448-453.
47
22
paraphernalia that was used during the funeral procession of a deceased guild or confraternity
member as advertising that group in public to the benefit of both the social status of the
deceased and the cohesion of the group. Practice theory leads me to analyze the mortuary
rites of the Perugian elite as a reassertion of the political order: the participation of the whole
city produced a visual rhetoric for the construction of relationships of authority and
submission (Chapter Two).49
Scholars have shown that ritual exercises exert social control by creating situations
that compel the acceptance of traditional forms of authority.50 Rituals also foster cohesion in
a community, and in this process, the display of images is of fundamental importance.51 For
example, gonfaloni, by providing participants with a spatial point of reference and a
conspicuous sign for rallying their party, promote the image of an orderly social body in an
otherwise chaotic public gathering. As markers of group identity, they help visualize one‘s
belonging to a specific group for the members themselves and also for outsiders, for whom
the entirety of a city‘s collective groups also function to express the social order to which that
citizen feels that he belongs. While such ritual trappings help members to stay grouped neatly
and promote an image of harmony and solidarity of their own group in city-wide processions,
Benjamin McRee cautions against reading these gatherings as displays of ―social wholeness.‖
His study of English guilds shows that public ceremony could insidiously compartmentalize
the population into separate groups and foster partisanship.52 My study of Peurgia shows that
indeed processions were passively divisive. I bring in evidence for conflict but I have not
49
Only recently have historians used these theories and examined death rituals and their expression of social
order. For the illuminating use of practice theory in the interpretation of mortuary rites of Renaissance Germany,
see Craig Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead. Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450-1700
(New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000). Practice theory also includes the study of how positions of domination
were manipulated and I will show the latent conflicts that were also part of death rituals.
50
See Maurice Bloch‘s theory on ―what ritual does‖ and the ―practice approach‖ presented by Bell in her Ritual.
Perspectives, 70-85.
51
See D. Kertzer, Ritual, Politics, and Power (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988),
especially Chapter 5: ―The Ritual Construction of Political Reality‖, 77-101.
52
Benjamin Mc Ree, "Guild Ceremony in Urban Communities," in Barbara Hanawalt and Kathryn Reyerson,
eds., City and Spectacle in Medieval Europe (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), 189-207.
23
found that city-wide events organized by the Commune actively widened rifts between social
groups (Chapter One). In penitential processions, the use of images that specifically promoted
a clerical community could create opposition from other religious orders, as occurred with the
processional tablets of San Bernardino (Chapter Four).
Distinctions between religious and civic rituals are blurred by the fact that the
government sponsored most of the city-wide events of the religious calendar, while some
secular rites, such as tournaments, and jousts, happened on saints‘ feast-days.53 Lina Urban‘s
study of processions in Venice proposes the following classifications for such events: annual
religious festivities, annual votive commemorations of a political origin, ―lay-nationalistic‖
processions, investitures and solemn entries. From this and from Edward Muir‘s concise text,
I borrow the ritual categories on which I focus: ordinary and extraordinary general
processions, funeral honors, public executions, and ceremonial entries.54 Essential
publications for ritual frameworks are Richard Trexler‘s and Edward Muir‘s analyses of civil
and religious festivities in Florence and Venice.55 To interpret urban rituals, they
convincingly use the testimony of contemporary citizens and foreigners, political ideology,
and anthropology. However, they do not offer a model for understanding the power of images
in the scenography of rituals and the emotional public response to them. This is Susan
Webster‘s strength in her stimulating study of statues in early modern Spanish processions.56
It enables the reader to gauge the potency of these sculptures for the unlettered laity, and how
the fusion between image and prototype operated.
53
See the collection of essays on this topic in André Vauchez, ed., La religion civique à l'époque médiévale et
moderne (Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 1995) and Trevor Dean‘s sources on entitled « Civic Religion », in
T. Dean, ed., The Towns of Italy in the Later Middle Ages (Manchester& New York: Manchester University
Press, 2003).
54
Lina Urban, Processioni e feste dogali: "Venetia est mundus" (Venice: Neri Pozza editore, 1998). Edward
Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1997).
55
Richard Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991);
Edward Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981).
56
Susan Verdi Webster, Art and Ritual in Golden Age Spain (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press, 1993).
24
As far as death rituals are concerned, the works of Sharon Strocchia and Samuel
Edgerton are insightful even though neither scholar analyzes the full spectrum of symbolic
representations and their reception. For example, Edgerton incisively discusses the use of
small double-sided devotional panels (tavolette) in capital punishment rituals but he is silent
on the subject of confraternal banners, although they were present. 57 His work has informed
my study of the Perugian confraternity in charge of the condemned while Strocchia‘s offered
valuable comparanda for analyzing elite funerals (Chapter Two).
In ritual gatherings of the whole population, gonfaloni visually embody corporate
social status and legitimize the existing social system. They helped to enforce a hierarchy and
precedence of rank defined previously by the city government. By respecting the slow pace
typical of processions and by marching in pairs behind their banner, members behaved in
subordination to their group and the to the whole cortège. In such settings, collectivelyowned moving pictures turned into the leading devices for consensual compliance to the
group‘s rules, but also for civic obedience since the presence of any large group called for the
strict enforcement of law and order to keep it from reverting into a mob.
Perugia and Umbrian banners as a case-study
Limiting my research to the circumstances of production and use of gonfaloni of a
single region allows me to provide an in-depth analysis of the power of processional images.
I have chosen Umbria because it has preserved a considerable number of gonfaloni (over
sixty), opening up a fruitful discussion on the afterlife of these objects. I focus on its capital,
Perugia, because it is representative of urban life in Italy in the fourteenth to the –sixteenth
centuries. In this time span, it kept the ―symbolic patrimony‖ of its cultural identity as a
57
Samuel Edgerton, Pictures and Punishment: Art and Criminal Prosecution during the Florentine Renaissance
(Ithaca & London: Cornell University, 1985), especially Chapter 5; Sharon Strocchia, Death and Ritual in
Renaissance Florence (Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992).
25
commune with a guild-based regime that was preserved longer than many other cities, such
as Florence.58 Moreover, more than half of Umbrian extant gonfaloni and tavolette were
made for Perugian groups.
Perugia has been largely neglected by the scholarship outside Italy, or even outside
Umbria, although it forms a superb case study for the investigation of urban identity. This is
due to the wealth of archival material that its institutions produced and preserved. Like many
other cities of Northern and Central Italy, there survive chronicles and collections of statutes,
records of executive decision making, of taxation, as well as numerous registers of guilds and
confraternities, and mountains of notarial paperwork. Perugia presents the chief features of
Italian communal cities that Trevor Dean has so clearly detailed in his ―Towns of Italy in the
Later Middle Ages,‖ cited earlier. It was a middling-sized city with a stable population
distributed between an urban core within the fortified walls and a dependent countryside
(contado).59 Its economy and political structure was based on the local guilds from which
civic councils were formed to regulate public life. Its government was responsible for the
urban physical environment and welfare of its citizens, from sponsoring architectural
projects, the paving of streets, and the oversight of systems of sanitation to subsidizing
charitable groups and artistic commissions.
Social organization in Perugia was similar to that of other cities, with the Popolani
composed of artisans and shopkeepers, an upper middle-class consisting of merchants and
entrepreneurs, the nobility who were attached to chivalric values, and the religious orders.
58
Anna Imelde Galletti, "Sant' Ercolano, il grifo e le lasche: note sull'immaginario collettivo nella città
comunale." In Forme e tecniche del potere nella città. Secoli XIV-XVII (Perugia: Università di Perugia, 19791980), 203-16, here 205.
59
Before the Black Death, the population was ca. 28,000 inhabitants; after 1348, it dwindled to possibly half of
that figure. By 1500, Perugia had recovered its early fourteenth-century number of inhabitants. By the midsixteenth century, Perugia had ca. 19, 000 inhabitants or 46, 000 with its contado. These figures are based on
Alberto Grohman‘s research on taxed habitations as reported and interpreted by James Banker: J. Banker, "The
Social History of Perugia in the Time of Perugino," in A. Antenucci Becherer, ed., Pietro Perugino: Master of
the Italian Renaissance (New York, N.Y.: Rizzoli International, 1997), 39 and 50, n. 7. Blanshei‘s figures differ
slightly from these estimates. She sees ca. 33,000 inhabitants in the late thirteenth century and ca. 12,000 two
hundred years later, and by 1511 ca. 13,000. Blanshei, ―Medieval and Renaissance Perugia,‖ 599.
26
Dean‘s comparative study covers Italian urban history until around 1340. Until the death of
Braccio Fortebraccio in 1424, Perugia‘s leadership went back and forth between a communal
regime and the ―tyranny‖ of foreign lords or local aristocrats. Gradually after that date, papal
authority was restored until the pope eventually recovered absolute power over his Umbrian
territories in 1540 (see appendix 1). During the fifteenth century, members of the two
politically dominating groups, the nobility and the popolo grasso (the merchants and
entrepreneurs), unified through marriages, new titles of ennoblement for the merchants, and
noblemen entering the artisan guilds.60 Perugian history thus offers a fertile terrain for the
study of collective identities and their graphic and material signs, such as gonfaloni, in ritual
settings.
With a few exceptions, extant gonfaloni are those that were kept in the careful
custody of confraternities. To my present knowledge, Umbria has the largest quantity of this
type of processional image. To date, I can only partially account for this phenomenon through
confraternal history and Perugia‘s devotional and civic life. Quite significantly for my study,
Perugia was the birthplace of a European devotional movement of 1260 in which the laity
adopted the penitential practices of scourging that had until then been reserved to the
clergy.61 The processions of the Perugian flagellants in 1260 subsequently encouraged the
formation of lay confraternities.62 In 1399, the pan-Italian Bianchi movement also swept
60
See James Banker‘s synthetic summary of the social and artistic situation. Banker, ibid., 37-51 and Susan
Blanshei, ibid., for a more economic-driven analysis.
61
Groupings of the laity dedicated to collective practices of piety originated in various countries in the
Carolingian era, although the distinction with other types of rural or urban associations (professional, political,
or military) is often blurred for the early medieval period. See Gilles Gérard Meersseman, Ordo fraternitas:
confraternite e pietà dei laici nel medioevo, 3 vols (Rome: Herder, 1977) and Vauchez, Les Laïcs au Moyen
Age, 95-112.
62
Incidentally, 700 years later, an international convention on the theme of the ―Disciplinati‖ held in Perugia
was instrumental in invigorating confraternity history. It was the forum for the publication of research such as
Guêze‘s that provides the oldest document for a Perugian confraternity, the foundation of the Flagellants of
Sant‘Agostino in 1317. Raoul Guêze, "Le Confraternite di S. Agostino, S. Francesco e S. Domenico di Perugia:
origini, profilo storico e attrazzature teatrali," in Il Movimento dei Disciplinati nel settimo centenario dal suo
inizio (Perugia 1260) (Perugia: Arti grafiche Panetti & Petrelli, 1986), 597-623; and Risultati e prospettive della
ricerca sul movimento dei disciplinati, Convegno internazionale di studio (Perugia: arte grafiche Città di
Castello, 1972). There were twelve penitential associations of the laity for the first half of the fourteenth century
27
Perugia, urging people to dress in white robes and follow a banner adorned with a crucifix,
processing in penance for their sins. This type of devotional procession and uniform had
already been appropriated by confraternities, but the Bianchi facilitated the emergence of new
charitable and pious groups in the laity. By the end of the fifteenth century, there were about
twenty brotherhoods in the Umbrian capital, and twenty-six by 1571. These were often
patronized by the Mendicant orders from which they then derived their names and the
iconography of their gonfaloni.63
According to my research, the preservation of ordinary gonfaloni can be explained by
two factors. Confraternity members took great care of their processional paraphernalia
because of the significance conceded to ritual motion through cities, and because of their
devotional practices that continued once the banners and their users came indoors. Andreas
Dehmer has perfectly reconstructed the ritual use of gonfaloni in the privacy of confraternity
premises, an aspect that I do not take up in my study. He demonstrated that a banner could be
essential for founding the association, for the investiture of its group leader, and for its
devotional practices.64 In most cases, the banners‘s processional life eventually ceased, and
these objects ended up installed above an altar while new ordinary banners were
commissioned. This fixed position in a sacred place protected them from otherwise inevitable
destruction through wear and tear.
The other reason lies in an aestheticizing process in which these objects were
recognized for their artistic value at the time of their execution or by later generations. Thus,
a confraternity banner from Città di Castello survived to this day because it was painted by
in Perugia, see Giovanna Casagrande, Religiosità penitenziale e città al tempo dei Comuni (Rome: Istituto
Storico dei Cappuccini, 1995), 395-6.
63
Olga Marinelli has published an exhaustive repertory of Perugian confraternities, providing an abstract of
each source. Olga Marinelli, Le confraternite di Perugia dalle origini al sec. XIX (Perugia: edizioni Grafica,
1965).
64
For a detailed iconographic taxonomy of banners, see Andreas Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, Chapter 5:
―Bildinhalte figürlich bemalter Bruderschaftsbanner zwischen 13. und 16. Jahrhundert,‖ 135-216. For indoor
rituals using the confraternity banner, ibid., ― Interne Zeremonie und Rituale,‖ 104-118.
28
the young Raphael, whose subsequent fame saved this painting despite its extremely frayed
condition.65 Many ordinary banners are today in museums because they are representative
―works of art‖ of a recognized master‘s work. Many more are still used as altarpieces in
churches, without having been identified yet as former processional banners. For example, a
gonfalone kept in the Servite church of Gubbio recently gained the attention of the press
when a ministerial agent for the preservation of artistic patrimony deemed it painted to be by
Raphael, a hotly contested attribution. This anonymous and dusty banner (before its
restoration) was also preserved because its confraternity changed its function to that of an
altarpiece. Thus, art appreciation and liturgical function may overlap to account for extant
works.
Extraordinary gonfaloni, on the other hand, were preserved thanks to their centurieslong status as cult objects. As such, when they were not carried in crisis processions, they
were used as altarpieces inserted in a lavish frame and protected by a curtain. They were
constantly illuminated, and called for permanent devotion. Perugia stands out with its five
holy banners (―i sacri gonfaloni‖) of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, whose veneration
did not falter for hundreds of years. They were painted over, retouched, and restored so that
they always looked fresh. Another obvious motive for a gonfalone to survive is the limited
number of its appearances and processions, such as the double-sided panel of the Perugian
Duomo that emerged from its chapel only once a year, as I recount in Chapter Five.
The number of extant gonfaloni in Umbria may be impressive because in-depth
analyses of this painting genre are missing for other regions. 66 Umbria has been the best
studied area so far. Further reasons include artistic emulation, regional styles, and visual
65
See Tom Henry, "Trinity with Saints Sebastian and Roch; Creation of Eve about 1500-1502," and A. M.
Marcone et al. "Documentazione del restauro della Trinità con i Santi Sebastiano e Rocco e della Creazione di
Eva," in: T. Henry and F. Mancini, Gli esordi di Raffaello (Città di Castello: Edimond, 2006), 121-23 and 14777.
66
Dehmer‘s catalogue of 120 confraternity banners offers 39 or 40 banners for Umbria including 18 of a
Perugian provenance. His catalog is however a first survey and remains incomplete.
29
rivalry among local confraternities. In the Marches, for example, the preferred formula for
processional paintings seems to have been smaller wooden panels and this region has
probably preserved the largest number of this type of gonfaloni. The lack of significant relics
in Perugia until it gained the Virgin‘s wedding ring may also account for the importance of
specific banners as depositories of miraculous agency. In Europe, mostly flags that
effectively advertised a corporate devotional commitment have been preserved because of
their original or eventual use in sacred contexts.67
The historiography of gonfaloni and the case of Umbria
The traditional school of connoisseurship in art history has always tended to consider
banners as secondary works. It is true that these paintings have all been heavily retouched
over the centuries and their present frayed condition is not attractive to many. Thus, for
Renaissance Italy, only banners executed by important masters, such as Piero della
Francesca, Perugino, Raphael, or Titian have attracted the attention of art historians.68
Otherwise, gonfaloni have interested scholars from technical points of view, especially as
paintings on cloth.69 Few studies exist for the Italian mezzogiorno. Bresc-Bautier offers
important documentation on the making of banners in workshops and Michael Bury makes
brief mention of gonfaloni from Naples and Sicily.70
67
The city flag of Bruges seems to have been preserved because it was never used. The military naval flag of
Marcantonio Colonna, given to him by Pius V, was present in the victorious Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and
consequently became an altarpiece in the cathedral of Gaeta where Colonna‘s ship landed. It shows the
crucifixion with Saint Peter and Saint Paul. See L. Mortari, ―Il restauro dello stendardo di Gaeta,‖ in Bolletino
d‟arte XLI (IV, 1956): 343-4.
68
James Banker has highlighted the importance of flag commissions to a respected artist such as Piero della
Francesca, and Scarpellini‘s list of Perugino‘s disappeared works includes several ―drapelloni‖. J. Banker, The
Culture of San Sepolcro during the Youth of Piero della Francesca (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan
Press, 2003). Pietro Scarpellini, Perugino (Milan: Electa, 1984), 313.
69
Wolfthal, Netherlandish Canvas Painting and the more recent Caroline Villers ed., The Fabric of Images:
European Paintings on Textile Supports in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (London: Archetype, 2000).
70
M. Bury, "Documentary Evidence for the Materials and Handling of Banners, Principally in Umbria, in the
Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries," in The Fabric of Image, 19-30.
30
A recent publication may reverse this trend. Andreas Dehmer‘s magisterial research
on confraternity banners of Northern and Central Italy validates the high significance of
banners for their patrons and definitely elevates the status of these paintings as integral part
of para-liturgical paraphernalia of an artistic nature. He considers banners as an artistic genre
of painting per se, explores its technical aspects, its iconography, its origins and its
development as a ―Vorform‖ (a formal precursor) of the wide-spread use of canvas for
artworks.71 Unfortunately, he entirely eschewed gonfaloni on wood although, admittedly,
they had the same function as textile banners. Dehmer‘s rationale is a Trecento confraternity
record and a seventeenth-century ceremonial book that he interprets as indicators for
distinguishing media.72 However, for a discussion of the role fo these visual signs in
discussing the formation and inculcation of group identity, I do not consider the formal aspect
of processional paintings or the medium on which they are made as a important taxonomies.
The functions of mobility and representation, and their hagiographic or biblical iconography
are identical, no matter the support.73
The only substantial work on Umbrian banners is Francesco Santi‘s Gonfaloni umbri
del Rinascimento (1976) which reproduces twenty-five banners in color with their versos
when they exist, and briefly comments on each of them, stressing the inclusion of
topographical representations in some of them. This publication appeared almost seventy
years after Walter Bombe‘s brief esay on eleven Umbrian gonfaloni which he analyzed in
71
See also his two articles: " Nuova lettura di un dipinto votivo in San Pietro in Vincoli." Bollettino d'Arte 84,
no. 108 (1999): 71-76 and "Zur Compagnia di S. Maria e S. Zanobi im Trecento." Mitteilungen des
Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 43 (1999): 597-605.
72
Dehmer cites a Venetian mariegola book mentioning a wooden standard (―uno stendardo de legno‖) and a
cloth ‗penelo‘ (―uno penelo grando de tela‖) as an evidence for ‗stendardi‘ referring to wooden panels and
‗gonfalone‘ (although ‗penelo‘ is indicated) referring to cloth paintings. I believe that he misinterpreted his
source. The fact that ‗de legno‘ is added to ‗stendardo‘ shows that it could have been made of a different
material. Moreover ‗penelo‘ is the equivalent of flag, therefore unequivocally made of cloth. See
Bruderschaftsbanner, 44-49.
73
These similarities are acknowledged by Wackernagel and Perugian art historian Paola Mercurelli Salari cited
by as Dehmer, ibid., 44-49, n. 18 and n. 34, as well as V. Schmidt, ―Stendardi processionali,‖ 554-555.
31
terms of their connection with the plague.74 Santi‘s catalogue raisonné lists only the most
visually spectacular paintings.75 Michael Bury‘s contribution on Umbrian banners yields
important primary sources on specific works and offers a rare study on their ritual
significance. He has underlined the process of framing certain gonfaloni with ―tabernacles‖
for their permanent display in churches and has provided a concise overview of technical
aspects.76
The production of ―secondary‖ painters has recently been reevaluated, thus providing
new studies on banners in art catalogues. Banners are treated in these publications from a
stylistic point of view raising issues of attribution, dating, and possibly patrons. Francesco
Mancini‘s monograph on Benedetto Bonfigli remains an indispensable tool for archival
references.77 Catalogues on Umbrian painting include banners in their repertory but focus on
the rickety issues of authorship and style and hardly say anything about function and
patronage.78
74
Walter Bombe, ―Gonfaloni Umbri‖ in Augusta Perusia, II, 1-2 (1907), 1-7.
I have so far retrieved another fifteen extant banners from the following secondary sources: Francesco
Mancini and Pietro Scarpellini, Pittura in Umbria tra il 1480 e il 1540 (Milan: Electa, 1983), Francesco Santi,
Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria: dipinti, sculture e oggetti dei secoli XV-XVI (Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca
dello Stato, 1985), Filippo Todini, La pittura umbra: dal Duecento al primo Cinquecento (Milan: Longanesi,
1989). I also found catalogued and non listed ones in local museums, thus reaching the number of fifty six
banners.
76
Michael Bury, "The Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Gonfaloni of Perugia," Renaissance Studies 12,
no. 1 (1998): 67-86; id., "Tabernacoli e gonfaloni," in Maria Luisa Cianini Pierotti , ed., Benedetto Bonfigli e il
suo tempo (Perugia: Volumnia, 1998); id., "Documentary Evidence for the Materials and Handling of Banners,
Principally in Umbria, in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries," in The Fabric of Images, 19-30. See also
Ettore Ricci, Storia critica dei SS. confaloni di Perugia e dell‟archidiocesi perugina (Perugia: library of the
church of San Filippo Neri, 1930s). Ricci was a priest from the Congregazione dell‘Oratorio in Perugia and the
author of many articles on Umbrian art. Ricci had been in charge of gathering sacred objects from the various
churches in Umbria for the Mostra d‘arte Sacra antica in 1907. His 190-page unpublished notebook has been the
unquoted inspiration of several art historians‘ publications on the Umbrian gonfaloni.
77
See Francesco Mancini, Benedetto Bonfigli (Milan: Electa, 1992) and Elvio Lunghi, ed., Niccolò Alunno in
Umbria, (Assisi: Editrice Minerva, 1993). Other Umbrian scholars such as Laura Teza and Elvio Lunghi have
corrected and updated some of Mancini‘s views in Vittoria Garibaldi, ed., Un pittore e la sua città. Benedetto
Bonfigli e Perugia (Milan: Electa, 1996).
78
Mancini, Pittura in Umbria; Todini, La pittura umbra. Too sharp a focus on attribution damages the internal
coherence of art analysis. See Bury‘s archival findings that corrected the authorship of works from Fiorenzo di
Lorenzo to Bartolomeo Caporali: "Bartolomeo Caporali: a new document and its implications." The Burlington
Magazine 132, no. 1990 (1990): 469-75.
75
32
Outline of the dissertation
Chapter One introduces the city of Perugia as a ritual space for general processions. I
review first the symbolic imagery that was used to represent the city: a heraldic device, the
griffon, and a hagiographic figure, Sant‘Ercolano. I examine the look and use of the civic flag
as a major symbolic representation of the Perugian government in manifestations of civic
identity. The temporal framework of city-sponsored processions and the neat order of
participants in these events gave Perugians ritual opportunities in which they experience
themselves as a united community. I stress the essential role of flags in this process. To assert
their authority, city officials were careful to stage their appearances in ritual events. I
consider clothing and accessories that demonstrated political leadership or worthy municipal
positions. Civic harmony is developed in rituals that involve most of the population, but a
review of the marginalized and of the conflicts for precedence leads me to conclude that this
visual unity was for the most part a semblance rather than a reality.
In Chapter Two, I contextualize the significance of identity markers within the
material culture of guilds, confraternities, and neighborhood associations. Inventories can
yield a fruitful study of the relationship between gonfaloni and other furnishings for outdoor
and indoor rituals.79 Social performances themselves explain the cognitive processes that turn
these objects into symbols determining group identity, pride, and solidarity. Clothing is
probably the most straightforward way of outwardly expressing one‘s social status or one‘s
membership in a group.80 When uniformly costumed, members of a specific community, such
as confraternities, gave up any sense of individuality within their group. However, this
79
See, for example, Kathleen Giles Arthur, "Cult Objects and Artistic Patronage of the Fourteenth-century
Flagellant Confraternity of Gesù Pellegrino," in T. Verdon and J. Henderson, eds., Christianity and the
Renaisssance (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1990), 337-360.
80
N. B. Harte and K. G. Ponting, eds., Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe (London: Heinemann
Educational Books, 1983); Susan Crane, The Performance of Self. Ritual, Clothing, and Identity During the
Hundred Years War (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002); Françoise Piponnier and Perrine
Mane. Se vêtir au Moyen Age (Paris: Adam Biro, 1995).
33
anonymity had limitations since portraits of individuals in some confraternity paintings mean
that a few members obviously wished to be recognized.
I also contrast public death rituals of single groups or the condemned with funerals of
the elite. A vast array of processional paraphernalia was used to identify the status of the
deceased: his profession, his devotional membership, his criminality, or his clan. In funeral
processions of the elite, I emphasize the role of flags, sumptuous palls, liveries, and chosen
colors for mourning garb. In papal entries, the ceremonies included heraldic flags, ritual keys
and an essential trapping of authority, the canopy. The staging of such symbolic
representations blurred the boundaries between actors and viewers. It reproduced the ideal
social structure while demonstrating the solidarity of the elite and establishing relationships
of power and submission. The cognitive effects of rituals were at work through the sensory
experiences that these striking images produced.
Chapter Three is dedicated to ―extraordinary banners‖ that worked for collective
salvation from natural and epidemic disasters in ―crisis processions‖.81 By exploring
iconography and patronage, I ascribe the major role in the production of such paintings to
religious orders rather than to confraternities. However, in most cases, gonfaloni
commissioned by religious orders were eventually entrusted to confraternities. Their careful
custody also entailed the maintenance of these cult objects above an altar with the appropriate
illumination for permanent devotion Thus, I revisit the function of gonfaloni by studying their
immense popularity in stationary positions. Such paintings not only elevated the prestige of
the confraternity in charge of it but concomitantly the whole population as a heavenly
protected city. Examining ritual mobility and immobility helps to understand what made
these images so powerful.
81
As Trexler aptly dubbed those processions in "Florentine Religious Experience: The Sacred Image," in
Studies in the Renaissance, XIX (1972): 7-41.
34
I look at a roster of gonfaloni portraying the Virgin of Mercy, a theme particularly
conducive to stressing Mary‘s power of intercession.82 I explore to what extent the
representation of textiles may have played a role in the empowerment of banners as miracleworking objects. Mary‘s dress of gold brocade was a luxurious cloth which inspired awe and
respect. Brocaded velvet was often used as a cloth of honor, awards in tournaments (―palii‖),
draping for statues, and in ceremonial offerings as a mark of political submission. Such an
Umbrian experience of cloth is registered in the chronicles, city statutes, diaries and in
records of public entertainment or civic feasts.83
In Chapter Four, I analyze a genre of mobile paintings inscribed with YHS (for the
name of Jesus) that Franciscan preacher Bernardino da Siena created. I discuss the nature of
these simple panels whose depictions oscillated between text and image. I study the ritual
practices around the display of these tablets, an aspect so far ignored by art historians. Ritual
settings empowered them with apotropaic qualities or turned them into objects of veneration.
Flaunted in the eye of a bewildered audience in sermons and carried in processions, these
tavolette also worked as visual mediators for promoting Bernardino‘s cult in the second half
of the fifteenth century.
I also examine the rivalry between the cathedral canons and Franciscan friars in
appropriating the cult of San Bernardino in Perugia and the images that it generated. The
iconography of the Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13), which may not have been
commissioned as a processional painting, worked as a prescriptive account for the successful
unfolding of a ritual in an orderly and ideally unified society. It recalled the sponsorship of
82
Christa Belting-Ihm has convincingly argued for its Byzantine and subsequent Franciscan origins and
demonstrated links to the existence of Marian clothing relics. Christa Belting-Ihm, "Sub matris tutela":
Untersuchung zur Vorgeschichte der Schutzmantelmadonna, vol. 3, Abhandlungen der Heidelberger Akademie
der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse (Heidelberg, 1976).
83
For example, Gustavo Cuccini has reconstructed the feast of March 1 st and its use of drapery for the griffin
and the lion statues, heraldic symbols of Perugia. Gustavo Cuccini, Il grifo e il leone : bronzei di Perugia
(Perugia: Guerra, 1994). For the use of palii in tournaments or races, see also La Societa in Costume. Giostre e
tornei nell‟Italia di antico regime (Foligno: edizioni dell'Arquata, 1986).
35
the government in supporting Bernardinian cults. Banners were one visual means to
commemorate canonizations under the aegis of both clerics and the city officials.
Chapter Five focuses on one Perugian confraternity, the Nunziata, because its images
played a major role in establishing its prestige in the public sphere. First, I explore the
iconography and function of a so-called Gonfalone of the Annunciate that was kept in a fixed
position in the beautifully-furnished Servite church. I suggest that it was an attractive painting
that provided a representative sample of the group and especially its prominent members for
permanent display. It exemplifies the fact that some paintings called ―gonfalone‖ then or later
may never have been processed at all. This would create a new category of paintings, named
gonfaloni, but used as an altarpiece or as a propagandistic image of a confraternity in a
church. The second image owned by these brothers was an articulate Crucifix that took center
stage during the confraternity‘s Easter procession. The statue and its ritual motions were
inseparable and formed another layer in displaying and creating confraternal identity. Lastly,
the festival of the Assumption gathered the whole population led by this confraternity and its
special privilege of handling an icon from the cathedral. The ritual use of this double-sided
panel spotlighted the Nunziata while promoting a variety of collective identities.
36
CHAPTER ONE:
Perugian identity and processional rhythms in Perugia
This chapter investigates the role of images in the urban dwellers‘ perception of their
own city. Civic identity is a socially constructed sense of belonging to an urban community
that shares common cultural, economical, and symbolic values. 84 Monuments and graphic
representations such as heraldry are part of this process but above all, ritual situations that
created opportunities for the emergence or the consolidation of social consensus. Civic
authorities sponsored and controled many processions that gathered the population as one
body, seeking to develop a feeling of solidarity across social classes and a sense of an urban
identity. As Muir argues, a unified city is a politicized city. 85 Concomittantly, city officials
used civic and religious rituals to impose an image of authority for themselves by carefully
staging their appearances. I therefore stress the necessicity of ritual trappings in the
organization of orderly processions that were meant to produce a unified image of citizenry
and civic authority. Since the ideal view of civic allegiance that I just described might mask
divisive processes in the Perugian civilization, I also evoke social exclusion or
marginalization, and conflict between groups in ritual situations.
1) The political dimension of the urban space
One way for the local government to define and symbolize a common urban identity
was by way of architecture and artistic endeavors. A city for outsiders and urban dwellers
alike was characterized by its soaring religious and secular towers within encircling city walls
84
Gene Brucker, "Civic Traditions in Premodern Italy," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 29, no. 3 (1999):
357-77; republished in Paula Findlen, ed., The Italian Renaissance: The Essential Readings (Malden, MA:
Blackwell, 2002), 47-63. For civic consciousness and the uses of republican ideology, see Alison Brown, "City
and Citizen: Changing Perceptions in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries," in Anthony Mohlo et al., eds., City
States in Classical Antiquity and Medieval Italy: Athens and Rome, Florence and Venice (Stuttgart: Franz
Steiner Verlag, 1991), 93-111.
85
―Government as a Ritual Process‖ in E. Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe, 268.
37
as the vedute of many Umbrian plague banners illustrate. In these paintings, the architectural
view contrasts with a countryside bare of any construction and people, showing the
subjection of the suburban area to the city (see Chapter Three and figs. 51; 53; 55-57; 65-66;
68). To this pictorial typification of the physical urban space, one must add the ―power of
place,‖ the political dimension of key buildings and piazza that, as backdrops for rituals,
provided the mystification necessary to create a feeling of civic identity. 86 Squares
surrounded by the looming buildings symbolic of secular and sacred power probably provide
the most important public space for rituals. There, the gathered population could experience a
symbolically charged spatial and architectonic framework as the urban identity of their city.87
Like many other Italian cities of middling size, the center of Perugia consisted of a
main square delineated by the imposing palaces that accommodated the municipal political
entities, such as the Palazzo del Podestà, the Palazzo dei Priori [the municipal hall], the
Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo. In Perugia, all these secular buildings stood on the same
square as the cathedral with its canonical dwellings and episcopal palace.88 In the center of
this complex, the elaborately carved Fontana Maggiore (main fountain) of 1278 funded by
the Commune was both a practical and a civic-minded monument for inhabitants and visitors.
The Palazzo dei Priori where legislative and executive decision-making affected the daily life
of many, expresses by its sheer dimensions the political power of the Commune. It was, by
the fifteenth century, the largest building in town. This central square, situated at the
intersection of all five rioni (districts), functioned as a hub for human traffic and as the seat of
86
See John Agnew and James Duncan, eds., The Power of Place (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989) and the works
cited in the next footnote.
87
For recent studies on the symbiotic relationships between urban spaces and ideological and symbolic power,
see Roger Crum and John Paoletti, eds., Renaissance Florence: a social History (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2006); in particular, J. Najemy, ―Florentine Politics and Urban Spaces,‖ 19-54 and Millner,
―The Florentine Piazza della Signoria as Practiced Place,‖ 83-103.
88
The residence of the Capitano del Popolo once juxtaposed to the Palazzo dei Priori was moved in 1481 to a
new palace on a smaller piazza 200m further down the hill. Alberto Grohmann, Perugia (Rome-Bari, Laterza,
1985), 79. Grohmann surveys Perugia‘s architectural and urbanistic development.
38
festivals and many rituals including sermons, processions, wakes, capital executions, and
many civic ceremonies (see map, fig. 70).
In the chapel of the Palazzo dei Priori, the Second translation of Sant‟Ercolano (fig.
1) painted by Benedetto Bonfigli in the 1460s is a precise depiction of that central space, still
legible despite the early deterioration of the fresco. The composition shows the transfer of
Perugia‘s main patron saint from the periphery of the city to the cathedral, an event that,
according to the Legend, occurred in the late tenth century. Bonfigli has compressed the
human frieze in its vertical development in order to leave space, about ¾ of the composition,
for the architectural backdrop. This sequence of buildings has been amply commented on by
art historians because of its architectural accuracy (along with the neighboring wall frescoes
of Ercolano‘s Martyrdom and First Translation) that acts as a testimony for the look of midfifteenth century Perugia.89 This architectonic panorama, onto which the participants in the
cortège are painted, unequivocally identifies them as Perugian inhabitants. It also ties the fate
of an early Christian bishop to the city itself by highlighting the Perugian ownership of the
protective relics. Ercolano‘s body is carried on a bier and shown as it goes past the Priori‘s
palace. It is juxtaposed in an axial relationship with the main portal that is adorned by statues
of Perugia‘s major protectors including Sant‘Ercolano (fig. 1b), a further allusion to the
Commune‘s appropriation of his cult.90 The annual processions in his honor took place on the
eve and the day of 1st March along the same itinerary shown in the fresco. Bonfigli‘s
Translation of Sant‟Ercolano is thus not a historically correct depiction of the solemn relic
89
See F. Mancini, Bonfigli, 53-80 and 95-97; E. Lunghi, "Appunti per la storia urbanistica di Perugia negli
affreschi della Cappella dei Priori," in V. Garibladi, ed., Benedetto Bonfigli. Un Pittore e la sua città (Milan:
Electa, 1996) republished under another title as "Luoghi e santi di Perugia negli affreschi di Benedetto Bonfigli
(XV secolo) nel Palazzo dei Priori di Perugia." Annali dell'università per stranieri di Perugia, nuova serie, no.
V (1997): 243-53.
90
The three statues were correctly identified as such by Mario Roncetti, "Leggere i documenti di pietra. Per una
coretta identificazione dei santi patroni di Perugia," BDSPU 89 (1992): 61-71. Although the majority of saints
recognized by the Roman Church between 1198-1431 were bishops, neither Ercolano nor Costanzo ever
underwent a trial for canonization. However, their cults are paradigmatic of a number of figures venerated as
civic patrons regardless of their official status in the Church.
39
transfer but a visual synopsis of a general procession that the painter had witnessed for
Sant‘Ercolano‘s festivities.
In the middle ages, cities adopted specific saints as protectors of their own urban
territories. Hagiography and the mythical early history of the Umbrian capital turned bishop
Ercolano into Perugia‘s main patron saint. In the mid-fourteenth century, jurist Bartolo da
Sassoferrato defined a ―civitas‖ by the presence of a bishop (―illa quae habet episcopum‖). 91
As an early local martyr, Ercolano embodied the civic-minded bishopric of Perugia‘s early
medieval history.92 Having defended the city against the Goth Totila, he was hailed as
Perugia‘s prime protector (defensor civitatis), especially after the final transfer of his relics to
the cathedral in the early eleventh century. The other defensores of Perugia were also linked
to episcopal status and comprised the city‘s first bishop (San Costanzo) and the saint to which
the cathedral was dedicated, San Lorenzo (fig. 1b). A short story by Francesco Sacchetti
makes fun of the Perugians for ―believing more in Sant‘Ercolano than in Christ.‖93 Beyond its
mocking tone, the plot demonstrates a process through which one particular saint can be
visually equated with a specific city: by having him depicted in a mural on the main piazza.
Representations of Sant‘Ercolano pervaded official acts from miniatures adorning
official regulations to sealed documents. Among the five large silver seals treasured by the
Commune for honorific usage was one with the figure of Sant‘Ercolano.94 In communal
registers, the holy bishop often stands by himself, holding the civic flag with the heraldic
91
The quote for Bartolo is in A. Grohmann, ed., Le città „leggibili‟. La toponomastica urbana tra passato e
presente. Atti del Convegno di Studi, Foligno 11-13 dicembre 2003 (Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per
l‘Umbria, 2004), 12-13.
92
For the early story of the Perugian commune, see John P. Grundman, The Popolo at Perugia 1139-1309
(Perugia, Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1992) and for Sant‘Ercolano, 20-23.
93
Davide Puccini, ed., Il Trecentonovelle di Franco Sacchetti (Turin: Unione tipografico-editrice torinese,
2004), 479-481, novella CLXIX.
94
Rita Staccini, "Vivere da Priori. Inventari dell'argenteria del Commune di Perugia (secolo XV), Bollettino
della Deputazione di Storia Patria per l'Umbria 101, no. 2 (2004): 281-95. For miniatures of Ercolano in
communal registers, see Carte che ridono. Immagini di vita politica, sociale ed economica nei documenti
miniati e decorati dell‟Archivio di Stato di Perugia; Secoli XIII-XVIII (Perugia: Editoriale Umbra), 35-39 and
67 for the period 1490-1520.
40
griffon of Perugia. He appears as a stone statue above the 1326 portal of the central building
of the government (fig. 1b). Sant‘Ercolano is placed in the middle of the holy triad and
univocally represents Perugia with his robe imitating a griffon-embroidered fabric. This new
entrance is adorned with low-reliefs of the Vices and Virtues and the Justice of Solomon, a
symbolic representation of the Good Government of the Priors.95
In terms of ritual performance, the commemoration of Sant‘Ercolano‘s Translation on
the last day of February and on 1st March gave rise to many events of utmost political
significance with two solemn processions, a tournament, the submission of the palii (costly
pieces of fabrics) of subjected cities (see fig. 77), and the liberation of a few prisoners. This
set of rituals made one evening and the next day of each year a very special time for
expressing civic unity. From the thirteenth century, a three-dimensional ―imago‖ of Ercolano
was processed. In the early fifteenth century, it was a magnificent statue made in silvercoated copper that underwent repair in March 1433.96 The head needed to be secured as well
as the attachment of the miter and the crozier, and the Priori and Camerlenghi readily spent
the substantial amount of 40 florins to ensure their protector‘s rightful appearance. In
February 1456, however, a wooden statue was commissioned with the provision that it had to
be painted anew every year by a certified master.97 The statue of Sant‘Ercolano was kept in
the cathedral of San Lorenzo from which it was carried and returned by the Compagnia del
Sasso, one of five major neighborhood associations in Perugia (see next chapter and excursus
no. 1).98 As the city statutes of 1342 stipulate, the ―image‖ of the glorious martyr was
95
On the three sculptures (fig. 1b), see Lunghi‘s entry in C. Bon Valsassina and V. Garibaldi, eds., Dipinti,
sculpture, ceramiche della Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria. Studi e restauri (Florence: Arnaud,
1994), 139-142. The coat of arms displayed on the archivolt, including the Perugian griffon and the Angevin
lily, express the city‘s political allegiances. Alessandro Savorelli, Piero della Francesca e l‟ultima crociata:
Araldica, storia e arte tra Gotico e Rinascimento (Florence: Le Lettere, 1999).
96
Riccieri, Annali ecclesiastici, 46. the cost of the repair was estimated 60 florins.
97
Ibid., 58-59: law of 17th February 1456 and deliberation of 10th March 1457 to have Francisco Tanci,
chamberlain of the painters‘ guild, paint the wooden statue.
98
Primum volumen statutorum Augustae Perusiae (Perugia: Girolamo Francesco Cartulari, 1526), § 417-418
(cited hereafter as ―Statutes 1520s‖).
41
accompanied by two gigantic tapers of 50 pounds each and eight dupleria (long, doublestemmed candles) of four pounds, all held upright on shafts (hastis). The amount of wax
surrounding the statue and the other lights carried by the population were meant to honor the
saint and attract his favors. The statue‘s privileged position in the cortège, after the clergy and
near the city officials, clearly associated the saint with the Perugian authorities.99 In addition,
the ritual paraphernalia reinforced this civic appropriation: both the chariot horses and the
imago wore a red cloth bearing white griffons, i.e. the Perugian heraldic colors.
Heraldic and civic imagery: the griffon
The other symbolic image that translated the city of Perugia into a visual concept was
drawn from heraldry. It consisted of a white, erect (―rampant‖) or walking (―passant‖) griffon
shown in profile with one front paw aggressively proffered (both if ―rampant‖) on a red field
(see excursus no. 1). The statue of Sant‘Ercolano and the caparisoned horses I just described
undoubtedly appeared civic-minded with their colourful heraldic props. From 1274 to 1281,
the statue was combined with a monumental bronze griffon carried in procession together
with a leonine counterpart and covered with sumptuous fabrics, in an attempt to enhance the
celebrations for the patron saint.100 From 1301, these monumental bronzes were set up above
the entrance to the Palazzo of the Priori, facing the central square, forming an impressive
visual cue logically binding the civic emblem with the municipal building. 101 The griffon is
often combined with Sant‘Ercolano as, for example, the two seals appended on an official
99
This reconstruction is based in the city statutes of 1342 (§46.1) and those of the 1520s (§93 and §385):
De imagine beati Herculani relevata fienda et portandi cum luminariis; De expensa facienda in cereis magnis et
hastis et aliis pro honorando imaginem beati Herculani et dominos priores in luminarie. For the annual payment
of ten pounds to the chamberlain of the painters‘guild, ibid., §412. This last provision is copied verbatim in the
Statutes of the Massari (§63) of the early fifteenth century, ASP, ASCPg, Massari, ―Statuto dei Massari‖.
100
See G. Cuccini, Il grifo e il leone bronzei di Perugia (Perugia, 1994) and M. R. Silvestrelli‘s entry ―Maestro
del 1274‖, in Arnolfo di Cambio (Perugia, Guerra Edizioni, 2005), 222-224.
101
These bronze statues were restored between 1966 and 1973. They then joined the museum collections of the
Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria (abbreviated as GNU hereafter). In 1982, copies were made to adorn the
historical spot that the originals occupied for centuries.
42
nomination in 1284 bearing each figure separately but in juxtaposition (fig. 2). This griffon
imagery was borne not only on seals or ritual cloths, but also on coat of arms and flags in
order to advertise and authenticate Perugian identity.
The griffon was a common motif for funerary urns in Etruscan Perugia but it had at
that time no known civic overtone. The earliest documented civic griffons appear in various
media: seals, bronze sculptures (such as the pair topping the Fontana Maggiore), drawings in
communal registers, and in a fresco in the thirteenth century. This was a golden age for
Perugia that was actively expanding its territory (the ‗contado‘) while becoming an
autonomous city-state with legislative and executive powers although officially part of the
Papal States.102
The communal minutes of 1378 provide accurate prescriptions for the painted
appearance of the civic griffon: it must have a silver body, gilded beak (rostro) and claws,
and as be capped with a golden crown (see appendix 2a). A glittering miniature on the
opening page of the statutory register (matricola) of the cotton workers (fig. 3) provides a
faithful representation.103 The armorial device of the white griffon on a red field survived all
the changes in the political regimes (communal, papal, feudal) of the Middle Ages and early
modern times and symbolized the then most important and powerful city in Umbria.
Possessing a heraldic insignia allowed the city to publicize its juridical status of autonomy
and to ―materialize‖ its existence as a commune with a graphic sign. The Perugian
government used this symbolic design to signal superiority in diplomatic matters or the
subjection of its contado, as the following examples will illustrate.
102
The oldest representation of the griffon is a fresco in the ex-church of San Giovanni del Fosso dated 1235.
Silvestrelli, ibid., 223. For examples of griffons in communal records, including the oldest surviving drawing
(1235), see Tiziana Biganti, ―La città e la sua simbologia,‖ in Carte che ridono, 26-34. On the influence of
Etruscan griffons on the Perugian civic emblem, see Giacomo Caputo, ―La tradizione etrusca del grifo e
l‘emblema di Perugia,‖ Studi Etruschi, 29 (1961): 417-422; M. A. Johnstone, ―The Griffin, the Coat of Arms of
Perugia,‖ Studi Etruschi, XXX (1962): 335-352. For the two bronze griffons (GNU) capping the Fontana
Maggiore from 1278 to 1948, see Refice, ―Grifi,‖ in Bon Valsassina, ed., Dipinti, Sculture della Galleria
Nazionale, 74-77.
103
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1378, 26, f. 206v. Council of 24th June 1378.
43
The territorial hegemony of Perugia was physically marked by the griffon emblem. It
was painted on the city gates as the Gonfalone of San Francesco shows (fig.) and it also
expressed Perugian domination on other Umbrian locations. An early example is a 1248
notarized copy of the act of submission of the castle of Montone (1216). The wax seal
hanging from a red silk ribbon bears a rampant (erect) griffon accompanied by the inscription
[S]IGILLU(M) C[IVITATIS].104 The 1342 city statutes abound in provisions for the mandatory
use of the city insignia. For example, the weapons and armors kept in the castles of Città di
Castello, Chiusi, and Castello della Pieve were to be inventoried and the crossbows ‗sealed‘,
i.e. marked with el sengno del griffone.105 In Bonfigli‘s fresco (fig. 1), the Palazzo of the
Priori has a shield bearing the Perugian coat of arms above its main portal. To the right, the
residence of the Podestà displays unmistakable allegiance to Pope Sixtus IV with the heraldic
signs on its façade, incidentally a means for dating this mural. The griffon appeared on
diplomatic gifts (see below) and official artifacts that were used and financed by the
government. It is worthy of note that the Perugian seal (that made documents and objects
official or guaranteed their authenticity) and coat of arms have the same iconography, unlike
cities such as Florence or Bologna.106 The continuity of the use of the griffon insignia
regardless of the political changes, turned this hybrid animal into an ―imposed‖ symbol
meaning Perugia.107
104
The seal measures 70 x 55 mm. For a transcription of this act, see A. Bartoli Langeli, Codice diplomatico de
Commune di Perugia II (1237-1254) (Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1985), 141 and 481.
Giovanni Bascapé, who was not aware of this example, argues that the griffon appears on Perugian seals in the
Trecento, following a seal bearing an image of Sant‘Ercolano. G. Bascapé, Sigillografia. Il sigillo nella
diplomatica, nel diritto, nella storia, nell‟arte, 2 vols. (Milan: Giuffrè, 1956-1969), I: 234.
105
M. Salem El Sheikh, ed., Statuto del Commune e Popolo di Perugia del 1342 in volgare (Perugia:
Deputazione di Storia Patria per l'Umbria, 2000), I: 289, § 76.5 (abbreviated as Statuto 1342 hereafter).
106
For early communal seals, see Bascapé, Sigillografia, I: 183-244; Eugenio Duprè-Theseider, ―Sugli stemmi
delle città comunali italiane,‖in La storia del diritto nel quadro delle scienze storiche (Florence: Olschki, 1966),
311-48. For a history of the communal emblem, see O. Marinelli, ―Lo stemma di Perugia,‖ Perusia (FebruaryMarch 1950): 22-27; Alberto P. Torni, Gli stemmi e gonfaloni delle Provincie e dei Comuni italiani (Florence:
R. Noccioli, 1963), 13-19; 397; 407-409.
107
Pierre Nora distinguishes between ―imposed symbols‖ that are an integral part of a national memory (he
deals with the French national identity) and whose history can be recounted, and the more complex ―constructed
symbols‖ that call for an analysis of various layers of memory. See his revised introduction to the English
44
The Perugian armorial griffon (see excursus no. 2) was also used on many objects that
were essential to economic life. For example, the wool weavers measured the width of their
looms with a metal rod sealed with the griffon while the cotton manufacturers used scales and
a weight similarly marked.108 Containers indicating volumes or weights had to be sealed with
the city arms or with the Capitano del popolo‘s arms (or his notary‘s).109 The guilds made
ample use of it on their seals, trademarks, or clothing. The wealthiest and most influential arti
had modeled their emblem on the heraldic beast that was often shown as passant (walking
with one front leg raised) in order to form a visually consistent shape once coupled with
another symbol. Thus, the Mercanzia‘s griffon towers over a pack of cloths and the Cambio‘s
straddles the entire length of a chained safe (figs. 58 and 85).
The power of the Mercanzia and the Cambio was visible in their permanent
representation among the Priori with two Mercanzia members and one money changer, and in
the re-location of their premises adjacent to the communal Palace from respectively 1390 and
1453. In this seat, a huge gilded relief of their emblem was carved in the lunette of their hall
in 1462. The second-ranking guild, the Cambio (money changers), was also connected
spatially with the government as it moved to the palace of the Priors in the mid-fifteenth
century. In the new seat, the wood panelling (1490s) of the main hall is adorned with a relief
of the griffon, and in one of Perugino‘s frescoed lunettes (1498-1500), Mercury‘s chariot is
drawn by two griffons.
edition of Lieux de mémoire partially translated as Realms of Memory. The Construction of the French Past, vol.
III: Symbols (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998 [1992]), ix-xii.
108
Francesco Briganti, Le corporazioni delle arti nel Commune di Perugia (sec. XIII-XIV) (Perugia: Guerriero
Guerra, 1910), 187. Rita Staccini, ed., Le arti perugine de la bambagia e della seta (Spoleto: Centro italiano di
studi sull'alto Medioevo, 1994), 152-153. The bales made from Syrian cotton must be marked with the griffon
and with the emblem of the guild itself (§3 of the 1381 statutes). Ibid., 162
109
For example, the containers to measure sand. Millers were to have iron or copper measures which were
affixed at the foot of their mills with a chain and bore ‗the sign of the commune that it‘s the sign of the griffon‘.
The wicker basket measuring one mina had to be sealed with the arms of the captain. Wine retailers had to use
pictitos marked by the seal of the captain. See Severino Caprioli, ed., Statuto del Commune di Perugia del 1279
(Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1986), 417, n. 471; 161, n. 143; 329, n. 355.
45
Matteo di ser Cambio‘s miniature for the 1377 statutes of the Cambio guild (fig. 4)
depicts a powerful griffon able to guard the city‘s wealth. Its size makes it seem powerful and
able to guard the city‘s wealth. The animal and the object, both on parallel horizontal axes,
offer a striking image of symmetry and clarity. This iconography was repeated for many
centuries.110 Another professional association that added the griffon to its emblem were the
notaries (fig. 5). In 1403, they recorded the money spent on a green silk cloth to protect the
miniatures of the griffons in their new matricola, upon order of the Priors.111 The heraldic
griffon was an image that commanded respect.
Graphic symbols alone cannot construct urban identity. To be accepted as
unequivocal signs of identity, symbols need to be experienced in public rituals for a cognitive
effect to ―kick in.‖112 For example, when a newly nominated bishop entered Perugia, he was
met at the periphery of the city by a procession of the clergy and city officials. There, he was
given a horse adorned with a white silk caparison bearing the Perugian arms (―with the white
griffons in escutcheons‖) and he rode thus equipped to the main piazza.113 The bishop‘s
pluvial and miter proclaimed his ecclesiastical rank while the caparison symbolized Perugia,
and the gift of a horse thus adorned meant that the Perugians, represented by the Priori and
the coat of arms, accepted their new ecclesiastic leader. The acquiescent behavior of an awestruck crowd confirmed the pact. Thus ritual action that staged objects marked with the
110
For example, the seat of the tribunal in the new headquarters of the guild was adorned with a wooden walnut
relief in c. 1620, carved by Giampietro Zuccari. Pietro Scarpellini, ed., Il Collegio del Cambio in Perugia
(Milano: Electa, 1998).
111
―Item dicta die [Oct. 31, 1403] expendidi, de mandato dictorum priorum, pro bendella siricis viridis ponendi
circha circha (sic) griffones matricule nove (...).” Transcribed in Roberto Abbondanza, ed., Il notariato a
Perugia (Rome: Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato, 1973), entry 68, 96-99.
112
On perception and thought processes in rituals see Kertzer, ―The Ritual Construction of Political Reality,‖ in
Ritual, Politics, 77-101.
113
Here are two examples: in April 1435, the bishop of Perugia entered the city in his pluvial and the beautiful
grey horse he was given was covered with white silk adorned with the white heraldic griffons of the city in their
red escutcheons (―con glie scudette, con li griffoni tutti bianchi‖). Diario del Graziani, 394. Jacomo da Cortona
rode into Perugia on 21st March 1456 on a ―bello cavallo copertato con sopravveste [sic] di zendado bianco
coll‘arma del Comuno in essa.‖ Oscar Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita di Pietro Angelo di Giovanni in
continuazione di Antonio dei Guarneglie,‖ in BDSPU 4 (1898), I: 307 (abbreviated hereafter as ―Cronaca
inedita,‖ I) and the second part (1461-1494),‖ BDSPU 9 (1903): 102-245 (abbreviated as ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II).
46
symbol of the griffon turned this graphic sign into a meaningful representative of Perugian
politics and inhabitants.
Diplomatic gifts from the Perugian government displayed the city‘s heraldic device
but it was the ceremony around them that merged the device with the Umbrian capital in
people‘s minds. At the end of each governor‘s office, the Priori presented him with silver
dishes adorned with the griffon inscribed in a red escutcheon. The ritual of the gift
presentation itself meant again that Perugians assented to the presence of a papal
representative but the conspicuous city‘s coat of arms on the present was also a way to assert
the city‘s autonomy of its communal councils in the face of papal control. The chroniclers
were probably aware of this symbolism since they reported the heraldic details on the gifts. 114
Ritual behavior must be repetitive and standardized for its symbols to be endowed with
special meaning.
The civic flag in its representations
At all times, civic flags with the city armorial device were an important symbol
standing for the urban community. In medieval and renaissance Italy, different types of
official vexilli corresponded to this category of civic flags. According to the political
situation, the flags of the People (popolo), of the nobility, of the Commune, of the parte
guelfa or ghibellina, or the heraldic vexillum of the ruling lord (who could be the pope)
concomittantly billowed on battlefields or on official buildings. 115 As Italian cities
consolidated their communal, guild-based, regime in the thirteenth century, the popolo or the
Commune flags became the ultimate choice for representing the urban community. Thus, both
Siena and Lucca adopted the flag of the commune, respectively the balzana and the red field
114
For example, the donation of 6th February 1440. Diario del Graziani, 448.
115
The illustrations of the chronicle of Lucca written by novelist Giovanni Sercambi between 1368 and 1424,
abounds in watercolor depictions of city flags. See Aldo Ziggioto, ―Le bandiere della Cronaca del Sercambi
(seconda metà del sec. XIV)‖, Armi antiche, 1980, 61-77.
47
topped by a white one, while in Perugia, the white griffon of the popolo triumphed over the
red lion of the nobility.116 This does not preclude that at the time of signorie (see chronology,
appendix 1), the lord of Perugia added his own heraldic flag to the civic one.
Visual sources for the appearance of the Perugian flag include the miniatures in
official records showing Sant‘Ercolano holding the city flag (fig. 6a-b), his life-size depiction
in one of the largest stained-glass windows of Italy (1411) in the church of S. Domenico (fig.
7), and the Gonfalone of Sant‟Ercolano (fig. 33).117 However, these images do not reflect the
actual size and splendor of the city vexillum. The masters depicted a small and mundane flag
following an iconographic tradition in which the combination of the saint holding a civic flag
is meant to show the relationship protector-city regardless of an exact rendering of an actual
city standard. A more truthful rendition is provided by Dono Doni‘s fresco (fig. 8) with the
city heralds blowing their silver trumpets to which a large city flag is attached. One should
keep in mind that this ceremony required the best paraphernalia, hence the long silver
trumpets with their large flags.
The stunning look of the Perugian standard can be deduced from records of its
commission. It was an expensive object that required the skill of a number of artisans from
different guilds: a silk-cloth manufacturer, a tailor, a painter, and a blacksmith for the staff.118
It was made of red silk with a griffon painted in silver while its borders were adorned with
fringes of green silk. The animal‘s crown, beak, and claws were gilded, a way to stress the
animal‘s fierceness. Miniatures in books of guild statutes (figs. 3; 4) render this glittering and
116
Other political flags could impose themselves besides the communal flag as was the case in Florence. The
Ghibelline Florentine flags bore a white lily on a red ground. But after 1251, the color scheme was inverted to
signify the domination of the Guelf Party and thus a red lily on a white field was adopted to this day.
117
In the Dominican church, a Perugian, Bartolomeo di Pietro, assisted a Florentine artist, Mariotto di Nardo in
the execution of one of the largest stained glass windows of Italy with over life-size saints. See Caterina Pirina,
―La vetrata,‖in G. Rocchi Coopmans de Yoldi and G. Ser-Giacomi, eds., La Basilica di San Domenico di
Perugia (Perugia: Quattroemme, 2006), 401-414.
118
See the description in bookkeeping accounts of a civic flag given to the podestà in 1425. Giacomo Bascapé
and Marcello Del Piazzo, Insegne e Simboli: Araldica pubblica e privata, medievale e moderna (Rome:
Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1983), 31, n. 11. See also the description drawn from the Riformanze
and my transcription in appendix 2a.
48
imposing appearance even though the silver pigment has often oxidized. Representing the
actual size of the flag would require much more space within the image and would unbalance
the composition at the risk of masking part of the saint. Some exceptions to that pictorial
tradition include a frescoed Sant‘Ansano (fig. 9) in the church of Santa Pudenziana near
Narni (early fifteenth century) and Saint Maurice holding the flag of Solothurn (Switzerland)
by Holbein in 1522 (fig. 10).119
Heraldry was a highly codified visual language that was subjected to a set of
iconographic rules. An influential exponent of these prescriptions was Bartolo da
Sassoferrato who described in his tract on insignia and coat of arms how, for example,
animals should be depicted on flags.120 The figure of an animal should face the staff of a flag
so that it appears to walk forward. But on a trumpet banner, the animal should not face the
instrument; otherwise the animal would appear to be lying on its back when the trumpet is
being blown. A correct example of this practice is the scene of the Perugian army‘s defeat by
the papal troops (1398) in a contemporary watercolor (fig. 11a) from the Chronicles of
Giovanni Sercambi, a Tuscan spice-merchant from Lucca.121 The griffon on the blown
trumpets appears tilted forward with outstretched paws as if ready to attack while the griffon
on the flag faces the opponent in the same direction as the horsemen. The same can be said of
119
Reproduced in Claudio Strinati, ed., Lo sguardo di Maria: un itinerario dal Trecento al Seicento nel
territorio di Terni (Perugia: Electa Editori Umbri, 1991), entry no. 34, 98.
120
Cavallar et al., Grammar of Signs, 74-9.
121
Giovanni Sercambi (1348-1424) started writing the history of Lucca from age 20 to his death, but the events
that he narrates start in the twelfth century. He is sometimes regarded as the author of the 600 vignettes in
watercolor and ink that illustrate the text. His chronicles were published by Salvatore Bongi in the late
nineteenth century accompanied by small woodcuts of the watercolors. Color photos of the integral illustrations
appeared in 1978. See Salvatore Bongi, ed., Le Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi lucchese (Rome: Istituto Storico
Italiano, 1892), and Ottavio Banti and M.L. Testi Cristiani., eds., Giovanni Sercambi : Le illustrazioni delle
Croniche nel codice lucchese (Genova: Basile, 1978). Fig. 11a is attached to §557: ―Come le gente della Chieza
sconfisse i Perugini.‖ For the corresponding text, see Bongi, ibid., II: 157.
49
a miniature illustrating the conquest of Assisi by the Perugians (1322) in the chronicle of the
Florentine Giovanni Villani (fig. 11b).122
Sometimes, artists depict the wrong heraldic position of the griffon. In two miniatures
with Sant‘Ercolano holding the Perugian flag, the griffon faces the wrong way (figs. 6a-b).123
The erect griffon may be passant to reinforce the triumphant mood as in the notaries‘
procession (fig. 12a) where the griffons on the trumpet pennons seem to lead the march or, in
the Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13) in which Bonfigli has elongated the beasts in order
to have them best fit the tiny space reserved for the horns. In these last two instances, the
griffons appear black because their original silver pigment oxidized.
The civic flag in its ritual use
In records of the fourteenth through sixteenth-centuries, ―l‘arme della città‖ (the city‘s
coat of arms) metonymically stood for the city flag.124 In the presence of the city flag, events
were immediately imbued with solemnity. When the government needed to announce a
decision publicly, it sent its heralds dressed in the civic livery (see appendix 3) to specific
locations in Perugia. At these strategic points, they blew their horns to call the attention of
everybody. That sound was accompanied by the sight of the affixed flag that unfurled from
their trumpets. A whole range of information was provided to the population by way of these
―bandi‖: date of general processions, duration of holidays, fines for non-compliance, etc.
Thus, the city government took great care of the look of its heralds. Their civic livery was
renewed annually (see appendix 3) and the flags of their trumpets (pennoni da trombe)
122
See f. 226r of the codex Chigiani reproduced in Chiara Frugoni, ed., Il Villani illustrato : Firenze e l'italia
medievale nelle 253 immagini del ms. Chigiano L VIII 296 della Biblioteca Vaticana (Città del Vaticano:
Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 2005), 248.
123
Carte che ridono, n. 17, 35 and n. 44.1, 67. A correct position is shown in fig. 20 (Notaries at work, 1525).
124
For example, in Diario del Graziani, 573 or in council minutes, see appendix 2a-b.
50
regularly repaired or replaced.125 When foreign emissaries were sent to Perugia, they also
toured the city with their own city trumpets and flags in a reverential show of successful
diplomacy. For example, in 1370, a chronicler pointed out that, among the ‗five trumpets‘
announcing peace between Perugia and the pope, two were adorned with the arms of
Florence (a red lily over a white field) because this city had played a mediating role. 126
Masaccio‘s birth tray (desco da parto) of 1426 renders the noticeable appearance of such
Florentine heralds (fig. 14a). An example of how a city flag could embody the civic identity
of the whole city is when it was given to a city‘s overlord as a sign of complete
submission.127
The use of city heraldry was strictly regulated, making its iconography all the more
authoritative. It was forbidden for anyone not so entitled to use the communal coat of arms,
be it for a funeral or in any other occasion; it was a ―devilish instigation‖ that was punishable
by the death penalty. The expression ―coat of arms‖ includes the city flag since another
provision specifies that anyone, except the Priori, who would go to a public place in Perugia
or its surroundings with an insignia or a flag (ensegna, pennone overo bandiera) without
permission of the city authorities was condemned to death and his goods became state
property. Since the punishment was by decapitation (―del capo sia punito, sí ke muoia‖), this
offence was considered state treason.128 It was strictly forbidden for anyone who was not
entitled to do so to handle the civic flag because its display was interpreted as a
demonstration of power.129 The sight of the city flag could gather crowds and thus its
125
Quod fiant pennones tubarum and Deliberatio pro refectione pennonorum, ASP, ASPCPg, Riformanze, anno
1436, 18th May, f. 65r.
126
Fabretti, ―Memorie 1351-1438,‖ in Cronache, I: 194.
127
For example, the capitouls (municipal magistrates) of Toulouse handed in the city flag (held by a nobleman)
to King Louis IX on 26th May 1463. See Bernard Guenée and Françoise Lehoux, Les Entrées royales françaises
de 1328 à 1515 (Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1968), 172-173.
128
Salem, Statuto 1342, III: 310, §230.19 and III: 174-175, §122.1; §122.5; §122.7.
129
A chronicler reported that in 1311 as the Perugian army was marching towards a castle, the Todi troops who
occupied it gathered their forces and left the castle upon ‗seeing the signs of the commune of Perugia‘ (vedendo
le sengne del comuno de Peroscia, se levaro e lassaro el castello). Francesco Ugolini, Annali e cronaca di
51
inappropriate use was deemed to disturb law and order (se turbe lo stato pacifico del
comuno).130 In times of war, only the city authorities could confer the flag on entitled men.
These prohibitions and restrictions stipulated in the city legislation emphasize the extreme
respect and reverence due to official flags.
Periodically, the highest judiciary officials (the podestà and the capitano del popolo)
would receive the insignia comunis for their good administration of justice at the end of their
first six-month term (appendix 2b). For example, on 11th August 1445, the Council of the
Priors conferred on podestà Giovanantonio dei Lionelli from Spoleto the city insignia for his
merits.131 The award of the city flag was a mark of distinction because it was not a pro forma
ceremony. It was a decision of the Priors which had to be ratified by the Chamberlains
[camerarii], once the nominee‘ professional deeds had been inspected. The expense for the
podestà‘s flag was usually 25 florins while 20 florins were spent on the capitano del popolo‘s
flag, thus marking the precedence enjoyed by the noble chief justice versus the more modest
status of the capitano. The city statutes stipulate that the ceremony of presenting the flag to
the gonfaloniere (the podestà) was not to be simulated in any circumstance under penalty for
treason.132 The podestà was also the city gonfaloniere (standard bearer) which means that he
was in charge of the ceremonial city flag.
The ritual of capital punishment for political treason took place on the central square
at the foot of the Podestà‘s palace rather than outside the city gates. These executions were
signalled by affixing the city standard kept by that chief justice on the walls of his residence.
Alternatively, it was the Capitano del Popolo who announced an imminent death penalty by
displaying the civic flag on the facade of his palace. Auditory cues included a special bell
Perugia in volgare dal 1191 al 1336, in ―Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia. Università degli Studi di
Perugia‖, I (1963-1964), 1-336, 183.
130
Salem, Statuto 1342, III: 172, §120.1.
131
Vittorio Giorgetti, Podestà, capitani del popolo e loro ufficiali a Perugia (1195-1500) (Spoleto: Centro
italiano di studi sull‘alto medioevo, 1993), 243, n. 188.
132
Salem, Statuto 1342, III: 173, §121. 1-2.
52
tolled (―la campana della giustizia‖) and a communal herald blowing his trumpet before the
condemnation was read aloud. These sensory signs for such grave spectacles were so
predictable that their rare absence signified a case of expeditious justice. It could also mean
the suspension of the execution as in October 1467 when the Podestà, upon order of the
governor, brought the flag back indoors.133 Many contemporary scenes of execution show the
chief justice on horseback next to a flag-bearer or holding himself a flag (figs. 14b-d). Thus,
rituals and legal dispositions vested the Perugian heraldic griffon and its highly visible
medium, the civic flag, with utmost authority.
2) The “bel ordine” of general processions
General processions were the most visible expression of Perugia‘s ―civic religion‖
and highlighted local collective identities gathered as one unified body. ―Civic religion‖ can
be defined by the initiatives of the city councils composed of laymen that underwrote
festivals for saints including wax tributes, processions and the construction or repair of
churches.134 This phenomenon was typical, in the last centuries of the Middle Ages, of Italian
Communes that sought to strengthen civic identities in the face of internal strife such as
factions, and external threats, such as warfare and its corollary, territorial loss.135 In André
Vauchez‘s own terms, the ―urban powers appropriated the values of religious life for the
purposes of legitimacy, celebration and public well-being.‖136 Thus, each city claimed its
133
For example, on 4th January 1443, when retainers of Braccio Baglione (Malatesta‘s son) robbed a Roman
cardinal on a high way near Perugia, four of the criminals were immediately arrested and hanged on the site of
the misdeed. A fifth offender was hanged on the main Piazza of Perugia the next day: ―la mane, sensa stendardo
e sensa leggere condamnagione, fu apiccato uno giù‘l Campo,‖ Diario del Graziani, 519. Other examples of
disturbed rituals of capital punishment can be found in chronicles. See Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 74-75
(24th July 1451); 303-4 (14th January 1456); ibid., II: 56 (19th October 1467) and 376 (21st August 1493).
134
André Vauchez, "Patronage des saints et religion civique dans l'italie communale de la fin du moyen âge" in
Vincent Moleta, ed., Patronage and Public in the Trecento (Florence: Olschki, 1986), 59-80 reprinted in: Les
laïcs au moyen âge. Pratiques et expériences religieuses (Paris: Cerf, 1987), chapter 15, 169-186.
135
136
Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice, 233.
A. Vauchez, ed., La religion civique à l‟époque médiévale et moderne (Rome : Ecole française de Rome,
1995), 1.
53
own civic pantheon of saints, celebrated by a roster of festivals sponsored by the civic
authorities according to the saints‘ feast days. Diana Webb has studied the formation of civic
cults in a number of Italian cities and shown how these ritual practices fostered civic virtue
and loyalty to the political authorities.137
The necessity of general processions
Saving the city from depravity and saving oneself from a torturous afterlife was an
ongoing pursuit with multiple facets. Belonging to a religious community or a confraternity
was a way to seek redemption not only for oneself, but also for the whole population.
However, it was the city‘s responsibility to provide law and order to attract God‘s grace.
Throughout the year, securing the protection of mediating saints was necessary given the
corruption that infiltrated urban life. An important part of the agenda of local communal
governments consisted of charitable actions aiming at the purification of the city. To reach
this goal, however utopian, official support of the religious and lay communities that were
devoted to piety took the form of material donation such as grain or wax to canons, monks,
friars, tertiaries, and confratelli. To facilitate the appropriate performances of piety of these
beneficial praying agents, the urban regime regularly deliberated on subsidies for the
construction or repair of oratories that accommodated depictions of saints to whom prayers
for intercession were addressed. The making or restoration of these sacred images including
statues, altarpieces, and banners were often underwritten by the Commune.
Frequent general processions were another essential means of purifying the urban
space. Like many other cities in Western Europe, Perugia dedicated one third of the year to
the celebration of Christian cults with general processions as the major expression of these
cults. General processions meant compulsory attendance and gathered almost the entire
137
Diana Webb, Patrons and Defenders: The Saints in the Italian City States (London. New York: I.B. Tauris,
1996).
54
population along prescribed routes in the city that most of the time departed from, arrived at,
or walked past the cathedral and the town hall. They were public performances of piety that
took place throughout the year as a regular collective enterprise intended to secure God‘s
benevolence or the mediation of saints for the benefit of the entire city. Municipal
deliberations could modify the city statutes regarding which days such processions would be
held.138 The compulsory closing of shops freed up time to attend mass, visit churches, and
participate in the ritual festivities. Since workers may have been reluctant to leave their
affairs behind, authorities issued laws for mandatory participation in general processions and
froze most economic activities.139
The commemoration of Sant‘Ercolano involved four holidays by law, from the last
day of February to 3rd March. While provisions in the City Statutes regarding processions
usually take the procession for San Costanzo (29th January) as the model of reference, the
statutes of the guilds do not often mention this saint. But they systematically contain clear
provisions about the compulsory attendance in the procession for Ercolano and for the
Assumption (15th August), threatening the absentees with pecuniary fines.140 The Pardon of
St. Stephen (3rd August) for which a plenary indulgence was granted in the wake of that of
the perdono of the Porziuncola in Assisi (2nd August), Christmas, Easter, and other Marian
days were also important ritual times. If temporal feasts (commemorating events from the life
of Christ or the Virgin) were always included in religious and civic calendars as bank
holidays, the sanctoral calendar (for saints‘ anniversaries) allowed for adjustments. The ―115
138
See Dean, The Towns of Italy, 77-78 for a translation of the provision from the city statutes with non-worked
days. See Giuseppe Mira, in: Il santo patrono, 252-253.
139
However, twice a year, mid-August and end of October, the Assumption and Halloween were an opportunity
for 8-day long fairs to take place.
140
For example, it was mandatory for all the leather-repair artisans to attend the vigils for Ercolano and the
Assumption but for other feasts eight men were chosen by the camerarius. Rita Staccini, ed., L'arte dei
ciabattini di Perugia (Perugia: Editrice umbra cooperativa, 1987), De luminariis, 88-89.
55
saints‖ venerated in Perugia between 1200 and 1500 were in fact not consistently celebrated
over this period of time.141
Many of the celebrations of saints‘ feastdays showcased one of the five rioni or porte
(administrative divisions of the city) by way of neighborhood associations (see Chapter
Two).142 Members of these ―compagnie‖ performed on the streets of their district and on the
main piazza, and hosted a banquet. For example, the Compagnia di Porta Santa Susanna
danced on Ascension Day, all dressed in their blue silk doublets adorned with chains, while
in the concluding days of April and on 1st May, the spotlight fell on the inhabitants of Porta
Sant‘Angelo where the large Mendicant church of Sant‘Agostino stood.143 Then, three major
processions took place ending in the rione‘s main church: one in honor of the apostles James
and Philip, one for Saint Augustine‘s Day on 28th April in which the Compagnia di Porta
Sant‘Angelo paraded, and lastly a procession showcasing a relic owned by the Augustinian
friars. May trees were planted throughout the porta under the command of the local noble
families. Typically, several hundred people assisted and the Compagnia danced, concluding
the neighborhood party with an outdoor banquet.144 The Compagnia di Porta Sole caroused
on 1st June for San Fiorenzo‘s Day and the Compagnia di Porta Eburnea danced through the
city (―per tutta la cità‖) on 24th June for John the Baptist‘s Day.145
141
Gary Dickson, ―The 115 Cults of the Saints in Later Medieval and Renaissance Perugia: a Demographic
Overview of a Civic Pantheon,‖ Renaissance Studies 12-1 (1992): 6-19.
142
Other names for the geographic infrastructure of Italian cities are ―terzi‖ (e.g. Siena), ―quartieri‖ (e.g.
Florence), ―sestieri‖ (e.g. Venice) that may include subdivisions such as the contrade of Siena and the gonfaloni
of Florence. ―Rioni‖ from the Latin ―regions‖ was also used in Rome. The five porte of Perugia are: to the East,
Porta Sole; to the North-West, Porta Sant‘Angelo; to the West, Porta Santa Susanna; to the South, Porta Eburnea
(Porta Borgne); to the South-East, Porta San Pietro. See map, fig. 70.
143
The Compagnia di Porta Santa Susanna‘s link to the Ascension is documented for 1430 in Diario del
Graziani, 343.
144
Diario del Graziani, 549 for 1444; for the Compagnia di Porta San Angelo and the Calends of May in 1471,
see ibid., 642. The first celebration of this feast-day by a compagnia in Porta Sant‘Angelo was on 4 th May 1391.
Ibid., 253: ―Adí 4 de maggio quelli di Porta Sant‘Angelo comenzaro a fare una festa nuova a Santo Agostino.”
For the Compagnia di Porta Sole and San Fiorenzo in 1456, see Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I, 314 and II, 74.
145
The Compagnia di Porta Sole is also called ―del Domanio‖ or ―di San Fiorenzo.” The Compagnia di Porta
Eburnea recited a play on prophet Jonas ―in piei della piazza‖ in 1430, see Diario del Graziani, 343; for 1471,
ibid., 643 and Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II, 75.
56
An important aspect that justified these annual commemorations was the negative
image that cities offered from a moralizing point of view. Replete with crimes, entertainment
possibilities, usury, and factions, cities offered fertile terrain for sinful comportment. This
could elicit divine punishment such as the plague, requiring a sanitary and moral agenda for
the purification of the city including penitential processions and the making of special
banners (see Chapter Three). On temporal feast days, no traffic with pack animals was
allowed in the city and shops were closed, thus providing a tangible sense of the city as a
special celebratory stage in which inhabitants could proceed together, unmolested.146
Whatever the context, a procession could only be successful if it offered a positive image of
the city population, one marked by order, obeisance, and penitence in order to achieve the
proper decorum due to a saint or to God. One important element in arranging an orderly
cortège was having participants respect precedence according to the succession of groups
enunciated in the City Statutes.
Order and precedence
Expressed in terms borrowed from ritual theory, processions (and depictions of them)
represent the ―need to put into a linear form social relations.‖147 Urban dwellers were ranked
according to a social hierarchy and cosmic order, from the heavenly-inspired clerics to the
earth-bound workers, while the political representatives marched in the middle. This set
succession of groups reflects medieval and early modern social divisions and local powers. It
also shows that people understood themselves as members of multiple groups that were
economic or religious in nature, as well as inhabitants of a particular city, and bound by its
laws and collectivities. In Perugia, the regulation of the major festivals was the responsibility
146
147
Salem, Statuto, III: 86-7, §48. Straw, grass, and bread were the only products allowed for transportation.
Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: the Eucharist in late Medieval Culture (New York: Cambridge University Press,
1991), 265.
57
of the Priori, not the Podestà or another political entity.148 It was spelled out in the city
statutes, and guild statutes repeated these norms. In the following discussion, I confront
visual evidence, especially Bonfigli‘s fresco, and prescriptive sources, mainly the Perugian
city statutes, in order to reconstruct general processions and their emotional stimuli for
participants and viewers.
Bonfigli‘s fresco (fig. 1) helps to visualize the cortège of a general procession, that of
the Perugian patron saint, along the prescribed itinerary from the church of Sant‘Ercolano
back to the cathedral chapel containing the saint‘s remains. By basing his compositional
mode on profiles, Bonfigli faithfully renders the slow kinetics of solemn cortèges which
stretched out indefinitely because of the prescribed mode of walking in pairs, or as a
chronicler puts it: ―a coppie, come si va in procession.‖149 We can also envision how
members of a specific party were supposed to respect the corporate grouping
(―collegialiter”).150 The viewer can see a sequenced motion that forms a forward movement
from left to right, the normal writing and reading mode in the West. In contrast, Gentile
Bellini in his Procession in Piazza San Marco (fig. 15) chose the opposite direction and the
cortège proceeds from right to left. But Bellini‘s attempt to render a faithful perspective, i.e. a
space that recedes enough to suggest the depth and amplitude of the piazza, makes his
painting more truthful to the actual itinerary of people who, coming from the far background,
circumambulate in the square in a counter-clockwise movement. In the Second Translation of
Sant‟Ercolano, we have the impression of a linear cortège walking on a flat terrain in a
straight line to the cathedral whereas the topography of Perugia, a hill town, would require an
148
Another city that stipulates the order of the guilds for solemn processions in its statutes is Vicenza, see
Webb, Patrons and Defenders, 120. For the variety of codes that different cities produced, see her chapter
―Saints and statutes,‖ ibid., 95-134.
149
―Cronaca di A. dei Veghi,‖ in Fabretti, ―Diario di Antonio dei Veghi,‖ in Cronache II: 20. Tridentine
resolutions insist on the proper conduct of processions and point out that these prescriptions were not always
respected.
150
For example: ―collegialiter ad ecclesias prefatas accedere respective‖ in Costitutiones Excellentissimorum
Doctorum U[trium].I[uris] Collegii Perusini (Perugia: Pietro Giacomo Petrucci, 1576, §11.
58
upward motion up the steeply-sloped streets from Santo Stefano, the first Dominican church
on the left (above the women), and the Palazzo dei Priori. In this peaceful succession of
Perugians, set off by civic and religious monuments, Bonfigli shows how the gathering of the
population may minimize individuality by stressing group membership, especially by way of
clothing (see next chapter). Being destined to be seen by the Priors themselves, this depiction
only renders an ideal situation that highlighted civic leadership and its privileged rapport with
the sacred.151
City statutes changed remarkably little between the thirteenth and the sixteenthcentury although these laws were revised on an annual basis.152 The detailed provisions on
the organization of processions provide an insight into an idealized social stratification and
into the kinds of collective memberships that were officially acceptable. General processions
were headed by the secular and regular clergy, followed by the main magistrates (the two
chiefs of justice), the Priors, and lesser city officials such as the 48 Chamberlains (camerarii).
For the feast-days of San Costanzo, Sant‘Ercolano, and the Assumption, the representatives
of the fifteen militias (between city and contado), called the gonfalonieri, marched behind the
major officials as a united ―collegium.‖153 Then came the two rectors of the university
151
In a similar way, Gentile Bellini in his Procession in Piazza San Marco of 1496 (fig. 15) adapted the
sequence of the participants in order to emphasize his confraternal patrons, clearly depicted with their baldachin
in the central foreground. This implied shifting the focus away from the doge and his entourage (on the far right
background), a unique move compared to other literary or graphic works. Andrea Löther, Prozessionen in
spätmittelalterlichen Städten. Politische Partizipation, obrigkeitliche Inszenierung, städtische Einheit (Cologne
and Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 1999).
152
Diane Webb noted this constancy for Perugia. See Webb, Patrons and Defenders, 101-103; ―Saints and
Statutes,‖ 95-134 for comparanda with other cities. The Perugian municipal statutes were revised each year but
only those of 1279, 1366, 1389, 1400, 1425, and 1432 have been preserved. The Statutes were printed in 152328 by the Perugian publisher Girolamo Cartolari. My references originate mainly in the recently revised edition
of the 1342 statutes (Salem, Statuto) and in the publication of the 1520s. For an overview of extant statutes, see
J. Grundman, ―Guida allo studio degli statuti medioevali perugini,‖ BDSPU 95 (1992): 5-35.
153
See the Statuto dei Massari del Commune of 1389 (with additions up to 1450): §30: De faculis dandis
infrascriptis offitialibus in festivitate sancti Costantii et aliis religiosis, f.13v. The gonfalonieri and their notary
receive a ―facula‖ of three pounds. The same provision is in the City Statutes of 1526 in which the ―collegium‖
of the gonfalonieri is mentioned. .
59
leading the professors and the students.154 Their noteworthy position shows the prestigious
social status that scholars held and reflects the city‘s pride in its university. The guilds and
neighborhood associations (called ―societates‖ in the city statutes) were next but not
together.155 Major feasts such as Sant‘Ercolano‘s or the Assumption called for two distinct
general processions, on the eve and on the day itself. While guild members attended the
luminaria (or torchlight solemn procession) of the preceding evening, ―societates,‖ i.e.
neighborhood associations took the place of the guilds in the cortège of the feast-day itself.
On 1st March, as already evoked, the members of the Compagnia del Sasso (Company
of the Rock), also called ―compagnia di Porta San Pietro,‖ were in charge of carrying the
silver-gilt copper statue of Sant‘Ercolano, topped by a sumptuous baldachin, from San
Lorenzo to San Domenico and back. Their pre-eminent position in the cortège was defined in
the city statutes. In their yellow doublets, up to 250 men followed the clergy and, next to the
city officials, led the guilds.156 For this responsibility and performance, they were given six
gold florins by the Commune every year. This duty and the high membership made them the
most important company (see excursus no. 2).157 However, such striking performances were
only one aspect of the companies‘ identity. The reason for separate guilds and companies by
allotting different processional times is due to the blatantly boisterous nature of the
compagnie, at least from the time of the 1342 statutes that established the group separation.
As ―societates tripudiantium‖, as the city statutes of 1426 name them, they performed
154
Cf the critical edition of provisions regarding the Perugian university by Erika Bellini (2004, in press). The
Doctors of the Studium were added in the rules of precedence in 1366. The two rectors were that of the students
and that of the professors.
155
This order was clearly articulated in the city statutes of 1342 and repeated down to those printed in 15231528. See Erika Bellini‘s philological edition of the rubric on the order of the guilds. She compared the statutes
of 1366, 1400, 1432, and 1523. The modifications deal mainly with spelling and include very few additions. La
normativa per lo Studium a Perugia dal XIII al XVI secolo,‖ in: Gli statuti universitari: tradizione dei testi e
valenze politiche. Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Messina-Milazzo, 14-17 aprile 2004 (in press).
156
For the Compagnia di Porta San Pietro and Corpus Domini in chronicles, see Diario del Graziani, 549 (for
1444) and Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 314 and II: 74 (for 1456).
157
For the duties of the Compagnia del Sasso are described in the City Statutes of the 1520s, §417-8 and their
payment defined in the Statuto dei massari, §68: De pecunia solvenda Sotietati Saxi in festivitate S. Herculani et
Sotietate Montis Lucidi in festo Ascensionis Virginis gloriose.
60
dancing on feast-days, dressed in their ―rioni‖ colors, and participated in rambunctious games
that could lead to casualties. Their disrespect of the public order has left many records in the
deliberations of the Priori but also in the chronicles.158
As far as confraternities are concerned, they often followed the clergy and preceded
the city officials, thus forming a visual link between religious and secular worlds. This was,
however, not a definite rule. In certain crisis processions, confraternities marched first
because they were in charge of extraordinary banners (see Chapter Three). Another example
of confraternal groups as the lead was the ―beautiful and devout procession‖ in honor of San
Bernardino‘s canonization (28th June 1450). In a series of penitential processions to stop
earthquakes in May 1457, the confraternities were distanced from the leading clergy
(prelates, priests, and religious orders) by the city officials (the Priors and the Chamberlains)
and the university professors whom they followed.159 This order was reversed for Pius II‘s
entry in February 1459 (see next chapter) with confraternities heading the cortège and
followed by the monks and friars, the professors, the chamberlains, and lastly the priors.160
But in this case, the place of honor was not intended as the first rows of the cortège but
according to one‘s proximity to the pope on horseback and the decorous baldachin above
him. The pope was preceded by his flags and by the Priors, placed just before the flagbearers. Crispolti (1563-1608) records that confraternities had to march in a certain order but
158
For example, a prohibition of dancing or playing in the city was taken by the communal council in midFebruary 1277. Mauro Menichelli, La battaglia dei sassi di Perugia (Perugia: Volumnia, 2001), 73. An instance
of casualty is reported for February 1389, when the Compagnia del Ceruglio fought against the Sasso and the
Grifonceglie in Porta San Angelo wounding one young man (garzone) to death. Diario del Graziani, 233.
159
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 338: ―E prima incomenzaro tutti li prelate, prete e religiosi, e poi li Sig.
Priore (...) e poi andar oltre li camerlenghe, e poi il collegio deli dottori, e poi le fraternite.‖
160
For 1450, see Diario del Graziani, 626; for 1459, see Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 357-8.
61
does not specify what it was.161 Other examples of confraternities leading the march include
the Assumption festival in which the Nunziata preceded the guilds (see Chapter Five).162
Bonfigli‘s Second Translation is a rare illustration of a general procession. Although
he has omitted groups such as the guilds and confraternities, his sequence of participants
corresponds to the legal measures with the clergy marching first, followed by government
officials and citizens. The function of dress as sign of corporate identity comes immediately
to mind in Bonfigli‘s fresco for the Priori‘s chapel, painted on the left wall of the altar, above
the stalls (fig. 1). Looking up, one immediately perceives chromatic rhythms with, from right
to left until the bier a pattern of black, white, and red, each standing for a specific collective
identity. The Dominicans lead the cortège in their black hooded mantles and white tunics. 163
They are followed by the cathedral canons in their officiating white albs with the bishop in
their midst. Although the fresco is in a much damaged condition, the bishop is recognizable
through the preciousness of his cope and ritual body language. Holding up the index and
middle fingers together while closing his gloved right hand, a grave gesture reserved for the
ecclesiastical elite, he blesses the congregation while his cope is held by two canonical
acolytes. A similar garb and gesture signals the officiating bishop in the Gonfalone of San
Bernardino (fig. 13).
Thus, Perugian general processions were organized according to the participation of
well-ordered groups. Primary sources are silent on how associations managed to group
themselves neatly and respect rules of precedence. It may have been so obvious that there
was no need to discuss it: flag-bearers led the way and allowed each group to be
161
C. Crispolti, Perusia Augusta (Perugia: Tomasi e Zecchini, 1648), 175.
162
In 1457, the last procession of a triduum against earthquakes was led by the clergy with the prelates first,
followed by the city officials, the university professors, and then the confraternities. Scalvanti, ―Cronaca
inedita,‖ I: 337-338.
163
For Sant‘Ercolano‘s celebrations, the Preachers headed the procession because the second location of
Ercolano‘s tomb had been the Dominican church. They also officiated in the church of Sant‘Ercolano built on
the site of the martyr‘s decapitation. Another model for Dominicans leading the march along a similar itinerary
was Corpus Domini.
62
differentiated from the following or the preceding one. Gonfaloni raised above the heads,
made the succession of parties highly visible. The 44 guilds of Perugia formed the bulk of the
cortège. Statutory prescriptions stipulated that each had to behave as a unified and collegial
group (―corporaliter‖) and not mix with other professional associations.164 A neat separation
was much facilitated by their large flags that the Perugian city statutes do not mention
because, I suspect, their presence was taken for granted. Chroniclers reporting on processions
in other cities explicitly record these flags. For example, in June 1500, a last and ninth
procession ordered against the menacing Turks was held in Modena. A local historian
metonymically described the succession of each professional or devotional group by citing its
flag (―the flag of the bakers‖ / ―the flag of the masons‖ / ―the flag of the tailors‖ etc.). 165
Similarly, in early sixteenth-century Venice, counting and identifying banners was the way
Marino Sanuto (1466-1535) managed to report on the number and names of the marching
scuole (professional and devotional associations) on many occasions.166 From these
examples, it is clear that flags were indispensable instruments for implementing the
regulation that fixed the order of the march.
Another means for calling attention to one‘s party and for keeping it separate from the
preceding marchers was to have trumpeters head the group and display its emblem on a flag
attached to the instrument, such as notaries did (see Chapter Two). The statutes of the
Perugian university students stipulate that on Sant‘Ercolano‘s Day, the students followed the
two rectors of the Perugian Studium accompanied by two trumpeters, one on horseback and
164
Statutes 1520s, §87: Quod artes debeant facere corporaliter sacramentum stendi et permanendi in unum.
165
Cronaca Modanese di Jacopino de‟ Bianchi detto de‟ Lancellotti (Parma: Monumenti di Storia Patria delle
Provincie Modenesi, Pietro Fiaccadori, 1861-73), 269-270.
166
In Venice, the scuole were devotional lay associations of a primarily professional nature. Membership in a
guild or a nationality-based group was associated with the cult of a saint. The Scuola of San Giovanni may well
have not processed their banner at all because the sumptuous canopy showcasing their venerated relic of the
Holy cross worked as a potent sign of identity. See I diarii di Marino Sanuto, 58 vols. (Bologna: Forni, 196970). A few examples of Sanuto‘s description of processions with the Scuole banners can be found in vol. 14, col.
287-8 (May 1513); vol. 17, col. 547 (8 th February 1514); vol. 21, col. 274 (1515); vol. 39, col. 242 (1525)
quoted in B. Pullan, The Rich and The Poor in Renaissance Venice (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1971), 34, n. 6.
63
one on foot. Trumpeters invariably proclaimed the group‘s identity by the small flag attached
to their horns. The students‘ silk pennones showed a scene of a professor teaching while
holding a book along with various coats of arms.167 They were also used at times of general
meetings of the university, when a student graduated, or when a Perugian received the honor
of a public exam. These flags were kept under the responsibility of the bursars (massari) and
they were renewed by each newly-elected rector.
A few historians have shown that flags and banners, as signs of identification and
identity, contributed to questioning law and order in times of political or social protests. 168
But in a peaceful context, flags and other visual symbols contributed in establishing
institutional stability because they allowed for parties to neatly gather, remain grouped, and
thus be part of a linear celebration of societal order. Even if conflicts of precedence disturbed
the ideal image of harmony, group positions were clearly marked thanks to banners.
Gonfaloni that showed saints added a further dimension to civic celebrations because they
also acted as a means of addressing the heavens for benevolence. However, this ideal image
of order needs to be corrected the kinds of conflict that arose, such as claims for precedence.
Experiencing a semblance of a community
The ―bel ordine‖ of processions also implied that undesirable inhabitants were
excluded or marginalized. Unlike the tradition in Venice, women were expected to join the
167
―Statuti dei scolari di Perugia‖ transcribed by Guido Padelleti, Contributo alla storia dello studio di Perugia
nei secoli XIV e XV. Documenti inediti per servire alla storia delle università italiane (Bologna, 1872), 91-92,
§8: De pennonibus universatis fiendis et eorum forma. The statutes state that: the currently officiating rector
must have two silk flags made within 15 days of the publication of these statutes; the coat of arms of the pope,
that of the rector, of the city, plus the coat of arms of the then officiating rector must be added, and possibly the
coat of the governor; the arma of the rector may not be removed or modified under any circumstances, nor may
anyone else‘s coat of arms be added.
168
See R. Trexler, ―Follow the Flag: The Ciompi Revolt Seen from the Streets,‖ Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et
Renaissance XLVI (1984): 357-392, and Samuel Cohn, Lust for Liberty. The Politics of Social Revolt in
Medieval Europe, 1200-1425 (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2006), ch. 8: ―Flags
and Words,‖ 177-204, for flags as a means to assert social identities and to overthrow a political regime. See
also Peter Arnade, Realms of Ritual: Burgundian Ceremony and Civic Life in Late Medieval Ghent (Ithaca,
N.Y., and London: Cornell University Press, 1996).
64
processions but they formed a distinct group at the end, as Second Translation shows.169 This
was a custom prescribed in the Manuale Romanum, a guidebook for priestly duties following
the usage of Rome (appendix 5). In the Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13a), women form
a separate group from the men and their donations consist of textile rather than wax. The
same gendered aggregation was visible in funerals, as was the case with Malatesta Baglione‘s
(see next chapter).170 Deducing from the legal measures that were taken, women from town
and country alike were harassed verbally and sexually for trying to attend the granting an
indulgence in Perugia for the Pardon of St. Stephen.171 While men in public rituals appeared
mostly as members of a specific professional, devotional, or religious group, women did not
appear as members of a specific community. For example, in most confraternities, women
were not allowed to take part in processions together with male members. Women‘s primary
collective identity was gender, regardless of their social class, professional occupation, or
devotional orientation.
A fundamental premise to the formation of a civic identity is the construction of social
consensus, even if it is just a semblance, through ritual practices. Images of processions must
be read with caution because painters were free to manipulate facts to better fulfill their
commissions, and did not seek to reproduce historical events in all their components.172 They
are documents in and of themselves which are based upon patrons‘ and artists‘ choices. With
the depiction of the transfer of Sant‘Ercolano‘s relics on one wall of their chapel (fig. 1), the
Priors had an image of a tightly-knit community, even at the cost of eliminating from the
169
Muir, Civic Ritual, 303.
170
For further examples in Florence and a discussion of the status of women, see Strocchia, Death and Ritual,
24-26; 38-39; 73-74; 169-177.
171
172
Webb, Patrons and Defenders, 202, quoting the 1342 statutes.
Andrea Löther, ―Rituale im Bild. Prozessionsdarstellung bei Albrecht Dürer, Gentile Bellini und in der
Konzilschronik Ulrich Richentals,‖ in A. Löther, U. Meier, N. Schnitzler, G. Schwerhoff and G. Signori, eds.,
Mundus in Imagine. Bildersprache und Lebenswelten im Mittelalter. Festgabe für Klaus Schreiner (Munich:
Fink Verlag, 1996). Elisabeth Rodini, ―Describing Narrative in Gentile Bellini's Procession in Piazza San
Marco,‖ Art History 21 (March 1998): 26-44.
65
representation highly plausible trappings such as the canopy and banners. The patrons‘
concern (and consequently, Bonfigli‘s duty) was to visualize an image of an ideal city that
marched peacefully and compactly in its celebration of Sant‘Ercolano that they themselves
orchestrated annually. As this fresco exemplifies, the city representatives thought that their
good administration of the city held society together and sanctified its unity through rituals of
civic religion.173 Similarly, chronicles relating papal entries, or other dignitaries‘,
enthusiastically describe the lavishness of processional paraphernalia and the good order of
the participants but they rarely account for exclusions and conflict.
This urban unity rendered by texts and images is only an ideal vision since
processions did not include the whole population. I have analyzed general processions as
processes of purification under the aegis of the city government. The official control of a
collective salvation also included attempts to cleanse the urban sphere by eliminating its
impure elements. The laws promulgated to defer crime and promote peace included a
prohibition against carrying weapons, confinement of prostitutes to certain urban areas,
sumptuary provisions, taxation and stigmatization of the Jews, and the punishment of
criminals. City-wide processions can also be seen as part of a lustration process because they
excluded some inhabitants of the city. Naturally, non-Christians did not participate in them,
and Jewish inhabitants of Perugia were even prohibited from being outdoors on certain feast
days such as Easter Friday and Saturday. Jews, who were accused of usury, and prostitutes
were considered impure, and therefore undesirable elements of a procession. As elsewhere in
Italy, a distinctive sartorial fashion singled them out in the public sphere, such as the yellow
circle that Perugian Jews had to wear from 1432.174
173
Other unifying elements of collective life (that I do not include in this dissertation) were the games set up by
the commune as a means of controlling the hazardous energies of young men and making feasts more solemn.
Franco Mezzanotte, "Lo spazio urbano destinato ai tornei in Umbria," in La civiltà del torneo (Sec. XII-XVII)
(Narni: Centro storici di studi di Narni, 1988), 137-48.
174
On the life of Jews in Umbria, see Ariel Toaff, The Jews in Medieval Assisi, 1305-1487: A Social and
Economic History of a Small Jewish Community in Italy (Florence: Olschki, 1979) and by the same author, The
66
Prostitutes could be easily spotted with their plunging necklines and short mantles (a
legal provision). They were tolerated in urban spheres but their activities were geographically
delimited in order to avoid a disturbing presence. Beggars rushed to cities in times of festivals
in the hope of gathering alms but they were not part of general processions.175 Young men
(―iuvenis‖) aged over 15 up to 40 were not allowed to wander in the vicinity or inside
churches during the festivities held in them. This law aimed at keeping them away from
preying on women or flirting with them, hence disturbing the reverential mood.176
Male Franciscan Tertiaries received candles from the government but their female
equivalents did not. Depictions of rituals show these exclusions and make choices in
representing only some of the groups present in a ceremony. Notably absent from the pious
crowd shown in the Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13) are members of other prominent
religious orders in Perugia including Dominicans, Augustinians, or Benedictines, although
regulations stated that ‗clerics from all orders‘ must be present. Members of confraternities
and penitents, beggars or people in rags, the sick and the lame have no space in this picture.
Neither did they in the Second Translation of Sant‟Ercolano (fig. 1).
As Miri Rubin stated, such exclusions imply that processions did not reflect the
heterogeneous nature of urban society.177 If processions were moments of social cohesion and
an ideal ordering of society, they presented only a society purged of its undesirable elements.
Processions were staged to represent an ideal moment of the peaceful gathering of devout,
Jews in Umbria. A Documentary History of the Jews of Italy (Leiden ; New York: E.J. Brill, 1993). The 1432
decree on the sartorial and other obligations for the Jews has been published by A. Fabretti, Documenti di vita
perugina (Turin: 1982), II: 122-127. For the social control of prostitutes in medieval cities, see A. Grohman, La
città medievale (Roma-Bari: Editori Laterza, 2003), 154-8.
175
For a study on beggars‘ behavior in Basel and Cologne, see Katharina Simon-Muscheid, "La Fête des
Mendiants: fiction et réalité au bas moyen âge (Bâle et Cologne)," in Marc Boone and Peter Stabel, eds.,
Shaping Urban Identity in Late Medieval Europe: L'apparition d'une identité urbaine dans l‟Europe du bas
moyen âge (Leuven: Garant, 2000), 183-200.
176
See in the 1366 City Statutes De amantibus et vaghegiantibus ad indulgentias, a provision that was reiterated
down to the Statutes of the 1520s. Maria Grazia Nico Ottaviani, ed., La Legislazione Suntuaria. Secoli XIII-XIV.
Umbria (Rome: Ministro per i beni e le attività culturali.Dipartimento per i beni archivistici e librari, 2005), 80.
177
Rubin, Corpus Christi, 265-266.
67
honest working men and disciplined clergy. They demonstrated social hierarchy through the
order of precedence and the amounts of wax that each group could afford or gain. The sense
of a Perugian civic identity was largely dependent, beyond ancestry and residence (which
defined one‘s citizenship), on one‘s participation as actors or onlookers in public
performances where a large portion of the population assisted in a mystification of actual
power relations.178 All the performances of civic religion such as the Sant‘Ercolano or
Assumption festivals (see Chapter Five) can be qualified of political rituals because the local
authorities staged them and subsidized them.
3) The symbolic paraphernalia of political representation
―Authority, the belief that a person has the right to exercise influence over
others‘ behavior, is itself an abstraction, and people can conceive of who has authority
and who does not only through symbols and rituals.‖ 179
Staging the officials‘ public appearances
Major symbols of authority in medieval and renaissance Europe consist of special
clothing (see the Virgin‘s attire discussed in Chapter Three) and heraldry, or a combination of
both. Clothing clearly announced one‘s social or professional identity. Thus, civic officials
were careful about their ceremonious garb for public displays. In Bonfigli‘s fresco (fig. 1),
one Prior, recognizable thanks to his prestigious array, stands in a direct axis with the city
hall. He wears the long scarlet robe and head cover made of velvet that the Priori
commissioned for extraordinary occasions. Another similarly dressed Prior (or possibly the
Governor) greets the cortège at the far right.180 Red velvet togas (―clamides‖) were extremely
178
Kertzer, Rituals, Politics, 153
ibid., 24, quoting Abner Cohen.
180
The Preachers‘ leading role is probably due to the fact that Ercolano‘s body had at some point been in
custody in a Dominican-owned church close to Benedictine St. Peter‘s. The Preachers led the clergy because
their monastery was close to the church of Sant‘Ercolano where Dominican friars officiated. Another model for
Dominicans leading the march along a similar itinerary was Corpus Domini.
179
68
important because they conferred ―honor and perpetual fame to the city‖. 181 Magistrates
throughout Europe were expected to wear similar robes-in-office and scarlet was a favorite
color.182 For example, in fifteenth-century Paris, the Parlement claimed the exclusive right to
wear red robes for the king‘s entry as it was a sign that they had acceded to the major
municipal offices. In 1431, only the first President of the Parlement and another three
deputies were allowed to dress up in them.183 Chroniclers readily reported the rare moments
when the Perugian officials, such as the ten Priori and the forty-eight Camerlenghi, dressed in
scarlet (―vestiti di scarletto‖). The Perugian councilors typically donned this array for papal
entries as a token of respect for the supreme visitor but also as an assertion of dignity in the
face of their overlord.184 These large garments resembled capes that with thick folds elegantly
reached the ground. They could be worn in the manner of ancient togas, with one tail lying on
one‘s shoulder in a studied bend, or they could wrap the body in straight folds closing in
front. In any case, their cut, color, and material gave a dignified and stately look to the
officials.185
The whole process of acquiring such stunning garments made in Florence has left
numerous records in the Perugian municipal deliberations. The Priors commissioned this garb
as soon as they heard of the pope‘s visit and a Perugian merchant would go to Florence and
bring the precious order back. For example, to greet Eugenius IV in 1443, Nicholas V in
1449, or Pius II in 1459 (see below), the papal legate, the ten Priori, and the forty-eight
Camerlenghi commissioned these ―mantelli di rosato‖ for various prices according to the
181
―pro honore et pro perpetua fama ipsius civitatis‖: from the ordinance of 3rd January 1459 ordering red togas
for the Perugian officials upon Pius II‘s entry one month later. See ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, anno 1459, f. 2v
182
John Munro, "The Medieval Scarlet and the Economics of Sartorial Splendour," in N. B. Harte and K. G.
Ponting, eds., Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983), 13-70.
183
Lawrence Bryant, "The Medieval Entry Ceremony in Paris," in János M. Bak, ed., Coronations: Medieval
and Early Modern Monarchic Ritual (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), 88-118, here, 101-104.
184
See the visit of Boniface IX on 17 th October 1392, Diario del Graziani, 254; Eugenius IV on 10 th September
1443: ―se debbiano vestire de rosato li Priori e Camorlenghi a spese del Comuno, e anche vestono Monsignore
de fiorini 36 per la sua persona,‖ ibid., 537.
185
Rosita Levi Pisetzky, Storia del costume in Italia, 5 vols (Milan: Istituto editoriale italiano, 1964-69), II: 346
and 353.
69
amount of cloth required by their rank. The cost of this attire differed from 36 florins for the
mantle and hood of the governor, to 25 florins for each Prior and the Priors‘ notary.
Camerlenghi received a twenty-florin blue-violet (pavonazzo) robe, a less prestigious dye.
The least expensive garment (12 florins) was that of the emissary. Clothing was a way to give
visibility to the hierarchy established among the political leaders at an exorbitant cost nearing
1500 florins.186 Numerous deliberations between September and December 1459 discussed
the cost of such ―pavonazzo‖ togas for the chamberlains, limiting expenses to eight florins
per official but also stipulating that these officials wear them for formal meetings and general
processions. This was an object of controversy because the bishop Della Cornea revoked it
early January 1460.187
In the Perugian government, the ten Priors represented the city in its economic and
political aspects. They were the guarantors of the ‗buon stato‘ of the city and also the
guardians of the standards (i.e. the unique, original, models) for weights and measures.188
They clearly surpassed the other officials (the chamberlains, the treasurers, notaries, and
accountants) in decorum. They resided in the city hall (Palazzo dei Priori) during their sixmonth tenure and were not supposed to leave the palace apart from ceremonials in the public
sphere. Their appearance was always noted and pointed at by chroniclers because their
collective exit from the communal palace and their whereabouts in the city were ritualized.
For example, from 1438, the Priors were preceded by (two and later four) mace-bearers
carrying each a large silver mace, a symbol of authority that is reminiscent of the baton of
186
For Eugenius IV‘ adventus, the Priori voted a total budget of 1315 florins and for Nicholas V, 1500 florins.
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze 79, f. 3v-4r and Riformanze 86, f. 97. In November 1449, Nicholas V having
cancelled his visit Perugia, the Commune had to store the mantelli that they had paid for (ibid., 621).For Pius II,
see Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ 353-4, and provisions decreed by the Priori between the 3 rd and 6th January
1459, including Deliberatio quod fiant mantelli pro adventu pape, ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze 95, f. 4r.
187
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1460, f. 4: Sententia episcopi Cornetarii in luminaribus ex clamidibus non
faciendis. This issue needs more archival research to fully understand the significance of these garments.
188
These prescribed amounts and sizes were incised near the door of the Capitano del Popolo so that anyone
could proof-measure the products found on the markets and in the shops. Francesco Briganti, Le corporazioni
delle arti nel Commune di Perugia (Sec. XIII-XIV) (Perugia: Guerriero Guerra, 1910), 186.
70
public officials in other contexts.189 These precious artefacts were carefully stored in a special
large closet (armarium magnum) in the communal tower, the content of which was
periodically inventoried.190 They were part of the government‘s argenteria that included
exquisite silverware for lavish banquets and special items for administrative acts, such as
silver seals. In March 1468, for the ―magnificence and ornament of the Palace, residence of
the Priori,‖ the maces were replaced at the cost of 25 florins. The mace-bearers themselves
were dressed up in a civic livery renewed every year in early January so that their attire was
brand new for the feast of San Costanzo (29th January) and still quite fresh for that of
Sant‘Ercolano (1st March). The Commune spent an impressive sum, 10 florins, for each
costume.191
These maces disappeared in 1540 as Pope Paul III regained control of Perugia,
suppressing the offices of the priorate and eradicating any signs of communal regime until
1553. That year, Pope Julius III solemnly rehabilitated the communal magistracy in a
ceremony that Dono Doni frescoed in a meeting room of the Palazzo dei Priori in 1572 (fig.
8).192 This depiction includes the four mace-bearers with their precious trappings as well as
the magnificent communal pennons attached to the silver trumpets. This scene shows the
continuity of the symbolic trappings of the Perugian magistracy. In 1483, a new law
stipulated that the Priori could not exit the palace or ―esercitare‖ without wearing a golden
chain around their neck in order to be recognized and respected.193 All these trappings were
189
Diario del Graziani, 425, reports that the office of two mace-bearers was instituted in March 1438 using the
funds so far allocated to the lion kept by the commune because the wild animal had just died. The lex reported in
the Riformanze (1438) fixed the salary of the new officers at 8 florins per year.
190
―due maççe nove (...), due maççe veteres‖ (inventory of 1st September 1466); ―quactro mazze d‘ariento
smaltate‖ (inventory of 1st March 1475); ―quattro mazze d‘ariento per li mazziere‖ (inventory of 1st March
1479). Staccini, Inventari dell' argenteria, 290; 292; 295.
191
The decision to replace the maces was taken on 5th March 1468 (―pro magnificentia et ornatu dicit Palatti
residentie prefatorum M[agnificorum]. D[ominorum]. P[riorum]‖ (f. 50r-51v). The law on the dress of the
―mazziferi‖ was passed on June 22nd 1444. For the cost of the clothing, see, for example, the deliberation of 13 th
January 1482, f. 71r. See ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, respective years.
192
On this fresco, see Mancini and Scarpellini, Pittura in Umbria, 99.
193
Pellini, Dell‟Historia di Perugia, II: 812.
71
important constituents for imparting authority to the civic authorities and imposing them as
representatives of Perugian civic identity.
City employess
In Bonfigli‘s fresco (fig. 1), a drummer and a trumpeter, dressed in the heraldic city
colors (in red doublets and red and white breeches) are clearly distinguishable. Although cityemployed musicians are not mentioned in the communal statutory provisions on processions,
their salary and clothing are regularly discussed in municipal deliberations. This shows that
civic-subsidized music was a prominent part of urban life in Perugia as well as in other
European Communes.194 In Bonfigli‘s fresco, the musicians precede Ercolano‘s body, a
customary position for processions with relics or a shrine. Two play trumpets and one a
waist-held kettledrum, typical loud instruments used to heighten the magnificence of outdoor
events. Trumpets with their sonorous blaring tones gave a triumphant aspect to processions
while the percussive beats from drums supported the marching rhythm of the cortège.
Trumpeters had a variety of duties and a special status in Renaissance Europe.195 They helped
to rally troops on the battlefield, heralded the nobility in city entries, lent a festive air to
jousts, and called the attention of the urban inhabitants for public announcements. They were
also a medium for heraldry since the arms of a noble patron or the emblem of a city draped
from the instrument and identified the livery worn by the player. Courts included a few
trumpeters and thus this instrument became a symbol of privileged social status. In Bonfigli‘s
Second Translation, the municipal musicians are dressed in the city‘s colors and their prime
194
See G. Peters, ―Civic Subsidy and musicians in southern France during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries‖ in Music and Musicians in Renaissance Cities and Towns (Cambridge University Press, 2001), 5769, and her bibliography for European cities of that time. See also Frank A. D'Accone, The Civic Muse : Music
and Musicians in Siena during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Chicago: Chicago University Press,
1998); Lewis Lockwood, Renaissance Ferrara, 1400-1505 : the Creation of a Musical Center in the FifteenthCentury (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1984).
195
See L. Perkins, Music in the Age of the Renaissance (New York and London: Norton and Company, 1999),
106-109.
72
position in the cortège attracts attention not only to the holy remains but also to the Priori,
highlighting their importance as representatives of a strong civic government.
The attire of the eight city trumpeters (tronbadore), described by the City Statutes,
charged them with authority. They wore a red livery with the griffon and a scarlet hood
(capuccio de scarlacto) with the image of a trumpet on it. Some of them rode a caparisoned
horse with the same emblematic colors and devices, at a time when liveries other than
professional were prohibited.196 The Priors regularly debated on the renewal of the city
musicians‘ outfits such as the fifers (pifferi) and the trumpeters (see appendix 3). The envoy
from Florence who arrived in Perugia on 5th February 1455 holding an olive branch as a sign
of the pan-Italian conclusion of the Peace of Todi was ―ammantato,‖ or wrapped, as in a
mantle, with eight braccia of costly red velvet (about 8 meters) to which three shields with
the Perugian arms were attached. He toured the city on horseback escorted by two communal
heralds trumpeting the good news he brought.197 This colourful and heraldic parade was a
visual representation of the civic authorities of Perugia who acted in the name of the
population.
Other city employees were easily identified as such through the heraldic device
stitched onto their clothing. For example, the 250 liquidators (bailie) employed by the
commune had to wear a red beret with a white griffon while officiating, or else notaries or
communal officials were not supposed to interact with them. The red beret sanctioned
business as authorized affairs validated by the Commune.198 In his influential treatise, De
Insignis (1358), jurist Bartolo da Sassoferrato pointed out that insignias of office, already
196
:―E i dicte tronbadore e ciascuno de loro esse pangne e capuccie continuamente portare deggano.‖ Salem,
Statuto 1342, 237, §60.9. See below for further comments on these heralds.
197
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖106. A similar scene was repeated for the envoy of pope Nicholas V on 11th
March of the same year, ibid., 108. The Perugian braccio for cloth equated one meter; the Roman braccio
measured 63 cm. See Martini, Metrologia, 518.
198
―E che porteno e portare deggano ei dicte bailie en capo le berecte roscie coll‘ensegne del popolo. E che
alcuno ofitiale del comuno de Peroscia (...) non possa, né degga ad alcuno bailio berrecta rpscia non avente
co‘dicto è alcuna conmessione fare, licentia dare, relatione, né acte alcune scrivere (...) e che cotale scritura non
valgla, né tenga per alcuna ragione.‖ Salem, Statuto 1342, I: 225, §56. 6-7
73
known in antiquity, were then part of civil law. Then and subsequently, they were perceived
as signs of rank that inspired the respect due to the officeholders. 199 More than the individual
identity of the wearer, it was the livery that represented the administration of the city in
ceremonies and processions.
Two more examples will suffice to document that cloth and clothing associated with
heraldry are particularly efficient media for identifying a specific city and expressing
municipal authority. To honor ecclesiastical dignitaries or their relatives, textile adorned with
the heraldic griffon of Perugia was solemnly presented to them. In May 1439, when the
general chapter of the Augustinians took place in Perugia, the commune presented the newly
elected friar general a chasuble (pianeta) and its implements for mass (fornimenti) made of
crimson velvet adorned with the communal griffon, among other gifts of cash, food, and
wax.200 With a donation of vestments bearing the arms of Perugia, the city sought to be
associated with the sacred rites performed in mass just as wealthy individuals managed to
display their armorial devices when they offered or bequeathed vestments and liturgical
paraphernalia to churches.201 The association of these graphic and colorful signs with a ritual
environment operated as a diplomatic message of peaceful political relationships. When Pope
Nicholas V‘s mother came to Perugia in December 1455, her pack animal was given a scarlet
velvet cover with the heraldic griffon and she thus rode from the periphery of the city into the
main piazza. Not only ―great honor was showered upon her,‖ but the visible acceptance of
199
See Cavallar et al., A Grammar of Signs, 42-43 and 109.
Fabretti, ―Diario di Antonio dei Veghi,‖ in Cronache, II: 22; Diario del Graziani, 440.
201
For the occurrence of coat of arms in church inventories and testaments in six Tuscan and Umbrian cities, see
Samuel Cohn, The Cult of Remembrance and the Black Death. Six Renaissance Cities in Central Italy
(Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1992). His systematic translation of ―palio‖ with
flag is erroneous. Ibid., 234-236. See also my appendix 10 for the inventory of Santa Maria dei Servi. It
provides the names of some of the benefactors thanks to the presence of their coat of arms on the artefacts that
they gave to the church. Sometimes only the heraldry is described because the memory of the patron has been
lost.
200
74
this diplomatic gift implied the obliging disposition of the distinguished guest towards the
Perugian government.202
Conflict
Mandatory participation in general processions created conflictual situations in cases
of multiple membership. Many events, such as the Corpus Domini festival, called for the
participation of both confraternities and guilds.203 In this case, men had to decide which
group to march with unless the regulations of their guilds left them no choice. Confraternities
that in practice had no more than 40 male members must have seen their ranks shrink during
the major general processions because of the mandatory participation for most craftsmen to
follow the banner of their guild. The Assumption torchlight vigil offers an example of a
dispute between guild and confraternity membership that was solved to the advantage of the
latter (see last chapter). Multiple membership remained a potential issue into the seventeenth
century. During the translation of relics of St. Peter, Sant‘Ercolano and San Bevignate to the
church of Sant‘Ercolano in May 1609, guilds were poorly represented because many
craftsmen had chosen to march with their fraternities instead ―out of devotion.‖204 According
to this narrative, the religious components and clerical authorities largely dominated the
overall organization leaving little space for civic elements, a typical influence of the CounterReformation on public rituals.
The wished-for togetherness of the population was not necessarily a show of
solidarity. For example, in July 1427, the Dominican, Augustinian, and Servite friars refused
202
She arrived on 30th December but stayed at the periphery. The next day she received the ―palio di velluto
cremesi.” On 1st January 1456,she was given silverware, sweetmeats and oat by the commune. Fabretti, ―Diario
di Antonio del Veghi,‖ in Cronache, II: 30.
203
For example, in 1536, a chronicler reported that all confraternities participated, all orders of friars and priests,
some vested others n o, as well as the arti and the magistrates Fabretti, ―Cronachetta di Francesco di ser Nicolò
di Nino,‖ Cronache, II: 182.
204
The chronicler‘s estimate of confraternal members amounts to 600 while artisans numbered 250. ―Memorie
di Cesare Rossi,‖ in Fabretti, Cronache, V: 224 (17th May 1609).
75
to join a city-wide procession organized by the Franciscans after a series of sermons by a
Franciscan friar. The chronicler does not give any explanation but reports that the faithful
were confused and called the disruptive friars ―heretical.‖205 Another example of a missing
group in a general procession occurred when, in 1459, the university students did not
participate in the procession for Sant‘Ercolano. They were thus expressing their rebellion
against the rectors of the Studium and against municipal authority.206
A prescribed processional order made the ritual a special moment in which society
seemed perfectly arranged and consensual, but naturally, conflicts of precedence were
numerous. Rituals offered a means for group rivalry to be publicly revealed, as, for example,
in Corpus Christi processions.207 The major dispute traditionally involved the guilds
competing to gain the foremost position in a general procession, hence their precise ranking
in the municipal legislation. For general processions, city statutes give exhaustive
prescriptions regarding the participation of guilds. A long clause stipulates the order in which
the major guilds (numbering 17) must succeed one another, which was the most contentious
matter (appendix 4a).208 The reason for clearly enunciating guild precedence is stated right
away: ―so that affrays and disputes may be avoided‖ (―ad evitandas rissas et
contemptiones‖).209 The longevity of this regulation from the fourteenth to the sixteenth
century shows that the possibility of ―rumor vel discordia‖ was an ongoing concern of the
205
Diario del Graziani, 123. The topic of dissension may have been the polemic around the doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception.
206
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 368. Giuseppe Ermini, Storia dell‟università di Perugia, 2 vols (Florence:
Olschki, 1971), 199.
207
Trexler in his Public Ritual has interpreted many Florentine celebrations as the confrontation of social
statuses and political movements. For studies of conflict in ceremonial activities, see the essays by Gerald
Nijsten, ―The Duke and His Towns,‖ and David Nicholas, ―The Burgundian Theater State,‖ in Hanawalt and
Reyerson, eds., City and Spectacle, 235-270; 271-295. For disturbances in Corpus Christi processions, see in the
same volume, Mc Ree, ―Guild Ceremony,‖ 203, n. 3 and Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi, 261-263.
208
Quod ordine artes et artifices accedant tempore processionum cum luminariis. For the full transcription of
this provision (§92) in the printed statutes of the 1520s, see appendix 4a.
209
Statutes of 1520s. Phrased as ―a schifare le meschie e le contentione‖ in the statutes of 1342. Salem, Statuto
1342, I: 161, § 45.
76
civic authorities. Not only was this order of precedence written in the official city regulations,
but it was also publicly announced by a city herald in his livery at three points of the main
thoroughfare for two consecutive days before the actual procession.
This strictly set and enforced precedence means that the professional associations
were ranked on a social scale highlighting the significance of the first three, the Mercanzia
(cloth merchants), the Cambio (bankers), and the Calzolari (shoe-makers).210 The
processional order of the guilds was not a concern limited to Perugia; each city had its own
regulations and the way they ranked these associations was contingent upon the local
history.211 The ranking and prestige of the guilds differed little across the centuries (appendix
4a). What could be adjusted for special events was their proximity to the visual focus of the
procession.212 Conflicts of precedence also arose between confraternities. For example, in
1584, the Confraternity of John the Baptist disputed the leadership position of another
brotherhood, the Nunziata, in the procession on St. John‘s day. The bishop resolved the
protest by giving precedence to the Annunziata.213
The prestige of a processional image could generate disputes as to who would march
in its proximity. For example, the cathedral canons and the confratelli in charge of the
Gonfalone of San Francesco (fig. 51) fought for precedence whenever this banner was part of
a procession (appendix 4b). In 1539, the argument was settled by a decision of the ten Priors
who judged this controversy ―absurd.‖ Public scandal had to be avoided for the ―honor of
210
The tailors were fourth; the wool manufacturers, fifth; the stone and wood carvers, sixth; the butchers,
seventh; the blacksmiths, eighth; the inn-keepers, taverners and the bakers, ninth; the second-hand cloth dealers
with the blacksmiths and the bowl-makers, tenth; the grocers, eleventh; the fishmongers, twelfth; the cloth
brokers, thirteenth; the barbers, fourteenth; the roof-tile makers, fifteenth; the ox-merchants, sixteenth. Lastly,
the last major guild was the spice dealers at the seventeenth position. Salem, Statuto 1342, I, §45. 3, 161-162.
See also appendix 4a.
211
Antonio Pini, Città, comuni e corporazioni nel medioevo italiano (Bologna: Clueb, 1986), 272-8, for
examples of guild precedence ranging from the 13th to the 16th centuries in different Italian cities.
212
For example, in the 1456 revision of the general order of groups for Corpus Christi processions in Siena, the
guilds were distanced from the baldachin and the Eucharist. Webb, Patrons and Defenders, 303-5.
213
Vermiglioli, Memoria della Compagnia della SS. Annunziata estratta da libri e da altri luoghi (BAP: ms.
1536), 53.
77
God‖ and for the ―dignity‖ of the city. They decided that the banner should be preceded by
the canons and the city magistracy but that, between them and the portable image, only
singers and two priests from San Lorenzo were allowed. To the right and the left of the
gonfalone, and behind it, the confraternity must proceed. This suggests that canons had in the
recent past attempted to surround the holy flag (see Chapter Three), jostling with the
confraternal members in charge of it.
In the early sixteenth-century, a humanist‘s pamphlet in defense of a new Brescian
statute forbidding the clergy to escort a funeral accused the Dominican friars of joining the
burial procession in order to promote their group and attract donations. The following
passage suggests that in funeral processions, the ecclesiastics who were solemnly marching
while holding tapers were in fact pretending to act piously:
A taper or burning candle obstructs your greedy minds, for you see it getting
gradually smaller before your eyes as it burns, you curse the length of the route which
allows time for the taper to diminish, you complain about the slow pace of the funeral
procession, and there is nothing you are less suited for than prayers and petitions. (…)
Also you often fake some accident and snuff out a candle, lighting it again when the
funeral arranger and director looks in your direction, for fear that he will loudly
reprove you and force you to make an effort and carry out the work not done, or else
deprive you of a fee you have not earned.214
This vivid description of the friars‘ lack of interest in embracing the solemn mood
required by the ritual circumstances might be exaggerated but it does reveal the kinds of
disturbances that pervaded a cortège whatever the ritual occasion was. It is likely that
participants in processions fiddled with processional trappings, such as candles, and marched
with a feeling of complying with an obligation rather than out of devotion or civic
commitment. The city statutes of the 1520s have a provision that prohibited anyone including
the neighborhood ―compagnie‖ (see Chapter 2.1 and excursus no. 2) to throw torchlights on
214
The original text in Latin faces its translation (quoted here) in English. J. Donald Cullington and Stephen
Bowd, Vainglorious Death. A Funerary Fracas in Renaissance Brescia (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval
and Renaissance Studies, 2006), 20-21.
78
certain feast days.215 Thus, rituals such as solemn marches celebrating holy protectors or
Christian sacraments were not exempt from conflict from missing groups to competition for
better slots in the cortège, to the handling of symbolic representations. Violence also belongs
to such disturbances and I will provide further examples in the next chapters. It is important
to note these occurrences in order to gain a full understanding of how rituals worked and the
importance given to their trappings.
215
―Nec etiam dicte societates nec aliqui alii possint de sero ire ad lumen seu luminaria nec torcias prohiicere
sub pena (…) XXV lib. den.‖ Primum volumen statutorum, ch. 92, f. 41.
79
EXCURSUS no. 1:
The Perugian griffon
The choice of the griffon as the emblem of Perugia remains unexplained.216 Etruscan
models of griffons (reliefs on funerary urns) were -and still are- present in Perugia but so are
they in many other cities of former Etruria. In fact, the heraldic griffon was conceived a male
creature whereas the Etruscan griffon is female, given its utters.217 The hybrid animal was
known throughout Europe thanks to the circulation of bestiaries where it was depicted as an
animal of an enormous strength. These catalogues of real and fantastic animals influenced the
adoption of the griffon in heraldry. As Rodney Dennys asserts, it is ―the most decorative and
symbolic of heraldic creatures‖ and one of the most popular of charges in European
armory.218 For example, it was also used by the Florentine Villani family.219
For the medieval imagination, it was a symbol of ferocity, guardianship, military
vigilance, alertness and diligence.220 In Part Two of Bartolo da Sassoferrato‘s De insignis
(1348), the correct heraldic griffon must ‗exhibit its greatest vigor‘ and is painted ‗erect with
gnashing teeth and clawing feet‘.221 The symbol of the griffon was adopted by the communal
regime as early as the thirteenth century, as sigillography proves. A dithyrambic poem,
Eulistea, written in 1293, asserts that Perugia received its griffon emblem in the Carolingian
era, a legendary fact repeated by Trecento chronicles. The griffon also found its way on
religious images sponsored by the city officials. When, in 1297, the Consiglio del Popolo
decided to have the dark and ominous passageway under the communal palace adorned with
a painting of the Virgin, Mary‘s coat was frescoed with two rampant griffons on her right
shoulder.222
Physical remains of this potent creature were even hoarded by the Perugian
authorities. King Charles VII of France had given a huge claw from the griffon paw that used
to hang in his royal chapel to a Franciscan friar who, in turn, handed it over to the Perugian
216
Before a document proved the bronze griffon and lion were a medieval commission, scholars (such as Filippo
Magi, Mary Johnstone or Giacomo Caputo) argued for an Etruscan or Roman creation. M. Johnstone, ―The
Griffin, the Coat of Arms,‖ 350, speaks of a Perugian ―local attachment‖ to the griffon.
217
F. Magi, ―Osservazioni sul grifo e il leone di Perugia,‖ in Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di
Archeologia, XLIV (1971-1972): 275-299, here 275, n. 2.
218
R. Dennys, Heraldry and the Heralds (London: Cape, 1982), 175-177.
219
Mario Scalini‘s entry 3.9 in: P. Ventrone, Cinisello Balsamo, eds., Le Tems Revient. „l Tempo si rinuova.
Feste e spettacoli nella Firenze di Lorenzo il Magnifico, exh. Cat. (Milano, 1992), 175-6.
220
Cuccini, Il grifo e il leone, 71
221
Cavallar et al., demonstrated that it is Bartolo‘s son-in-law, Nicola Alessandri who actually composed this
second part which received great attention from heraldists but little appraisal among jurists.
222
Briganti, Le Corporazioni delle Arti, 95-6.
80
commune. In 1540, Girolamo del Frolliere, a notary who officiated for the Priors inventoried
―two griffon claws of the size of a calf‘s horns bound with a silver finish (finimento)‖ in the
communal treasure. Felice Ciatti, a local seventeenth-century historian, believed that in
ancient times Perugia had owned the hide and claws of a griffon.223
The griffon as Perugia‘s institutional symbol even took an idolatric turn when the city
commissioned a huge bronze reproduction (weighing 200 kg) accompanied by a lion in 1275
to be processed during the celebrations for Sant‘Ercolano‘s feast day (see Chapter One).
When, in a war with Siena, the victorious Perugians took the chains of the Tuscan city‘s
gates, they deposited their trophy to the feet of the bronze griffon. 224 Another, much smaller,
combination of lion and griffon was cast in bronze again around 1277, probably as part of a
fountain. They were finally mounted atop the Fontana maggiore in 1519, proof of the
continued use of this heraldic symbol on a civic monument in the heart of Perugia.225
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, even first names as evocative as Grifone or
Grifonetto were adopted for the sons of important families in sign of allegiance to the
Umbrian capital. But this is also indicative of the political ambitions of the wealthy nobility
that sought key offices within the Perugian government.226 Today, the griffon is still used as a
heraldic device by the local administration. The Provincia of Perugia (regional district)
officially adopted in 1928 a passant griffon for its coat of arms while in 1941 the city of
Perugia chose the medieval form, a white rampant griffon on a red field as its stemma (coat of
arms).227
223
See Cuccini, Il grifo e il leone, 70-71. F. Ciatti, Delle memorie annali et istoriche delle cose di Perugia, II
(Perugia: Archivio Storico di San Pietro); Staccini, "Argenteria dei Priori."
224
Olga Marinelli, ―Lo stemma di Perugia,‖ 25, without any indication of date.
225
Paola Refice, entry ―grifi,‖ in Bon Valssassina, ed., Dipinti, Sculture della Galleria Nazionale, 74-75.
226
Nessi, 1988
227
A. Torri, Gli stemmi e i gonfaloni delle provincie e dei comuni italiani (Florence: R. Noccioli,
1963), 397 & 407-409.
81
CHAPTER TWO
The formation of group identity through the use of symbolic representations
In Chapter One, I examined visual and textual rhetoric for expressing Perugian
identity in rituals of civic religion. I now consider visual devices that consolidated single
groups in Perugia. As I state in my introduction, the self-identity of late medieval and
Renaissance people was shaped by social networks because men and women understood
themselves as affiliated with local, professional, religious, or familial groups. Thus,
Perugians, like other urban dwellers of Europe, defined who they were through their
membership in one or several secular groups such as a guild, a confraternity, a neighborhood
association, a family clan, or a political party.228 I take into account this variety of collective
identities while incorporating a whole range of symbolic representations of a common or
specific occurrence from clothing and wax to ordinary banners.
Ritualized events such as funerals, weddings, and specific feast days called for
processions in which a set of special conditions had to be respected, such as modes of motion,
itinerary, special garb, and processional paraphernalia. Repeated at prescribed times over the
year, rituals could only conjure emotional responses, a characteristic of rituals for actors as
well as for onlookers. However, for group identity to crystallize, rituals must be experienced
as a unified performance, a phenomenon that took place through trappings of collective
assertion such as common costumes and badges or symbolic objects such as flags or
crosses.229
228
229
In this chapter, I do not examine religious communities per se but only in their connection with the laity.
A stimulating reading for my thoughts is Edward Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997) and, especially for this chapter, Muir‘s clear introduction on: ―what is a
ritual?,‖ 1-17.
82
Tangible identity markers allowed individuals to visually declare their affiliation to
one specific group at a time. Funeral rites exemplify how ritual performance and signs of
identity posit group cohesion and social order. Like general processions, they reveal the
stratification of an urban society into such categories as political, professional, clerical,
confraternal, and gender. This chapter focuses upon the ways in which the group members
expressed their bond and shaped their unity for themselves and also for onlookers. I discuss
rituals as an opportunity to assert one‘s social status within a group and publicly within
society. Here, beyond the rules of conduct and sharing activities and beliefs, identity markers
played an important part. I have found it helpful to explain the effects of group performances
using the methods of cultural anthropology, especially Arnold Van Gennep‘s categories for
rites of passage: separation, liminality, and aggregation, and Victor Turner‘s analytical tools
for symbols.230
1) Graphic and material signs of identity
Adopting common modes of proper conduct and displaying signs of a shared identity
are two essential features for building feelings of group belonging. Modes of conduct such as
sharing common beliefs and adhering to the rules of the community, and participating in its
private and public activities assimilated the new sworn-in member into the group. Essential to
guilds, confraternities, and religious orders was a code of ethical behavior in their indoor
activities and outdoor performances. But collective modes of conduct were not the only
manifestation of group identity. What we would call today logos, registered trademarks, or
copyrighted graphic designs (what I call here ―signs of identity‖) were also part of expressing
one‘s membership or belonging. Signs of identity took various forms. The illuminated page
shown on figure 16 has a number of symbols of various collective identities. In this collection
230
For this pattern, see Arnold Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960
[1908]), 10-12 and Turner, The Ritual Process.
83
of the communal deliberations for the year 1568, the names of the ten Perugian Priors and of
their notary appear written in Roman capital letters inscribed in a large escutcheon that
frames the entire page design. Under each man‘s name appears his family coat of arms, an
identifying device that marked his patrilineal family grouping. 231 The symbols of each of the
five porte neatly separates each pair of Priori, adding a visual cue to their territorial identity.
Next to each Prior‘s name, a small crest bears his guild‘s emblem, or professional identity.
The composition framed by an escutcheon and displaying a font that recalls ancient
epigraphy provides the priori and their notary with a dignified image of themselves. This
illuminated page sums up the notion of multiple membership that did not fundamentally
change between the late middle ages and the early modern era.
Professional associations
Occupational associations relied on an important, recognizable system of identifying
signs to claim position within the larger framework of the city‘s professional organizations.
They included guilds which were reserved for the trade, production, and manufacture of
consumption goods, and other professional groups, such as university professors, students,
and notaries. Within one‘s work practice, self-identity could be advertized through a special
graphic sign unique to that person. For example, notaries often drew, besides their full names,
their ―signum,‖ a design unique to each of them that made a writ even more official.
Similarly, master craftsmen could have an individualized ―marca‖ as an indicator of their
skill. It protected consumers from deception and fostered the sale of quality products.232
Workshops (fondachi) also used trademarks as can be seen on the right-hand side of a
231
According to jurist Bartolo da Sassoferrato, made an honorary citizen of Perugia in 1348 for his teaching
professorship, heraldry was not reserved to noblemen and indeed his tract contributed the widespread use of
arms in Italy. However, by the early fifteenth-century, displaying one‘s coat of arms was an expression of pride
and wealth. See Cavallar et al., A Grammar of Signs, 56-61.
232
For Bartolo da Sassoferrato‘s discussion of trademarks and subsequent juridical approaches, see Cavallar, A
Grammar of Signs, 73-74.
84
painting of the Virgin Mary (fig. 17) that a Perugian merchant commissioned to Pellegrino in
1428. In a symmetrical position on the left is family armorial device, a way to leave a
memory of his patronage.233
At the same time, as registered members of an occupational association, professionals
used the corporate emblem of their group as a way to signal their certification and legal right
to work in their field of expertise.234 In the book of the Priori‘s Riformanze of 1568 (fig. 16),
the notaries‘ professional emblem, an inkpot with two symmetrically deployed quills on
which the Perugian griffon stands is depicted twice under the name of the Priors‘ notary. This
device, with the griffon facing left, was also carved on the fifteenth-century façade of their
premises, facing the Palazzo dei Priori (fig. 5).235 On figure 16, the inversion of the left
griffon, now facing to the right, and the duplication of the emblem underlines this man‘s
professional identity through its balanced layout.236 The calamus peniferum (quill) could also
be part of a graduation ritual. In 1455, a university student was officially declared a notary by
a palatine count who granted him the ―insignia tabellionatus,‖ a writing quill.237 He then gave
him a slap in the face (―deinde alapam [dando]‖) and blessed the kneeling nominee with the
sign of the cross. Thus, simple objects and gestures in a ritual context turned into symbolic
representations and allow official statements to receive consensual agreement from the
bystanders.
233
The coat of arm has been identified as pertaining to the family of Giovanni di Benedetto di Giovanni from
the parish of S. Maria del Mercato. This is the only extant evidence for the symbol of the fondaco. See M.R.
Silvestrelli‘s entry in Esercizi. Arte, musica, spettacolo (Perugia: De Luca edizioni d‘arte, Università di Storia
dell‘arte, 1984), 38-41 and recently, the exhibition catalogue: L. Laureati and L. Mochi Onori, eds., Gentile da
Fabriano e l'altro Rinascimento (Milan: Electa, 2006), 118-9.
234
Guild statutes document the precise regulations that a craftsmen or a merchant pledged to follow in order to
ensure the quality of the product.
235
This emblem also appears in the miniatures of their registers. M. Roncetti, ed., “Per buon stato della citade.”
Le Matricole delle arti di Perugia (Perugia: Volumnia, 2001), 212.
.236 Other emblematic representations include a passant griffon holding a quill in its right paw and dipping it in
an inkpot lying on a book or a passant griffon holding a sword. Ibid., 199 and 212.
237
Abbondanza, Il notariato, 66, entry 49.
85
Artisans and merchants had to affix their guilds‘ emblems on the merchandise that
they traded or produced, thus displaying their membership and allegiance to a specific
professional group.238 The emblems of the 44 Perugian major guilds are known through
illuminations in manuscripts such as books of statutes and through a casket used to store
election documents for the offices of the Priori (fig. 18).239 Each symbol is inscribed in a
square and numbered according to the hierarchical ranking of these associations in
processions. The most important guilds in Perugia, the Mercanzia (merchants of wool and
linen cloth) and the Cambio (money changers), are placed in the very center of the upper row
of the main side of the casket. The numbering does not follow in a consecutive linear
sequence (1, 2, 3, 4 etc) but alternates on each side of the center, further marking the
importance of the first two guilds. The importance of the first two guilds is thus stressed
because one‘s gaze must constantly survey the center when following the numbering. This
ranking also corresponds to the processional order that guild members had to respect for
general processions with the Mercanzia and the Cambio leading the other corporations (see
appendix 4a). For the main side of the casket, we have the following guild distribution:
7
5
3
wool
sh
manufacturers
oe-makers
blac
ksmiths
brokers
1
2
4
6
8
M
Ca
tai
wo
b
ercanzia
mbio
lors
13
11
9
10
cloth
groc
sil
tav
spi
k/cotton
weavers
utchers
carvers
15
ers
od/ stone
erners
ce
merchants
12
2
nd
-hand cloth
1
14
6
fish
mongers
b
arbers
dealers
238
For example, the statutes of the shoe-repair workers: De targiis imponendis per camerarium suis artificibus,
(f. 12r). See Staccini, L'arte dei ciabattini, 52.
239
Francesco Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria: dipinti, sculture, e oggetti dei secoli XIV-XVI, 2 vols.
(Rome: Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1985), II: 267.
86
Furthermore, the Mercanzia and the Cambio also had special, highly visible status in
terms of their representation in the Council of the Priori. While all other guilds rotated in the
election of the ten Priors, the Mercanzia and the Cambio were constantly represented in that
council with one member each. The first Prior, leader of this institution, was always the
Mercanzia member. At the Council of the forty-eight Chamberlains, four camerlenghi were
from the Mercanzia and two camerlenghi were from the Cambio while all other guilds had a
right to only one chamberlain.240 This preeminence is also visible on the back of another
officials‘ casket where only the emblems of the Mercanzia and Cambio are represented on
this object, flanking the coat of arms of a bishop.241
Corporate emblems could also be found in a number of locations and situations.
Shield hung in shops announcing the guild to which the craftsman belonged. For example,
each ―mercator‖ of the Mercanzia was to have in his possession a shield painted with the
arms of the Perugian Mercanzia, a passant griffon on a ball of fabric (fig. 19).242 This insignia
also appeared on the clothing of the guild‘s emissary who thus proclaimed his corporate
membership on his own person. To mark the appointment of their herald (messo), the leather
repair guild gave him a new hood (caputeum) with the "signum" of the guild. This garb was
an identity marker allowing this officer to be recognized as a spokesman of this particular
professional association.243 At the same time, this hat connoted authority because its color
and the special insignia on it turned its owner into a representative of the ―head‖ (caput) of
240
Giovanni Cecchini, ed., L‟Archivio storico del comune di Perugia (Perugia: tipografia G. Donnini, 1956),
xvi.
241
See Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 268.
242
―Item quod quilibet mercator debeat habere et penes se tenere unum pavense in quo sint depicta arma
Mercantie Perusii.‖ C. Cardinali et al., eds., Statuti e matricole del Collegio della Mercanzia (Perugia : Nobile
Collegio della Mercanzia di Perugia, Deputazione di storia patria per l'Umbria, 2000, 2 vols.), Statutes of 1323,
I: 94.
243
Staccini, L'arte dei ciabattini, De caputeo numptio ipsius artis dando, 57-58.
87
the association.244 A hat was also a special garment that could signal one‘s social rank. For
burial proceedings, a simple head cover was allowed for men (a veil for women) but for
deceased knights, university professors, judges, and doctors, a caputius worth 20 florins, a
substantial sum, was acceptable.245
Other occasions for professionals to display their corporate emblem and their
collective solidarity were annual processions on their patron saint‘s day, from their
headquarters to their chapel or hospital, across town.246 The statutes of guilds and
confraternities always mention the obligation of participating in the group‘s processions.
Fines for non-compliance with such activities are detailed in these regulations. Thus, on the
eve of Annunciation Day, the notaries would march across town from their seat on the Piazza
to their hospital and adjacent chapel dedicated to the Santissima Annunziata. This itinerary
along with the weight of wax to be carried is specified in their 1403 statutes (appendix 12). 247
A mid- fourteenth century full-page illumination, cut and pasted into these new statutes,
shows this cortège (fig. 12a).248 The temporal frame for this celebratory occasion is clarified
by the depiction of Mary Annunciate and Gabriel on the facing page (fig. 12b). Group
solidarity is rendered by showing the notaries in rows of twos, an appropriate marching mode
for processions, and the prominent lit tapers so tall that although the painter ran out of space
in which to depict all the notaries, they still can be counted by the mass of brightly burning
flames held high over their heads. The image omits the name tags that each notary was to
attach to his taper and thus downplays any sign of individuality (appendix 12). The notaries
244
The heralds of the Priori was similarly given an encoded head cover of a scarlet color with the ―sign of the
trumpet.‖ See Salem, Statuto 1342, §60.7, I: 237.
245
Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione Suntuaria, 82, entry 11, for the hat: De mortuis non ornandis. This is a
provision from the 1366 city statutes that was reiterated down to the 1526 statutes.
246
Many religious communities, especially female ones, celebrated their patron saint with indoor processions
(inside a church, or in a cloister).
247
248
BAP, ms. 973, §1, De processione et luminaria annuatim facienda, f. 36v-37r. See appendix 12.
The reuse of this image is a further indication of the continuity of the notaries‘ processional traditions. This
double-page precedes the statutory text (ibid., f. 1v and 2r).
88
are depicted as respectful of the processional decorum and aware of projecting a dignified
image of themselves as a collectivity.
This image also indicates the notaries‘ political bias since three city musicians march
ahead displaying flags hanging from the trumpets with the heraldic emblem of Perugia.249
Trumpets with Perugia‘s heraldic white griffon on a red pennant were a familiar view
because they were carried by the seven city heralds who regularly proclaimed the latest
orders of the Priori.250 Hiring municipal musicians for special events was customary
throughout Europe, especially for religious processions.251 In this case, however, this means
that the notaries defined themselves, in their own private corporate regulations, as marching
under the city colors at least once a year. By this token, the notaries were proclaiming their
allegiance to the city government, for which many of them worked. However, a rubric in their
1403 revised statutes specifies that two silk trumpet pennants (pennoni da trombe) bearing
the image of St. Luke, their patron saint along with the Virgin Annunciate, must be kept
together with their seal.252 The painting of St. Luke in one of the notaries‘ archival documents
(fig. 20) may reproduce the figure painted on these pennants. In this case, we don‘t know if
their use was processional or ceremonial, or possibly both. In any case, it seems that the
notaries did not use their professional symbol (ink and pot) for public rituals. Their
249
Art historian Marina Subbioni attributes these illuminations to Vanni di Baldolo on ―irrefutable‖ stylistic
grounds, see her entry on this manuscript in: "Per buon stato de la citade,” 206-207. The same author has also
dedicated an entire chapter to Vanni di Baldolo in: M. Subbioni, La miniatura perugina del Trecento.
Contributo alla pittura in Umbria nel quattordicesimo secolo (Perugia: Guerra edizioni, 2003).
250
The city musicians are eight men on horseback according to the 1342 statutes. In the ca. 1400 statutes of the
Massari (financial superintendants), they appear as seven tubatores (trumpet players) and one naccharinus
(percussion player). See Salem, Statuto, I, 60.1, 236 and ASP, ASPg, Massari, ―Statuto dei Massari,‖ §84: De
quantitate solvenda pro raubis 7 tubatorum et naccharini communis Perusii, f. 21r.
251
Professional musicians were hired by the city authorities on a regular basis. They could also work for other
patrons. See the dissertation by Martine Clouzot, Le musicien en images: l'iconographie des musiciens et de
leurs instruments dans les manuscrits du nord de la France, de la Belgique, des Pays-Bas, de l'Angleterre et de
l'Allemagne, du XIIIème au XVème siècle (Thèse de Doctorat, EHESS, Paris, 1995; advisor: JC Schmitt), and
her section on religious processions, 383-7.
252
BAP, ms. 973, §46: Quod fiant pennones et sigillum. I have not consulted the notaries‘ 1377 statutes
(Biblioteca Braidense, Milan) which may describe these flags in the same terms in the eponymous rubric, cited
in Abbondanza, Notariato, entry 60, 86-87.
89
dedication to Saint Luke can be traced back to non-extant Trecento depictions of him
commissioned for their premises.253 In the 1450s, the notaries commissioned from Bonfigli
for their sala dell‘Udienza a large painting appositely combining the scene of the
Annunciation with St. Luke writing on a scroll with an open codex next to him, a further nod
to their professional tools (fig. 21).254 It seems that the notaries preferred to show their silk
pennants with their patron saint, St. Luke, rather than Mary or their professional / civic
emblem, in most of their corporate appearances.
Guild flags were easily recognized and identified by the population because of the
familiar professional emblems that they bore.255 These representative designs must have been
identical to those shown on the extant wooden casket of the Priori (fig. 18). The statutes of
Perugian guilds usually describe the profession‘s seal but rarely mention their flag. However,
scattered evidence from these sources also provides an insight into the importance and
iconography of these flags. For example, the main guild (the Mercanzia) which included
linen makers, fabric merchants and retailers had no special provision for their flag in their
detailed statutes. However, a ―vexillum‖ and the ―dupleria‖ are mentioned in a paragraph on
the guild‘s measure of weight (―marcus‖) of 5 pounds.256 It is clear that this flag,
representative of the profession, was used for processions since it is mentioned together with
wax, another typical processional item. The textual association of the flag in these statutes
with the important warrant of guild quality and scales as well as the fact that it was kept with
them show that their flag was an important object. It is not described but it must have born
the guild‘s emblematic passant griffon on a ball of fabric (fig. 19). One of the highest
officials of this arte, the prior of the hospital, had custody of these precious items.
253
See Abbondanza, Notariato, entry 68, 96-99.
254
See Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 43.
255
For examples of guild emblems in archival documents, see Carte che ridono, 101-136.
C. Cardinali, Mercanzia, 45. The vexillum is mentioned in 1323 and the same rubric is repeated in the 1356
statutes.
256
90
While solidarity and union were wished for and implemented through precise rules of
conduct, an internal hierarchy prevailed. Overt displays of respect for the group leaders were
enforced in different ways. In processions, visible markers of one‘s social position within the
group included the size and weight of candles. Officers received more wax than the rest of
the members for solemn processions and for their patron saint‘s festivities. While the
Mercanzia workers had to bring a three-pound or two-pound candle that they paid for, the
consuls (board members), the notary, and the director of the hospital carried a four-pound
candle at the expense of the consortium, and their two emissaries (nuntii) a three-pound
torch.257 Members of a lesser guild such as the shoe-makers (ciabattini) were required to
carry a candle made of new wax of a minimum of three ounces but the rectors and the
secretary each received a half-pound candle which they had to leave in donation to the
church.258 Examples from the guild statutes can be thus multiplied.259 This focus on the
devotional aspect of wax donation could go to extremes as in the case of the goldsmiths‘
257
Cardinali, Collegio della Mercanzia, 78, Provision 51.5 of the 1323 statutes, repeated in 1377 (p. 198): In the
1403 statutes, the notaries, consuls and consultores receive a four-pound facola (torch) while the hospital
director and the conservatores get a three-pound torch each. Ibid., 198-9.
258
Staccini, Ciabattini, § 45, 42 (first Statutes of the early 14th century). Their emissary received a subsidy for
half the weight of wax but that he had to buy the remaining half. Thus, he went to the procession of
Sant‘Ercolano‘s vigil with a two-pound torch and to that of the Assumption with a half-pound candle. Ibid., §83,
63-64.
259
To take the example of the cotton weavers (bambagia): The camerarius and notary received a two-pound
torch each, according to the 1350 statutes, while their emissary (―nuntius‖) was given a one-pound ‗facula‘. In
1380, the weight of the torch for these first two officials was upgraded to three pounds, a sign of an increased
importance of the profession, or as the reformed provision states: ―because this guild has among its members
honorable men and thus it is suitable that the guild shows itself at least equal to others.‖ In 1468, the facola of
the ―nuntius‖ is recorded as weighing two pounds. See the 1350 statutes, § XL: Quod camerarius et notarius
habere debeant unam faculam II librarum, in Staccini, Le arti perugine della bambagia, 142-3; 159-160; De
faculis dandis camerario, notario, et baiulo. The Latin reads ―quod dicta ars et eius artifices sunt non modicum
inter alias honorabiles et ydoney et proinde conveniat quod non secus sed saltem pares alliis se obstendant (…),‖
ibid., 187.
91
scuola in Venice which in the 1540s spent more on oil and wax than on alms.260 Donations of
wax and oil are also documented as typical offerings made by individuals.261
Confraternities
Like the occupational associations, the city‘s confraternities also used a variety of
identifying signs. Confraternities were typically affiliated with a religious order that provided
them with a place to meet such as a church chapel (or even an oratory of their own), and a
priest to serve mass and give the sacraments. In Perugia as elsewhere, the most important
religious communities had several confraternities attached to them.262 Quite often, these
confraternal groups adopted saints whose cults were already represented by the various
churches of religious communities dedicated to those holy figures.
For religious and lay devotional groups, a set of praying times, wearing a special habit
(and tonsured hair for clerics), acting charitably, and abstaining from sinful entertainment
were required ethical features that validated one‘s collective identity. Confraternity statutes
include precise provisions to further their image of exemplary moral purity. Only ‗honest‘
people were accepted, that is sober, and non-violent persons with no criminal record.
Members were not allowed to blaspheme, gamble, mix with prostitutes, or attend taverns.
They had to obey their superiors and to practice sacraments such as confession or communion
260
Christopher Black, Italian Confraternities in the Sixteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1989), 126-7, quoting Mackenney‘s study.
261
To give a Perugian example, Nutius Cioli supplied in 1348 the oil and wax to be burnt for ten years after his
death in S. Francesco al Prato both in front of a painting he had commissioned and in front of the sculptures
ordered to adorn his tomb in S. Pietro. Cohn, The Cult of Remembrance, 231.
262
For example, by the fifteenth century, the Perugian companies associated with the Franciscans included, on
top of the Compagnia del Confalone (see chapter one), the confraternities of San Francesco, San Bernardino
(from 1537 called the ―Confraternita di San Bernardino e Sant‘Andrea‖), and of that of San Girolamo (Saint
Jerome). The Dominicans chaperoned a Marian company (Confraternita di San Domenico), a Confraternita
dell‘Annunziata, a Confraternita di San Pietro Martire and another one dedicated to San Vicenzo Ferrer (Saint
Vincent Ferrer) while to the Servites were connected the confraternities of the Oltrapini (Ultramontanes) and the
Nunziata (the Annunciation). The Confraternita di Sant‘Agostino and the Compagnia di San Sebastiano were
linked with the Augustinians.262
92
regularly.263 Entering a confraternity was a rite of passage with the three phases proposed by
Van Gennep. The Confraternity of Sant‘Andrea can serve as a paradigm.264 Once he had
expressed his interest in joining the society, the applicant first experienced a period of
separation during which he could not attend any meeting. His behavior was reviewed since
his reputation had to be spotless. After that first stage, he had to listen to all provisions of the
internal statutes and then, for three Sundays in a row, a vote was cast for which the candidate
had to be approved by two thirds of the congregation. During this liminal stage, uncertainty
prevailed regarding his status. Lastly, in order to be formally incorporated, he had to pay for a
pound of wax, a customary amount for confraternity admission, and have a ―veste‖ (robe)
made within a month of the positive ballot. These two items were symbolic of confraternal
membership and indispensable in rituals.
The indispensable ‗veste‘ of a single color included a hood and covered the entire
body. Such an outfit immediately claimed for the wearer a confraternal identity. When
confraternal members were depicted as a group, they almost systematically wore those robes,
thus providing visual evidence of their corporate membership. The most common color was
white, probably because of its association with purity, but some sodalities chose red or black
robes. For example, the confratelli of the Santissima Trinità in Gualdo Tadini are shown in
their red robes on their early Cinquecento gonfalone (fig. 22) while the members of the Assisi
confraternity of Saint Francesco wear black robes on their late Trecento banner (fig. 23). 265
263
For a recent review of the scholarship on Italian confraternities and a concise overview of their
characteristics, see Dehmer, Brudeschaftsbanner, 15-33.
264
1525 Statutes of the Confraternity, chapter 1: Del modo che hanno a tenere quelli che voranno intrare nella
Fraternita. Transcribed in Antonio Cancian, "La Confraternità di S. Andrea e San Bernardino" (Tesi di laurea,
Perugia: Università degli studi, 1966), 64-66, from BAP, ms. 952.
265
For Gualdo Tadino, see E. Bairati and P. Dragoni, eds., Matteo da Gualdo. Rinascimento eccentrico fra
Umbria e Marche (Perugia: Electa Editori umbri, 2004), entry 19, 113-114. For Assisi, see Elvio Lunghi, Il
museo della cattedrale di San Rufino ad Assisi (Assisi: Accademia Properziana del Subasio, 1987), entry 10,
150-153 and bibliography; Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 46-47. In Pistoia (Tuscany), there was a Compagnia
dei Rossi (of the Reds). Green was also an option: when (between 1558 and 1645) the Nunziata (see last
chapter) overtook the responsibility of preparing repentant prostitutes for a new and virtous life, the confratelli
in charge of this particular charity wore green robes instead of the usual white ones.
93
These ―veste‖ or ―sacchi‖ were modeled after the monks‘ and friars‘ plain robes. The
sartorial analogy with monasticism signalled their collective piety, their commitment to
redemptive salvation, and their engagement in charitable deeds. Similar to a uniform, these
robes demonstrated how members gave up their individual identity in favor of a group
association as their primary identity when in a group situation. Robes with an opening in the
back for whipping the naked flesh indicated that the confraternal members were flagellants.
Scourging oneself was a shared activity in public or private rituals that distinguished the
Flagellants from other pious groups of the laity, even though their corporate statutes did not
specifically mention it.266 This garb and mode of conduct, in emulation of monastic practices,
was traditionally associated with the promise of redemption through the imitation of Christ‘s
suffering. This essential part of their identity was stressed on their banners that often included
the iconography of Christ‘s Flagellation.
Brothers often wore a badge stitched to their robes as a way to specify their dedication
more accurately. It especially distinguished the various white-robed confraternities from each
other. For example, the distinctive sartorial sign of the brothers of Santa Maria Novella was
an oval badge of a half-length Virgin and child on a red background according to Perugino‘s
1496 painting for this confraternity (fig. 24).267 Such ―segni‖ were omnipresent inside the
group‘s premises on objects, furnishings, and even stamped on bread.268 Two banners depict
a few members wearing such robes with their distinctive badges, the Gonfalone of
Sant‟Agostino (fig. 25) and the Gonfalone of San Antonio Abate (fig. 26). On Pinturricchio‘s
266
The 1374 statutes of the confraternity of Sant‘Andrea and their revised versions of 1525 and 1537 never
mention flagellation as one of the devotional activities of the member. Yet, on their altarpiece (fig. 36), one
confratello kneeling on Mary‘ right hand side is seen from the back and displays the typical flagellant opening
of the back.
267
For the Madonna della Consolazione, see Paola Mercurelli Salari‘s entry in: Vittoria Garibaldi and
Francesco Mancini, eds., Perugino. Il divin pittore (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2004), 166.
268
Ludovica Sebregondi, "Religious Furnishings and Devotional Objects in Renaissance Florentine
Confraternities," in K. Eisenbichler, ed., Crossing the Boundaries (Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University,
1991), 142-60.
94
Gonfalone of Sant‟ Agostino of 1500, the confraternity‘s emblem, a crosier flanked by two
scourges appears conspicuously in a large oval escutcheon at the saint‘s left foot. This
insignia can also be seen on the shoulder of the flagellant kneeling to the right, closest to the
viewer. It was also embroidered on vestments for the priest whom they hired.269 The scourges
recur frequently in confraternal emblematic iconography because they allude to the brothers‘
practice of flagellation. Here, the crosier, an episcopal emblem, points to the company‘s
allegiance to Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo, and to the Perugian Augustinians whose
monastery was adjacent to the confraternity‘s premises. A confraternal emblem was kept
forever; it is the same design that was used in the new ceiling decoration of the late
seventeenth century.
The badge on the confratelli of Sant‘Antonio Abate also consisted of two scourges
but without the crozier (fig. 26). The emblem of the Confraternita di San Francesco was
almost identical except that a column separated the two scourges, as can be seen on the
modern door of their oratory (fig. 27) and on fifteenth century books of account in their
archives. None of the habits are extant because they were ordinary items, made of coarse
linen washed only occasionally and replaced when too worn. The same type of robes, made
of an even coarser and undyed material, survived when they became a cult object, such as
Saint Francis‘ cowl or St. Clare‘s cape in Assisi or, in Perugia, preacher Jacopo della Marca‘s
brown robe and cord belt inventoried by the Confraternita di San Girolamo as a precious
possession.270
269
―un palio de velluto cremonsi figurato con l‘arma de la casa cum fregio doro racchamato » (inventories of
10th December 1515 and 12th May 1516): Archivio Fortebraccio, Confraternita di S. Agostino, 444, f. 4r +6r.
For this gonfalone, see Dehmer‘s bibliography, Bruderschaftsbanner, cat. 74, 331.
270
For Assisi, Machtilde Flury-Lemberg, Textile Conservation (Bern: Schriften der Abbeg-Stiftung, 1988), 314318, entries 56-57, ―The Cowl of St. Francis of Assisi‖ and ―St. Clare‘s mantle.‖ Jacopo della Marca‘s clothing
is no longer extant. For the inventories of the Compagnia di San Girolamo, see S. Nessi, ―La Confraternita di S.
Girolamo in Perugia,‖ in Miscellanea Francescana 67, I-II (1967): 78-115.
95
Processional paraphernalia typically included a cross to which a small flag was
appended, in imitation of the practices of religious orders.271 However, a confraternity‘s
―insegna‖ consisted of an ordinary gonfalone that often included visual cues to its
ecclesiastical affiliation by showing the order‘s founder or a holy friar or monk from that
community. I contend that ―ordinary‖ banners must be distinguished from the ―extraordinary‖
ones carried in procession by ―specialized‖ confraternities (see next chapter). Ordinary
banners were not cult objects and, once worn out, were easily replaced by new ones with the
same iconography. For example, the contract between the confraternity of the Bianchi in
Gubbio and a local painter in 1461 specifies that its new banner must be ―with the figures and
everything else that appears in the old banner.‖272 Ordinary banners were renewed with
frequency, especially if the confraternity marched with them in procession once a week like
the above-mentioned Bianchi of Gubbio who had a new banner made every five years.273
The inventories of the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata (or Nunziata) describe in the late
Trecento record (appendix 6a, item no. 9) a tavola grande portareccia (a large portable
picture) bearing the Annunciation on one side and the Flagellation on the other. By 1443, this
―insegna‖ was regarded as ‗old‘ (appendix 6b, item no. 53). Thus, a confraternity‘s worn-out
flag was not necessarily discarded. It was often ‗repaired‘ rather than replaced, that is,
abraded areas were repainted afresh. Numerous confraternities obtained subsidies from the
city authorities for such conservation purposes. The next surviving record for the Nunziata
banner shows that between 1556 and 1557, a new processional banner was made (lo cofalone
271
See, for example, appendix 6b, item no. 33 for the Confraternity of the Nunziata.
272
―cum figures et omnibus aliis ut in palio veteris fraternitatis apparet.‖ See Luigi Bonfatti, ―Memorie originali
per opere di pittura eseguite in S. Maria de‘ Laici e S. Croce della Foce di Gubbio,‖ in Giornale di Erudizione
Artistica 3 (1874): 290-291; 293-297 for the transcription of contracts and payments of banners pertaining to the
confraternity of the Bianchi (1461; 1533; 1537; 1548; 1558), here, 290-291.
273
In 1504, 1509, 1533, 1537, 1548, and 1558, granted that records are missing between 1509 and 1533. See
preceding footnote and Santi, Gonfaloni, 37.
96
da gire in processione) since the old one was deemed out of use (inservibbile).274 The
decision goes back to 14th May 1554 when the brothers rejected the idea of retouching the old
image and embraced instead the making of a brand new one. This deliberation shows the
importance that the proper look of this mobile sign of identity had for the members:
The meeting started, that is, it was decided by the members of the said confraternity to
have the banner of the old Annunciation [re]painted, that which is in the oratory of the
Nunziata of the said fraternity; but it displeased many members of the said fraternity
that this old image should be restored, that presently is ours; [it would be more
adequate] to have it painted anew, just like is being done for the beautiful coffin of
Jesus, and to have it painted more beautifully, as rich as it could be; and it will be an
honor to spend 50 or 60 scudi for this 275
The iconography of a banner typically refers to the group‘s patron saint and is often
homonymous with the confraternity‘s name. While the ubiquitous devotion to the Virgin
Mary made her an appropriate intercessor for many confraternities, whatever their affiliation,
some iconographic themes were connected to specific orders. For example, the processional
tablets of the Name of Jesus discussed in Chapter Four were linked to the Franciscans while
the narrative scene called ―Madonna del Soccorso‖ was usually bound to the Augustinians.
The iconography of the Madonna del Soccorso illustrates the legend of a young mother who
impetuously expresses her wish that her fussy baby be taken by the devil. 276 As the repulsive
satanic creature actually hastens to snatch the terrified infant away, the Virgin intervenes at
274
The banner does not appear in the inventory drafted on 6 th September 1556. However, it is mentioned in the
list of 1st January 1558. See Libro dei partiti: 1546-1560 (Perugia, Biblioteca Dominicini; hereafter abbreviated
as ―BDAnn‖), f. 52rv and for the inventories, the respective dates in that book.
275
Ibid., f. 52rv:
―(...) fu dato ordine cioè cumadunato de li giurati de dicta fraternita de fare depegnere il gonfalone de la
Nunciata vecchia quale sta nell‘oratorio de la Nunciata de dicta fraternita; pure a molti giurati de dicta
fraternita non piace che se depengha in quella tavola vecchia, quale è al presente nostra, farla
depengere in un altra tavola che como al Gesù fa cum la sua cassa a farla depegnerla più bella, più
richa che si poi, ne habbiamo honore expender o cinquanta o sessanta scudi (...)‖
Note that the brothers of the Nunziata had just commissioned a new painted bier for their Dead Christ statue
(discussed in the last chapter), hence the reference to Jesus.
276
See Mario Sensi, "Le Madonne del Soccorso umbro-marchigiane nell'iconografia e nella pietà," Bolletino
storico della città di Foligno XVIII (1994): 7-88. Raoul Pacciaroni‘s accurate research for the city of
Sanseverino demonstrates that this theme is also present in non- Augustinian contexts. He cites five frescoes
(from two different churches) and a painting on linen commissioned by a local carpenter for the collegiate
church (1509). R. Pacciaroni, Bernardino di Mariotto da Perugia: Il ventennio sanseverinate (1502-1521)
(Milan: Motta, 2005), 50-62.
97
the behest of the imploring and repentant mother and chases away the innocent‘s evil
aggressor with a cudgel (figs. 28; 29). This story, maybe developed in conjunction with a
sacra rappresentazione, can be found mainly on frescoes, altarpieces, and banners of
Augustinian churches and their affiliated confraternities, especially in Central Italy, but also
in Sicily, between 1480-1550.277 Umbrian examples correspond to this patronage pattern. On
the banner of Montefalco (fig. 28), the confraternal brothers who had their chapel in the local
church of Sant‘Agostino appear in their white sacchi together with Augustinian friars in their
black robes behind the beseeching mother. Lattanzio di Niccolò di Liberatore‘s gonfalone of
1509 (fig. 29) also comes from the local Augustinian church of Castel Ritaldi.278 The
iconographic success of this theme has been connected to the need for protection from the
evil doings of mankind, including the sin of sodomy and pederasty, which caused raging
epidemics.279
The iconography and the use of confraternal banners in the public sphere expressed
the strong identification of the group with the religious order to which they were associated.
For example, the Gonfalone of San Domenico showed Saint Dominic and was kept, in the
late fifteenth century, in the sacristy of the confraternity‘s oratory near the Preachers‘ church
but it has not survived.280 Three other banners from the Dominican circles of Perugia are still
extant: the Gonfalone of San Pietro Martire of the early sixteenth century for the lay
company of the same name (fig. 30); the small contemporary Gonfalone of San Vincenzo
277
Other Umbrian gonfaloni with the Madonna del Soccorso and her cudgel can be found in Gubbio, Churches
of Sant‘Agostino (1485) and San Felice di Giano (1494); and in Rome, Galleria Colonna, painted by Nicolo di
Liberatore (1497). The association with the Augustinians is usually explained by their determination to have
infants baptized in order to become full Christians and be saved from luring devils.
278
The inscription on a trompe l‘oeil cartello reads ―SANCTA MARIA SUCCURRE POPULO CASTRI RITALDORUM
1509.‖ For the banner by Lattanzio di Niccolò (son of Nicolò di Liberatore), see Giordana Benazzi and Elvio
Lunghi, Nicolaus Pictor: Nicolò di Liberatore detto L'alunno. Artisti e botteghe a Foligno nel Quattrocento
(Foligno: Orfini Numeister, 2004), 74-75.
279
280
This is the interpretation proposed by Mario Sensi, ―Le Madonne del Soccorso,‖ 38-39.
It was painted on silk and lined with canvas. Inventory of 29th August 1497: ―uno gonfalone cum sancto
Dominico pento da seta foderato de tela,‖ Perugia: Archivio Braccio Fortebraccio, San Domenico, 427, f. 57.
98
Ferrer for the eponymous confraternity (fig. 31); and the banner of 1575 for the Company of
the Rosary (fig. 34). The use of such banners displayed in public the affiliation and
devotional preferences of their confraternal patrons and also echoed the local cults of
Dominican saints or propagated them.281 Perugians would have readily associated the banners
with the Preachers because the confraternal premises from which the population saw that the
banners issued and returned were in the immediate proximity of the imposing church of San
Domenico.282
Another visual association that such banners elicited with the Preachers‘order was
their familiar iconography, being consistent with Dominican tenets. On its banner (fig. 31),
the Confraternity of San Vicenzo Ferrer depicted its patron saint in a familiar way, pointing
his right index finger at Heaven while proffering with his left hand an open book with a
typical scriptural passage for this saint: ―Timete Deum et date illi [h]onorem quia venit [h]ora
de iudicii eius et adorate eum qui fecit caelum et terram et mare et fontes aquarum.‖ 283 His
black mantle, a typical part of the Dominican habit, shelters two laurel-crowned boys
kneeling in prayer and dressed in white confraternal habits. A panel by Jacopo Bedi from the
Dominican church in Gubbio (fig. 32) shows a similar composition but this time Ferrer‘s
cloak gathers an entire population. This image of the protective mantle is borrowed from the
iconography of the Virgin of Mercy and it is a conscious choice on the Dominicans‘ part for
representing their order through model figures. While Franciscans never staged one of their
281
For example, episodes from Peter Martyr‘s life were frescoed in one of the apsidal chapel to the left of the
choir in the Perugian Dominican church.
282
San Domenico Nuovo, the church built next to the old San Domenico, was consecrated in 1459 aftermany
decades of construction works. See Il complesso di San Domenico di Perugia. Atti del Convegno (Perugia,
1997) and C. Del Giudice and A. M. Sartore, ―La fabbrica di San Domenico di Perugia,‖ in Commentari d‟arte”
IV, 9-11 (1998): 9-22. The most recent study of this convent and its church (2006) is quoted in footnote §1+26.
283
The citation corresponds to the verse of Revelation XIV, 7 from the Vulgate. For this banner, see Santi,
Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 160, entry 149, fig. 149 who erroneously identifies this saint with Saint
Dominic. Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 332, entry 77, rectifies this mistake in his appended catalogue.
99
saints with a sheltering open mantle, Dominicans occasionally used this figurative idea to
vest their founding figures with authority and to signify their unifying role.284
The Perugian Gonfalone of Sant‟Ercolano of c. 1575-1600 (fig. 33) is a comparable
iconographic example. Like the Gonfalone of San Vincenzo Ferrer (fig. 31), it shows two
boys, this time dressed in confraternal robes, who huddle beneath the mantle of the standing
saint. This confraternity most likely aimed at imparting proper Christian instruction for young
boys.285 It may have originated in the Dominican circles of Perugia.286 The Compagnia del
Rosario had been launched very successfully in 1534 to replace an extinct confraternity
dedicated to the Annunciation that used to meet at the same altar. 287 To establish the new
foundation, Dominican friar Domenico Baglioni rededicated the chapel of the Annunciation
to the Rosary. This entailed a new set of lavish clothing for the altar statue of the Virgin, as
284
See Dominique Donadieu-Rigaud, Penser les ordres religieux en images (XII e-XVe siècle) (Paris: Editions
Arguments, 2005). The author examines in her second part examples of the protective mantle worn by Saint
Dominic and other holy Preachers that she sees as constituent of a memory process for the Dominican order.
285
For this banner, see Santi‘s succinct entry, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 204, entry 208. Dehmer,
Bruderschaftsbanner, 214, suggests that the two boys indicate that the confraternity was an instructional
institution made of fanciulli. These youth associations have above all been studied in the Florentine context. See
for example Konrad Eisenbilcher‘s monograph, The Boys of the Archangel Raphael. A Youth Confraternity in
Florence 1411-1785 (Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 1998); Ilaria Taddei, Fanciulli e giovani.
Crescere a Firenze nel Rinascimento (Firenze: Olschki, 2001); and for the relationship between art, material
culture, and collective identity, Diane Cole Ahl, "In Corpo di Compania‖ and Ann Matchette, ―The Compagnia
della Purificazione e di San Zanobi in Florence: A Reconstruction of Its Residence at San Marco, 1440-1506,‖
in Confraternities and the Visual Arts in Renaissance Italy, 74-93.
286
The Gonfalone of Sant‟Ercolano could have belonged to the Confraternita del Buon Gesù that was founded
by a Dominican preacher at the beginning of the sixteenth century and that had its headquarters in the superior
church of Sant‘Ercolano, an edifice in which Dominican friars officiated. For the Confraternity del Buon Gesù,
see Marinelli, Confraternite, entry 1391 & 1392, 251-252. Alternatively, this banner could originate from the
chapel of St Vincent in the Dominican church of Perugia, where the Compagnia del Nome di Gesù ―founded at
an unknown date‖ met according to Crispolti, Perusia Augusta, 107. This patronage re-attribution would also
imply that the concept ―Name of Jesus‖ soon lost its connection with Franciscans (see third section of this
chapter).
287
In the fifteenth century, a Marian company of the Annunciation operated there. They are recorded as owning
a statue of the Virgin which they clothed and for which they receive city subsidies. See Chapter Five. The friar
who launched the compagnia del Rosario is padre Domenico Baglioni who narrates his successful venture (5000
registered members in 14 years) in a 1548 manuscript. See Laura Teza‘s synthetic history of this chapel in her
recent contribution ―Pittura tra Rinascimento e Manierismo‖ in Rocchi Coopmans, ed., Basilica di San
Domenico, 459-490, especially 468-482.
100
well as a gonfalone renewed in the 1540s that has not survived.288 Their extant silk banner of
1575 (fig. 34) shows two confratelli conspicuously holding their rosaries as they kneel in
adoration of the Virgin-to-be-crowned.289 It was carried in a popular procession with the
statues of the Virgin, Saint Dominic, and Saint Peter Martyr.290 Lay confraternities devoted to
the Rosary were a Dominican initiative of the 1470s so that by the 1530s and later, the image,
on a banner, of two members holding their beaded string irrevocably identified the associated
group with the Preachers.
The sponsorship of a confraternity was sometimes evidenced by the presence of a coat
of arms denoting either a city, a prince, or a private patron. For example, in 1457, a
confraternity from Aix-en-Provence specified in the contract for their banner that the arms of
the city and those of the king of Sicily had to be painted on the banner. 291 In the Gonfalone of
Sant‟Agostino (fig. 25), an escutcheon in the left foreground bears, on a blue ground, a cross
with funnel-shaped arms (called pattée or formy in base, in heraldic language) of two colors:
red for the vertical arms and white for the horizontal ones. Francesco Santi has suggested that
this coat of arms could be the confraternity prior‘s.292 But private heraldry on confraternity
banners is rare because it was felt inappropriate to single out an individual when confraternal
brothers sought redemption through humility in corporate actions and imagery. This coat of
288
See Domenico Baglioni, Registro della chiesa e Sacrestia di san Domenico di Perugia iniziato a partire dal
1548 (BAP, ms. 1232, post 1548), f. 21-22. Baglioni writes of a ―nuovo confalone.‖ Given the dating of the
manuscript, this banner could have been executed around the 1540s.
289
I have not been able to consult Giulia Conti‘s recent Tesi di laurea (Università degli Studi, Perugia) on early
modern banners from a conservation point of view and her findings on this particularly gonfalone.
290
―Il nuovo confalone che si porta con la Vergine e San Domenico e San Pietro martire e popolo.‖ Domenico
Baglioni, Registro della chiesa, f. 22. Quoted in Teza, ―Pittura tra Rinascimento e Manierismo,‖ 48.
291
In 1515, another company, from Marseille, requested that the arms of the French king and those of the city be
depicted on the ―tabernacle‖ of their banner, i.e. the frame. For a transcription of these contracts, see Dehmer,
Bruderschaftsbanner, 272 and 276.
292
Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 33. The confraternity inventories which I consulted describe a
―tavola dove sono scripte le frateglie con la figura de scto Agostino.‖ Archivio Braccio Fortebraccio,
Confraternita di S. Agostino, #444, f. 5r for 10th December 1515.
101
arms is undoubtedly the emblem of the Roman Confraternity of the Gonfalone. 293 The
inclusion of this heraldic device opens up a larger discussion, beyond the scope of this
dissertation, on the links between the Perugian Augustinian confraternity and one of the most
powerful Flagellant societies in Rome.294 In any case, private identity and clothing had to be
put aside so that the members acted as a group for the collective benefit. By avoiding
individual signs of heraldry and by donning a simple and uniform robe, confratelli could not
avoid accusations of the sin of vanity from preachers.
The imagery of confraternal banners expressed the confratelli‘s belief in the
intercession of their saintly patron and often their allegiance to a specific religious order,
strong components of their collective identity. Following these ordinary banners in public
rituals, confratelli practiced acts of devotion such as flagellating, chanting, or simply walking
in procession. Marching as a unified group at a purposefully slow pace, holding tapers and
dressed in robes that were reminiscent of religious habits, turned the procession into a
solemnly staged performance. Such ritual events provided visibility to groups whose
devotions also benefited the entire city and inspired the awe and respect of bystanders. The
public nature of these pious activities attracted candidates for confraternity membership and
donations of money or objects to the lay or clerical communities in charge of the cults.295
293
Bascapé and Del Piazzo, Insegne, 364. The authors describe this insignia with its ―unusual cross‖ as that of
the ―arciconfraternita del Gonfalone‖ of Rome. The Confraternity of the Gonfalone was raised to the status of
archconfraternity in 1578 but this emblem was in use before. See next footnote.
294
Barbara Wisch, "The ‗Archiconfraternità del Gonfalone‘ and its Oratory in Rome: Art and CounterReformation Spiritual Values." (Ph.D., University of California, 1985). The main symbol of this confraternity
was the Virgin of Mercy but its stemma was included in engravings or in the fresco cycle of the Passion of
Christ (1569-1576). See a reproduction of an engraving in M. Lumbroso Maroni and A. Martini, Le
confraternite tomane nelle loro chiese (Rome, 1963), 187; for the fresco cycle see Barbara Wisch, The
Archiconfraternita del Gonfalone and Its Oratory in Rome: Art and Counter-Reformation Spiritual Values
(PhD, Berkeley: University of California, 1985) and her ―The Passion of Christ in the Art, Theater, and
Penitential Rituals of the Roman Confraternity of the Gonfalone," in K. Eisenbichler, ed., Crossing the
Boundaries: Christian Piety and the Arts in Italian Medieval and Renaissance Confraternities (Kalamazoo,
Western Michigan University, 1991), 237.
295
Church inventories often mention the names of the donors who presented liturgical implements marked with
their family coats of arms, such as the list of precious items displayed in the Servite church of Santa Maria dei
Servi (see appendix 10).
102
Not all confraternities owned gonfaloni. Although conspicuous signs of identity,
mobile paintings were not indispensable for confraternal members‘ sense of unity in the
public sphere; nor were processions essential to their existence or to declaring their affiliation
to a specific religious community. Andreas Dehmer cites one example, a Venetian
confraternity that, out of humility, vowed not to own, and parade with, a banner.296 To deny
the opportunity to proclaim one‘s identity in public through a pictorial device was a rare and
virtuous stance. It is not the only documented case: in Perugia, at least three confraternities
eschewed ownership of a processional gonfalone to represent themselves, and two of them
had a mix of secular and religious members. Connected to the Dominicans although they
included many Franciscan friars, the confratelli of the Company of St. Thomas Aquinas,
founded in 1445, wore no special habit and did not perform any public devotion, or
participate in processions. Their duties included the illumination and maintenance of an altar
in San Domenico, collective prayers on Sundays and on specific feast days, as well as for
their dead, communion four times a year, and a banquet on their titular saint‘ s day. 297 It was
known as the ―scola‖ (school) because of the high number of well-known citizens, noblemen,
and well-educated friars who made up its membership.
The Fraternita di San Girolamo, San Francesco e San Bernardino, founded by the
famous preacher Jacopo della Marca in 1445, met in an oratory adjacent to the main
Franciscan church until its suppression in 1797. The brothers did not wear the typical ―sacco‖
adorned with symbolic signs of recognition that confraternities usually possessed, but one of
their collective actions of piety was flagellation as the 39 whips inventoried in 1494
296
The all-female confraternity in question is that of Santa Maria dell‘Umiltà whose statutes stipulate in 1353:
―Et si volemo che questa scuola de sancata maria de humildade non debia levare penello algun.‖ Dehmer,
Bruderschaftsbanner, 83.
297
See O. Marinelli, La Compagnia di San Tommaso d‟Aquinas (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1960).
103
indicate.298 This community was known for its seriousness and secrecy, and held a record for
the high number of its members who were expelled for non-compliance with the statutes. A
canvas picture of their founder, executed by the well-known master Perugino after 1512,
continues to be, erroneously, regarded as a banner (fig. 35).299 It is described in the 1532
inventory as an altarpiece fully furnished with a frame (―cassa‖), a base (―predolla‖), and a
curtain (―tenda‖). With its average size and vertical format, its holy figure in a frontal, fullsize, position facing the viewer, it does resemble many confraternity banners.
Paintings on textile are often equated with processional banners simply because they
are painted on cloth. But the medium itself cannot be taken as a certain proof, especially in
the case of the Confraternity of San Girolamo, because the confraternity did not take part in
processions. Linen was a cheaper medium than wood and a quicker means to execute a
painted composition. Acquiring a painting on textile rather than on wood was probably
regarded by the confraternity as a sign of humility. The San Girolamo brothers already owned
a ―cloth picture‖ of San Bernardino given by one of their members (―uno santo Bernardino in
panno che lo de‘ Giovagne de Tomassino‖), a ―painted linen cloth‖ with the Seven Joys [of
Mary] hung behind their crucifix (―un panno de lino pento derieto el crocefisso con le sette
alegrezze‖) as well as other panel paintings.300 Perugino was a prestigious master but this
composition (fig. 35) comes from a cartoon which he applied to another two paintings
showing Saint Anthony of Padua; one is an ex-voto on linen (Pinacoteca Comunale of
298
19 ―discipline‖ were inventoried in 1512 and 24 in 1532. On this confraternity and for a transcription of the
inventories, see S. Nessi, ―La Confraternita di S. Girolamo,‖ 78-115.
299
The exact date is unknown. It is believed to have been painted after 1512 because it does not appear in the
1512 inventory but is mentioned in the 1532 list of their possessions. Santi calls this painting a ―stendardino
processionale‖ but the 1532 inventory describes it as ―un‘altro altare col beato Iacomo de la Marcha con la cassa
sua et tenda con sua predola con uno paramento de panno schachato.‖ James Banker reiterates the standard
characterization as a banner although Scarpellini in his monograph cautiously refers to a ―tela.‖ This painting is
not included in Dehmer‘s catalogue of Italian confraternity banners. Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II:
111-112; J. Banker, ―St. James of the Marches,‖ in Perugino, Master of the Renaissance, 163-165.
300
S. Nessi, ―La confraternita di S. Girolamo in Perugia,‖ 110-111 for the inventory of 1532. The San
Bernardino ―in panno‖ and the ―panno depento con le septe alegreze de la Donna‖ are recorded in the inventory
of 1445-9 and 1494, ibid., 104-5 and 106-107.
104
Bettona, near Perugia) and the other one, on wood, is kept in the Medici chapel of Santa
Croce in Florence. This recycling method makes the Beato Iacomo a typical product from his
workshop.
Quite different in terms of membership, the Confraternity of St. Joseph welcomed 165
laymen and women in its first year (1487). A popular Franciscan preacher Bernardino da
Feltre (who was also a member of San Girolamo) founded it because of the presence in
Perugia of the holy engagement ring of Mary that was kept in the cathedral. The confraternity
members were committed to daily prayers at home and weekly orations in their cathedral
chapel in front of the sant‟anello. They attended mass in San Lorenzo on the first Sundays of
each month and on Corpus Christi day as well as on Good Thursday. They gathered in their
Duomo chapel on St. Joseph‘s day (19th March) and for the ostentations of the Holy Ring on
2nd and 3rd August.301 Their other duties were the care of their sick or dead members. Their
statutes require the participation of the members in the processions of Corpus Christi and of
the Nunziata Dead Christ (see last chapter). But they had no common possession except for
their spiritual dedication and the use of the Duomo chapel for which they commissioned
Perugino in 1489 with an altarpiece showing the holy union of Mary and Joseph.302
A number of other images and objects expressed a confraternal identity in visual
forms, as the inventories of confraternal premises. Confratelli possessed all the standard
liturgical implements for an appropriate celebration of the Eucharist and that most of them
were costly items of precious craftsmanship. A representative example is the oratory of the
Confraternity of the Nunziata (a popular name derived from ―Annunziata,‖ Annunciate). The
confratelli owned a gilded-silver chalice with its paten as well as many other basic
paraphernalia for the altar: white altar cloths (tovaglie), linens (sciucattoi), a pair of tapers,
301
On this confraternity, see Casagrande, Devozione e municipalità, 157-183 and O. Marinelli, Confraternite di
Perugia, 472-557.
302
Perugino‘s painting was taken away from its original location by the French troops in 1797 and is kept today
in the Musée national of Caen (Normandy, France). See Scarpellini, Perugino, 107-8, entry 129.
105
candlesticks in iron and wood, candlesnuffers, and an incense holder (see appendix 6a-c).
Numerous silk or guarnello [fine linen and cotton weave] cloths (palii) served as colorful
covers for the altar front and possibly its sides. The brothers also owned many cushions
(guanciale) of red silk or of white linen. The priest‘s vestments consisted of albs and amices
as well as chasubles (pianete) and a cope (piovale) made of various materials (silk or
guarnello) and of various colors (red, blue, green, yellow), with or without gold embroideries
(messa ad oro). Such liturgical paraphernalia builds the core of the confraternal possessions
and recurs in all the extant Nunziata‘s inventories that I consulted, covering the period 13931602.303 All sixteenth-century inventories (appendix 6d), especially in the Tridentine era,
show that most of their possessions revolved around the proper conduct of mass and the
ornamentation of their two altars.304 This allowed for communal devotion to take place on a
regular basis under the authority of a splendidly vested priest. Along with these liturgical
objects, props such as angels‘ wings, flags, Death‘s costume, animals etc., are constantly
recorded, a proof of the brothers‘ active staging of sacred drama (see appendix 6a-c and the
special section of appendix 6d). This important aspect of confraternal ritual activity is,
nevertheless, beyond the scope of this study.
Neighborhoods
Membership in a ―compagnia di porta‖ manifested another kind of urban sociability,
one that was based on one‘s residential area (―porta‖) regardless of one‘s professional
occupation or devotional duties. Documented from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries,
303
The oldest roster of possessions goes back to 1388 (appendix 6a) and the next surviving one (appendix 6b)
was first drafted in 1443, checked and corrected by successive camerlenghi in 1446 and 1463, and finally
annotated once more in 1472.
304
The main altar is called ‗grande‘ or just ‗l‘altare‘ and the small one is mentioned as the ‗altare piccolo‘. The
1388 inventory lists only one altar, the altare grande along with a ―traveling‖ (viareccio) altar, probably
destined for the viaticum (items nos. 1 and 2). The 1443 inventory mentions two altars. From at least 1553, the
major altar had a velvet baldachin with eight lambrequins (« otto drapellone per il baldachino de l‘altare, de
rasone » 15/1/1553). See BDAnn., Libro dei partiti: 1546-1560, ff. 61r-62v and appendix 6d.
106
these ―companies‖ of neighbors had their own signs of identity (such as colourful, silk
costumes) and participated in public rituals (processions, weddings, games, and entries).
Because of their ritual activities, ―compagnie‖ presented a frame for the corporate conscience
of one‘s residential area.305
The Perugian chronicles indicate that these companies mainly consisted of the male
juvenile nobility of Perugia, but not exclusively.306 They report the names of the company
officers, almost invariably aristocrats whose election was a constituent of the foundation of a
compagnia (―fare la compagnia‖) in a church. The high numbers of compagnie members
indicate that they could not all belong to the nobility. For example, in May 1471, 300 people
were present at the concluding banquet of Porta Sant‘Angelo.307 However, only citizens who
could afford the expenses involved in a company‘s public appearance would have been
accepted into the company.
William Heywood has argued that a Perugian compagnia involved the participation of
the whole district but he neglects evidence about the cost of the costumes that must have
limited participation to only those who could afford them.308 Graziani reported that the
members of the Compagnia di Porta Eburnea each paid 20 florins to defray the cost of their
performances on John the Baptist‘s day in June 1430.309 This underwrote, I assume, expenses
generated by one‘s costume, the props of their play, musicians, and the concluding banquet.
This extremely high amount must be contrasted to the five florins (still a substantial sum) that
305
See excursus no. 1 for a discussion of the compagnie in the 13th century, urban militias, and for more
information on the nature of later compagnie.
306
A. I. Galletti, who consulted the municipal deliberations, cites the Societas de la Banda that was subsidized
by the government in 1314 and qualified as ―of the noble youth‖ (―nobelium iuvenum‖) in 1317; see Galletti,
"Sant'Ercolano, il grifo e le lasche‖, 209, n. 13. See also Diario del Graziani, 549: ―El primo dí de maggio
[1444], tutti li gioveni de quilla porta [Sant‘Angelo] feceno una compagnya.‖
307
For annual performances during the company‘s traditional holy period, officers were chosen during the
concluding banquet. For example, the men of Porta San Angelo in May 1471: ―a la detta cena foro fatti li
Uffitiali novi per fare la compagnia lo anno seguente, cioè uno offitiale per quartiere [subdivision of the porta].”
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II: 74.
308
William Heywood, Palio and Ponte (New York: Hacker, 1969 [1904]), 140-145.
309
Diario del Graziani, 344.
107
each man of the Compagnia di Porta Santa Susanna gave to the officers for their participation
in the wedding ceremonies for Giovan Paolo Baglione in 1490.310 In contrast to the Perugian
situation, the Venetian compagnie della Calza were entirely manned by noble youth.311
The vivid colors and precious materials for the male costumes of compagnia members
were strong visual statements about one‘s self-image as a proud inhabitant of a specific city
area, but this sartorial display also had political implications. Most companies‘ members
wore a sumptuous silk attire that reflected the staple sartorial colors symbolic of their district.
Besides the general hue of the garments, these noticeable chains, garlands, stripes, or spheres
of a different color were sewn or embroidered ―segni‖, that further identified each
company.312 Mauro Menichelli suggests that these costumes were a mere excuse to show the
economic and ideological superiority of the district and a pretext to urge fighting so that men
could demonstrate their physical abilities with weapons.313 And indeed, these corporate
liveries were illegal for fear that the ostentatious gathering of young people might lead to
sedition or provocation.314 The government attempted many times to put an end to these
310
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II: 350.
The Venetian ―compagnie della Calza‖ are documented from the 1440s to the 1560s. See E. Muir, Civic
Ritual, 167-173. See also Matteo Casini, I gesti del principe. La festa politica a Firenze e Venezia in età
rinascimentale (Venice: Marsilio, 1996), 298-304 and his bibliography on the topic, 337, n. 150. M. Casini is
currently working on a more comprehensive study of these festive companies with a focus on the Venetian
situation. See also his essay : « les brigades de jeunes en Italie et leurs signes vestimentaires (XIVème - XVIème
siècles) in : Signes et couleurs de l‟identité politique du moyen age à nos jours. Poitiers 14-16 juillet 2007 (in
press with the Université de Rennes).
312
The men of Porta Sole wore white doublets striped with red. Diario del Graziani, 370, specifies that in 1433,
their costumes were adorned with a cock and garlands. On August 25, 1433, the Compagnia di Porta Eburnea
dressed up in green doublets adorned by a blue sphere and, for most of them, made of silk. For Porta Eburnea
and the feast day of John the Baptist in June 1430, see ibid., 370 and 549. The men of Porta Sant‘Angelo
distinguished themselves by parading in red garments. For Corpus Christi on June 11th 1430, the chronicler
counted 250 men of the Porta San Pietro who were dressed in yellow doublets. He indicates that 130 of these
costumes were in silk. After their banquet, they performed a play about the death of the Minotaur. Ibid., 549.
For segni on garments, see Pellini, Dell‟Historia, II: 207. The Porta Santa Susanna men were recognizable by
their celestial blue (cilestro) doublets adorned with silver chains.
313
Menichelli, La battaglia dei sassi, 73.
314
Municipal deliberation of 5th September 1376: Ordinamentum de divisis et quibusdam aliis: ―(...) ad presens
in civitate et comitatu Perusii (...) multe inhoneste iuvenum sotietates irritamentum seditionum et sistri status
fomentum esse consueverunt.‖ In: Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione suntuaria, entry 14, 86-88.
311
108
affrays by prohibiting the color-coded ―divise‖ of each rioni.315 Sumptuary laws repeatedly
forbade garments of two colors because dichromatism was the basis for heraldic devices
signaling a specific family. Naturally, in times of a signoria regime, the lord of the city and
his ―famiglia‖ (members of his household including his servants) were exempted from this
legislation.316 However, another exemption regarded the companies‘ performances for
Sant‘Ercolano as long as their members did not add any other special sign to their costume.317
Identical costumes emphasized communality especially since the company members could
only wear their outfits when they gathered for the group‘s performances and banquets.
Apart from clothing, the other major identity marker shared by compagnie members
was their flag and the pennants attached to trumpets. Pompeo Pellini mentions that in 1372, a
company carried a flag emblazoned with a falcon (symbol of the Ghibelline noble faction)
holding a goose (symbol of the popular Guelf party) in its claws. 318 This shows that flags
were proudly displayed in a spirit of provocation. They could be quite elaborate, as the
standard of the Viper neighborhood in Florence, painted around 1500 by Bernardino di
Jacopo. It was painted in gold with an embroidered outline and shading. 319 A notary‘s diary
provides another rare reference to the flags of Perugian compagnie, the episode of San
Bernardino da Siena‘s bonfire of the vanities in October 1425 during which companies had to
burn their weapons and their trumpet flags.320 The significance of a flag as the main identifier
for groups is evident in the name given to the Florentine wards, compagnie di stendardo
(standard-bearing companies) or gonfaloni. In Perugia, however, it was the virtual urban
315
Pellini, Dell‟Historia, II: 161, for the year 1407. He also mentions that the government had in the past
repeatedly passed such limitations.
316
The exemption regards also professors, knights, prelates, professional entertainers, prostitutes, and
foreigners, as specified in the 1376 law (see n. 286).
317
―Item non intelligatur presens capitulum in vestimentis quie fiunt per societates en festo sancti Herculani, vel
occasione dicti festi dummodo non sit intermixta alia divisa vel signum divise quam illa que sit per societatem
ipsam.” Decree of 21st June 1421, Legislazione suntuaria, entry 44.
318
Pellini, Dell‟Historia, I: 1122. I would like to thank Matteo Casini for this reference.
319
Wackernagel, The World of Florentine Renaissance Artist, 140, n. 73.
320
Menichelli, La battaglia dei sassi, 149 and n. 10, 156 quoting A. Fantozzi‘s reference of a Perugian notary‘s
diary in AFH, XV (1922): 6.
109
militias that received this characterizing term, the Latin ―vexilli‖ translating into the
vernacular ―gonfaloni‖ (excursus no. 2). Similarly, confraternities often received the name
―of the Gonfalone‖ because their flag was their most conspicuous shared symbol. The
Perugian evidence for ―compagnie‖ illustrates that group identity was asserted primarily
through clothing and through the ritual activities that were performed in these clothes. Flags
and sounds have surprisingly hardly been described by contemporaries.
Women do not seem to have taken any part as members of companies for general
processions. However, they had a limited but distinctive part to play in the male compagnie,
especially for weddings and entries. On 13th November, 1397, as the bride of the new lord of
Perugia, Biordo dei Michelotti solemnly rode through Perugia, selected ladies (gentildonne
onorate) of each rione greeted her by dancing while those who could not dance (because of
age or infirmity) followed. These women were elaborately dressed according to the district
colors and emblems while the next day, many ladies dressed in Biordo‘s livery and danced in
the main piazza. This time, the civic authorities underwrote the expenses of the companies,
giving each 10 florins, thus securing a minimum amount of lavishness and using companies
as political instruments for supporting the regime. Dressed in their best attire, noble ladies
and honest but non-noble women (―donne onorate‖ / ―donne da bene‖) alike also participated
in the concluding banquets of their district during which they danced and acted as beauty
ornaments.
What significance had geographic solidarity for civic consciousness? The compagnie
performances in public highlighted each district of the city, probably eliciting feelings of
pride and identification with one‘s neighborhood.321 But compagnie mainly marked social
distinction through lavish clothing that only well-to-do citizens could afford. Their corporate
321
My conclusions for Perugia do not correspond to Muir and Weissman‘s views that local loyalties
(neighborhood, kinship, and friendship) competed with obligations to public institutions. Edward Muir and
Ronald Weissman, "Social and Symbolic Places in Renaissance Venice and Florence," in J. Agnew, ed., The
Power of Place, 81-103.
110
identity implied loyalty to dominant noble families of each area, and fostered social
distinction rather than social cohesion. With their potential for political provocation, Perugian
compagnie had little chance to survive the absolutist papal government that was established
from the 1540s. For the entry of the new bishop, Franco Bossio, in May 1574, the Priori
chose ten young noblemen per porta who, dressed in their district‘s staple color and carrying
maces, escorted the dignitary from the city gate to his palace. While symbolic continuity was
visible through the familiar neighborhood colors, the appearance of the fifty young men was
this time strongly controlled by the civic authorities that had fixed their number and their
mode of parading. This episode has been interpreted as paradigmatic of the loss of power that
the nobility experienced after 1540 in Perugia.322
2) Death as a ritual stage for social cohesion
Another avenue that enlightens issues of group formation and identity is the study of
group behavior when confronted with the death of a member. In their analysis of responses to
death in the late middle ages, social historians have examined human attitudes towards the
loss of life or the art of ―dying well‖ while art historians have focused on the ―representation
of death‖ including tombs, frescoes, and book illuminations.323 Using the perspectives of
performance and practice theories (see introduction), my own concern regards the series of
public rites through which the living parted with the corpse from the moment the dead was
carried in procession to post-burial ceremonies. My focus is the role of images (including
banners and flags) in fostering group solidarity and an image of social cohesion during
322
323
Antonio Calderoni, Il Duomo, il vescovato e il palazzo abrugiato (Perugia: Porzi, 2002), 138-141.
Michel Vovelle, La mort et l‟occident de 1300 à nos jours (Paris: Gallimard, 1983); Philippe Ariès, L‟homme
devant la mort (Paris: Seuil, 1977); Paul Binski, Medieval Death. Ritual and Representation; M. Meiss,
Painting in Florence and Siena (1964); Erwin Panofsky and H. Janson, Tomb Sculpture. Its Changing Aspects
from Ancient Egypt to Bernini (New York: Abrams, 2002 [1964]). For a brief survey of historians‘ approaches,
see Craig Koslofsky‘s introductory section on ―The History of Death and the Anthropology of Death Ritual,‖ in
The Reformation of the Dead, 4-11.
111
funerary rites. I have chosen to analyze the use of symbolic representations in three types of
mortuary practices in late medieval Perugia: the activities of the Confraternita della Giustizia
in charge of those condemned to death; collective funerals organized by guilds and
confraternities; and elite funerals as spectacular political events.
The Confraternita della Giustizia and the trappings of redemptive identity
Each major city had at least one confraternity that was in charge of the spiritual care
and burial of those condemned to death who, whatever their social status, did not have a right
to a proper funeral.324 In Perugia, the Confraternity of Sant‘Andrea, founded in 1374, took
over this responsibility in 1458, consequently adding to its name ―della Giustizia‖ (of
Justice).325 This new charitable duty boosted up membership that went from thirty to forty
men to over one hundred.326 The civic and apostolic authorities allotted them a subsidy of
wax for all major processions and for the celebrations of the feast day of their patron,
Sant‘Andrea.327 This distinguished them from other devotional associations of the laity
because they were the only confraternity to be given candles on a regular basis throughout the
year. According to the nature of their activities, the members of Sant‘Andrea donned either a
white robe or a black one. Sant‘Andrea brothers wore white for standard collective activities
while black singled out their participation in execution rites, their specialty. Like most
324
The first such company was the Bolognese ―Società di Santa Maria della Morte‖ founded in 1336; other
similar Italian comfort societies include the Florentine ― Compagnia di Santa Maria della Croce al Tempio
(1355) and ―Compagnia della Misericordia,‖ the Roman ―Arciconfraternita di San Giovanni Decollato‖ (1488),
the Neapoletan ―Compagnia dei Bianchi della Giustizia‖ (1541). See Maria Pia Bella, La pura verità. Discarichi
di coscienza intesi dai “Bianchi” (Palermo 1541-1820) (Palermo: Sellerio, 1999), 10.
325
On this confraternity, see: Cancian, "La Confraternità di S. Andrea e San Bernardino;" Donatella Mingo, "La
Confraternita della Giustizia in Perugia dal 1374 al 1870" (Tesi di laurea, Perugia: Università degli Studi, 1971);
Clara Cutini, ―I condannati a morte e l‘attività assistenziale della Confraternita della Giustizia di Perugia,‖ BDSPU
82 (1985): 173-186; Teza, "―il Perugino e la confraternita di San Bernardino.‖
326
A. Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche perugine tratto dalla Cancelleria Decemvirale‖ in Archivio per la storia
ecclesiastica dell‟Umbria 5 (1921): 62, for the year 1458.
327
Municipal decree of 19th June 1458. See ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1458. Twenty pounds of wax were
granted to the brotherhood for St. Andrew‘s feast-day. It was changed to a perpetual allowance with the law of
26th November 1459. See ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1459, f. 152v.
112
confraternities, they dressed in their white robes when they gathered every Sunday, buried
their dead members, regularly recited prayers for them, confessed twice a year, celebrated the
feast of their patron saint and participated in general processions.328 Their altarpiece painted
by Bartolomeo Caporali in 1475 shows three brothers wearing their white robes (fig. 36). 329
Many matricole (books of registration and regulations) stipulate wearing this habit for
processions and gatherings and include a provision defining the office of the ―vestuario‖ who
is responsible for maintaining and handing out the robes.330
Caring for the condemned was the most visible and theatrical activity of this
brotherhood. For these activities, they left behind their white robes and donned instead their
special black outfits, covering their heads with a black hood. The funding of these black
robes by the Commune acknowledged the essential civic service that the brothers performed
on behalf of the community of Perugians.331 Like their equals in other cities, they visited the
condemned in jail and preached to them, seeking a full confession. For this difficult task, they
used small double-sided panels with the Crucifixion on one side and a scene of the
Lamentation or the Deposition on the other (fig. 38a-b). The night preceding the execution, a
few brothers drawn by lot would spend the night in the criminal‘s cell. If the prisoner
accepted his fate, the brothers would then bring their hired priest in. The next day, at dawn,
all members would participate in the sombre procession to the site of the execution. It was
part of their devotional mandate and a compulsory activity. It was the brothers who, at the
328
See the 1525 Statutes of the Confraternity, especially chapters 5 (confession and communion); 12 & 16
(mass for the dead); 15 (funerals); 22 (feast of Sant‘Andrea) transcribed in Cancian, "La Confraternità di S.
Andrea e San Bernardino," 63-103, from BAP, ms. 952.
329
One of them, kneeling on Mary‘s right is seen from the back. It looks as if he is wearing his black robe
underneath his white habit, therefore indicating both aspects of the pious activities but this could be due to a repainting. On this altarpiece, see Bury, "Bartolomeo Caporali,‖ 469-75.
330
For example, § XXVIII: De l‘ufitio de li vestuarii in the 1525 statutes of the Confraternity of S. Andrea della
Giustizia, transcribed in Cancian, "La Confraternità di S. Andrea e San Bernardino;" 98-99.
331
On 25th November 1459, a law was passed on the purchase of these robes by the Commune and endorsed the
next day: Riformanze, f. 151v-152r and 26th November 1459, f. 152v: Bullettinum disciplinatorum Iustitie:
―quos 8 floreni debeant expendere pro uno mantello, caputeo, sacchetto et palio colens negri retinendis per ipsos
ad usum illorum qui vadunt ad iustitiam.‖
113
end of the day, recovered the corpse and took care of burying it in an adequate grave, usually
close to the execution site.332
Following Van Gennep‘s tripartite analytical scheme, we may take the criminal‘s
seclusion as a ritual separation from society and the nocturnal visit of the Giustizia brothers
as a liminal phase. The ritualised activities of that second phase unfolded during the night and
on the way to the scaffold at dawn. They were geared towards the repentance of the
condemned and were filled with uncertainty as to the successful outcome of the ritual
endeavours. The subsequent rite of incorporation was a peculiar one because of the
dishonourable burial that all criminals were seen to deserve. The corpse was usually exposed
for the whole day and then hastily buried, by dusk or night fall, in a special pit. This act of
charity also included 15 Paternosters and 15 Ave Marias recited by the confratelli for the soul
of the executed, a mandatory prescription specified in the group‘s statutes. Burying the
bodies of the damned and praying for their souls were preventive measures that avoided the
terrifying return on earth of the menacing ghosts of the executed.333 The rituals that
comforting societies such as this one performed had thus a crucial mission: saving the living
from haunting and maleficent souls. Consequently, rather than incorporation into Purgatory,
burial rite with formal prayers were meant to eliminate the potential harm that the ghost of
the condemned may inflict on the living.
Capital punishment symbolized the regime‘s authority in deciding upon people‘s
death and mode of interment and the ritual intervention of the Giustizia brothers reinforced
the established order. It also dramatized in the open sphere the purifying process undertaken
by the government for the public good. As I mentioned in Chapter One, the precise unfolding
332
For similar arrangements in Rome, see: J. Weisz, Pittura e Misericordia, The Oratory of S. Giovanni
Decollato in Rome (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982), 3-8 and S. Edgerton, Pictures and Punishment,
165-179. For a range of dishonourable burials in Reformation Germany, see Koslofsky, The Reformation of the
Dead, 102-104.
333
19.
J.C. Schmitt, Les revenants. Les vivants et les morts dans la société médiévale (Paris: Gallimard, 1994), 15-
114
of auditory signals and visual cues for each condemnation reiterated the Commune‘s power
of decision-making. The communal bell tolled three times and a city trumpeter heralded the
reading aloud of the fatal sentence. The criminal was led around the fountain and then
marched onto the gallows, situated outside the city walls, unless he was executed on the main
piazza as a state traitor. The Podestà‘s or Capitano‘s civic flag that had first signalled the
event preceded the cortège.334
Adding to the public spectacle of civic power, the confratelli escorted criminals to the
execution site with the same visual aids that had been used in the privacy of the prison. They
followed their banner and crucifix while carrying small tavolette that they kept close to the
face of the condemned.335 These devotional props recalled Christ‘s suffering so that the
sinful, wretched creatures walking to their death would be moved to repent and save their
souls from hell, even at the last minute. In the famous depiction of the execution of
Savonarola (1494), confraternal members are performing this heart-to-heart sermon while
holding small panels and walking to the stake where a blazing bonfire awaits the condemned
(fig. 37).336 Four such double-sided tablets from the Perugian confraternity are extant and
date from the sixteenth century (fig. 38a-b).337 They are simple square paintings with a handle
for easy portability and were not overly costly. They are smaller in size than the Bernardinian
tavolette of Chapter Four and their imagery is more detailed.
334
For a description of these ritual practices in 1457, see Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 303-4.
335
See the 1525 Statutes of the Confraternity, chapter 17: De l‘ordine del gire ale Iustizie, transcribed in
Cancian, 83-84. The use of the tavolette does not appear in their statutes and is otherwise not documented.
336
The artist for this painting of ca. 1500 is unknown. It is kept in the Museo San Marco in Florence. For a
description of this painting, see Edgerton, Pictures and punishment, 135-139.
337
See Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 85, entry 73 (last quarter of sixteenth century); 179-180,
entries 175-177 (mid-sixteenth century or earlier). Pompeo Cocchi was paid five scudi for a tavoletta in 1551.
Ibid., 179, entry 175.
115
The appearance of these Perugian flagellants in their black garb was eye-catching,
especially with such props as the tavolette that were unique to this confraternity.338 Edgerton
argues that these processional panels allowed the brothers to comfort the criminal both
spiritually and psychologically because they hid the sight of the executioner, thereby sparing
the condemned some anxiety. It also reduced the risk of a panic attack that would have
endangered the hoped-for conversion or recanting. The repenting criminals may have kissed
the pictures, giving an even more dramatic twist to the processional use of these images.
Bystanders were able to catch a glimpse of the other side of the tavoletta and the pious
depiction of Christ‘ suffering may have had the effect of victimizing the criminal, turning
him into a wretched figure undergoing martyrdom. These tablets thus elicited feelings of
forgiveness and devotion rather than hatred from the spectators.339 It was crucial for the
brothers to obtain conversion.
On an economic level, their work of persuasion generated financial benefits because
criminals were encouraged to write in their will bequests to religious houses or to the
confraternity itself.340 From a social point of view, conversions were a proof of the
community‘s success in saving souls, therefore gaining it prestige in regards to other
confraternities. The Compagnia del Crocefisso in Palermo was adamant in getting a written
statement, a ―discharge of conscience,‖ from each criminal but the brothers did not deal with
those who had been condemned by the Inquisition tribunal. This attitude was justified by the
338
Not all confraternities in charge of the condemned wore black and owned painted tablets. The Bianchi of
Palermo wore white robes and carried a crucifix but they did not seem to have had any tavolette, as far as I
gather from Bella‘s La pura verità. The Florentine Confraternity of Santa Maria della Croce and Ferrarese
sodalities comforting the condemned wore black hence their nickname the ―Neri‖ but the other Florentine
Confraternity of the Misericordia had red robes until 1497. See S. Edgerton, Pictures and Punishment, and for
Ferrara, A. Prosperi, ―Mediatori di emozioni. La compagnia ferrarese di giustizia e l‘uso delle immagine,‖ in J.
Bentini and A. Spezzaferro, eds., L'impresa di Alfonso II, Saggi e documenti sulla produzione artistica a
Ferrara nel secondo Cinquecento (Bologna: Alfa, 1987), 279-292.
339
Prosperi, ibid, 287 and by the same author, ―Il sangue e l‘anima. Ricerche sulle compagnie di Giustizia in
Italia‖ in Quaderni di Storia, 51 (1982): 960-999
340
See Cutini, ―La confraternita della Giustizia di Perugia,‖ 181.
116
likely impenitence of these criminals. Thus, by excluding them, the confraternity did not risk
the spectacle of public failure.341
The staging of a public appearance for the executions was clearly spelled out in the
confraternity‘ s statutes and it made them appear as a tightly-knit group of anonymous
individuals on a noble and pious mission. This is the impression given by a miniature from
De Sphaera (fig. 39), showing a fictive execution scene in the presence of a similar-looking
confraternity whose white-robed members kneel compactly behind their standard while
showing the condemned a tavoletta. These symbolic trappings (robes, tavoletta, standard)
characterize the group and allow its members to proclaim their corporate identity in the open.
The De Spherae image suggests that a banner attached to a cross, special clothing, and a
tavoletta are the items without which a confraternity like Sant‘Andrea della Giustizia would
not be able to enact its pious responsibilities. Paradoxically, while the Perugian banner of the
Confraternity of Sant‘Andrea is documented, it has not survived. The extant tavolette of the
confraternity do not appear in their statutes, however, tangible evidence for their use is
provided by the four extant tavolette (fig. 38a-b) whose poor state of preservation speaks to
their frequent manipulation.342 These paintings were ostensibly functional items for the
condemned but because only the confratelli of Sant‘Andrea handled them, these tablets were
part of the members‘ corporate identity. Painted on both sides, these mirror-like objects
reflected back to the brothers who used them their own collective charitable mission, thereby
reinforcing their ties to each other and to their group.
A banner commissioned in 1496 by the brothers of San Bernardino to Perugino was
long believed to belong to the Confraternity of Sant‘Andrea (fig. 40). 343 It shows the Virgin
341
On this confraternity founded in 1541, see Maria Pia Bella, La pura verità, 21-22.
342
The only textual evidence is a notarised payment to artist Pompeo Cocchi in 1551 for one tablet and a report
by Serafino Siepi of the presence of six such tablets in the sacristy of the confraternity‘s oratory in 1822.
343
Dehmer excludes this painting from his corpus of banners on account of its wooden medium, a not
unproblematic stance as he himself admits. See Bruderschaftsbanner, 46-7, and bibliographic references, 47, n.
117
Mary and the Christ Child hovering in the sky while San Bernardino and Saint Francis kneel
in prayer on the ground on each side. Its modern name, the Gonfalone della Giustizia is a
misnomer, if alone because Sant‘Andrea does not appear on it. It received its deluding name
because the Confraternities of Sant‘Andrea and of San Bernardino merged in 1537, joining
their possessions.344 This change of identity was expressed by a modified name
(―Confraternita di Sant‘Andrea e San Bernardino‖), the first provision of their new statutes
(1537). At that time, they commissioned a new gonfalone that had to be carried ―together
with the cross‖ and show both patron saints.345
Neither the old banner of the Confraternity of Sant‘Andrea nor the new one made in
1537 are preserved. This is not surprising, because as ordinary banners they were repainted
often or replaced once worn out. Ordinary banners were used for processions and sometimes
inside the premises of the confraternity but they were not venerated in public churches for
their miraculous properties, unlike the ―extraordinary‖ banners that I describe in Chapter
Three. Extant ordinary banners (kept in museums or churches) benefited from fortunate
circumstances pertaining either to art appreciation (see introduction) or to the fact that they
were placed above an altar for confraternal cults, or both.346
A stationary position above a properly outfitted altar was the best way to extend the
life of a fragile painting on cloth that lasted at most a few decades. If a confraternity endured
severe economic conditions, using its banner above the altar was a cheap, but perfectly
adequate, means to adorn its sacred space. Or, a confraternity may simply have desired to
28. See also Antenucci Becherer, "Madonna della Giustizia," in Pietro Perugino: Master of the Italian
Renaissance, 184-7.
344
Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 46, endorses the traditional view for the patronage of this gonfalone, adding
that it was not a processional banner because of its rounded top.
345
346
Statutes of 1537, transcribed in Cancian, 46.
The Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria has kept a number of processional paintings executed by Perugino for
local confraternities: the Gonfalone di San Francesco, the Pietà, and the panel for Santa Maria Novella that had
a double function (processional and devotional). See entries in Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 102107; 101-102; 98-99.
118
conserve its old banner out of reverence and devotional attachment to it, and did so by
elevating it to the status of an altarpiece. The motives may differ for each case, calling for
micro-history studies of the afterlife of confraternal gonfaloni.347 The so-called Gonfalone
della Giustizia was placed, most probably on account of the fame of its creator, above the
main altar of the new oratory situated in the back room of the Oratory of San Bernardino.
This location and the name of Perugino explain the preservation of the ordinary banner that
originally belonged to the Confraternity of San Bernardino.348
To mark their new identity, the newly joined brothers called their association
‗Confraternita di Sant‘Andrea e di San Bernardino‘ and immediately secured the making of a
new (non extant) banner that showed both saints. Thus, there is a close interrelation between
naming and symbolically visualizing this name. The third provision of their founding statutes
deals with carrying the statue of San Bernardino topped by a canopy in procession. In brief,
the new identity of this group was asserted first verbally and then visually through symbolic
representations (in form of writing and an object) that advertised group solidarity in the open.
The union of the two confraternities was rightly described by the Priori‘s council minutes as
having achieved the making of ―one body.‖349
Advertising single-group identity in funerals
Funerals staged by a group for one of their members always appeared as a declaration
of collective identity for the deceased and as a public manifestation of solidarity for the group
itself. An important advantage of membership in a guild or a confraternity was the guarantee
347
In the case of extraordinary banners, permanent placement above an altar did not preclude their occasional
processional use because ritual motion was an inherent part of their power.
348
In his 1597 guidebook, Crispolti describes this spatial arrangements as ―Nella compagnia della Giustizia, che
sta congiunta a quella di San Bernardino, la tavola dell‘altar grande è di maestro Pietro Perugino.‖ See Laura
Teza, Raccolta delle cose segnalate di Cesare Crispolti: la più antica guida di Perugia (1597) (Florence: Leo S.
Olschki, 2001), 100.
349
―hanno facto una unione e un corpo.‖ Riformanze, 13th January 1537, f. 64. Transcribed in Cancian, 49 ff.
119
of a proper Christian burial for any member, including immediate relatives, regardless of
one‘s position within the association or one‘s financial situation. Members of a ―compagnia,‖
a ―fraterneta,‖ a ―corpo,‖ or a ―collegio‖ were allowed more wax for their obsequies than
independent burials (say, those organized by the parish) because these candles and tapers
were meant as a donation to the clergy.350 The group banner often preceded the cortège
announcing corporate identity and allegiance. However, some confraternities used a black
flag rather than their banner for funerals.351
All guild or confraternity statutes include several provisions on funerals that clearly
illustrate the typical three stages of rites of passage.352 Van Gennep‘s opening remark in his
chapter on funerals fits late medieval practices well: separation rites from one status to
another were ―few in number and simple‖ while the transition rites had a considerable
―duration and complexity.‖353 Typically, all fellow-members were required to participate in
the burial procession from the deceased‘s home to his chosen church cemetery or to a grave
owned by the group (―separation phase‖).354 The liminal stage corresponded to the procession
350
These groups were allowed to carry two more tapers on top of the three ―doppieri‖ weighing eight pounds
maximum that any individual may have for his funeral. Salem, Statuto, III: 309, §230. 15-16. For an example of
the statutory provisions of a guild on funerals, see the ―matricola‖ of the goldsmiths of 1378, transcribed in F.
Santi, Statuto e Matricola dell‟Arte degli orefici di Perugia, BDSPU 50 (1953), 145-177, in particular, chapters
5, 9, 39, 40.
351
For guild banners used in funerals from the late 14 th to the 16th centuries, see C. Daniell, Death and Burial in
Medieval England. 1066-1550 (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), 42-46. For the documented use of
confraternity banners in burials, see examples in Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 116-119. Dehmer also provides
two examples of confraternities (from Venice in 1450 and from Udine in 1547) that used a special funerary flag,
respectively showing the patron saint and all black (―vexillum nigrum portandum in funeralibus‖) rather than
their ordinary banner. Ibid., 132 and 279. I have not found any evidence for the use of banners in guild or
confraternity burials in Perugia, maybe because it was taken for granted or because it did not require a statutory
provision.
352
For the decorum of funeral rites in the confraternities of Borgo San Sepolcro between Umbria and Tuscany,
see James Banker, "Death and Christian Charity in the Confraternities of the Upper Tiber Valley," in T. Verdon
and J. Henderson, eds., Christianity and the Renaissance (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990), 303-27.
353
354
Van Gennep, Rites, 146.
Robert Dinn analyses mortuary practices for individuals in an English city differently: he includes in the
separation phase the rites that took place at the death bed (extreme unction; preparation of the corpse; bell
ringing) while he splits the liminal phase into three events (procession to the church; liturgical accompaniment;
procession from the church to the grave). See R. Dinn, ―Death and rebirth in medieval Bury St Edmunds,‖ in S.
Bassett, ed., Death in Towns. Urban Responses to the Dying and the Dead, 100-1600 (London and New York:
Leicester University Press, 1992), 151-169.
120
through town of the group members escorting the coffin on a bier to the burial site. It was the
most important phase of the ritual for the living because the members demonstrated their
group solidarity to themselves and to the city inhabitants. Guilds and confraternities usually
provided essential artefacts such as the bier, the pall, wax, or payment to the clergy. The
weight and price of tapers or candles were stipulated in testaments and confraternity
statutes.355 As to the deceased, his membership to a specific group was highlighted then as his
primary identity. A guild often required the shops in its own business category to close during
the funeral, thus making the importance of ritual time tangible with a breach in the daily work
routine. ―Incorporation‖ was effected with the actual interment and prayers said for the soul
of the deceased who would be remembered at least once a year when members gathered in
their premises to honor their dead with a mass, chants, orations, and lit tapers.
Such guild- or confraternity-sponsored funeral processions were a familiar sight in
medieval and renaissance Italy and they offered a show of collegial solidarity. Group
members paid homage to their dead fellow by participating in and respecting ritual
proceedings such as emphasizing the slow pace adopted by the cortège and displaying
somber, decorous paraphernalia. Confraternities must have offered an even more striking
performance. Holding large tapers and candles, their members sang lauds or recited salutary
prayers on behalf of the deceased‘s soul. Processional rhythms furthered the expression of
group cohesion: all similarly robed, they walked at the same pace and in order, appearing as a
compact group behind their banner or a black flag, and a special cross adorned with a ‗benda‘
(small flag).356 They thus guaranteed a certain degree of pomp whatever the social status of
their deceased members. Once outdoors, confraternal associations certainly appeared as a
355
See Cohn, The Cult of Remembrance, « Funerals », 122-133. In Florence, the flagellant societies provided
sixteen hooded men to accompany the bier while singing a penitential psalm and holding a blazing taper. John
Henderson, Piety and Charity in Late Medieval Florence (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago
Press, 1994), 160.
356
The banner of the confraternity was often attached to a cross and cloths (―bende‖) were often attached to
processional crosses.
121
tightly-knit group thanks to the assertive presence of their members. However, one should not
forget that ostracization was a common practice in confraternal circles and these public and
private demonstrations of piety were not showered upon excluded members.357
Funerals fused tangible signs of identity with shared and consensual activities of the
body (a collective forward motion, and for confraternities, chanting voices). Funerals are
therefore an example of how rituals, through repetition and the display of symbols, allowed
cognitive processes to take place, shaping and maintaining group identity for members and
for the outsider witnesses alike. The same can be said about the funerals of high-ranking
citizens because they entailed a specific protocol that included a lavish display of symbolic
paraphernalia. I now move from the function of artefacts in building the solidarity of single
groups to the role of ritual objects in asserting the dominant identity of a familial clan and in
generating an image of a unified urban and rural population.
Elite funerals: constructing relationships of authority and submission
In great contrast to everyday burials, the extravagant funerals of the urban elite
consisted of multiple ceremonies over the course of several days, without any sumptuary
restrictions.358 Chroniclers, struck by them, recorded such events and sometimes described
them in great detail. Such is the case of the 1437 funeral of a member of the prominent
Baglioni family from Perugia, Malatesta di Pandolfo, with its sequence of three major events:
burial procession and interment (―sepoltura‖), wake-procession (―gran corrotto‖), and
357
Having examined expulsion rates and limits to the benefits of confraternity members, Joëlle Rollo-Koster
warns against the idea of confraternities as a surrogate family. J. Rollo-Koster, "Death and the Fraternity. A
Short Study on the Dead in Late Medieval Confraternities," Confraternitas 9, no. 1 (1998): 3-12.
358
I do not deal with the parish funerals of patricians of middling wealth, an in-between category beyond the
scope of this dissertation. For temporal contrasts between pauper burials and elite funerals in London and Paris,
see V. Harding, The Dead and the Living in Paris and London, 1500-1670 (New York, Cambridge University
Press, 2002), 184-8.
122
obsequies (―obsequio‖).359 Behind the sixteenth-century chronicler‘s detached and factual
tone relating the presence of numerous groups and trappings lies a vivid example of the role
of ritual in representing and maintaining collective identities within a fixed hierarchy and
clear patterns of subordination. Symbolic representations are an integral part of this process
but the chronicler really describes them for the culmination of the funeral proceedings, the
―gran corrotto.‖ I have tried to illustrate the missing accounts of ritual objects by providing
apposite pictures of them. However, I also regard non tangible ephemera, such as collective
kinetics, body gestures, and sounds as ―symbolic representations‖.
On Saturday January 26 [1437], at 4pm, the body of Malatesta arrived in Perugia and
all shops and businesses were closed in the main piazza. Many lords and gentleman
and ladies [gentilomini e gentildonne] as well as many women with their hair
dishevelled gathered as they were crying and met the body between the two gates
where there were Nello Baglioni [brother of the deceased] and Mariotto and all the
rest of the Baglioni. Madonna Giapecha, the wife of the said Malatesta and her sons
and retainers, people from Spello and from Canaia [Cannara] and from Bastia, men
and women were there too and they lamented in great grief [facendo grandissimo
corrotto]. They lay the body in state at San Domenico and left it there while the lords
and gentlemen returned to Malatesta‘s home and others to their own house. The next
evening, the said body was transported to the conventual church of San Francesco
where it was buried in a tomb. (…).360
Burial was a priority because of sanitary requirements but also because of the belief
that the body needed to be interred in consecrated ground so that the living could be able to
intercede for the suffering soul. Therefore, the first imperative was to bury the corpse with
the proper Christian rites as soon as possible. The sole exception is when an elite corpse lay
in state, duly preserved, several days or weeks for public veneration, such as occurred at the
death of Bernardino da Siena in L‘Aquila. Usually, a lavish procession was held to
359
―Corrotto‖ literally means ―lamentation‖ or ―grief‖ but it also translates, as can be gathered from primary
sources, as a lavish funerary procession with much wailing, hence my expression of ―procession-wake.‖ Charles
Du Cange understands under corruptus / corructus ―loud wailing voices.‖ He also mentions the possible
meaning of ―mourning clothes‖ but this does not fit my primary sources. C. Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et
infimae Latinitatis (Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1954 [1678]) II, 583.
360
―Diario del Graziani‖, 412. The translation is mine; for the original Italian, see appendix 14. For the years
1423-1491, the diary of Graziani is based on a fifteenth-century chronicle published by Fabretti as ―Diario di
Antonio dei Veghi,‖in Cronache II: 1-70. Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita‖, I: 65-66, argues that A. dei Veghi is
only the compiler of the chronicle that was actually written by Antonio dei Guarneglie.
123
accompany the deceased, who was dressed in his best clothes, to the burial location.361 In
terms of Van Gennep‘s analytic terms for rites of passage, this phase corresponds to the
separation from the cultural order.362 The dead is physically detached from the living by its
interment. But in Malatesta‘s case, the pattern stands on its head. There is first a ritual
gathering, a rite of inclusion with relatives and citizens greeting the dead body at the city gate
and escorting it to an intermediary church (San Domenico). The late Malatesta was thus
celebrated according to his princely rank and his body was treated in the same way as ritual
entries. He was showered with a lavish and honorable reception similar to that of highranking visitors who once they reached the city gates were accompanied into the city by a
procession (see below, ―Papal entries‖).
A member of the aristocratic faction and a condottiere, Malatesta fought the
―Popolari‖ regime of his native Perugia until his chief commander, Braccio Fortebraccio,
overtook power in Perugia and much of Umbria in 1411. When Braccio died in 1424,
Malatesta changed allegiance and rallied to the papal side (appendix 1). His political fortune
was launched when he successfully negotiated a peace treaty between Perugia and pope
Martin V who rewarded him and his brother Nello with the government of Spello in 1425
and, for Malatesta, the vicariate of Cannara in 1427. In addition to the acquisition of these
two fortified towns 20 km away from Perugia, the neighboring Bastia surrended in 1431. 363
This means that ―Malatesta I‖ ruled over a territory that was sandwiched between the
Perugian contado and princely Foligno. The presence of Malatesta‘s subjects from Spello,
Cannara, and Bastia at their lord‘s Perugian funeral entry signified their loyalty to the
361
I have not found records of open displays of the beautified corpse in sumptuous burial garb for Perugia.
Perugians shared with Florentines little interest for preserving the corpse through evisceration and embalmment.
For examples of this rare practice in Florence, see Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 45-48.
362
363
Van Gennep, Rites of Passage, chapter ―Funerals,‖ 146-165.
Peter Partner, "Comuni e vicariato nello Stato Pontificio al tempo di Martino V," in Giorgio Chittolini, ed.,
La crisi degli ordinamenti comunali e le origini dello stato del Rinascimento (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1979), 22761, here 237 and Dizionario biografico degli Italiani (Rome: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 1963), 229-230.
124
Baglioni and stressed the importance of this family in the Umbrian capital. Unlike
confraternity or guild funerals, funerals of the elite attracted huge crowds (altra gente assai /
molta gente) and were a grand occasion for clans to display their power. We will see how the
mourning Baglioni managed to steer the audience in admiration of their clan.
In his description of the solemn entry of Malatesta‘s coffin into Perugia, the
chronicler focused on the ritual of lamentation (faciendo grandissimo corrotto). The most
dramatic sights accompanying the shrieking displays of grief were the ladies‘ dishevelled
coiffure: female mourners impetuously pulled at their hair while wailing in sign of mourning.
The presence of women must be noted because women were not allowed to attend burial
processions but they were accepted in pre- or post-burial ―corrotti.‖ Their public display of
passionate grief was acceptable because these honest women were acting in a ritual context.
Such loud and violent self-disfiguring, mentioned in the Bible and documented in antiquity,
was condemned by the Church and fined by city statutes throughout Europe, but it continued
until the sixteenth century.364 Perugian law explicitly forbade for both sexes scratching one‘s
face and taking one‘s headdress off which shows that it was not necessarily a gendered
(female) activity.365 Danièle Alexandre-Bidon remarked that while the Church characterized
passionate manifestations of grief as female hysteria, many French texts attest to this practice
as non-gendered. Diane Owen Hughes‘s research also documents male lamentation in Italian
cities.366 Similar practices of excessive grieving including defacement and loud wailing is
described in late medieval and renaissance Spain for both sexes. Thus, one should revise the
364
For biblical references on lamentation rituals and examples from hagiography and sermons, see M. Lauwers,
La mémoire des ancêtres, le souci des morts. Morts, rites et société au moyen âge (Diocèse de Liège, XIe-XIIIe
siècles) (Paris : Beauchesne, 1997), 446-452. For this gendered activity in Ancient Greece, see Margaret
Alexiou, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974).
365
Perugian Statutes of 1279, § 379, repeated in the Statutes of 1285, § 375: ―Nullus insuper (...) presumat,
capillos de capite sibi extrahere, vel faciem seu vestem dilaniare, guililmentum vel infulam vel caputium de
capite sibi extrahere.‖ See Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione suntuaria, 46.
366
D. Alexandre-Bidon, « Gestes et expressions du deuil » in: A reveiller les morts. La mort au quotidien dans
l‟Occident médiéval (Lyon : Presses universitaires de Lyon, 1993), 121-133, here, 133. Diane Owen Hughes,
"Mourning Rites, Memory, and Civilization in Premodern Italy," in Jacques Chiffoleau et al., eds., Riti e rituali
nelle società medievali (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 1994), 23-38.
125
statement that ―codified grief is the preserve of women.‖367 Another testimony for male
frantic gesticulation is Leonardo da Vinci‘s advice in his Treatise on Painting: ―He who
weeps also tears his garments and hair with his hands, and scratches his face with his
fingernails.‖368
These vehement gestures of frenzied mourners are well-established motifs in the
visual arts since antiquity. In the Middle ages and the Renaissance, they particularly appear in
scenes such as the Crucifixion, the Lamentation, or the Entombment for figures who are less
sacred. Perugian artist Bernardino di Mariotto shows exactly this ritual behavior in his early
sixteenth-century Deposition: the two angels scratch their faces and a woman on the left
behind Mary Magdalene bends over while tearing her hair (fig. 41). Artists‘ inspiration could
draw from classical motifs or for Renaissance sculptors such as Donatello and Riccio, from
―expressive tendencies that permeated the art of the period.‖369 I would add that these artistic
traditions were largely based on the observation of actual mourning practices. However,
gender segregation did exist in funeral proceedings. While female lamentation was tolerated
in the early and later stages of the mortuary rituals, women were excluded from the burial
procession in Perugia as in Northern and Central Italy, a typical feature of the marginalization
of women.370
The rite of incorporation is followed by a transitional period including the overnight
exposition in state of the corpse in San Domenico and the burial procession the following
367
See L. Vivanco, Death in fifteenth-century Castile: Ideologies of the Elites (Tamesis, Woodbridge, 2004),
154-160. Diane Owen Hughes, "Mourning Rites, Memory, and Civilization in Premodern Italy," in Jacques
Chiffoleau et al., eds., Riti e rituali nelle società medievali (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo,
1994), 23-38. The quote is from Binski, Medieval Death, 51.
368
Quoted in Moshe Barasch, Gestures of Despair in Medieval and Early Renaissance Art (New York: New
York University Press, 1976), 115. This book offers many artistic representations of vehement mourning
gestures such as throwing up the arms, tearing one‘s hair, and veiling the face.
369
For Bernardino di Mariotto‘s painting made for the Observant Franciscans of Sanseverino in the Marches,
see V. Sgarbi, ed., I Pittori del Rinascimento a Sanseverino. Bernardino di Mariotto, Luca Signorelli,
Pinturrichio (Milan: Motta, 2006), 136-7. The quote is from Barasch, ibid., 114.
370
Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 10-12. For the exclusion of women from Perugian burials, see the Perugian city
statutes of 1366, a provision repeated down to the 1526 statutes. Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione Suntuaria, 82-83.
126
day. This customary practice of the vigil in a church is not reported in detail. Typically, the
coffin was covered with a sumptuous pall and tapers burnt throughout the night as
illuminations for the Office of the Dead in books of hours often show (fig. 42a-b). The
procession accompanying the corpse to the burial church is not described but it traversed
physically three rioni (out of five) along the main routes of the city, thus demonstrating the
importance of the deceased to the population. Unfortunately, no more details are given, a
typical feature of Perugian diarists who often limit their comments to the fact that the
deceased was buried ―with great honor.‖371 On the other hand, the ―corrotto‖ or ―processionwake‖ that took place several days later is often described accurately.372 In Florentine
chronicles, on the contrary, burial processions of the elite were minutely described while
―corrotti‖ with a cenotaph seem to be an exception.373
A ritual not recounted by the chronicler of Malatesta‘s funeral proceedings is what I
propose to call the ―humiliation of flags‖ (―straginare le bandiere‖).374 During burial
processions or later on, the standards and flags of territories or enemies that the deceased had
conquered or the civic flags that symbolized the departed‘s political offices were held upside
down by flag-bearers on horseback. They were dragged on the floor throughout the city in
commemoration of the glorious bellicose feats of the departed, or to show mourning for the
371
For example, the funeral of Benedetto dei Guidalotti, a Perugian noble turned bishop of Recanati (d. 8th
August 1429), see Diario del Graziani, 333 or Nello di Pandolfo, Malatesta‘s brother (d. 11th January 1457),
Ibid., 631.
372
For example, if I read the chronicle correctly, Rugiero d‘Antignola (d. April 8, 1433) or the noble Francesco
dei Copoglie (d. July 27, 1441). Ibid., 366; 469.
373
In Florentine chronicles, an wake-procession behind a bier ten days after the burial is mentioned for the later
Trecento but ceremonies around an empty coffin are mentioned only in the case of bishop Coscia‘s candlestudded catafalque in the Florentine cathedral on December 30 th, 1419 while his body lay in state in the
Baptistry. See Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 10; 134-143.
374
I use ―humiliation‖ here in comparison to the humiliation of relics in the middle ages, see Patrick Geary,
Furta Sacra. Thefts of Relics in the central Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990 [1978])
and Lester Little, ―Anger in Monastic Curses‖ in: B. Rosenwein, ed., Anger's Past: the social uses of an emotion
in the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1998), 9-35. For Perugian examples of vexillological
humiliation, see the ceremonies for Nello de Pandolfo Baglioni on January 28 th, 1457 (Scalvanti, ―Cronaca
inedita,‖ II: 324); for Carlo de Guido Oddi on 25 th December, 1459, two days after the burial and the day before
the ―corotto‖ (ibid., II, 383); Galeotto de Nello Baglioni on 9th September, 1460, apparently just the burial (ibid.,
II, 396).
127
absence of his high-ranking person. The diary of Giovanni Sercambi provides two rare
depictions of this funeral ritual (figs. 43a-b) in Tuscany. In both watercolored vignettes of ca.
1400, the cortège is about to enter the burial church. Two knights on caparisoned horses ride
right behind the bier with their heads lowered. They have capsized the deceased lord‘s
heraldic flags by tipping the staff backwards and holding it on their shoulders.375
This public performance was clearly a sign of honor, as, for example, during the
mourning processions of Malatesta‘s relatives. The chronicles indicate that this ritual
humiliation did not necessarily take place on the day of the burial. To commemorate Nello‘s
death (Malatesta‘s brother) in 1457, this rite was executed with 21 flags, including the civic
standard of Spello, more than two weeks after his burial in San Francesco al Prato and two
days before the main ―corotto.‖ In December 1479, 43 flags were treated as such in the honor
of Braccio Baglione (Malatesta I‘s son)‘s death and brought to Santa Maria dei Servi where
his entrails were buried.376 The fact that these very flags were still visible well into the
seventeenth century points to the continuity of their symbolism.377 The homage given by way
of flags could even occur months after the death as, for example, the funerary
commemorations of Boldrino and Malatesta III Baglioni (Malatesta I‘s grand-son) that took
place in October 1487, although these young men had died in war respectively in June 1486
375
In the French royal funerals at the abbey of St. Denis, a similar ritual action was performed but without any
forward motion. The king‘s banners were lowered into the open tomb with the cry ―the king is dead!‖ and then
raised up again to hail long live to the new king. Sergio Bertelli, The King's Body. Sacred Rituals of Power in
Medieval and Early Modern Europe, transl. R. Litchfield (University Park, Penn: The Pennsylvania State
University Press, 2000), 54. This edition, translated by R. Burr Lichtfield, is preferable to the original Corpo del
re (1990) because the author revised and enlarged it.
376
―Diario di Antonio dei Veghi, ‖in Fabretti, Cronache II: 52: ―37 bandiere furono straginate per la città e sette
stendardi, e furono appesi a Santa Maria dei Servi,‖ Diario del Graziani, reproducing Veghi‘s diary, 631.
Fabretti, ―Memorie di Perugia 1454-1541,‖ in Cronache II: 105, reports a slightly different, but erroneous,
account: it mentions 36 flags instead of 37 and mixes up San Francesco with Santa Maria dei Servi as the burial
church for Braccio.
377
Girolamo Baglioni who copied a manuscript chronicle of Perugia informs the reader in a footnote that
Braccio Baglione‘s standards were still in San Francesco as of June 1637. See ―Diario di Antonio dei Veghi,‖ in
Fabretti, Cronache, II: 105, n. 1. Braccio Baglione‘s flags were probably transferred to San Francesco as the
Servite church was destroyed in 1542. Corroborating my hypothesis is a mid-sixteenth chronicler‘s account
according to who ―there were many flags of the Baglioni‖ in this church. See ―Memorie di Perugia di Giulio di
Costantino,‖ in ibid., IV: 280.
128
and August 1487. Two standards and sixteen flags were dragged upside down by knights on
horseback from the church of Monteluce, the site of the mortuary vigil, to the church of San
Domenico where the secondary burial took place and where the flags were set up.378
In other contexts, this public display of upside-down flags could mean open rebellion
or a ritual demonstration of military victory. In this case though, the flags were destroyed,
ripped to pieces, or dashed to the ground.379 For example, after Ghibelline Siena‘s defeat in
May 1358, the Perugian army hauled 48 Sienese flags upside down through the town,
excepting only the standard of the emperor. Although a Guelph city, Perugians paid their
respects to the German ruler by parading the imperial flag (a black eagle on a yellow ground)
in an upright position between the Podestà and the Capitano del popolo. 380 This practice of
the victors marked flags as their war booty and vilified the person or the territory symbolized
by the flag (fig. 43c).381 It stood in exact opposition to the meaning of the funeral desecration
ritual. One should note that only the tip of the flags brushed the floor (figs. 43a-b). It was
therefore not a ritual of violence or destruction, unlike what happened to the canopy in
ceremonial entries (see ―papal entries,‖ below) or in Spain, when the heraldic shields of
deceased knights and kings were broken by the hooves of a horse mounted by a knight. 382 In
378
―furono straginate le bandiere e stanno in San Domenico per memoria,‖ 21st October 1487. Malatesta III
Baglioni had died while fighting the Germans in August 1487 while Boldrino Baglioni had passed away in June
1486. See ―Memorie di Perugia 1454-1541,‖ in Fabretti, Cronache II: 108.
379
For rebellions and the desecration of flags, see Samuel Cohn, Lust for Liberty, 182-183.
380
Fabretti, Cronache, I: 63 (―traginando in vilipendio tutte quelle bandiere, eccett‘una ch‘era dell‘Imperatore‖)
and 179 (―Tutte [le bandiere] una dopo l‘altra alla rovescia, con il capo di sotto‖). This last chronicle specifies
that the 48 flags consisted of 15 won from foot soldiers and 33 from horsemen.
381
Two further examples are provided by Bertelli, King‟s Body, 62 and 72: in 1237, the city of Cremona
celebrated its victory over Milan with a grandiose triumph into the city dragging the standard of Milan in the
dust. Giovanni Villani‘s chronicle reports that, in 1326, to celebrate the lord of Lucca‘s victory over Florence,
the war chariot of the vanquished was paraded through Lucca with its communal banners placed upside down.
To mark Venice‘s victory over Venice in 1397, the standards of the Visconti were dragged in the Venetian
canals. See fig.43c and Bongi, Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi, 38-39, §CCCCXCVI.
382
This rite, called ―correr les armes‖ in contemporary texts, is depicted in a stone relief from the sepulcher of
King Ferdinand of Antequera (d. 1416) made by sculptor Pere Oller (Louvre Museum). For this custom, see
Vivanco, Death in Fifteenth-century Castile, 152-155.
129
Italy and other countries, the desecrated flags were kept and hung in churches (fig. 44),
claiming sacred space for the celebration of personal deeds.
The rite of separation included, in Christian interment practices, burial in consecrated
ground (a church or a church cemetery), providing a safe location for the body because the
prayers for the soul of the deceased would have been said from that same church. The fact
that Malatesta was buried inside a church was by itself a privilege of the wealthy. The church
of San Francesco, the main Franciscan foundation in Perugia, was a pantheon for the
Perugian nobility and it also contained the tomb of Braccio Fortebraccio, the city‘s once lord
and Malatesta‘s brother-in-law, who had received lavish obsequies five years earlier, in 1432.
Tombs and graves in the church provided sites for ongoing commemoration. Their
architectonic presence or carvings asserted the privilege and status of the deceased while
political or military leaders had a variety of colourful flags hanging over their tombs
signalling their family, their office, or their conquests forming a strikingly visual attraction
(fig. 44). I have analysed the first two days of the funeral proceedings as a sequence of
inclusion-transition-separation. This period can also be seen as a single unit corresponding to
the first phase, the separation of Malatesta from the physical world of the living. The next
stage (the transition rite) was the main event, called the ―representation [of Malatesta‘s
death]‖ and it had been scheduled a week after the burial (3rd February).
On Saturday, 2nd February, in order to perform the representation [representazione] of
the death of Malatesta, the son of the lord of Foligno came to Perugia with many
people from that city. He was married to the daughter of the said Malatesta. Many
Spellani came among whom 30 were dressed in black and a few in blue. Many others
came from Bastia and Canaia despite a quite hazardous trip due to the amount of
snow. And because the next day, Sunday, the said representation was supposed to take
place, the piazza was shovelled and also the street of San Francesco so that one could
walk through it with the ―corrotto.‖ On 3rd February, the said representation could not
be performed because in the morning it started to snow terribly with huge amounts of
snow. (…) What is more for the death of the good memory of Malatesta, it was
ordered that, during the procession for San Costanzo, no horns should be blown from
the end of the piazza to the stairs of Sant‘Ercolano.383
383
Diario del Graziani, 412-413 and appendix 14.
130
Malatesta‘s death coincided with the two-day celebrations for one of Perugia‘s patron
saints, San Costanzo, with first a torchlight general procession on 28th January and a daylight
procession on 29th January. But it is not this busy calendar with the mandatory participation
of the city inhabitants that explains why the wake did not take place right away. Post-burial
ceremonies were set up only for high-ranking personages and much time was required for the
preparation of a lavish ritual. During the festivities for San Costanzo, homage was paid to
Malatesta by silencing the loud wind instruments for part of the processional route. This
unusual practice unexpectedly affecting the population‘s sensory perception of the traditional
march must have reminded the Perugians of the cause or prompted them to inquire.
On Tuesday February 5th, after breakfast, the said ―corrotto‖ and representation of the
death of Malatesta was performed. And first, an over five-foot high catafalque was
erected in the church of San Sydero. The coffin was covered with a gold brocaded
blue cloth adorned by flaps [bendoni, cioè drapelloni] with Malatesta‘s arms, except
in the front where the Annunciation was painted with below it Saint Francis flanked
by, on one side Saint Joseph, and on the other side Saint Anthony, and all the
remaining flaps showed Malatesta‘s coat of arms, that is the ‗bagliona‘. Afterwards,
that same morning, in the said church of San Sydero, there at the end of the piazza, a
requiem mass was sung with a few extra masses for the dead and from the head to the
foot of the said catafalque, four torches were lit until the end of the office.384
That day corresponds to the transitional period or liminality, a time of ambiguity in
which the ritual may fail to achieve social cohesion if the social status of the deceased is
challenged or not properly acknowledged.385 The temporal, visual, and spatial contexts of
funeral rituals could, if used appropriately, assert and even legitimise authority. Rituals were
often an opportunity for the civic authorities to control and impose the urban timeframe on
the population. With shops and businesses ordered to close, as was the case here, the
inhabitants could either join or watch the ceremonies. In turn, setting up a temporal change in
urban rhythms distinguished the deceased. The success of the ―corrotto‖ meant that
384
Ibid., 413.
385
See Turner, The Ritual Process, 94-130 (―Liminality and Communitas‖).
131
Malatesta‘s authority would not be challenged so that his brother and his brother‘s sons could
overtake the government of his inherited territories, as was laid out by the papal grant of
1425. To assert this political continuity, it was necessary to establish a ceremonial setting
with spectacular props that acted as an assertive ―representation‖ of the deceased. Thus, the
visual attraction of the ―corrotto‖ was the catafalque (―cassa‖) on top of which lay the empty
coffin ―so that everyone could see.‖386
The dead body of Malatesta was physically absent since it has been already interred,
but it was symbolically present through the indispensable furnishing of a funeral, a coffin
covered by a sumptuous pall. This cover, made of blue silk woven with gold threads, was
meant to impress the viewers. It indicated Malatesta‘s elevated social position and his
exemption from sumptuary laws. Ordinary funerals displayed instead a simple pall made of
linen or wool of a solid color (mostly black). Confraternity inventories often mention this
―coltre da morto‖ (see appendices 6a-d) that could have a variety of hues.387 In contrast,
wealthy individuals or even simple priests often requested through their testament a pall
made of sumptuous brocaded silk, a cloth that they would never have worn in their lifetime.
These precious textiles were eventually donated to the burial church and turned into a
vestment.388
Very few examples of such palls have survived. Fig. 45 is one of ten extant coffin
covers for pre-reformation England. Its top is made of an Italian red brocade with the griccia
pattern, a cloth worn by the Virgin Mary on some extraordinary banners (see Chapter Three
and figs. 51; 53; 55; 56; 57). Like Malatesta‘s, this pall shows saints on its flaps and the
deceased‘s coat of arms. The piety and the familial identity of the deceased are thus visually
386
In 1398, ―a ciò che ogni homo potesse vedere,‖ the hearse for for Biordo Michelotti (the lord of Perugia)‘s
funeral, the hearse was set on a platform (―palco‖). Diario del Graziani, 268.
387
The inventories of the Nunziata confraternity mention a yellow and turchese « palio » for the bier in 1553
and 1561. See appendices 6d.
388
F. Piponnier and P. Mane, Se vêtir au Moyen Age (Paris : Adam Biro, 1995), 136-7 and F. Piponier, ―Les
étoffes du deuil‖ in A reveiller les morts, 135-140, here 135.
132
stated. Malatesta‘s pall was slightly different in its structure: rather than one-piece horizontal
flaps on the long sides, it had a series of lambrequins (―bendoni‖) with his armorial device
ostentatiously displayed on each of them. Such visually stunning paraphernalia was
exceptional and always connoted the wealth and rank of the deceased, attracting visitors to
the church and eliciting their deference. In addition, the four pricked tapers on the catafalque
were continuously lit, enhancing the presentation of the coffin inside the church and making
the sumptuous gold and blue brocaded pall glitter.
The size of the church certainly limited attendance and close viewing, so a larger
space was needed for the ―representazione‖ of Malatesta to stir emotions that had a wider
political and social resonance. As in other elite funerals, the highlight of the day was the
afternoon procession, the ―corrotto grande,‖ which took place with an even more edifying
mise-en-scène in the open air. This ritual performance, in which actors and onlookers often
merged roles, flabbergasted the chroniclers, as the following sequel of Malatesta‘s funeral
demonstrates:
After lunch, the said catafalque was placed at the end of the piazza in front of the
church of San Sydero. Behind it, came first all the retainers of the [Malatesta
Baglione‘s] house on horses. That is, first a horse-rider entirely dressed in black, and
his horse was covered with [a] red [caparison] with an eye on it and he was holding a
standard that also had an eye on it. And this was the coat of arms of the Commune of
Spello. The horse-rider after him, similarly dressed in black, held the standard of the
Commune of Canaia [Cannara] with the white griffon clutching a foliaged cane in its
claws on a red field. Then, the third horse-rider was a retainer of Malatesta‘s and was
all armed with white weapons. And all other retainers had caparisoned horses with the
Baglioni‘s coat of arms and flags, all were dressed in black and they went throughout
the city and the suburbs weeping with strident cries. Then the ―corrotto‖ of the
peasants took place: first those from Colle and from Ponte San Giovanni, then those
from Bastia and those from Canaia, and then those from Spello who were more than
thirty, dressed in black and blue. Next were the peasant women and then the city
women and the male citizens, almost all of them, and then the Priori and the bishop
and others prelates. And the shops were closed. And in front of the catafalque, there
were 30 pairs of big torches and another 30 pairs of smaller ones held by children.
And the whole catafalque was set down three times with the howls and cries of the
gentlemen and the women throughout the piazza. And 130 people were clothed in the
Baglioni‘s livery, and the whole Perugian clergy was present.389
389
Diario del Graziani, 413-414 and appendix 14.
133
This narrative reads like a Geertzian ―thick description‖ and also recalls Victor
Turner‘s method of recording the social settings for rituals, such as the preparation of the
sacred site, space, props, and songs.390 The ―procession-wake‖ entailed pomp, orderly mass
movements, and colorful symbolic objects in order to pay homage to Malatesta‘s and his
successor‘s political authority. Malatesta‘s corrotto was spatially limited to a piazza with the
catafalque winding its way followed by the mourners and stopping three times.
It may seem odd that the awe for this ―cassa‖ and the agitation and grief recounted by
the chronicler took place in front of an empty coffin. But the physical absence of the dead
body was largely compensated for by prominent visual declarations of Malatesta‘s noble and
clan identity.391 His coat of arms was reiterated on the caparisoned horses of the flag-bearers
as well as on the livery of 130 people. This group of men was an extraordinary sight because
no one was allowed to wear heraldic devices in public. At the time of signoria regimes, only
the lord of Perugia and his household were exempted from such restrictions.392 Otherwise,
only noble officials had a right to display their armorial bearings on clothing. For example,
when the new Podestà, a Venetian noble, entered Perugia on 2nd November 1448, his 25
caparisoned horses, his eight pages (donzelli) dressed in livery, and his numerous flags made
a great impression.393 Thus, the display of people in livery was a visual symbol of clan
identity of high-ranking.
390
C. Geertz, ―Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture,‖ in The Interpretation of Cultures,
3-30.
391
Funerary tributes to important figures were held in Perugia regardless of where death had occurred. For
example, Braccio Fortebraccio, mentioned earlier, received lavish obsequies when his remains reached Perugia
in 1432, i. e., eights years after his death in Rome. San Bernardino buried in L‘Aquila (1444) and pope Eugene
IV buried in Rome (1447) were given a lavish ―corrotto‖ on the main Perugian piazza a few weeks after their
death. Diario del Graziani, 360-1; 548-9; 589.
392
Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione Suntuaria, 99-100, entries 28: (De pena deferentium divisas) for the sumptuary
law allowing ―divise‖ only for Biordo Michelotti‘s entourage (1394) and 118-121, entries 44-46, for Braccio
Fortebraccio (1420).
393
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖, I: 374.
134
By raising Malatesta (by way of the coffin) above the crowd, the catafalque also
symbolized, in a literal sense, his social elevation. Another assertion of his high rank was
given by the many knights paying homage to him in their heraldic attire. They exuded the
privileges of the nobility with their caparisoned horses and large flags. Only nobles were
allowed to ride a horse for fighting - one of his household members rides ―all armed‖- and
jousting, times in which they would display heraldic emblems. The contrast between first the
riders, and then, people on foot showed straightforwardly this difference between upper and
lower conditions. The honor that sixty huge tapers and sixty candles bestowed on Malatesta
was exceptional and indicated his exemption from sumptuary laws. In an ordinary funeral,
only display tree tapers (dupleria) weighing a maximum of eight pounds could be displayed
as well as one one-pound candle per friar if present.394 While the poor seem at first to be
excluded from this type of funeral, it was probably people of little means who carried these
torches.395
The precisely described sequence of groups that followed the catafalque clearly shows
how authority could be legitimised and what social hierarchy prevailed: symbols of
Malatesta‘s estate, his retinue, his subjects, and the city of Perugia represented by its
population and by its spiritual and political leaders. The first two flag-bearers represented the
towns that Malatesta ruled by displaying a flag with each town‘s coat of arms that was
repeated on the caparisoned horses. Dressed in black, they heralded collective mourning on
behalf of these communities. Asserting political conquest and domination through the display
of flags was a common act in funerals. For example, as the lord of Perugia Biordo Michelotti
394
Sumptuary provisions in the City Statutes limit the tapers to three of a maximum weight of 8 pounds each.
See Salem, Statuto 1342, III: 309, § 230.15.
395
The poor would have received garments or food in exchange for their participation and for their beneficial
prayers for the departed. Since poverty was idealized in Christian scriptures, the poor added religious symbolism
to the cortège; they also swelled the numbers of the mourners. The practice of employing contingents of poor
mourners was not regular in Florence. Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 64; 143. For examples in Spain, see
Vivanco, Death in Fifteenth-century Castile, 147; for England, Daniell, Death and Burial in Medieval England,
52-57.
135
died (10th March 1398), the Commune took nine days to prepare his lavish corrotto,
eventually spending a total of 334 florins.396 The same flamboyant and symbolic
representations of power and honor that are paradigmatic of elite funerals were present: the
choice of the main piazza, lit tapers around the tall catafalque (―as many as when the pope
died‖), many gentlemen on horseback and flags, and black mourning garb. The heraldic flags
with Biordo‘s coat of arms and a city flag, all paid for by the Commune, were hung in his
burial church, San Francesco.
Flags were important signifiers of rank and rule when displayed at funerals. For
anyone other than the highest citizens, flags were banned from funeral rites.397 These simply
patterned cloths were emblazoned with family, territorial, or corporate emblems and they
symbolized political leadership, military conquest, or patrilineal identity. For the wake of
Francesco dei Copoglie in July 1441, a catafalque was set up ―in pie alla piazza‖ and ―great
honor was paid to him with the means of flags.‖ The two senate standards marked his two
terms as a Roman senator, two Florentine standards, one from Bologna, one from Siena were
present as he was buried in San Francesco.398 In April of that year, as condottiere Ruggiere
Ranieri Cane was buried in the cathedral, twenty-five flags were placed in the choir of San
Lorenzo.399
After the funeral ceremony of a military commander or a nobleman was over, his
personal flags were placed in church vaults or around the tomb, attracting much attention
because of their size and their vivid colors (fig. 44) They included military, civic, and
396
Diario del Graziani, 266-269. A silver basin (―bacinella d‘argento‖) was also commissioned by the
Commune. In a later account, we hear that an equestrian statue of Biordo holding a baton was placed on a
platform. It was removed in 1448 and left in the church cemetery. Diario del Graziani, 609.
397
Salem, Statuto 1342, §230.19, III: 340: ―E per nulla persona morta se porteno, né portare se deggano en
bandiera overo gonfalone, né en clippeo overo scudo, quando se porterà el corpo morto a la sepultura (...)‖
398
399
Diario del Graziani, 469-470.
One was white with a red cross linked to his office for Venice and others had his personal coat of arms. Ibid.,
468. Pellini, Dell‟Historia, II: 175.
136
heraldic vexilli, according to the status of the departed.400 Braccio da Montone‘s lavish
funeral procession in 1432 included a city flag, a white flag with a gold leopard (that of
Count Oddo, Braccio‘s son), and yellow flags with a black sheep, his personal heraldry. 401
Preacher Roberto da Lecce in 1448 heaped vituperation on the intrusive presence of such
secular flags in a holy sphere and he succeeded in having them taken away (―levate‖) from
Perugian churches, but this situation was short-lived.402 From the chronicler‘s detailed
description of this major pan-urban operation, we learn that, among the removed flags, were
Biordo Michelotti‘s, Ruggiere Ranieri Cane‘s, and Francesco dei Coppoglie‘s. The only flags
that were kept were those of Braccio Fortebraccio because his sister who had married
Malatesta opposed their removal. These preserved flags are a token of the Baglioni‘s steady
rise to power continued when Malatesta‘s sons (Braccio Fortebraccio‘s nephews) repeatedly
held important offices in the Perugian government.403
The next day [6th February], the obsequies of the said Malatesta took place and many
citizens dressed in black. Among them were the grandsons of Paulo and of Mateo de
Pietro de Graziani, and two sons of the lord of Foligno, his relative, and a few others
who were here to study at the university. On Wednesday 6th February [7th February],
more obsequies took place for the soul of the said Malatesta, in which there were a lot
of people and all his retainers, around 35, were dressed in black; then the Spellani,
also around 35, similarly dressed in black, some in blue. Then Nello, the sons of
Malatesta and of the lord of Foligno, and many more citizens and relatives, all dressed
in black. And then, a lot of people from Canaia, and many from Porta San Pietro, and
many more.404
400
For flags in Florentine churches, see Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 35-37.
401
Diario del Graziani, 361. ―Montone‖ means ‗sheep‘. The flag of Count Oddo is described and identified as:
―lo conte Oddo fece fare uno stendardo bianco con lo leonpardo,‖ ibid., 299.
402
Diario del Graziani, 599-600.
403
Roberto Rusconi, ― ‗Predicò in piazza‘: politica e predicazione nell‘Umbria del‘400,‖ in Signorie in Umbria
tra Medioevo e Rinascimento: l‟esperienza dei Trinci (Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria,1989),
114-127, here 119, commented on the chronicler‘s discretion in mentioning Braccio da Montone‘s sister, late
Malatesta‘s wife rather than his nephew (Braccio Baglioni) behind the rationale for keeping the flags. This
exception shows the links between preachers and politics. For the offices held by Malatesta‘s sons, see C. Black,
―The Baglioni as Tyrants of Perugia,‖ especially 260; 265; 267.
404
Diario del Graziani, 414 and appendix 14. Here, the (sixteenth-century copy of the) chronicle contains a
chronological error: ―the next day‖ is in all logics Wednesday 6 th, and then ―more obsequies‖ take place on
Thursday 7th, not the 6th February again. The chronicle of Antonio dei Veghi (on which this part of Graziani is
based) confirms this sequence. See Fabretti, Cronache, II: 19.
137
‗Incorporation‘ or ‗re-aggregation‘ is the last phase of the mortuary ritual pattern in
many cultures. It lifts the mourning and reintegrates the living into the life of society and the
dead into the world of the dead. Here, this last stage corresponds to the requiem masses said
at the same church on the following two days. These rites provided closure for the living who
had duly paid their homage by attending the various ceremonies. This ritual demonstration of
intercession by the living for the departed announced that the spiritual benefit of the special
liturgy would continue since, most likely, the deceased had bequeathed money to a religious
community for that purpose. This last phase is also an assertion of continuity: the ‗good
memory‘ of the deceased will be maintained and his familial clan will not waver in its
political influence.
In the last three days of the funeral proceedings, the chronicler repeatedly noted a
recurrent marker of princely status: black mourning garb made of luxurious cloth. 405 The
diarist was struck by the number of participants dressed in that color. It was indeed a rare
sight, black being forbidden by Perugian legislation from the fourteenth to the sixteenth
century. Normally, only the widow could wear black but she was not supposed to show
herself in her mourning attire outside her home. Here, aristocrats and their retainers, but also
peasants were dressed in black. It means that sumptuary laws had been waived for that event.
The other color worn by peasants, blue, shows that black was not the only hue associated
with mourning; in addition, Perugian laws also forbade green and beige. Black as a sign of
exclusivity for mourning fashion must be distinguished from its religious use such as the
black robes of the clergy or the confraternities whose members had chosen a color signifying
405
In Europe, black as a favorite mourning sartorial color started in the mid-fourteenth century and it was
associated with courtly fashion. See Piponnier, ―Les étoffes de deuil, ‖ 136-7, and Se vêtir au Moyen Age, 137138. For the provision on black mourning clothing in the city statutes, see Salem, Statuto 1342, § 230.4 and
230.77, III: 306 (1342); ―Quod nullus possit se induere de nigro vel alio colore causa mortis alicuius, excepta
uxore,‖ in Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione suntuaria, 82-3 (1366) repeated verbatim in the early 15 th century, post
1415, and 1526 statutes. and the 1526 printed statutes. The provision allowing sons and daughters to also wear
black is a reform of the governor of Perugia in 1460. Ibid., 133, entry 53.
138
penitence. Colors exemplify the multi-vocality of symbols and their dependence on
context.406
Special heraldic banners were made for funerals and black was then adopted for their
background, as the vignettes of Sercambi‘s chronicle illustrate. In the funeral of Count
Ranieri (fig. 43b), lord of Pisa and Lucca, one vexillum is Pisa‘s red flag to which the ruler
had applied his coat of arm while the other one bears the same heraldic disc but applied on a
solid black flag. For the exposition in state of the lord of Milan, Bernabò Visconti (fig. 46),
the bier is adorned on its four corners by black flags with the Viscontean white shield
adorned with a blue snake. Although not described by the Perugian chronicler, a similar setup was probably displayed for Malatesta‘s castrum doloris in san Domenico on 26th January,
the day before his burial.407
From an anthropological perspective, death is an opportunity to reconstruct the social
order through ritual.408 Or, in the words of Sharon Strocchia, Malatesta‘s post-mortem
ceremonies were ―an orchestration of episodes that provided a sophisticated means of
political communication.‖409 Malatesta‘s ―representation of death‖ on 5th February
proclaimed first his Perugian identity and his nobility as a Baglioni. Secondly, it stated his
lordship over his lands through the order of the procession and the visual symbols deployed.
Closest to the catafalque (the position of honor), the flag-bearers of the Communes of Spello
and Cannara rode their horses followed by Malatesta‘s retainers, and by the contado
406
On the prohibition of green and beige, see the statute of 1366 in Legislazione suntuaria, ibid., 82-83. For the
variety of mourning colors in medieval Europe, see M. Pastoureau, ―Les couleurs de la mort,‖ in A réveiller les
morts, 97-108. For the tradition of black as a penitential color in the major litany instituted by Gregory the
Great, see Vauchez, Les laïcs, 145-149.
407
For mourning banners in Florence, see also Wackernagel, The World of Florentine Renaissance Artist, 141.
408
See Jonathan Parry and Maurice Bloch, Death and the Regeneration of Life (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1982), introduction, 1-44; David Kertzer, Ritual, Politics, and Power (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1988); Koslofsky, The Reformation of the Dead, for Reformation Germany.
409
Strocchia, Death and Ritual, 139, in her interpretation of bishop Coscia‘s funeral in Florence in 1419.
139
inhabitants of these towns. The next part of the wake consisted of the Perugian population
and officials. Their presence was a token of allegiance and acknowledgment of the Baglioni‘s
political authority over neighboring territories. This arrangement also proclaimed social and
political continuity as a male domain since men always lead processions and women usually
close it. In this case, peasant women closed the sequence of Malatesta‘s territories and
Perugian urban women were placed right after them, aggregating the city female dwellers to
the contado women as one gendered group. The separation of women from men also stresses
how men retained ‗exclusive claim to signs derived from corporate and political life‘.410
After the representation of Malatesta‘s authority as a ruling clan member and all
necessary heraldic trappings, came his domination of the countryside symbolized by groups
of peasants. Finally, after this parade of neatly grouped men and women, male Perugian city
dwellers and officials closed the cortège. This physical segregation showed the divide
between urban and rural modes of living; between genders; and between the secular and the
sacred. All these social strata were clearly recognizable through clothing and flags that
facilitated orderly groupings. Thus a pristine processional order recreated distinctions of
status that were not challenged. As Sharon Strocchia has stated, the funeral was essentially a
political rite that ‗revealed relationships of power between groups‘.411 The Perugian secular
and spiritual authorities (the city officials, the bishop, and prelates) tailing the cortège meant
that Malatesta Baglioni‘s subjects and the population were framed and physically enclosed in
this spectacle by the most powerful figures from Spello and Perugia.
Disruptions, violence, and conflict may easily arise during political rituals although
they are meant to be paradigmatic moments of harmony. In the chronicler‘s report of
Malatesta‘s funeral, no glitches, apart from inclement weather, seemed to have interfered
with superbly conducted mortuary rites. But the loss of one powerful individual may disturb
410
Ibid., 74
411
Ibid., 7.
140
the established social and political order, making the wake an unsafe, liminal, moment. For
example, for Biordo Michelotti‘s wake-procession (1398), chroniclers report that some men
carried weapons beneath their coats on the main piazza and that many people did not
accompany the (empty) coffin to its final destination because they were wary of some
danger.412 Rituals could foster social divisiveness rather than solidarity, and tensions could
arise between clergy and faithful or among groups of a similar social category. 413 For
example, in November 1474, a family stripped their relative of his beret, cloak and doublet as
the corpse entered the church of Sant‘Agostino because they feared that the friars would not
give them back to the family.414 Notaries were also often sent to watch funerals and report
infringements to sumptuary laws because lavish paraphernalia equalled a public
demonstration of power. For example, on 2nd January 1488, the burial procession for a
university student that included the clergy, the nobility, and the Priori could not take place
because of a dispute between students from different departments (Studium, Sapienza Nuova,
Sapienza Vecchia) who claimed the right to carry the coffin.415
For Malatesta‘s main ―corrotto,‖ one may question if things really happened as
smoothly as is reported; if such unity and empathy between people undergoing these events
together meant the perfect conviviality of the Baglioni‘s subjects with Perugians, a sense of
communitas in Turner‘s terms. One feature that made people bond, at least for the duration of
the event, is the emotional response that rituals typically elicit. Bodily expressions (loud
412
Diario del Graziani, 268.; Fabretti, Cronache, I: 59.
413
For examples of disruptions and the penalties that were necessitated, see Webb, Patrons and Defenders, 202205.
414
415
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II: 94.
A few days later, at dawn, the students from the Studium and the nobles, all armed, abducted the corpse and
carried it to the burial church in all secrecy, without any torches, candles, or clergy. Group rivalry within one
social category may thus impede the proper ritual unfolding. The honor that a public procession and the
presence of the city officials and clerics would have granted to the deceased was largely ignored. Only the
sermon held in the church gave him a mark of distinction. No wonder that authorities, hoping for law and order,
issued decrees against wearing weapons and made sure to have highly codified events watched by the police.
Ibid., II: 290-1.
141
cries, body gesticulation, self-injury) coexisted with an incredible number of torches and
tapers that produced in the daylight of that winter day an extraordinary warmth, fragrance,
and a beautiful sight. The waving or the dragging of magnificent flags and the massive
number of liveries and dark-clothed mourners of rank was another overwhelming source of
awe.
These symbols of wealth and authority were expected (rituals work by repetition) but
still remarkable and stunning (emotion enforces cognitive effects). The chronicler mentions
the wailing and shrill cries that could be heard on the square. It is impossible to assess how
genuine those tears were but it is worthy of note that in other cultures, the use of loud noises
in funerals is a widespread practice.416 As the chronicler of Biordo Michelotti (lord of
Perugia)‘ s funeral in 1398 specified, once the catafalque was moved around the square in the
general tumultuous wailing, even ―those who had a heart of stone would have wept.‖ 417 As
each group marched in the steps of the catafalque, collective motion signified homage and
submission while urging collective emotion through the heightened sensory stimulation. As
anthropologists have stressed in their analysis of other cultures and times, such surges of
emotion were socially-constructed.418 They emerged here as the result of a well-orchestrated
sequence of mortuary rites which exceptionally allowed extreme behaviours and sensory
experiences.
Malatesta‘s pompous funeral rites are an example of a political ritual that asserted
political continuity. Here political continuity meant the pre-eminence of the Baglioni family
on two fronts: Spello and adjacent territories, and Perugia where most family members
resided. The firm leadership of Spello is asserted with the conspicuous presence of
416
Peter Metcalf and Richard Huntington, Celebrations of Death. The Anthropology of Mortuary Ritual
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991 [1979]), ―Symbolic associations of death,‖ 62-75.
417
Diario del Graziani, 268: ―Et cosi fu portata quella cassa per tutta la piazza facendo grandissimo corrotto,
che chi avesse auto [sic] il cuore de pietra averia pianto.‖
418
See the standard cross-cultural study of rituals around death: Metcalf and Huntington, Celebrations of Death,
―Introduction to the second edition,‖ 1-23 responding to Bloch and Parry, Death and the Regeneration of Life.
142
Malatesta‘s brother (Nello), now the sole lord of Spello. He is mentioned for both
incorporation rites: first on 26th January as Malatesta‘s corpse reached Perugia and again on
6th February, at the requiem mass concluding the whole funeral proceedings. But, if rituals
help to construct political legitimacy in the collective conscience, they do not guarantee its
stability. Twenty years after Malatesta‘s funeral, in 1457, his brother Nello died and his
nephews (Pandolfo and Galeotto) took over the governorship of Spello respecting the terms
of the papal grant, but not for long. In 1460, Malatesta‘s eldest son, Braccio I Baglione, had
his cousins Pandolfo and Galeotto killed and seized Spello for himself. 419 From the 1440s,
Braccio gradually imposed himself as a prominent Perugian politician, holding several
important administrative posts throughout his life.420 The lavish assertion of Baglioni identity
proposed by Malatesta‘s funeral heralded the political prominence of the Baglioni family
without pointing at any internal dissidence to come.421 It actually prepared the way for the
brilliant ascendance of his eldest son.
The pre-existing social arrangements that allowed emotion to build up translated into
the orderly display of group identity within a larger community. It proclaimed an ideal and
peaceful social order without the deceased in order to achieve political and social continuity.
Following Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry, we can say that mortuary practices such as
Malatesta‘s corrotto not only reasserted the social order, but they produce it because these
rituals were an ―occasion for creating that society as an apparently external force.‖ 422 To
become ingrained, this order was visually and symbolically reconstructed while shared
emotional states implemented it. By organizing social groups and simultaneously stirring
419
Black, ―The Baglioni as Tyrants of Perugia,‖ 262.
420
Malatesta‘s eldest son, Braccio I Baglione (1419-1479), also a condottiere, defended Spello against the
Sforza troops in 1442. He became extremely powerful as the chief commander of the papal army (gonfaloniere
della Chiesa) in 1455. See R. Abbondanza‘s entry in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, 207-12.
421
Malatesta‘s sons are mentioned in both incorporation rites, along with the attendance of the lord of Foligno
with whom Malatesta had sealed a firm alliance by marrying his daughter to his princely neighbor‘s son.
422
Bloch and Parry, Death, 6-7.
143
emotions, ritual action and the presence of symbolic representations produce powerful
cognitive effects that reinforce feelings of identity, hierarchy, domination and
subservience.423 Beyond political continuity, Malatesta‘s funeral proceedings also validated
social arrangements while enforcing the authority of the Baglioni family, at least according to
the diarist‘s account. This phenomenon of social control was aided by a plethora of identity
markers that determined a range of collective identities and, at the same time, were
determined by these identities.
3) Papal entries in Perugia: princely and civic identity
Entries exemplify another type of procession, a spectacle both for greeting the urban
population and for the wealthy stranger with his retinue of possibly several hundred people
and animals.424 Entries demonstrated the city‘s own subservience to its high-ranking guest
and simultaneously staged the power of the visitor outside his/her usual location of residence.
The ―flamboyant‖ tribute lavished upon the visitor was also meant to secure his/her good
favors and protection in exchange.425 When a lord came to Perugia, his majestic status was
visible from the moment he reached the city gate because all civic and spiritual authorities,
and a portion of the population, were present and ready to accompany him to the city center.
Additional marks of honor and distinction included special clothing, the presence of nobles
on horseback, flags, and a canopy.
The most spectacular of entries in Perugia were those of the pope who, beside being
the Christians‘ spiritual leader, had a special meaning for Umbria, a region that was part of
423
This is the point of David Kertzer‘s incisive Ritual, Politics and Power. Kertzer has compellingly examined
the power of political ritual and the symbol system that it employs for several cultures across time.
424
In France, the ceremony of the king‘s first entry into a city was invented in the 14-15th centuries. The classic
study is Guenée and Lehoux, Les Entrées royales.
425
Jacques Chiffoleau, ―Analyse d‘un rituel flamboyant. Paris, mai-août 1412,‖ in Riti e rituali nelle società
medievali, 215-245. For entries in Provence and papal Avignon, see Noël Coulet, ―Les entrées solennelles en
Provence au XIVe siècle,‖ Ethnologie française, 8 (1977): 63-82.
144
the Papal States. In the thirteenth century, the curia often took residence in Perugia,
traditionally a Guelph city, and five conclaves took place there.426 In 1392-1393, the papal
administration even stayed in Perugia for an entire year. From 1371, Perugia hosted a
pontifical legate (legato) to which the city councils were responsible. This governatore or
Monsignore, as he is often called in chronicles and official documents, represented the pope
in Perugia. However, tensions with the apostolic See were frequent as Perugians tried to
maintain an independent communal regime. For example, in 1375, the papal legate was
expelled and the papal fortress demolished. For three decades, a succession of short-lived
signorie replaced papal overlordship (1393-1424) but from 1424, the city definitively
returned under the direct control of the papacy, while its councils and statutes were confirmed
by Martin V (see appendix 1). Christopher Black rightly describes the Perugian political
situation between 1424 and 1540 as a diarchy between papal officials on one hand, and
communal councillors on the other hand.427 To signify their acceptance of papal dominance,
the Perugians had a gilded bronze statue of Paul II placed in front of the cathedral on the
main square in a procession headed by the Priori and the university professors on 29th
October 1459. Its execution had been prompted by the pope‘s amnesty of 500 political rebels
and a raise in the doctors‘ salaries.428
The pope‘s leading role in Perugian politics was expressed by the omnipresence of
papal heraldry. When Martin V took over Perugia after the demise and death of its last lord,
Braccio da Montone, in August 1424, he had all the armorial devices symbolizing the former
lord (a black sheep over a yellow field) erased. Instead, the pope had another three
426
When Benedict IX died in Perugia in 1305, the first ―Avignon‖ pope was elected in the Umbrian city. In the
early Trecento, a Guelf party was formed in Perugia. Grundman,
427
For the relationships between the legate and the Perugian magistracy during the pontificate of Martin V
(1424-1431), see Partner, "Comuni e vicariato al tempo di Martino V," 227-61. For an analysis of the nature of
the Perugian government and its relationships with the papacy in the 15 th –16th centuries, see Christopher Black,
―La grande politica e le politiche locali: il problema di una signoria umbra‖ in Signorie in Umbria tra medioevo
e rinascimento (Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1989), 91-111.
428
The statue was destroyed by the French troops in 1798. See Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II: 56.
145
escutcheons painted to demonstrate his newly recovered power: the crossed keys (―l‘arme
della chiesa‖), his family coat of arms (―l‘arme del papa‖), and that of his legate. Two weeks
later, this heraldic apparatus appeared on the three flags that accompanied the legate into
Perugia while the new trumpet pennons displayed the arms of the pope and those of the
Church.429 Heraldry was a means to show allegiance and submission, hence the papal coats of
arms painted on official buildings and city gates. As Biordo Michelotti died in 1398, the papal
commissario visiting Trevi, tried to have the former lord‘s coats of arms removed from the
locations where it was painted in order to replace it with the arms of the Church but the
Treviani insisted in having both. In 1436, a new stone relief of pope Eugenius IV was
inserted into the façade of the Governor‘s palace and the arms of the Duke of Milan were
destroyed.
In Bonfigli‘s Second Translation (fig. 1b), Sixtus IV‘s stemma is juxtaposed with the
Perugian griffon on the podestà palace while the arms of the Church, a red shield with a white
cross and a pair of crossed keys in each quadrant, are displayed above the portal of the
municipal palace. Professional painters, sometimes famous masters, received commission for
such tasks. Perugino was paid 65 florins in September and November 1503 for the depiction
of Julius II and Pius III‘s ―insignae‖ on the walls of the Palace of the Priors and on the five
city gates.430 Official records such as the registers of the catasto or the minutes of the Priori
often juxtapose the coat of arms of the current pope, of the papal legate, and the Perugian
griffon. One may find also the arms of the Church and those of the apostolic vice-legate.431
429
Diario del Graziani, 297-8:
―In quelli di [14th August 1424] fuor casse e guaste in Peroscia l‘arme del Montone, cioè l‘arme del
signor Braccio, e fuorce fatte e pente quelle della chiesa, del papa e del cardinale legato (...).
El ditto legato aveva uno stendardo con l‘arme sua, e una bandiera con l‘arme della Chiesa, et un‘altra
bandiera con l‘arme del Papa (...).
Fuor fatti li pennoni nuovi alle trombette con glie scudette del Papa e della Chiesa.”
430
For Trevi, see Diario del Graziani, 273. For a transcription of the original commission to Perugino in 1503,
see Fiorenzo Canuti, Il Perugino (Siena: Editrice d'arte "La Diana", 1931), entries 281; 283; 198-199.
431
See examples in Carte che ridono, 89-100 for the period 1461-1553.
146
Symbolic representations in Pius II‘s entry in 1459
Three detailed accounts chronicle the visit of Pope Pius II on 1st February 1459 and
they complement each other to reconstruct the ritualized experience of civic consciousness
coupled with political allegiance.432 As was the custom, the pontiff was greeted by Perugian
ambassadors miles away from the city and he was escorted by them to the city. In this case,
Pius II came from Assisi and dismounted at San Pietro for lunch. This monastery located
outside the city gate of the same name (see map, fig. 70) had been recently (in the 1420s)
enclosed by a wall that enlarged the city‘s boundaries to the South. In that protected space on
the periphery of the Umbrian capital, the ritual of encounter was enacted. A procession of
confraternities and two hundred children dressed in white and shouting ―viva il papa Pio‖
came to meet him followed by the whole clergy and the bishop in their vestments. After
them, the university professors walked in their red robes paid for by the commune and lastly,
the camerlenghi and the priori dressed similarly. The main prior presented the pope with the
keys of the city attached to a ribbon and placed in a silver circular dish (bacile). The pope
took the keys, placed them back in the dish, and blessed the city representative.
The progress through the city followed the traditional papal route from San Pietro to
the main piazza of Perugia. The procession was headed by the confraternities, followed by
the clergy chanting hymns, the university professors, and the red-robed Chamberlains and
Priors.433 After them came three standard-bearers and twelve knights on caparisoned horses.
In an allegorical representation of papal legitimacy rooted in Jesus‘ redemptive mission, the
last rider carried a cross along with the Eucharist in a monstrance. Then, four papal grooms
432
Fabretti, Cronache, I: 217-8; ibid., II, 35-36; Diario del Graziani, 632-4; Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I:
357-359.
433
It is odd that ―compagnie‖ are not mentioned by the chronicles as they usually participated in such entries
dressed up in their livery. See, for example, the entry of Paul III on 9 th September 1535 in Pellini, Dell‟Historia,
III: 574-5.
147
wearing red hats on horseback, preceded the pope who was enthroned in a sedan chair
covered by a gold and red brocade. The tiara-crowned pope, an unequivocal sign of his
office, kept blessing the crowd in his pluvial of scarlet brocade. Above him, a crimson
canopy was adorned with lambrequins that bore his coat of arms and that of the Church. A
vast crowd was waiting for his arrival in piazza San Lorenzo. A Roman fresco depicting
Sixtus IV‘s procession to the Lateran after his coronation in 1471 (fig. 47) gives a close
illustration of the Perugian visual experience with the elevated and sumptuously dressed pope
under a canopy; his blessing gesture; his unique tiara; important men on horseback (in this
case, bishops), and three flag-bearers preceding him.434 This image confirms the repetitious
use of symbolic paraphernalia that turned such an event into a flamboyant demonstration of
princely identity and impressive authority.
For Pius II‘s entry, it is clear that particular groups of Perugians were showcased in
this procession. The first to encounter the pope were children, a rite that goes back to
antiquity. Sergio Bertelli refutes the explanation accepted by Emile Mâle and Noël Coulet
that the reception of honorific guests by children dressed in white was a custom deriving
from passages in the Bible. For Bertelli, the tradition comes from the impurity of the
triumphant commander who, in antiquity, came back from war tainted by the blood of the
slain enemies. Pure beings free from sin, such as children, were the first persons to welcome
him because of their transcendent and apotropaic role.435 In Bertelli‘s view, the children
confirmed the sacredness of the ―king‘s body‖ in papal or royal triumphs and I believe his
interpretation is valid for this case-study. In their angelic garb, the Perugian ―mammoli‖
conferred purity and innocence on the pope‘s disposition towards their city.
434
This scene is from a frescoed cycle on the life of Sixtus IV painted in the main room of the Hospital of Santo
Spirito in Rome. The most recent work on this cycle is Eunice Howe, Art and Culture at the Sistine Court.
Platina's Life of Sixtus IV and the Frescoes of the Hospital of Santo Spirito (Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca
Apostolica vaticana, 2005), 87 for this scene.
435
Bertelli, The King‟s Body, 83-86.
148
While the children were anonymous and had no collective identity other than as
Perugian innocents, the honor of escorting the pope was reserved for well-defined groups:
clerical members, the university professors (dottori), and the civic authorities. Throughout his
account, one chronicler was struck by the cohesion of each party. The doctors, for example,
came dressed as one body (―tutti collegiamente‖). He reported the beautifully ordered
composition of the procession (―ordinatamente,‖ ―era una gentilezza a vedere quell‟ordine‖)
and the multitudes present on the main square for this event.436 Participation and
spectatorship co-existed in various degrees. One chronicler noted the many women stacked
behind grilles (―stavanno in su per li ferrati‖) and the well-dressed (―ben ornati‖) artisans.
Only few citizens had privileged access to sumptuous garments and exclusive proximity with
the pope. The city‘s best inhabitants (its religious communities, its civic body, its scholars,
and its patricians) welcomed the pope in a select representation quite typical of the ritual
practice for entries. For example, as emperor Sigismond entered Perugia on 25th August
1433, he was honored by a procession of all clerics (friars, priests, and monks) in their habits
and vestments and with their relics; the Priors, the university professors, and the students
were next, and all the other important citizens rode their horses. Five compagnie followed in
their suite representing the porte of Perugia by way of its noble and patrician dwellers.437
Thus, a successful ritual implied a ―bel ordine‖ that consisted of a collective forward motion
with neat visual and practical separation of groups. This unified image of the city was
reinforced by means of a symbol system that included the keys, the flags, and the canopy,
custom items of rulers‘ entries. I would like to explore now the handling and look of these
ceremonial trappings.
436
437
Fabretti, ―Diario di A. dei Veghi,‖ in Cronache, II: 35-37.
Diario del Graziani, 370. Fabretti, ―Diario di A. dei Veghi,‖ in Cronache, II: 11.
149
Ritual keys
The keys that the Priori solemnly gave to the pope comprised the keys of their palace,
of the jail, and of the city gates; in other words, they were presenting access to the locations
of political and legislative decision-making, executive repression, and to the physical
admission into the city. By accepting the keys, the pope demonstrated his overlordship and by
returning them, he acknowledged his subjects‘ rights and privileges. This presentation of the
keys was a common rite of submission for cities in medieval and early modern times. It was a
means to legitimate the conqueror or the overlord‘s power in the eyes of the population.438
In April 1540, the Perugians manifested their disagreement with papal taxation by
subverting this ritual. First, the Priors had a life-size crucifix set up above the main cathedral
portal (where it still hangs to this day). Then, a triduum started with confraternities and the
whole population but without any members of the clergy because the pope had placed the city
under interdict. In the last procession that went from San Domenico to San Lorenzo, one of
the Priors carried the city keys in a silver plate. Once the population had reached the
cathedral, a speech was read by the communal chancellor recalling the election of Christ as
king of Florence at the time of pope Clement VII and begging the Lord to accept the
sovereignty of the city of Perugia. The request was notarised and the keys were placed at the
foot of the crucifix.439 Men and then women walked in a procession up to the crucifix to pay
their homage. The subversion of the ritual comes from keeping a standard ceremonial form
including the traditional symbolic representations while redirecting the role of the main actor
(an ―imago‖ of Jesus rather than the real pontiff). Through this modified ritual, the pope was
438
For examples of municipal magistrates (échevins) presenting the city keys to the French king, see Bryant,
―"The Medieval Entry Ceremony‖, 101, and Guénée and Lehoux, 22-23; 98; 103. The first occurrence was in
Paris with Charles VII in 1431. The most famous scene representing such a ritual came from Auguste Rodin‘s
imagination with his compelling bronze sculptural group of the life-size figures building the Bourgeois of Calais
(1895).
439
Fabretti, ―Memorie di Giulio di Costantino,‖ in Cronache, IV: 246-247. Another Perugian diarist simply says
that ―at the end of the last procession, the keys were given to the crucifix.‖ ―Memorie di Francesco Baldeschi
(1540-1545),‖ ibid., III: 13. See also Pellini, Dell‘Historia, III, 629.
150
actually divested of any authority and Christ was revered in his place. This example shows
that rituals can also be used in struggles for power and to incite political conflict.440
Flags
The mise-en-scène around the keys for Pius II occurred in the monastery of San Pietro
where mostly elite citizens were present. Consequently, this focused performance was not
visible by the majority of the inhabitants. Once the cortège left San Pietro, what could not
escape anyone‘s attention were the pope‘s flags, conspicuous signs of reverence. Often
chroniclers recorded the names of the nobles who held a dignitary‘s standards, a worthy duty.
House overhangs were even destroyed to avoid lowering the flags because it was damaging
the honor of guests.441
Pius II‘ s three flags identified him as a secular and religious authority. The first one
bore the ―insegna del Papa‖, i.e. his family heraldic device, a blue cross with five golden
moon crescents that signified the noble Piccolomini from Siena. Personal coat of arms
allowed most people to identify surely a specific individual or his family. 442 Although legist
Bartolo da Sassoferrato asserts that anyone can assume arms of his own free will, a short
story by Sacchetti ridicules a simple craftsman who commissioned a shield adorned with his
coat of arms to a renowned painter.443 In Italy, coats of arms extended across the social
spectrum. Examples of the armorial devices of Perugian artisans can be found on the
440
For further examples of this process, see David Kertzer‘s last two chapters on ―Rituals of Revolution‖ and
―the Rites of Power‖ in Ritual, Politics, 151-184.
441
Trexler, Public Life, 310. For Paul III‘s visit of 7th September 1543, a chronicler mentions that all the
―trasande e scale dove [il papa] devia pasare‖ were removed. Fabretti, ―Memorie di G. Costantino,‖ in
Cronache, IV: 275.
442
Most studies on heraldry discuss and identify individuals‘ coat of arms, a distinctive sign of status and wealth
for membership to an elite clan. Major works on heraldry include those, already cited, of Pastoureau and
Bascapé as well as Ottfried Neubecker, Heraldry: Sources, Symbols, and Meaning (London: Tiger Books
International, 1997[1976]); Donald L. Galbreath and Geoffrey Briggs, Papal Heraldry, 2nd ed. (London:
Heraldry Today, 1972); In 1988, Pastoureau deplored the fact that Italian heraldry was still ‗abandoned to
collectors and amateurs of nobiliary vanities‘. M. Pastoureau, ―Stratégies héraldiques et changements
d‘armoiries chez les magnats florentins du XIVe siècle,‖ Annales ESC (Sept.-Oct. 1988), 1242. Studies on
Italian flags periodically appear in Archives Héraldiques Suisses.
443
Cavallar et al., Grammar of Signs, 53; Novella LXIII in Puccini, ed., Il Trecentonovelle, 197-198.
151
parchments of income tax returns.444 Boccacio comments in the Decameron: ―Since they
have three pennies, they want a spouse from the gentry, and they have armouries made and
say ‗I am one of the So-and-sos‘.‖445 However, displaying one‘s identity through heraldry
was perceived as acceptable only for wealthy merchants, magnates, and nobles, like the rich
Perugian member of the Mercanzia guild who exhibited his family arms on a painting of the
Virgin Mary (fig. 17). In the mid-Trecento, Bartolo‘s attempt to legalize armorial insignia
was spurred by the need to differentiate people bearing the same name and the necessity to
proclaim ownership. However, as Sacchetti‘s fiction of ca. 1400 demonstrates, heraldry
quickly became a sign of status and distinction beyond being just a mark of identity.
The second flag showed the ―insegna della Chiesa‖, i.e. the crossed keys (or, in
heraldic terms: ―crossed in saltire‖) that popes had adopted since the thirteenth century as an
independent badge to signify their apostolic leadership.446 The crossed keys symbolized the
Perugian Parte Guelfa on a seal of ca. 1340-50 kept at the Galleria Nazionale.447 The papal
keys were part of a series of symbolic objects that were given to the newly-crowned pope at
the Lateran basilica after the ritual procession from the Vatican to his Lateran residence in
recognition of his new spiritual and princely role.448 In a miniature showing Pope Martin V
consecrating the church of San Egidio in Florence (fig. 48), six enormous banners with the a
gold and a silver key and the tiara above them hang from the trumpets being blown. In
Perugia, a similar standard, along with other flags bearing the arms of the pope, were kept in
444
For example, the escutcheon of a tailor (ca. 1489) and that of a smith (1529) are reproduced in Carte che
ridono, respectively: entry 87, 108; entry 184, 213.
445
―Come egli hanno tre soldi, vogliono le figliuole de‘ gentili uomini e delle buone donne per moglie, e fanno
arme e dicono ‗Io son de‘ cotali‘‖, Decameron, VII, 8 quoted by Hannelore Zug Tucci, ―Un linguaggio feudale:
l‘araldica,‖ in Storia d‟Italia. Dal feudalismo al capitalismo (Turin: Einaudi, 1978), 811-880, here 850.
446
Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, 6-16.
447
See Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, I: 180, entry 164.
448
Richard Ingersoll, The Ritual Use of Public Space in Renaissance Rome, (Ph.D. thesis, University of
California, Berkeley), 175.
152
the palace of the Governor who took them to the battlefield when the city participated in a
war.449
Lastly, Pius II‘s third flag, a white cross on a red ground, was a symbol of the
Christian Church that is documented from the eleventh century. It occasionally appeared in
the pageantry of the papal court as, for example, on the trumpet pennons at the coronation of
Pius II or at the entry of Julius II into Bologna.450 A white cross was believed to have
appeared to emperor Constantin.451 It was also not an uncommon heraldic symbol for military
or civic flags. Solothurn in Switzerland (fig. 10), the rione of Porta Romana in Milan, the
order of the Hospitallers (that became the order of Malta), or the Savoy dynasty in Italy had
adopted it as well as the royal banner of the French king, the oriflamme.452 In Pius II‘s
cortège, the combination of the three flags dispelled any confusion as to the sacred and
ecclesiastical meaning of the white cross.
In the mural painting of Sixtus IV‘s procession to the Lateran (fig. 47), the first
standard with the S.P.Q.R. acronym [Senatus Populus Que Romanus] painted in gold over a
red field symbolizes the Commune of Rome, a feature borrowed from antiquity when the city
was the capital of a Republic. It signified papal lordship over the Eternal City and would not
have made sense in a Perugian context. The second flag is identical to Pius II‘s entry and the
third flag conflates the pope‘s personal coat of arms (an oak tree for the ―Rovere‖ family)
with his role as leader of the Church (the crossed keys). I have already evoked this Sistine
heraldry for Bonfigli‘s Second Translation of Sant‟Ercolano (fig. 1).
449
For example, on 18th January 1428: ―Monsignore cavalcò con lo dicto gonfalone [con l‘arme della Chiesa], e
fuoro circa 2000 fante epochi cavaglie con l‘arme‖ (Diario del Graziani, 327) or, on 7th July 1442: ―e lí [battle
of Costano, near Perugia] gionse Monsignore sensa ordine alcuno, con le bandiere et arme del Papa,.‖ ibid., 489.
450
Galbreath, Papal Heraldry, 1-5.
451
See, for example, the chronicler of Charles VIII‘s entry in Rouen in 1485, in Guénée and Lehoux, Entrées
royales, 258.
452
See Paul Dechaix, «St George‘s cross and St John‘s cross,‖ in 15th Congress of Vexillology, 94-96.
153
Similar flags marked the climactic moment in the solemn investiture of the standardbearer of the Church (gonfaloniere della Chiesa), the general captain of the papal troops.
Such a ceremonial took place in Perugia in June 1442 as the apostolic legate conferred this
title to Niccolò Piccinino on the main piazza.453 The condottiere received a flag with ―the
arms of the Church‖, a red flag quartered with white crossed keys, and a flag with the coat of
arms of the pope. Here again, these standards announced a highly honorific function and
rank. All these examples showed that flags signified stood for a city, an individual, and
exceptional social status. It was an honor to hold them and their stunning appearance was an
integral part of ritual staging.454
The canopy, or baldacchino
The canopy was ―un élément fondamental du cérémonial d‘entrée‖ in Noël Coulet‘s
words.455 It worked as a visual cue for the physical presence of the protagonist in a crowd and
as a sign for the foremost status of the person that it sheltered. Unlike flags, a canopy was
always visible and did not necessitate wind or forward motion. The connotation of
sovereignty and decorum attached to the canopy comes from its original stationary location
above princely thrones from the twelfth century and from its processional use above
monstrance with the Eucharist for the feast of Corpus Christi from the early fourteenthcentury on.456 A canopy was usually placed in the center of the procession, emulating the
453
Diario del Graziani, 480-481.
When pope Callixtus III entered Perugia on 28th June 1455, he had his own heraldic flag, a red grazing ox on
a gold ground, and another one with the keys and arms of the church. See Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 124.
455
On the symbolism and ritual protocol attached to a canopy, see Noël Coulet, ―Les entrées solennelles‖, and
Diana Norman, ―'Sotto uno baldacchino trionfale': The Ritual Significance of the Painted Canopy in Simone
Martini's Maestà,‖ Renaissance Studies 20, no. 2 (2006): 147-60. Fabrizio Nevola, "'Lieto e trionfante per la
città': Experiencing a Mid-Fifteenth-Century Imperial Triumph Along Siena's Strada Romana." Renaissance
Studies 17, no. 4 (2003): 581-606. On the object itself, see Joseph Braun, Die liturgischen Paramente in
Gegenwart und Vergangenheit. Ein Handbuch der Paramentik (Freiburg im Bresgau: Herder, 1924), ―Der
Traghimmel,‖ 239-42 and B. Montevecchi, ed., Suppellettile Ecclesiastica, Dizionari Terminologici (Florence:
Ministerio per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, 1987), entry ―baldacchino processionale,‖ 323-324.
456
Guénée and Lehoux suggest that the use of the processional canopy in French royal entries was modeled on
Corpus Christi processions, Entrées royales, 14-18. On the use of the canopy for Corpus Christi processions, see
454
154
processional practice for Corpus Christi. Its bright colors and lavish aspect made the middle
section of the cortège not only the visual focus but also the most ornate and the most
desirable for personal or corporate prestige.
Like flags, it was an honor to carry this mark of decorum and only distinguished
citizens such as the highest officials and university professors were allowed to handle the
city‘s ceremonial baldacchino. They did so by taking turns (first the priori, then Mercanzia
and Cambio leaders, then the chamberlains, and finally the dottori) and by switching only at
regulated spots along the processional itinerary. A canopy was indispensable when reliquaries
were processed or for the entries of secular and religious leaders. In Bellini‘s rendering of St.
Mark‘s Day in Procession in Piazza San Marco (fig. 15), attention is directed towards a
glamorous canopy in the center foreground that tops the gilded reliquary with a particle of the
True Cross, showcasing the patrons of that painting and the owners of these processional
items, the Confraternity (scuola) of San Giovanni.
A canopy could cost as much as a diplomatic gift like a gold cup. 457 It was typically
made of sumptuous silk or velvet dyed in exorbitantly expensive crimson and it was often
lined with fringes of silver or gold threads. This color, symbolic of power, was repeated in
the robes of the privileged top-ranking citizens who carried it or marched in its immediate
proximity: city officials and university professors.458 Furthermore, it was also a primary
visual medium to display heraldry when it had bendoni or drappelloni (lambrequins or cloth
flaps) hanging from the frame of the ―sky‖, as the main cloth was called. Thus, the
baldacchino for Pius II expressed his secular and spiritual identity with the Piccolimini‘ arms
and those of the Church. The lambrequins also echoed the personal armorial bearings of Pius
Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi. The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1991), 252-259.
457
In 1310, the Angevine Count of Eboli was presented by the Commune of Siena a gold cup worth 10 gold
florins while the palio for his entry cost 12 gold florins. D. Norman, ―Sotto un baldacchino‖, 150.
458
The canopy in French royal entries was often blue, probably because it was a heraldic color of the French
kings. Guénée and Lehoux, Les entrées royales, 19-20.
155
II that hung throughout the Umbrian city, as the pope recorded in his Commentarii.459 One
should note that only his persona was thus advertised as it was not uncommon for canopies to
also display the coat of arms of influential citizens.460 Gentile Bellini has depicted such
individual heraldry on the canopy of his Piazza San Marco (fig. 15). Chroniclers noted that
the canopy had been paid for by the commune, an expense that made this object paradigmatic
of the political significance of the etiquette for entries.
A canopy for a living person often underwent a ritual of destruction once the
procession had arrived to its goal.461 On 1st February 1459, once Pius II reached the stairs of
the cathedral of San Lorenzo, the baldachin was taken away and sacked (―messo a
saccomano;‖ ―tolto e straccato‖) in an instant although an official prohibition of even
touching the canopy had been announced three times earlier on. But apparently, the threat of
decapitation for such a misdeed had no effect. This rite of appropriation was a custom that
also applied to the guest‘s horse and caparison. For example, in March 1456 as the new
bishop of Perugia reached the stairs of San Lorenzo where his entry ended, his horse was
snatched away by noble youths as soon as he dismounted, and the white silk caparison torn
up.462 Bertelli has amply commented on the reasons for such violence and the ensuing
damage that recurred in coronation processions or entries. In coronations, the horse was
regarded as part of the regalia and for other types of entries it was equally special and
desirable because it had been in close contact with the ―sacred‖ guest. As to the canopy or the
caparison, the motivation was not to acquire precious and costly artefacts since people only
received shreds of silk or splinters of wood. According to Bertelli, the ritual objects linked to
459
Libro II quoted in Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 357, n. 2.
Trexler, Public Life, 93, mentions that wealthy Florentine citizens managed to attach their coat of arms to the
canopy of the Corpus Christi festival. For the visit of Leo X to Florence in1515, a chronicler remarked that only
the armories of the pope figured on the canopy. Ibid., 499.
461
See for Rome, Ingersoll, 172 and for Siena, Nevola, ―Lieto e triunfante‖, 600. For an interpretation of this
ritual, Bertelli, The King‟s Body, 97-113
462
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 307-8. See also n. 13 of this chapter. Another ritual destruction, that of
sweetmeats paraded by the Compagnie on festive occasions, is reported for an imperial visit on 28th August
1433. Ibid., 372.
460
156
the distinguished persona were regarded by the mob as relics imbued with the aura of that
high-ranking visitor. Claiming the right to take away pieces of symbolic representations such
as canopies, or caparisons and horses, was a ―deeply religious act‖ that was informed by the
sacredness of the ―king [here: pope]‘s body.‖ Joelle Rollo-Koster who researched rituals of
violence during the Empty See provides further references regarding the sacred nature of a
prince‘s possessions as an explanation for the perpetrators‘ purposes.463 Consequently,
vandalism was not the primary intention of the frenetic crowd but a response to a fetishizing
impulse.
Rituals of depredation of palaces and objects are documented in connection to
Christian prelates‘ death, nomination or election from the fifth century and continued into the
sixteenth century. We have seen that the arrival of a new bishop in the city also occasioned
altercation about his processional paraphernalia. When the pope died, the Lateran was
sacked, a ritual documented from 1227 until the Avignon papacy. But from 1378, when the
Curia settled back in Rome again, scuffles and damages occurred at the end of the conclaves
and during the coronation procession (―possesso‖). Pius II relates in his Commentarii that he
risked being killed by people fighting with swords over his horse during his ―possesso‖ on
19th March 1458.464 In his book on the establishment of the eternal sacredness of the pope,
Agostino Paravicini Bagliani has interpreted these events as rites of passage in which
Romans appropriated the possessions that they regarded as theirs in the first place. 465 The
protection of the palace of the pope and strict prohibitions against these customs represent,
according to Paravicini Bagliani, loci of a conscious dissociation between the physical
mortality of the pontiff and the perenniality of the papacy. It is important to note that by the
463
Joëlle Rollo-Koster, ―Looting the Empty See: The Great Western Schism revisited (1378),‖ in Rivista della
Storia della Chiesa in Italia LIX (Feb. 2005): 429-474, here 466 and 473. Bertelli discerned a change in the
perception of these objects only in the seventeenth century as the ritual appropriation became a sport or a trick.
464
Bertelli, The King‟s Body, 98.
465
A. Paravicini Bagliani, Il corpo del Papa (Turin: Einaudi, 1994), 147-154 and 224-229 for rituals of
destruction. See also Rollo-Koster, Raiding St. Peter: Empty Sees, Violence, and the Initiation of the Great
Western Schism (1378) (Leiden: Brill, March 2008).
157
expression ―destruction‖ or ―sack‖, one also understands thefts of precious items that servants
or other ecclesiastics perpetrated. Palaces were not necessarily destroyed but sometimes only
looted. These disorders often accompanied moments of interregnum.
The ritual of tearing apart the canopy could be avoided. In French royal entries, the
canopy was seized from the magistrates‘ hands by the king‘s officers (―sergents d‘armes‖),
often by force although at times, the city magistrates (―échevins‖) managed to keep it. 466 As
Emperor Frederick III‘s solemnly entered Perugia on January 14th, 1469, the precious
baldachin made of 27 braccia of scarlet velvet was kept in the Palazzo of the Governor ―per
buon rispetto.‖ Two weeks later, it was used as the award for the carnival joust. Another
example of a recycled canopy is the red gold-brocaded baldacchino with lambrequins
showing Perugia‘s coat of arms and Braccio Fortebraccio‘s heraldic sheep. It topped the
latter‘s funerary urn in May 1432 but it was again used above the throne set up for emperor
Sigismond on the Piazza of Colle Landone in August 1433.467 Had the canopy for Pius II not
been vandalized, it would have ended in the chapel of the Priori.468 In Perugia, apart from
imperial and papal entries, a lavish canopy was also used to signify the special reverence due
to sacred images such as the dead Christ of the Nunziata or the panel of the Salvatore for the
Assumption (see last chapter). The last section of this chapter examines the ambiguity of
visual or textual evidence for public rituals and to what extent images and texts represent a
population‘s identity.
Motion and emotion
466
See Guénée and Lehoux, 23-24 with examples ranging from 1431 to 1494.
For Frederick III, see Fabretti, Cronache, II: 43-44. For Sigismond‘s visit on 26th August 1433, ibid., 11 and
Diario del Graziani, 371. For Braccio Fortebraccio‘s funeral on 3rd May 1432, see Diario del Graziani, 360361.
468
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 358.
467
158
Processions and entries were a multi-sensory experience, a characteristic of rituals
that allowed for emotions to be aroused. Auditory stimulation consisted of the ringing of
communal and ecclesiastical bells, chanting, and possibly, the high-pitched cheers of
children.469 Olfaction is not often mentioned by the chroniclers, but obviously the smell of
numerous horses in entries, and the fragrance of wax and incense must have been assertive.
Taste was evoked by the customary donations of food and wine. Touch was constantly
present through the minute proceedings of the ritual: the tactile sense of wearing precious
clothing, holding objects of prestige such as the canopy or flags, or carrying a banner. The
various phases of the ceremony were also a feast for the eyes, and because in a successfully
conducted ritual seeing is believing, sight and the sights offered by the staging is what most
affected actors and spectators. Machiavelli observed that
―Men in general make judgments more by appearances than by reality; for sight alone
belongs to everyone, but understanding to few. (…) [the prince should] at appropriate
times of the year keep the people occupied with festivals and shows.‖470
Rituals enhance the impression of consensus among the population and they establish
the legitimacy of power relationships. But they cannot do this without the help of potent
symbols such as, in the entry of Pius II, the keys, the flags, the canopy, and one of the most
versatile emblematic vehicles of authority, sumptuous clothing. As Charles Zika argued for
Corpus Christi processions in fifteenth-century Germany, it was not the host but the
procession itself that showed the control of local civic authorities over a liturgical act.471
While the monstrance was carried by the highest-ranking ecclesiastic, the canopy was held by
representatives of secular authority. With papal entries, the same phenomenon happened with
the foremost citizens framing the highest religious figure in Christianity, thus expressing their
469
Bell-ringing is not mentioned for Pius II but it was highly likely. For example, the chronicler reports that
bells rang and torches hung from the palaces in the main piazza in Diario del Graziani, 461-2.
470
Quoted in Kertzer, Rituals, Politics, 74-75.
471
Charles Zika, "Hosts, Processions and Pilgrimages: Controlling the Sacred in Fifteenth-Century Germany,"
Past and Present, no. 118 (1987): 25-64.
159
social predominance in the Perugian population and visually staging their authority in the
presence of the city‘s overlord.
The emotional responses for the codified performances that I described in this chapter
were awe and respect, but the potential for conflict was tangible and ritual events were often
policed. For example, during Pius II‘s entry in 1459, his personal guard, three high constables
(contestavoli) with many foot-soldiers was constantly present and assisted, for the procession
on Piazza San Lorenzo, by Perugian citizens who had been appointed to make way with
cudgels.472 As the pope taxed the Perugians more and more heavily in the early sixteenth
century, political relationships deteriorated. The arrival of the newly elected Paul III on 9 th
September 1535 at San Pietro in Perugia entailed comparable paraphernalia to that of Pius II
in 1459 but this time, the pontiff was ostentatiously accompanied by hundreds of armed
soldiers on horseback and on foot. For his entry into the city, the next day, the pope had the
cavalry head the procession, and his lanced guard (guardia de lanze) precede himself on a
throne, a powerful sight for the population who saw in it a declaration of power.
Paul III‘s second trip to Perugia (July 1539) attracted little notice, perhaps because of
his terse fiscal politics. In 1540, Perugians confronted the pope by rejecting the increase on
the salt tax, and the so-called ―War of the Salt‖ was declared. After being excommunicated
for several months, the Perugians abdicated at the sight of the papal troops. Nevertheless, the
pomp for Paul III‘s third visit in October 1541 left a stark impression on the population.
Streets were lavishly adorned with velvet and blue lilies, and the pope rode under nine
ephemeral triumph arches escorted by a hundred youth dressed in black. However, there was
no liberation of prisoners or money thrown at the audience as was customary, and the pope
472
Diario del Graziani, 634. For the entry of emperor Frederick III in Siena, 1500 militia men were present. See
Nevola, ―lieto e triunfante,‖ 600, n. 88.
160
―did not leave a good memory‖ as a chronicler puts it.473 In fact, the pope ordered the
demolition of many buildings, including the Servite church to make way for his fortress, a
symbol of tyrannical authority that Perugians resented into the nineteenth century. In his
cursory rendering of the fourth papal visit in August 1542, the chronicler mentions the usual
ritual apparatus with the embellished streets and arches of triumph, and the multiple torches
at night. But he does not evoke signs of rejoicing on the part of the population.
For the Paul III‘s fifth (July 1543) and sixth (September 1544) entries in Perugia, no
descriptions from Umbrian chroniclers exist. Thus, symbolic trappings and the expected
unfolding of a ritual may be mere protocol to ensure at least a semblance of popular
celebration. But ritual pomp still brings a population together, even if it is in silent
disagreement with papal politics. Recourse to rituals is a constant theme of consolidating
power: structured mass public gatherings accompanied by visual symbols produce efficient
cognitive effects that give meaning to the social categorization for both audience and actors.
The next chapter examines a totally different ritual context, that of penitential processions
and popular devotion for objects of cult. Special images may elicit consensus by the motion
and emotion that they spur in penitential settings. Imbued with the power to stop calamities,
these extraordinary pictures were essential in the construction of collective and civic
identities.
473
For Paul III‘s entries, see Pellini, Dell‟Historia, III: 574-5 (1535); 619 (1539); 656-7 (1541); 678 (1542); 707
(1543). For chronicles relating them, see Fabretti, ―Memorie di G. Costantino,‖ in Cronache, IV: 225 (Sept.
1535); 268-9 (Oct. 1541); 279 (July 1543).
161
EXCURSUS no. 2:
Neighborhood associations: urban militias and “compagnie di porta”
The word ―compagnie‖ is ambiguous because it can refer to confraternities, militias,
guilds, or festive associations of neighbors. A few Perugian ―compagnie‖ of the thirteenth
century are documented as urban military associations that provided welfare for funerals and
assistance to the sick in ways similar to guilds and confraternities. 474 However, the references
that I found for ―compagnie‖ from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries (in chronicles and
in the city legislation, for example) refer to groups exclusively dedicated to festive
activities.475 In the city statutes of the 1520s, militias are referred to as ―vexilli.‖ The five
―regiones‖ of Perugia (―porte‖ or districts) and the ten ―regiones‖ of its contado were made of
men aged 15-60 under the command of a gonfaloniere (standard-bearer) in charge of the
district‘s flag.476 In case of danger, all these reservists gathered at their gonfaloniere‘s home
and marched behind their flag to the pre-arranged meeting point of their porta. In the late
medieval and renaissance periods, these virtual militias were based on neighborhoods but do
not correspond to the ―compagnie‖ of the chronicles.
Arising in thirteenth century Italy, ―compagnie del popolo‖ or societates armorum
meant popular armed societies that were organized by city districts (by the five ―porte‖ in
Perugia) for the service of the communal regime. Run by a captain elected each year, they
474
See the statutes of the Societas dei Leoni Balzani (1251) published by Bartoli Langeli, Codice diplomatico
del Commune di Perugia (1139-1254) (Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1983), 528-535;
statutes of the Societas di Porta Eburnea (1259) published by Grundman, The Popolo, 380-384. These
documents are the only published statutes of Perugian companies and they provide a rare insight into the visual
culture of the Perugian thirteenth-century militias.
475
The significance of neighborhood ties for Renaissance Perugia has not been researched. For Florence, see F.
W. Kent and D. Kent, Neighbours and Neighbourhood in Renaissance Florence. The district of the Red Lion in
the Fifteenth Century (New York: Augustin, 1982); N. Eckstein, The District of the Green Dragon.
Neighborhood Life and Social Change in Renaissance Florence (Florence: Olschki, 1995); and Philip Jacks and
William Caferro, The Spinelli of Florence: Fortunes of a Renaissance Merchant Family (University Park, Pa.:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001). Such studies are indebted to David Herlihy and Christiane
Klapisch-Zuber‘s Les Toscans et leurs familles: une étude du "catasto" florentin de 1427 (Paris: CNRS, 1978).
476
―Quod civitatis Perusie burghi et suburghi ipsius distribuantur et limitentur in XV regiones vel partes et sic
sint XV vexilli.” See the printed City Statutes of 1523-28, 110r-111v.
162
maintained a well-stocked armory and trained in the use of weapons after their work hours.477
The idiosyncrasies of these urban militias differed from city to city.478 In general, their
original defensive function was overtaken by other responsibilities by the end of the
fourteenth century. For example, in Bologna, from the 1230s to the 1340s, the società d‟armi
took on a political significance because their members could gain access to the magistracy. In
a similar way, the Florentine ―compagnie del popolo‖ turned into ―gonfaloni,‖ elite political
institutions in charge of administering local finance and taxation. From 1306, Florence was
divided in sixteen administrative wards (or ―gonfaloni‖) that consisted of male citizens aged
15 to 70 years headed by a gonfaloniere who was assisted by a small council. Nicholas
Eckstein has stressed that the Florentine gonfaloni did not include the entire neighborhood.
They were only opened to full members of guilds and to the great citizens who dominated
them. From 1307, the main Florentine civic procession, that of Saint John the Baptist, was
organized under the flags of these companies rather than according to guilds, giving them a
new, ideological, status.479 One factor for such a decline in military functions was the way the
art of warfare evolved in Italy, leaving little space for local militias.480
In Perugia, the guilds remained the basis for the central government from the
thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Urban military companies ( ―vexilli‖ in the 1520s city
statutes) did not assume any political role. The ―compagnie di porta‖ of the later Middle Ages
may or may not have grown out of the armed groups found in thirteenth-century texts. There
is a hiatus in the extant documentation to account for the discontinuity of the military
477
Menichelli, La battaglia dei sassi, 32.
For Florence, see Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze (Florence: Sansoni, 1956-68 [1896-1927]), IV, 1, 298-305
and for other Tuscans cities, ibid., 300, n. 1. For Bologna, See S. Neri, Emblemi, stemmi e bandiere delle società
d'armi bolognesi (secc. XIII-XIV) (Florence: La Nuova Italia Editrice, 1978).
479
The Bolognese guilds substituted the società d‟armi in accessing the magistracy from the 1350s. Neri, ibid.,
16-17. for the situation in Florence, see Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze, IV, 463f.; Trexler, Public Life, 219-222;
D. Webb, Patron and Defenders, 205-7.
480
Cities hired condottieri who recruited foreign mercenaries, thus forming ―compagnie di venture.”
Occasionally though, local volunteers were called upon. For example, in February 1447, the city government of
Perugia announced that foot soldiers were needed and that any man could enrol. Diario del Graziani, 590.
478
163
functions of Perugian ―compagnie‖ and the birth of entertainment-oriented groups also called
―compagnie.‖481 But both types are not necessarily antagonistic since in medieval Italy,
military companies also participated in festivities. For example, in Bologna, each member
had a heraldic shield that signified his active belonging to the group, an armor, a doublet, and
a helmet while the ―milites‖ also owned a horse with a saddle adorned with the emblem of
their militia.482 All members, whatever their social rank, were supposed to wear these
emblems in occasions such as parades on horseback (cavalcate), communal exercises,
guarding shifts, and whenever the city government summoned them for its service. For
Perugia, thirteenth-century militias had similar garb, as the 1251 statutes of the Leoni Balzani
indicate. For the procession of Assumption Day, each member had to be dressed up with his
helmet, shield, and a half-yellow, half-red flag with the emblem of the company.483 In
November 1298, the Societas de Rose, made of men from the ―borgo‖ of San Fiorenzo and
other city areas, is cited in the municipal deliberations for its participation in the feast of
Sant‘Ercolano.484
The boisterous nature of the compagnie explains their eventual exclusion (stated in
the city statutes from 1342) from the main torchlight processions on the eve of a feast-day
and their mandatory participation on the feast-day itself, in daylight. A fine was levied for
―companies‖ who did not respect this prescription and participated in the vigil instead.
Whoever belonged to two compagnie had to march with the one from his own neighborhood
without being fined by the other company.485 Thus, in a general procession, it was
neighborhood identity that ―compagnie‖ displayed.
481
See Galletti, "Sant' Ercolano: Il grifo e le lasche‖, 209-210, n. 14-15. A thorough archival research is needed
to fully assess what primary sources are available for these festive companies.
482
See Neri, Società d'armi, 24.
483
See Bartoli Langeli, Codice diplomatico, 530.
484
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, 12, anno 1298, f. 186v and 187r. The reference is given by Galletti,
―Sant‘Ercolano e le lasche,‖ 209, n. 13. Otherwise, nothing else is known about this company.
485
Salem, Statuto 1342, I: 162, §45.60,.
164
The Compagnia del Sasso (Company of the Rock) acquired its name from its ludic
specialty, the organization of the notorious battle of the rocks.486 Along with that game, all
―compagnie di porta‖ were abolished in 1426 by the new City Statutes inspired by
Bernardino da Siena‘s asceticism.487 Men and women of companies are blamed in that
legislative document for their indecorous behavior, such as dancing inside the churches, and
for ruining their members by extravagant expenses. Even after their ban, these associations
never completely ceased to exist because chroniclers repeatedly mention their partying on
saints‘ days, for weddings, or for special guests.488 For example, five companies greeted the
emperor Sigismond in Perugia in August 1432 by dancing back and forth (―ballando
all‘andare e tornare in su in Perugia‖). They danced and ―partied‖ again for him the next day
on the piazza. In May and June 1444, each porta had its company parade and dance on
specific saints‘ days.489 What was cancelled during that period were the more potentially
dangerous, popular (non-aristocratic) games such as the bull chase and the battle of the rocks.
This type of collective identity did not simply equate one‘s proud belonging to a
specific city area but also included political allegiance. It is likely that faction leaders were
conspicuous members of these groups. For example, at the end of May 1459, the Compagnia
dei Galanti was created by nobles to counter another Perugian aristocratic association, the
Barcolli.490 This declared rallying favored the expression of animosity and rivalry among
factions during the festival period. Corporate conscience for company members was also
tinged with allegiance to the dominant families of that area represented by the officers.
486
This dangerous game was very often prohibited by the government from the 13 th to the 15th centuries until its
suppression by the Bernardinian decrees of 1425. See Menichelli, La battaglia, 74-76 and 147-151. This book
partially answered, 20 years later, A. I. Galletti‘s call for an in-depth study of these sotietates. However,
Menichelli‘s focus regards only one particular company, the ―Compagnia del Sasso.”
487
The official absence of the ―compagnie‖ from a legal viewpoint only lasted until 1471 when the Perugian
magistracy reinstated them. Menichelli, ibid., 150.
488
See Fabretti, ―Diario di A. Dei Veghi,‖ in Cronache, II: 11-12. For weddings, see section below.
489
Description of each event in Diario del Graziani, 549.
490
Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 375.
165
Unlike penitential associations, compagnie members would not cover their faces with a hood
in processions. Thus, loyalty to the well-known nobles who captained these groups was
displayed during the parades. The best illustration for this type of corporate feeling is the
company of Porta Sant‘Angelo in July 1490 for Giovan Paolo Baglioni‘s wedding. During
their foundation meeting in the church of Sant‘Agostino ―at the request of the Baglioni‖, the
men of that porta said that they ―put themselves in the hands of the Arceprete and Armani‖
(the most powerful nobility of their neighborhood), and that these two families should decide
on the election of the officers, generally chosen from those two houses anyway.491
The public weddings of the nobility reveal that companies could be exploited as a
strategy for self-promotion and recognition of a nobleman. On 5th December 1489, Giovan
Paolo de Ridolfo dei Baglioni (Malatesta‘s grandson and Braccio‘s nephew) personally
gathered all the young men of Porta Susanna who agreed to form a ―compagnia‖ for his
wedding planned in August 1490. Then, his brother and his uncle successfully summoned the
youth of another two porte in the major church of each of those districts. By July 1490, this
powerful family had rallied all five rioni for their ―united‖ participation in a city-wide
celebratory event.492 Giovan Paolo‘s maneuvering is consistent with the Baglioni‘s search for
political power and for constantly enhancing their public image. For example, from 16 th May
to 24th June 1471, for the union of the lord of Camerino‘s daughter with Oddo di Carlo
491
―in effetto, per li detti omene dela porta fo reposto che essi se remetterono nele mano dela casa deli Arceprete
e deli Armanni, e che loro facessero eletione deli omene, secondo che lor pare.” Ibid., II, 351.
―A di 5 de Xbre [1489], el nobile Giovan Pavolo de Ridolfo dei Baglione fece una adunanza nela
chiesa di S. Berardino, dove che li se radunarono tutti li giovani di Porta Susane. E in effetto, Giovan
Pavolo li pregò che facessero compagnia perché lui vole menare donna (...). A di 6 detto Simonetto de
Ridolfo Baglione fece una adunanza in S. Domenico, dove cie andaro tutti li gioveni de Porta San
Pietro e ditto Semonetto rechise de voler fare la compagnia per onorare Gio. Pavolo suo fratello (...). A
dì 7 detto el Mag. Guido Baglione fece fare una adunanzza de tutta la porta de Borgnie in S. Maria dei
Servi, e lì propose, e pregò li omeni dela Porta, che li piacesse de fare la compagnia per onorare
Giovanpavolo ditto, quando menerà donna , e tutti resposeno de farlo volentiere.‖ Ibid., II: 337-8.
For the creation of the Compagnia di Porta Sant‘Angelo on 18 th July 1490: ―se fece la dunanza in S. Agustino, e
fo proposto per li gentilomene de la porta, come erano state rechieste dali Baglione, che le volesse fare la
compagnia una con le alter porte, quando menerà moglie Giovan Paolo (…).” Ibid., II: 350-1
166
Baglioni, each company paraded and performed on a specific day ―in honor of the bride,‖ but
what they really offered was a spectacle of support for the Baglioni.493
The existence of compagnie with their faction-oriented components posed a potential
threat to political stability. Their ability to assert their presence in public rituals could steal
the show and visually compete with the representatives of the local government. The
absolutist papal domination of Umbria from the 1540s put an end to their aspirations of
autonomous displays.
A rare depiction of a militia flag (Bologna): First page of the Statutes of the Società delle
Sbarre with depiction of their flag, 1256, Archivio di Stato di Bologna, f. 99r (416 x 281mm) (from:
M. Medica, ed., Haec sunt Statuta, 111)
493
The Compagnia del Sasso partied in Porta San Pietro (16 th May), the Compagnia di Porta Borgne [Eburnea]
on 25th May while the Sasso and the Domanio paraded as the lady made her entry into the city on 7 th June. The
Compagnia di Porta Sole had a banquet in the main piazza in the honor of the bride on June 10 th, followed by
the Compagnia del Sasso six days later while the Compagnia di Porta Eburnea took the opportunity of its
traditional celebration for St. John‘s day on 24 th June to set up a banquet in piazza in honor of the bride as well.
Diario del Graziani, 642-643 and Pellini, 710 quoted in Menichelli, La battaglia, 159.
167
EXCURSUS no. 3
Votive paintings on cloth versus banners
Gonfaloni were owned, or were in the custody of, groups that carried them in
procession at precise times of the year or for special occasions. In confraternity gonfaloni,
members sometimes appear on the imagery of these paintings. The extant depictions often
show flagellants (for example, figs. 23; 26; 28; 62a). These robed and hooded men are meant
as a representative sample of their association but occasionally portaits of specific persons
may appear. Ellen Schiferl has shown that individual portraiture in confraternal commissions
points to the actual assimilation of patrons into a group.494 By contrast, two Umbrian
paintings have been called ―banners‖ by art historians although they represent a single donor,
not a gathering of confratelli, praying a revered saint. In my mind, this iconography
disqualifies these canvases as collective gonfaloni.
In the Gonfalone of Civitella d‟Arna of 1492, a man described in the inscription as
«FRATER SANTES» must be the cleric behind the commission.495 In a symmetrical
composition, the Enthroned Virgin with Child is flanked by John the Baptist on her right and
Saint Sebastian on her left while two small angels hover above each saint. Friar Santes kneels
at Mary‘s foot, near Saint Sebastian. The processional use or collective ownership of this
work has not been documented. Its composition, a typical sacra conversazione, makes it a
more plausible altarpiece than a confraternal banner.
Perugino (Pietro Vannucci)‘s Saint Anthony of Padua of ca. 1516-7 kept in Bettona,
near Perugia (see image below) shows a condottiere, identified by the inscription as
Bartolomeo da Maraglia, kneeling in full military garb at the feet of the Franciscan saint.496
In the epigraphic caption on the lower rim, the misfortune of the donor who was imprisoned
by the French in February 1512 is related as well as the name of the famed painter, Perugino.
The inscription claims that the patron will honorably fulfill his promise of offering a painting
to the saint while the portrait itself helps to visualize the donor‘s piety. Therefore, this so494
Ellen Schiferl, "Corporate Identity and Equality: Confraternity Members in Italian Paintings, 1340-1510."
Source. Notes in Art History VIII, no. Fall 1988 (1988): 12-18 and "Italian Confraternity Art Contracts: Group
Consciousness and Corporate Patronage, 1400-1525," in K. Eisenbichler, ed., Crossing the Boundaries
(Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University, 1991).
495
Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, does not regard this painting as a confraternity banner and excluded it from
his catalog. The inscription reads: ―FRATER SANTES FECIT FIERI A. D. MCCCCLXXXXII‖. See Santi, Gonfaloni
umbri, 74-75; Mancini, ed., Pittura in Umbria, 100. This canvas measures 180 x 140 cm and is kept in the
parocchial church of San Lorenzo in Civitella d‘Arna near Perugia.
496
See Ana Maria Rybko‘s entry in: V. Casale, ed., Pinacoteca comunale di Bettona (Perugia: Editori umbri,
1996), 92-3; Mancini, ibid., 124; and Scarpellini, Perugino, 118, entry no. 163, fig. 266. Andreas Dehmer,
Bruderschaftsbanner, has not included this work among his catalog of confraternity banners. The inscription
reads: ―BOTO DA MARAGLIA DA PEROG(I)A QUANDO FU PREGIONE DE FRANCIOSE / CHE FO AD DI XI DE FEBRAIO
MDXII PETRUS PINXIT DE CASTRO PLEBES‖. The painting measures 143 x 68 cm.
168
called ‗banner‘ is more likely an ex-voto meant to remain hanging on a wall of the Franciscan
church of Bettona and not a collectively used painting.497 The confusion about the nature of
these paintings arose from their similar medium (linen) and
dimensions with ordinary
confraternity banners.
Maraglia‘s offering shows, like many ordinary confraternity banners, a holy figure
taking up the entire length of the painting, typically in a vertical format. Perugino adopted
these compositional features for three paintings that were not processional: the Saint Anthony
already evoked, another Saint Anthony, on wood this time, kept in the Medici chapel of Santa
Croce in Florence, and the Blessed Giacomo della Marca (fig. 35), discussed in Chapter Two.
He used a carton for all three works in which stance of the saint, the pavement, and the
parapet are very similar.498 The dimensions of these paintings approximate the typical size of
processional gonfaloni, on average, 120-150cm in height and 70-120cm in width.499
Another so-called ―banner‖, in the Museo Comunale of Montefalco does not show
any donor.500 Dated 1498, it is a square painting on linen shows the Virgin and Child
enthroned and flanked by three saints on each side. I think that it was most likely meant as an
altarpiece. A square format with a Sacra Conversazione was fashionable for altarpieces in the
fifteenth century. In addition, a square shape does not make a painting easily transportable in
processions.
Linen was a cheaper medium for paintings than wood and it was also a way to
expedite a commission. Patrons may have wished a work by a famous master who could only
offer them a painting on cloth. Confraternal banners were associated with rituals of piety and
497
This denomination has been recently revisited. The didactic information panel in the Bettona museum label
(written for the Perugino cross-Umbria exhibit of 2004) calls it an ex-voto.
498
See Scarpellini‘s entry in his monograph, Perugino, 123.
499
On the uniformity of banners‘ dimensions and the local emulation between confraternities, see Dehmer,
Bruderschaftsbanner, 224-226. The Gonfalone of Saint Anthony measures 123 x 81.5 cm with its frame while
the Gonfalone of Giacomo delle Marche 152 x 81.5 cm.
500
See Mancini, ed., Pittura in Umbria, 135, and Museo Comunale fi Montefalco, entry 62, 191. The work
measures 200 x 198 cm and is attributed to Francesco Melanzio.
169
reverence and ordering a work that resembled them may have been desirable because of that
connotation. When examining the function of paintings on cloth, it is important to
differentiate between individual and corporate patronage, and to assess whether they were
intended for mobility or immobility, rather than conflate them into the genre of processional
banners on account of their material. Chapter Five examines another context for a painting on
linen that was not a processional item but did belong to a confraternity.
170
CHAPTER THREE: Extraordinary banners “per placare l’ira di Dio”501
When confronted with a pandemic disease or with natural catastrophes (continuous
rain, hail, drought, and their possible aftermath, famine), men and women of late medieval
and renaissance Europe typically responded by attending penitential processions with special
images, such as icons, relics, or statues. This chapter examines one type of processional
artefacts, ―extraordinary‖ banners regarded to be cult objects imbued with intercessory
power. In the Umbrian context, penitential processions were designed to spotlight these
extraordinary paintings, a phenomenon particularly well documented for Perugia. Thus, the
study of ritual behavior complements iconographic analysis and reveals issues of collective
urban identity, local idiosyncracies, and pictorial emulation. Using the perspective of
iconography, art historians have treated plague banners as separate from other types of
banners because of the recurrence of special intercessors, namely the Virgin of Mercy, St.
Sebastian, and St. Roch. My own approach includes iconography but focuses on the ritual
contexts and the collective identities that plague banners, as venerated objects, created or
fostered.
I will briefly examine the other means used to confront crisis situations in order to
assess what made these banners so special. I will show that these ―gonfaloni‖ occasioned
special patronage patterns which in turn elicited specific iconography. Most of them were
commissioned by religious orders or the Commune, not by confraternities. I will also analyze
a roster of banners showcasing the Virgin of Mercy dressed in a lavish red and gold brocade.
Her sumptuous clothing, symbolic of her supreme authority, suggests that the visual impact
of the representation of ornemental textile contributed to the aura of these paintings. I
501
―to placate God‘s wrath.‖ This expression recurs in contemporary texts; see, for example, the diary of
Antonio Veghi on July 27th, 1476: ―Fra Bonaventura esortava il popolo alla confessione communione per
placare l‘ira di Dio‖ and the chronicle of Cesare Rossi in May 1594: ―Queste processioni furono ordinate per
placare l‘ira di Dio‖ in Fabretti, Cronache, here respectively, ―Diario di Antonio dei Veghi,‖ II: 50; ―Memorie
di Cesare Rossi,‖ V: 198.
171
conclude with another type of processional paintings made against the plague, ―ordinary‖
banners, a pictorial and ritual contrast to the extraordinary banners of this chapter.
1) The plague in Umbria and the pictorial remedy
When a pandemic catastrophe hit medieval and early modern Europe, it left behind a
daily quota of tens or hundreds of dead. To counter a terrifying disease whose etiology was
unknown, people availed themselves of several recourses that could offer sparks of hope.502
Individuals sought treatments derived from medical treatises or magical remedies, a
temporary consolation mostly doomed to failure. Local governments were also influenced by
contemporary medical explanations for the plague. Consequently, public health measures
promoted better civic hygiene, sanitation, or provided for the release of foodstuffs. Special
offices, overseen by the civic authorities, administered those services. The social impact of
the plague in medieval and early modern times has been widely studied.503 Elisabeth
Carpentier, for example, has analyzed the political decisions made by the Orvieto municipal
government while the Venetian situation was presented in a major exhibition as a research
project of eminent scholars.504
The most popular contemporary explanation for the epidemic was its divine origin, a
common homelitic topos. Scholars such as Richard Palmer have provided solid evidence for
502
I use ―plague,‖ ―epidemic,‖ or ―pandemic catastrophes‖ as generic terms for any type of infectious,
contagious, and fatal disease without considering their various natures or characteristics. For a bibliography on
the epidemiological aspects of the plague, see A. Carmichael, Plague and the Poor in Renaissance Florence
(Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986) and the polemical book by Samuel Cohn, The
Black Death Transformed: Disease and Culture in Early Renaissance Europe (London: Arnold, 2002), for
evidence from plague tracts, chronicles, wills, and political ordinances.
503
For a substantial bibliography, see Louise Marshall, "„Waiting on the Will of the Lord‟: The Imagery of the
Plague" (PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 1989). For the Perugian situation, see Cesare Massari, Saggio
storico-medico sulle pestilenze di Perugia (Perugia: Baduel, 1838) and Giorgio Comez, "Provvedimenti adottati
in tempo di peste e loro repercussioni sulla fiera. La partecipazione degli Ebrei," in Mario Roncetti, ed., La
Fiera dei morti di Perugia (Perugia: Quaderni storici del Commune di Perugia, 1980), 61-74.
504
Elisabeth Carpentier, Une ville devant la peste: Orvieto et la peste noire de 1348 (Bruxelles: De Boeck
Université, 1993, 2nd ed.) ; Venezia e la peste. 1348/1797 (Venice: Marsilio, 1979).
172
the belief in punishment from God and its consequences on social behavior.505 Preachers
explained that the flail provoked by God‘s wrath was a deserved divine retribution for the
sins of the faithful. From the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, lawyers also attributed the
cause of epidemics to divine wrath on account of human sins.506 Consequently, the clergy
promoted repentance, confession, and communion for spiritual and physical healing.
Prophylactic images, such as altarpieces, cult panels, and plague banners testify to the power
attributed to certain images that filled the faithful with hope. Thus, a typical collective
response to the plague consisted of penitential processions led by the clergy with banners,
reliquaries, or other sacred objects that would assuage an angry God according to the
theological view of the disease.
The Umbrian context
The Umbrian situation, from the first outbreak of 1348 to the sixteenth century,
conformed to this pattern of political and spiritual responses. The plague always struck at
unexpected intervals and locations. According to chronicles and official civic records for
Perugia, the recurrence of the pestilence from its first outbreak in 1348 was frequent and the
disease remained a terrible scourge for long periods of time. Especially between the 1460s
and the 1520s, the plague could appear from year to year with an occasional respite of a few
years only. In a span of sixty years (1475-1536), the plague recurred in Perugia 22 times.507
505
Richard Palmer, "The Church, Leprosy and Plague in Medieval and Early Modern Europe," in W. J. Sheils,
ed., The Church and Healing (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1982), 79-99. Palmer has compared the bubonic plague
to leprosy and stressed the responsibility of the state. In The Black Death Transformed, Samuel Cohn dismisses
the most popular contemporary explanation for the epidemic, namely its divine origin, but his book had another
focus, refuting the identification of the Black Death with the bubonic plague which explains why he was not
interested in homelitic and visual material.
506
Mario Ascheri, I giuristi e le epidemie di peste. Secoli XIV-XVI (Siena: Università degli Studi, Dipartimento
di Scienze Storiche, Giuridiche, e Sociali, 1997), 25.
507
For the period considered here, the plague stroke Perugia in 1372-3; 1399; 1400; 1412; 1424; 1447-50; 1455;
1456; 1460; 1464; 1475-77; 1480; 1482-6; 1492-6; 1492; 1495-6; 1503; 1505-1506; 1513; and 1523-9; 1536.
See the communal provisions regarding the plague recorded by Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ and C.
Massari, Saggio storico-medico, 234.
173
Chronicles report the epidemic and its prophylaxis according to the usual tropes of plague
literature: the virulence and spread of the disease, the lack of religious assistance, especially
for decent burials; and the imposition of health measures such as herbal medicines and good
nutrition. Official deliberations confirm such policies. For example, in April 1448, the
government voted a total five-month budget of 5000 florins to pay for civic guards patrolling
the exits of the city, physicians who would assist plague victims for free, visitors for the sick,
and gravediggers.508 This budget, monitored by ten elected magistrates, was approved again
in early September. It was renewed for each outbreak of the plague, along with the payment
of doctors, gravediggers, and guards. By the end of the 1470s, the first lazaretto was set up in
Perugia.509
Discussing the cause of the pestilence, preachers commonly warned the populace of
the fatal imminence of God‘s punishment due to their vain and licentious behaviors. They
advocated individual or collective responses such as prayers, fasting, and penitential
processions. Numerous edicts specify that processions are meant to address God‘s clemency
and his power to revoke the fatal disease. However, communal or clerical authorities may
have hesitated in their orders to gather the population because of the hazard of contagion.510
Most of the time, spiritual expedients like penitential processions were sponsored by the city
officials who participated in the march. The evidence for the efficacy of a supplication
procession and the model to follow was Gregory the Great‘s ―litania maior‖ that stopped the
plague in Rome in 590. Many literary renditions of this successful enterprise existed as early
as the eighth century and visual representations were numerous in illuminated manuscripts.
508
For the transcription of the ―riformanza‖ of 20 th April 1448, see Diario del Graziani, 603, n. 2.
509
―Electio decem civium supra expendio 5000 [V M lia] fl. occasionis pestis.‖ Riformanze, 1448, f. 88v. See
also for September 1448, Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 171. The first lazaret was set up in 1478 in the
Franciscan monastery of St. Angelo d‘ Arenaria, outside the city gates. Massari, Saggio storico-medico, 53 and
Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 73.
510
For the vexed decision to hold processions despite the contagious risk, with examples in Florence and
Perugia, see Marshall, Waiting on the Will of the Lord, chapter 1, 31-34 and 50, footnote 98.
174
Saint Gregory‟s Procession, a predella panel by Giovanni di Paolo (fig. 49) of ca. 1465-70,
illustrates this event using a narrative close to Jacopo da Voragine‘s Golden Legend of ca.
1260, itself a departure from earlier accounts.511 Crowned with his tiara, Gregory is marching
towards Hadrian‘s Tomb (the ―fortress of Crescentius‖) while his acolytes proffer the small
portrait of the Virgin and Child from Santa Maria Maggiore. The power of the Marian icon is
evidenced by the vision of the archangel Michael who, by sheathing his sword above the
Roman edifice, signalled God‘s benevolence and subsequently gave the tomb its Christian
name, the Castel Sant‘Angelo. The major discrepancy with the original accounts of this
procession is the inclusion of Mary‘s depiction as the intercessory mediator, an invention of
Voragine‘s, reiterated by later authors.
Carrying an icon in procession was a practice that is documented in the Western
Church from the eighth century but proffering crosses was much more common. The ―major
litany,‖ as the annual commemorative procession of Gregory‘s successful initiative was
called, included seven stational crosses, each departing from one of the seven parishes
involved in the penitential itinerary.512 Several depictions of Gregory‘s procession, such as
the Limburg brothers‘ double-page illuminations of ca. 1413 for the Très Riches Heures of
the Duke of Berry (fig.50a-b), do not show any processional icon but crosses, ecclesiastical
banners, and reliquaries. In two Italian predella panels of the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, the procession is either led by a long cross to which an ecclesiastical flag (white
with black stripes) is attached, or no other props can be seen other than a large baldachin for
511
According to earlier hagiography, Gregory had not been recognized as pope yet. Only one procession took
place whereas Voragine reports two of them. For a recapitulation of the various textual renderings of Gregory‘s
procession, see J.C. Schmitt, ―Ecriture et image,‖ in his Le Corps des Images: essais sur la culture visuelle au
Moyen Age (Paris: Gallimard, 2002), 97-133, especially 108-122.
512
Enrico Parlato, ―Le icone in processione,‖ in: M. Andarolo and S. Romano, eds., Arte e iconografia a Roma
da Costantino a Cola di Rienzo (Milan: Jaca Books, 2000), 69-92.
175
the pope.513 In his study of the relationship between text and image, Jean-Claude Schmitt
argues that real pictures had an impact on literary production. Voragine‘s Golden Legend is a
typical example of a text that was influenced by actual Byzantine icons and the veneration for
them, like the Roman Salus Populi in Santa Maria Maggiore or the Madonna in the Aracoeli
church. In turn, the Golden Legend became the basis for many details in the representation of
Gregory‘s plague procession, modifying the visual rendition of more authentic hagiographic
narratives. Giovanni di Paolo‘s scene, with the prominent icon placed in the center of the
composition, is a case in point. The artist offers a representation of Gregory as a stark
proponent of images even if this pope was rather moderate in his praise of pictures as an
educational means for the illiterate. Saint Gregory‟s Procession also reflects the significance
of Marian paintings as intercessory objects in contemporary penitential processions, as the
present study of banners will show.
The ritual process of penitential processions
Before focusing on the role of plague banners in Umbrian penitential processions, it is
crucial to understand the ritual context and the forms these collective expressions of piety
took. Unlike general processions in which the bulk of the cortège displayed well-ordered
guilds, in plague processions artisans marched with their confraternities, if they belonged to
one, or with the general population. Even if not all inhabitants participated, given the large
amount of the sick and the fugitives, the presence of the urban ―praying agents‖ was essential
for the spiritual request for holy intercession to be expressed. For example, in 1448 the
Perugian authorities set up various cycles of penitential processions specifying who was
obliged to join. First, from 27th March, a procession with the clergy, the officials, the papal
513
See reproductions in George Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Tuscan Painting (Florence: Sansoni, 1952),
figs. 541, 459 and G. Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in North East Italy (Florence: Sansoni, 1978), figs. 481,
386.
176
legate, men, women, and children took place and was renewed for the next four days. Then,
on 12th July and again on the 21st, a procession with the clerics‘ relics was organized. On 15th
September, the ―praying agents‖ were summoned again to proceed in orderly fashion from
the cathedral through the town, and the population was invited to fast while shops had to
close down. On 14th September, city heralds announced that for each of the next three days,
all clerics (―ciascuno religioso e clerico‖) in their habits or vestments (―parati‖) and all
members of confraternities (―tutti disciplinati e uomene de qualunque fraternita‖) had to meet
in the cathedral from where each procession would depart at the chime of the bell.
The clergy (i.e. friars and monks, the cathedral canons, and the bishop) often headed
the cortège while confraternities followed. After them, the population proceeded with
women, present in great numbers according to some chroniclers, bringing up the rear of the
procession. The humble position of female participants is a prescription from sacerdotal
guidebooks (see appendix 5). While monks, friars, and priests marched among the first
groups because they had precedence over secular groups, confraternities usually followed the
clergy, visually recalling their religious sponsors through their clothing and through the
iconography of their large banners. Thus, lay and secular groups dedicated to exemplary
conduct, charity, and redemption dominated ―crisis processions‖ (in the felicitous formula of
Richard Trexler) and contributed to the salutary aim of such rituals.
Penitential processions could also look like movements such as that of the ―Bianchi‖
who advocated that any Christian seeking salvation dress in a white robe and proceed through
town and countryside together, following a banner or a crucifix, in a collective demonstration
of contrition and peace.514 In July 1476, participation in the ―Sante processione‖ with white
clothing was actually imposed on the surviving Perugians by the city officials for five
514
Etienne Delaruelle, "Les grandes processions de pénitents de 1349 et 1399,‖ Il Movimento dei Disciplinati
nel settimo centenario dal suo inizio (Perugia 1260) (Perugia: Arti grafiche Panetti & Petrelli, 1962), 114. The
seminal study for 1399 is Daniel Bornstein, The Bianchi of 1399. Popular Devotion in Late Medieval Italy
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993).
177
consecutive days. In May 1486, this sartorial mode was an initiative of the women who
joined the processions launched by preacher Fra Bernardino da Feltre.515 White was a color
symbolic of purity and of peace. A clear demonstration of this signification was the gathering
of 1500 armored knights who showed up dressed in white and holding an olive branch as the
pontiff‘s brother visited Perugia in 1403. This attire meant that they respected the peace
concluded between Perugia and pope Boniface IX a month earlier.516
In the bottom left of the Gonfalone of San Francesco (fig. 51), white-robed men
proceed on their knees towards the Franciscan church while, in the bottom foreground, other
inhabitants flee the city. Here the Perugians are presented as they react in two opposite, even
Manichean, ways: repentance versus panic. As a contemporary bishop declared in response to
Pope Paul II‘s inquiry, flight from places struck by the plague was itself a sin and it was not
permitted: ―it [flight] is against charity and pestilence is a scourge from God which is to be
avoided by a change in living and not by a change of place.‖517 The rightful attitude is shown
on the banner by the procession of civic-minded good Christians for whom ―the world as
lived and the world as imagined‖ fuses under the agency of their ritual public penance: their
symbolic clothing and marching action mark their new disposition and it will allow the
plague to cease and let the desired peace emerge. In addition, carrying in procession a
supplicatory image like this banner with a depiction of the Virgin of Mercy could only attract
God‘s attention and hopefully his benevolence.
The idiosyncratic nature of a religious procession consisted of a collective forward
motion that was slow and orderly. Ideally, participants in a crisis procession experienced
515
―A dí 6 de luglio [1476] fo bandito, che quelle poche persone, che erano in Perogia, se mettessero in ordine
per andare a le S. Processione tutte vestite de biancho; e cosi andaro 5 dì a la fila con grandissima contrition
(...).‖ ―Se comenzarono a fare le processione per tutte le porte molto devote per cagione de la peste, dove cie
andava tutto il popolo della città e molte donne cie andarono vestite de biancho con grandissima devotione per
comandamento del ditto frate Berardino nostro predicatore.‖ See Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ II: 102; 245.
516
517
―Memorie 1351-1438‖, in Fabretti, ―Memorie 1351-1438,‖ in Cronache, I: 208-9.
See Bishop of Zamora (Rodrigo Sanchez de Arevalo)‘s tract written in 1468. Quoted in Marshall, Waiting on
the Will of the Lord, 30 and 49, n. 90.
178
themselves as a unified Christian population in peaceful and neat motion through a city. The
―bel ordine‖ that so many chronicles describe (see Chapter One) and that so many statutes
stipulate meant that people walked in pairs (―a due a due‖) serenely. The slow-paced march
was reinforced by the melodic rhythms of collective chanting that was expected of all praying
agents (clergy and confraternities) and which the population was invited to join. Controlling
one‘s walking mode meant conforming to one‘s group prescriptions, thereby strengthening
feelings of membership. It also meant conforming to one‘s local identity by respecting the
civic regulations. This physical control of the body gave to the event special temporality and
singled out a special crowd in action. It also had practical advantages that secured a faultless
progress of the solemn ritual, such as not tipping one‘s candle, nor treading upon other
people, and being able to stop promptly when required. With this reverent predisposition of
mind and body, the beseeching population sought to imbue the urban pace with virtuous
penance, at least for the duration of the rite. Or in Geertzian terms, they ―told themselves a
story about themselves,‖ expressing through ritual their own self-understanding of what could
remedy the epidemic.518
In this ritualized environment, the perception of images (relics, statues, painting,
banners) was enhanced because a special mental state, contrition, was encouraged while
processional paraphernalia was handled with care in a collective entreaty. Wandering through
the city with symbolic objects had a cleansing effect since processions were meant to purify
the space that they traversed. Processions also worked as instruments of auto-persuasion,
enforcing good will or penance into each inhabitant, especially if they witnessed members of
flagellant companies scourge themselves while marching. The flagellants sought to imitate
Christ‘s redemptive pains as he was bound to a column and tortured. In the public sphere, the
ritual setting made this devotional practice a spectacle with actors and viewers. In Giovanni
518
See C. Geertz, ―Religion as a Cultural System‖ in The Interpretation of Cultures, 87-125, here 112.
179
Villani‘s chronicle, the page narrating the spontaneous penitential wave that swept Italy in
1310 includes a watercolor that depicts three men scourging themselves while intently
looking at a banner with Christ‘s Flagellation (fig. 52). This image, framed by a simple red
line, isolates the flagellating action from any processional context but it shows that banners
could also be a visual and meditative support for this corporal punishment.
As religious and secular groups proceeded one after another, they provided impressive
manifestations of a sensory nature, such as chanting and scourging, in the wake of the scent
of blessed incense and wax fumes while banners gently billowed from tall staffs. Such a
procession is shown in the left background of the Gonfalone of Civitella Benazzone (fig. 53).
The population is led by a confraternity of white-robed penitents, marching from the left to
the right, in a movement that visually links the procession to its subsequent and hoped-for
event: an angel chases away the symbol for the fatal epidemic, Death. Two penitents are seen
as they embrace in a gesture of reconciliation, pointing to the cause of God‘s ire, enmity, a
common issue in cities replete with factions, vendettas, and feuds. In the cortège, a banner
with the Virgin of Mercy can be discerned. This mise-en-abîme recalls the intercessory role
of banners but they were not always the most important processional paraphernalia as the
next section demonstrates.
Relics vs. banners
While plague imagery emerged after the Black Death of 1348, Umbrian processional
banners specifically made to fight the plague are recorded only from the 1460s. This must be
due to the loss of earlier ones but it is certainly indicative of the recourse to other intercessory
media, such as reliquaries and icons. While plague banners can be qualified as instrumental in
―mobilizing the sacred in times of plague,‖ they have not always been deemed
180
indispensable.519 Umbrian chronicles and official records prior to 1464 do not mention the
use of banners in times of epidemics. Special representations of the Virgin attracted the
faithful to sanctuaries ―contra pestem‖ and stone altars were erected on the piazze of
Mendicant churches, but no mobile plague images seem to have been processed in Umbria
until the Gonfalone of San Francesco.520 One may wonder then how crisis processions took
place before special banners were used. What was the visual focus for the intercession? What
devotional objects did the populace parade in order to honor and address the celestial spheres
appropriately?
One traditional solution to fight the plague was the ―inventio‖ of significant relics, as
happened in the case of San Fiorenzo. The devotional praxis in the Middle Ages gave first
rank to sacred relics in penitential processions. Imploring a holy figure did not necessarily
require a painted or sculpted representation when the city owned a part of or the entire
remains of a saint. During the devastating Black Death (1348) in Perugia, the desperate need
for intercession probably spurred the finding of the body of San Fiorenzo under the high altar
of the namesake church, only one month after the beginning of the plague. Two days later,
according to a sixteenth-century chronicle, his body was transported by the clergy and the
confraternities in a city-wide procession. Pompeo Pellini (writing in 1608) adds that the holy
body was then given a more honourable installation under the high altar. The relics of San
519
The quote comes from Louise Marshall‘s chapter title: ―Confraternity and Community: Mobilizing the
Sacred in Times of Plague‖ in B. Wisch and D. Cole Ahl, eds., Confraternities and the Visual Arts in the Italian
Renaissance. Ritual, Spectacle, Image (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 20-45. For the Trecento
imagery (with erroneous dating), see Millard Meiss, Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death (New
York: Harper and Row, 1964). The most thorough exploration of plague imagery for the 14-15th centuries is
Marshall‘s PhD dissertation of 1989, summarized in ―Manipulating the Sacred: Image and Plague in
Renaissance Italy,‖ in Renaissance Quarterly 47 (1994): 485-532. For examples of Italian processional plague
banners on textile, see Dehmer, ―Interzessions- und Pestbanner‖ in Bruderschaftsbanner, 193-200, and his
appended catalogue.
520
For sanctuaries erected in time of the epidemic, see Mario Sensi, "Santuari ‗contra pestem‘: gli esempi di
Terni e Norcia," in Dall' Albornoz all' età dei Borgia. Questioni di cultura figurativa nell' Umbria meridionale
(Todi: Ediart, 1990), 347-62. In Foligno, in 1628, the local historian Ludovico Jacobilli reports that the first
response to the 1448 plague was the erection of stone altars in the piazze of the Franciscan and Dominican
churches and the construction of many hospices. Quoted by Elvio Lunghi in Nicolaus Pictor, 178.
181
Fiorenzo together with the body of his companion Ciriaco were again processed in such
circumstances in 1400 and 1412. 521
Important relics such as entire bodies or body parts were the proud possession of
religious communities that paraded them. The laity, through membership in a confraternity,
could process only fragments of bodies, pieces of clothing, or holy particles such as the
splinter from the Holy Cross owned by the Scuola of San Giovanni in Venice. A 1491 handcolored woodcut from Germany (fig. 54) portrays the significance of a religious procession
(here, Corpus Domini) in showcasing ecclesiastical hierarchy through relic possession.
Coming out of the side portal of an imposing church, a tiara-crowned pope is proffering a
round host enshrined in a delicate ostensorium. While he closes the cortège in this picture, he
is preceded by two cardinals, two bishops, prelates and canons who solemnly carry
reliquaries of different shapes (heads, arms, a church) and monstrances. The rest of the
walking congregation consists of the population loosely arranged in pairs that interact with
one another in a benevolent way. As the gaze wanders through the picture, one finally
notices, in the left foreground, that the participants are led by a bare-foot Christ who greets a
pilgrim, another exponent of pious peregrination. Thus, this image is not about a specific
procession but it is an allegorical representation of ecclesiastical sovereignty. The cortège
consists mainly of the highest representatives of the Church on earth whose forward motion
leads to Christ. The pilgrim symbolizes an active quest for redemption in due respect of
Christian tenets while ecclesiastical hierarchy is well expressed by the neat order of the
prelates preceding the pope and by their capacity to hold the precious items from the church
treasury. This woodcut propagates the idea that relics and their more visible form, glittering
521
For the inventio of San Fiorenzo and the subsequent processions, see Mara Nerbano, ―‗Funus in Perusio‘.
Arte, drammaturgia e devozioni in tempo di peste,‖ Teatro e Storia, Annali 7, XV (2000), 163-212, who quotes
Perugian historian of the early 17th century Pompeo Pellini. See also Diario del Graziani, 150, and ASP, ASPg,
Riformanze, anno 1400, June 11th, f. 94v. and the Riformanze of 1412, f. 80 mentioned in Riccieri, “Annali
ecclesiastiche,‖ 39.
182
reliquaries, are in the hands of ecclesiastical officials who control the dialogue with Heaven.
The situation in Perugia illustrates this phenomenon, particularly before the holy banners
described in this chapter were made, i. e. prior to the 1460s.
Twice in July 1448, during a particularly inauspicious plague year, the municipal
authorities ordered a procession of all clerics and confratelli with reliquaries, first on the 12th
and then on the 21st when they deliberated on a subsidy for both the Augustinians and the
Franciscans so that they could parade the ―body of Christ‖ and their ―relics and their holy
bodies‖ in order for the plague to cease.522 The Augustinians must have processed the
Eucharist in the silver monstrance that they used for leading the Corpus Domini feast as well
as the silver tabernacle that contained a codex page stained by a bleeding host.523 The Friars
Minor probably paraded their revered Holy Thorn donated to them in 1408, among other
precious sacred possessions.524 The Dominicans, like the Servites (see appendix 10,
―ornamente de rame,‖ item no. 5), treasured physical remains from the Innocents. They also
owned a Holy Thorn enshrined in a crystal and copper tabernacle, and three fingers of Saint
Anne encased in a fine gilt-copper reliquary.525
522
For 12th July 1448, see Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 53 and ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, f. 68v; for 21st July
1448 see ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, anno 1448, f. 72v: Bulletinum x torchiectis fratribus Sancti Francisci pro
honorando corpora sanctorum pro processione fienda timore pestis and ibid. f. 71v for the Augustinian
procession on the same day.
523
This parchment relic had been given to the Perugian Augustinians in 1330. It was lost in 1797 when the friars
had to deliver their silver reliquaries to the French troops occupying the city. See Mauro Papalini, ―La reliquia
perduta,‖ Archivio Perugino-Pievese 2 (1999): 61-73.
524
On San Egidio, see Bernardo Commodi, L‟oratorio di San Bernardino presso la chiesa di San Francesco al
Prato in Perugia (Perugia: F.E. Ventura, 1996), 13-17. The ―arca‖ or sarcophagus that once contained the body
of Egidio is kept today in the Oratorio of San Bernardino in Perugia. Donal Cooper argues that the sarcophagus
was actually under the high altar, not in the crypt. D. Cooper, "Qui Perusii in archa saxea tumulatus: The Shrine
of Beato Egidio in San Francesco al Prato, Perugia," Papers of the British School in Rome 39 (2001): 233-344.
525
The inventories of the sacristy of San Domenico have been published by Tommaso Kaeppeli and by Mirko
Santanicchia for the years 1417-1458 but not in extenso. See T. Kaeppeli, "Inventario della sagrestia di San
Domenico di Perugia nel sec. XV," Giornale di Erudizione Artistica I (1872): 73-82 and M. Santanicchia, ―In
armario ubi sunt reliquie‖ in La Basilica di San Domenico, 397-400 for the appendices. The reliquary of St.
Anne is kept at the Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria in Perugia. See Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, I:
173-4, fig. 147.
183
Michael Bury has suggested that the procession of relics in critical times was eclipsed
in Umbria by that of the gonfaloni.
526
At least in the Perugian context, it seems that the
Gonfalone of San Francesco (fig. 51) established, from 1464 on, a local preference for using
cult banners as the visual focus of crisis processions. But rating the success of the
extraordinary banners of Perugia as exclusive must be taken with a grain of salt because
certain relics were regularly processed, regardless of the health situation. For example, the
Franciscans (from 1394) and Augustinians (from 1467) paraded their Holy Thorn,
respectively for the Sunday preceding Ascension Day and for Corpus Domini. The fact that
the friars of Sant‘Agostino never hosted a cult banner might be explained by the acquisition,
in 1467, of their Holy Thorn that was enshrined in a silver-gilt reliquary in 1474.527 The relics
owned by the Mendicant orders allowed them to assert their visibility and their significance,
thus attracting donations. But a significantly valuable relic was not present in Perugia until
1473 when the city of Perugia acquired the unique and extraordinary wedding ring of the
Virgin, first guarded in the palace of the Priors until 1487, and then set up in the cathedral.
However, it was not carried in procession and was never exposed for supplicatory purposes.
Its formal ostentations gathered an awe-stricken population, at times fixed by the city
officials until the feast of Saint Joseph was celebrated in Perugia from 1487 on 19th March.528
The Perugian extraordinary banners discussed in this chapter had no supernatural
properties to start with, unlike relics for which an intercessory tradition was well established
by the fifteenth century. Made of linen painted with tempera and gold, these banners were
526
Michael Bury, ―Tabernacoli,‖ 54.
527
On the Holy Thorn of San Francesco, see the abstracts of the Riformanze of 1394 (f. 66); 1415 (f. 51v-52v);
1430 (f. 79r); in Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 27; 40; 45. For the acquisition of a similar by the friars of
Sant‘Agostino in 1467, ibid., 67. In November 1467, the city authorities granted 200 florins for the execution of
a reliquary. See Provisio 200 fl. pro tabernaculo faciendo spine Salvatoris donande ecclesie Sancti Agostini,
ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, anno 1467, f. 130 and f. 143. See also the provision of January 1468, f. 33.
528
The most complete study on the cult of the Holy Ring in Perugia is unfortunately a non-distributed coauthored book, available only through the Commune of Perugia: Raffaele Caracciolo, ed., Il Santo Anello:
Leggenda, storia, arte, devozione (Perugia: Commune di Perugia, 2005).
184
cheaper than altarpieces and reliquaries although they were often commissioned to reputed
masters. My premise for their efficacy is that it was primarily processions and their
permanent illumination that charged them with a protective aura, ―consecrating‖ them as
imbued with special power. In other words, as David Freedberg would put it, images were
activated by ritual activity.529
Entrusting banners to the laity via confraternities (see below) may have been a
political strategy. Since these banners demonstrated their power in a processional context,
their existence gave city officials the opportunity to gain more authority by staging public
demonstrations of piety in a crisis context. The ecclesiastical elite was indeed deprived of any
control over the holy gonfaloni. As I will show, mendicant orders in general commissioned
them, but very quickly, the laity appropriated them with the foundation of apposite
confraternities subsidized by the communal officials.
The pictorial solution
The first Umbrian plague banner is the Perugian Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato
(fig. 51), executed by Benedetto Bonfigli in 1464, a year in which many deliberations of the
Priori dealt with the appointment and payment of grave-diggers.530 Four other Umbrian
banners derive directly from this painting: the Gonfaloni of Corciano (fig. 55) dated 1472, of
Civitella Benazzone (fig. 53), of Paciano (fig. 56), and of Montone (fig. 57a) dated 1482. All
these banners are attributed to Benedetto Bonfigli or to his school, except the Gonfalone of
Montone that is usually given to Bartolomeo Caporali.
529
David Freedberg, The Power of Images. Studies in the History and Theory of Response (Chicago and
London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989), especially chapter 5 ―Consecration: Making Images Work,‖
82-98.
530
For bibliographic references for the Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato, see Dehmer‘s catalogue, 334,
entry 82. For the city-employed grave-diggers (beccamorti) in 1464, see ASP, ASPg, Riformanze 100, ff. 70;
74-76; 80; 90; 91; 101-2; 111; 123. For a diverging opinion about the authorship of the gonfalone, see Bury,
―Tabernacoli,‖ 55, who rejects Bonfigli as the painter, on stylistic grounds.
185
The motif of the plague Virgin of Mercy is not originally Umbrian. An altarpiece
made for a Genoese confraternity around 1372 is often cited as the first extant representation
of a plague Virgin of Mercy. However, an Umbrian panel made by a painter active in Spoleto
may well be the earliest known depiction of that theme (fig. 58), if one accepts the usual
dating to the mid-fourteenth century. In fact, the fabric of the dress of the Virgin does not
correspond to Trecento models but resembles that used by Gentile da Fabriano for one of the
attendants in his 1425 Adoration of the Magi.531 In this painting, a half-bust length figure of
Christ appears above Mary in equal terms since both figures share the same scale and face the
viewer. With outspread arms, Christ holds downward-pointed arrows, a gesture paralleled by
the attitude of the Virgin who unfolds her mantle over a praying populace with men on
Mary‘s right side and women opposite. They represent the inhabitants of the fortified city
depicted at the bottom right of the image. A tonsured Dominican friar reaches out to present a
written prayer to the Virgin that can be easily deciphered. It assures the Virgin of the
submission of the faithful to her (―sub tuum presidum confugimus‖) while ―libera‖ is written
in capital letters, a beseeching request for their liberation from the scourge of God. The same
iconographic formula (but without any inscription) can be found in another Umbrian
representation, a small panel from the mid-fifteenth century kept in a church near Narni (fig.
59).532. Another iconographic model for Bonfigli was a large panel of the 1450s from the
church of Sant‘Agostino in Perugia. It shows on one half an apocalyptic theme and on the
other half the Virgin of Mercy sheltering women on her left and, on her right, a tonsured
cleric accompanied by a layman from God‘s darts.533
531
For the Genoese panel, see: Cassiano Da Langasco and Pasquale Rotondi, La Consortia deli forestèri' a
Genova: Una Madonna di Barnaba da Modena e uno statuto del Trecento (Genoa: Edizioni Siglaeffe, 1957).
The Spoleto panel, today in a Florentine private collection, is attributed to the maestro di Eggi and dated around
1350 by Todini, La pittura umbra, II, 305, entry 605.
532
533
See Strinati, Lo sguardo di Maria, 100-101.
This panel (144 x 184 cm), today kept at the Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria, is reproduced and commented
in Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 20, entry 7, fig. 7. See also Ettore Ricci, Il confalone degli
eremitani di S. Agostino in Perugia (Perugia: Guerra, 1936).
186
Unlike what is generally believed, Umbria may not be the region where this
iconography was first applied to processional paintings. A double-sided panel from Tuscania
near Viterbo (Latium) also shows a Virgin of Mercy whose mantle stops God‘s fatal arrows
from reaching the population. It has been tentatively dated just after 1446, in commemoration
of Nicholas of Tolentino‘s canonization, because the haloed saint is shown on the reverse.
The dating is uncertain: the painter, Valentino Pica, was active between 1439 and 1486 and
this stendardo could have been made for a local confraternity a few decades after Nicholas
was declared a saint. Finally, Bonfigli may have also been inspired by a banner dated 1463
for the parishioners of Tedico (near Camerino) in the neighboring region of the Marches (fig.
60).534
A mid-fifteenth century fresco (fig. 61) from Santa Croce in Perugia, maybe by
Bonfigli, explicates the faithful‘s plea in times of a plague. Here, the population, saints, and
the Virgin of Mercy engage in a dialogue which is attested to by the scrolls imaged in the
work. A tiny figure of God equipped with darts, the source of the threat, is placed above
Mary. The people seeking shelter under Mary‘s mantle hold up a text in front of her with
their entreaty for divine intercession. They humbly beg Mary, the ―salvation of the sinners,‖
to pray to her Son so that the ―furore‖ may be removed, while an arrow-riddled Sebastian,
―on account of his wounds,‖ supports their request by pleading with the Virgin to
persuasively further their plea to God. The Virgin hears ―the blessed martyr with a humble
heart‖ and tells archangel Michael to sheathe the cruel sword on which ―fiat‖ (let it be) is
534
For the Viterbo panel, see A.M. Pedrocchi, ―La decorazione della chiesa di S. Agostino a Tuscania,‖ in: Il
Quattrocento a Viterbo (Rome: De Luca, 1983), 151-152 and L. Marshall, ―La costruzione di un santo contro la
peste: il caso di Nicola da Tolentino‖ in San Niccolò da Tolentino nell'arte. Corpus iconografico (Milan: Motta,
2005), 284-5. The Camerino gonfalone is dated 1463 and signed ―Ieronimus Ioannis‖ (Girolamo di Giovanni). It
measures 206 x 125 cm and is kept in the Pinacoteca Civica of Camerino. See Dehmer‘s catalogue,
Bruderschaftsbanner, entry 17, 297.
187
inscribed.535 In a procession, the solemn forward motion and its interruptions by
choreographed pauses at important stations animated the depiction of Mary on the banners,
giving the impression that the Virgin moved of her own volition.
The faithful looked up to Mary with entreaties that parallel those written on the
Gonfalone of Corciano (fig. 55) in which the urban population begs Mary to ―pour out
prayers to [her] Son‖ for the ―salvation of the faithful‖ and beseech her to ―succor the
wretched ones,‖ ―help the fearful,‖ and ―revive the distressed.‖ In the fresco of Santa Croce,
the supernatural powers attributed to holy figures and the absolute potency of the Virgin at
the top of the holy hierarchy are clearly spelled out. This combination of text and image
crystallizes the type of relationships that the faithful entertained with saints in their prayers.
Collective entreaties were believed to be efficacious indeed, especially when coupled with
demonstrations of piety, hence the necessity of collective prayers in the public sphere such as
penitential processions.
Other iconographic formulas were equally successful, especially in Perugia where
another five plague banners (those of Santa Maria Nuova of 1471 (fig. 62a), of San Fiorenzo
dated 1476 (fig. 63a), of San Simone (fig. 64), of San Domenico of 1494 (fig. 65), and of the
535
Walter Bombe is the first historian to have pointed to this composition as a model for the Umbrian banners
discussed here; see ―Gonfaloni Umbri,‖ 5-6. See also Mancini‘s entry in Benedetto Bonfigli (Milan: Electa,
1992), 50-51. The scrolls read (as reported by Bombe):
Con umele chore et ardente fervore
Regina Celi dei pechatore salute
Noi pregiam te che prege che ci aiute
El tuo figliolo e lavace el furore [sign held up by the people]
Per quiste piaghe che or ci rude alquanto
Per lo tuo amore e per lo figliuol tuo
Ti priego Madre che lo prieghe tanto
Che esshaudischa quisto popul suo. [Sebastian to Mary]
Martir beato con humilie chore
Se‘ essaudito e pero Agnolo cruo
Remette l‘arme e la crua spada [Mary to Sebastian and Raphael]
Fiat [on Michael‘ sword]
188
Duomo of 1526 (fig. 66) were called ―saintly‖ all the way up to the nineteenth century.536 The
creation of dated plague banners usually corresponded to the outbreaks of the epidemic, but
undated banners are often estimated by art historians according to a combination of stylistic
grounds and plague periods. Thus for the banners of Paciano, Civitella Benazzone, and San
Simone, scholars have proposed a dating either close to 1464, in the wake of the Gonfalone of
San Francesco (1464), or to the 1470s, a decade replete with infectious occurrences.
2) Banner Patronage and Iconography
The role of the clergy
Although Louise Marshall and Andreas Dehmer treat plague banners of the Italian
Renaissance as confraternal commissions, I believe that the execution of a banner to ward off
the plague only rarely originates in confraternities, but instead stems from a variety of
patrons.537 In a section of her dissertation, Marshall notes that for sixteen plague images with
known patronage, eight of them were related to religious orders, five to confraternities, one to
the Commune and its bishop, and two to private individuals.538 Once they had been
commissioned and executed, banners were indeed often entrusted to confraternities for
maintenance and processions, as this chapter will exemplify. At this stage of the patronage
pattern, Marshall‘s argument is validated: these extraordinary paintings served as a means of
promotion for confraternities in the public realm, especially if their painting was visibly
located in a public church rather than locked away in their oratory. In this section, I would
like to stress the initiatives of religious orders in the making of a plague gonfalone.
536
The original success of the banner of San Simone is not known but Cesare Crispolti (1563-1608) mentions its
processional use in a plague context. C. Crispolti, Perusia Augusta, 123-124.
537
Marshall, ―Confraternity and Community,‖ briefly evokes this point, 20-21. See also the many caveats in
Dehmer‘s footnotes regarding the origins of the patronage of many gonfaloni.
538
Marshall, Waiting on the Will of the Lord, 239, n.8.
189
The depiction of the Virgin of Mercy, i.e., Mary with her mantle extended over a
group of faithful, is a favorite subject for banners. Louise Marshall has shown how the
iconography of the Virgin of Mercy could be transformed into a plague image by juxtaposing
the vision of Christ, poised to castigate sinners with his deadly arrows, above the central
image of Mary.539 In the Gonfalone of San Francesco (fig. 51) and its four derivatives (figs.
53; 55; 56; 57), the Virgin of Mercy prays as she hovers over a fortified town and extends her
mantle to shield the imploring faithful, with men huddled on her right and women on her left.
Local patron saints, as well as holy religious leaders in prayer, flank Mary, while a vengeful
Christ, above her (sometimes accompanied by armed angels) hurls the fatal arrows of
pestilence. In the Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato (fig. 51), Franciscan holy figures are
in evidence, with Francis kneeling in prayer at the Virgin‘s right hand, while under him San
Bernardino caresses a Franciscan friar‘s head in a comforting gesture. This visual stress on
the Friars Minor is explained by the fact that this banner had been first commissioned by the
Perugian Franciscan Conventuals at a time when no confraternity was in charge of it, as
Michael Bury has shown.540 The Gonfalone of Civitella Benazzone (fig. 53) and the
Gonfalone of Montone (fig. 57a) are also linked to a Franciscan milieu. In the first one, not
only are Francis and Bernardino located in the heavenly section, but Sebastian is presenting a
Poor Clare to the Virgin. The presence of Saint Andrew to the Virgin‘s right reveals the
destination of this painting, the local parish church dedicated to him. Here again, the original
patronage must go back to the Minorites in Civitella who probably entrusted the banner to
confratelli, such as the virtual ones shown in the terrestrial portion of the composition near
the local Franciscan church. In the Gonfalone of Montone, the Franciscan origin of the
commission is asserted by the presence of Francis at the Virgin‘s favored right hand (in the
539
In Dehmer‘s catalogue, 26 out of 106 banners depict the Virgin of Mercy. Marshall, ibid., 217-9, summarized
the scriptural sources explaining the symbolism of the arrows and of the common depiction of a trio of them.
540
Bury, "The Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Gonfaloni of Perugia," and idem "Tabernacoli.‖ In these
seminal articles, Bury reconstructed the various steps of the cult attached to this painting for the 1460s.
190
same location as in the 1464 banner) facing Anthony of Padua and San Bernardino. What the
iconography indicates is confirmed by the cartello under Mary‘s feet identifying the banner
with ―the work of this convent‖ (―OP[US]
H[UIUS] CONVENTUS‖).
The execution of this
painting finalized a campaign of renovation of the Franciscan church launched by the friars
(see below).541
The Gonfalone of Corciano (fig. 55), dated 1472, is documented in a petition
addressed to the civic authorities by the local Augustinians who probably displayed the
painting in their church from the start. The haloed bishop on the worthy right of Mary must
then be Saint Augustine. He is introducing a friar dressed in black, probably the prior of the
convent.542 A similar religious figure is featured in the Gonfalone of Paciano (fig. 56) at the
same place. In this painting, an Augustinian commission is evidenced by the presence of St.
Nicholas of Tolentino who had been recently canonized in 1446 and Saint Monica, mother of
Augustine.543 A comparable clerical commission can be deduced from the iconography of
another Umbrian banner of the second half of the Quattrocento, the Gonfalone of Terni (fig.
67) kept in the local municipal museum.544 Its original provenance is unknown but it is likely
to come from the town of Terni like the other religious works found in that museum. At the
feet of the Virgin of Mercy, the two male patrons of this work who kneel outside her mantle
area in the left and right corners of the composition are probably Augustinian clerics because
541
For bibliographic references for the Gonfalone of Civitella Benazzone, see Dehmer‘s catalogue, 302, entry
22. For the Gonfalone of Montone, see: Giovanna Sapori, ed, Museo Comunale di San Francesco a Montone
(Perugia: Electa, 1997), 109-111 and Dehmer‘s catalogue, 323, entry 60.
542
For bibliographic references for the Gonfalone of Corciano, see Dehmer‘s catalogue, 304, entry 24 and
Marshall, ―La costruzione di un santo contro la peste,‖ 308-309, entry no. 152. For the text of the petition, see
Bombe, Gonfaloni umbri, 8.
543
For bibliographic references for the Gonfalone of Paciano, see Dehmer‘s catalogue, Bruderschaftsbanner,
entry 65, 326. Elvio Lunghi has recently attributed this banner to Pierantonio di Niccolò da Pozzuolo who died
in 1478. See E. Lunghi, Il martirio di san Sebastiano di Pietro Perugino a Panicale (Panicale: EFFE, 2005),
142-143. L. Marshall, ―La costruzione di un santo contro la peste,‖ has argued that, as there was no Augustinian
monastery in Paciano, this banner must have been transferred at some point to this city and the veduta was then
repainted.
544
This banner is kept at the Pinacoteca comunale of Terni hence the name that I gave to it. The other banner
from Terni is Niccolò da Liberatore‘s Crucifixion with Saint Bernardino and Saint Francis, also kept in that
museum.
191
of their black habit and because of the painted verso.545 The reverse shows three haloed
bishops once erroneously identified as Terni‘s three patron saints, Valentino, Anastasio, and
Procolo. All three are undoubtedly bishops because of their typical episcopal attire: crosier,
miter, and gloved hands.
In the catalogue entry for this banner, Mirko Santanicchia names Augustine as the
central saint because he wears, under his brocaded cope, a conspicuous black cowl, the
typical robe of the Augustinian order. The other two figures must be Terni‘s protectors that I
identify as San Valentino, Terni‘s first bishop martyred by the Romans in the third century,
and San Procolo, Terni‘s fifth bishop who died probably in the sixth century. The fact that
Anastasio was not a bishop but the governor of Narni and Terni in the sixth or seventh
century supports the idea that he cannot be part of the three figures. What reinforces the
argument for a Terni provenance is the strong presence of the Augustinians in this town since
the thirteenth century.546 Their main convent and church, called San Pietro del Tirio or San
Pietro dei Fabbri was enlarged and restored throughout the fifteenth century. The patrons for
this banner must have been connected with the Augustinians and possibly with this church
but further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis. Mary is isolated from the local holy
protectors who appear on the other side of the image, but in a procession, the mobility of the
image offered both sides to viewers, connecting the Madonna with Terni‘s main patrons as
well as with the Augustinian order.
545
Cf entry by Miko Santanicchia in Corrado Fratini, ed., Pinacoteca comunale di Terni (Terni: Artium Bonelli,
2000), 38-39, who does not give any further reason for this identification. As the author points out the Terni
Confraternita della Misericordia cannot have commissioned this banner since it was founded in the 16 th century.
The present restoration of this painting may yield more iconographic information. The Virgin shields an
assembly of veiled women, probably either nuns or tertiaries but the various restorations of this banner could
affect this identification. The original painting may have shown men on the left and women on the right
according to the usual division by sex.
546
Valentino is venerated both in Rome and Terni. For the existence of two different Saint Valentines, one from
Terni and the other one from Rome, and the belief that they were one and the same, see Elia Rossi-Passavanti,
Storia di Terni dalle origini al medio-evo. I (Rome: Camera dei Deputati, 1932), 267-271. For Procolo, see the
sequel of this book by the same author, Interamna dei Naarti. II (Orvieto: Marsili, 1933), 513-514 and 519, n. 1.
Valentino became Terni‘s sole patron in the 17th century. For Anastasio, see Rossi-Passavanti, II, ibid, 514. For
a history of the Augustinian settlements in Terni and a summary of the foundation of the order, see Guerriero
Bolli, La chiesa di S. Pietro dei Fabbri in Terni (Terni: Thyrus, 1998), 77-83.
192
Two Perugian plague banners were made shortly after the Franciscan gonfalone of
1464: the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova of 1471 (fig. 62a) and the Gonfalone of San
Fiorenzo of 1476 (fig. 63a). They do not follow its iconographic formula but their religious
patrons strived to achieve a similar success and promoted their cult, as Michael Bury aptly
suggested.547 The Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova bears the name of the church where it
was kept, a building that belonged to the Sylvestrines from 1404 until 1542.548 When the
whole Perugian monastery was handed to the conventual Servites in 1542, this banner
remained in the church and never changed names. The plague context is evident from a
gigantic figure of Christ facing and threatening the viewers, about to launch an arrow from
the sheaf held in his left hand, seemingly pausing in the act due to the intercessory gesture of
the Virgin who kneels to his right. Across from her and even smaller, the Perugian beato,
Paolo Bigazzini, who was a close follower of the founder of the Sylvestrines, points to the
original patrons of these monks. Bigazzini directs both hands towards the congregation below
while, in the lower third of the composition, Saint Benedict on the left and his sister, Santa
Scholastica, facing him, protect with one raised hand miniature men and women praying in
two separate groups who direct their gazes upwards. The Sylvestrines followed the rule of
Saint Benedict and his presence furthers the allusion to their patronage.
The Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo (fig.63a) dated 1476, is another example of a plague
banner documented through a bequest as a commission of a mendicant order, the Observant
547
For an accurate description and the historiography on both these banners, see F. Mancini (1992), 130-132,
entry no.39 and further bibliographic references in Dehmer‘s catalogue, 335, entries 83-84. Thanks to a recorded
bequest, Bury, ―Gonfaloni of Perugia," 72, n. 13, proved the existence of the banner of Santa Maria Nuova from
at least July 1471 whereas scholars had always dated it 1472. For the religious patrons of these banners, see
Bury, Tabernacoli, 54.
548
The Sylvestrines were founded by Silvestro Gozzolini (d. 1267) in 1231 on Monte Fano. In the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, the order spread mainly in Tuscany and Umbria. The Congregation follows the rule of
Saint Benedict. See The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XIV (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912), entry
―Sylvestrines.‖
193
Servites.549. Its iconography shows another formula, reminiscent of contemporary altarpieces.
In the upper half, a praying Virgin is kneeling on a bank of clouds while on each side two
pairs of smaller angels hold up a wicker basket filled with roses on which a baby Christ
stands. Below Mary an angel holds up a long scroll inscribed with a verses discoursing on the
plague, behind and around which a crowd kneels in prayer gazing upwards. The population is
flanked by San Fiorenzo, the titular saint of the monastery, and beato Filippo Benizi (d.
1285), an early leader of the Servites. These two holy figures on the coveted right side of the
Virgin indicate the patronage of this banner and the church where it was kept. On the left side
of the Virgin, Saint Sebastian riddled with arrows signifies that this banner was made for the
plague while next to him, stands the blessed Pellegrino Laziosi (d. 1345) of the same
mendicant order. The lower section of the composition resembles a predella; it consists of
four small scenes narrating miracles from the legends of Benizi and Laziosi. The poem
indicates that the banner was started in 1476 in response to God‘s punishment of the injuries
done to him.550 In 1480, a lavish frame for the banner was commissioned by the friars, at the
same time as a huge double-sided altarpiece by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo for the high altar
showing Sylvestrine saints flanking the Virgin Mary.
The Gonfalone of San Simone (fig. 64a), still in situ, was made for the Carmelite
church of Perugia sometime between 1440 to 1480. The inscription on the lower rim,
possibly a later addition, specifically mentions the ―candid [white] order of the Carmelites‖
549
On 12th February 1442, a bull of pope Eugene IV expelled the monks of the Congregation of the Body of
Christ who had been living there from 1394. Prior to them, the monastery had been a Cistercian community
from 1234. Originally, however, this convent had depended on a Camaldolese abbey from the mid eleventh
century. See Anna Maria Jemma, "Le confraternite disciplinate di S. Fiorenzo e di S. Simone in Perugia (Secoli
XIV-XVII)" (M.A., Perugia: Università degli Studi, 1968-69) who bases her reconstruction on a 18 th century
manuscript by Belforti and Mariotti. For the bequest, see Bury, ―Tabernacoli,‖ 53 and n. 23 for his partial
transcription.
550
―A grandi esempli presenti e passati / De le miserie extreme e de‘ gran‘ mali / Ch‘el Ciel vi manda pe‘ vostri
peccati [v. 10-12] (...) Ma lui sempre punisce omnia sua ingiuria [v. 16] (...) / Con piante fatta fu gridando O mei
/ Nel mille settanta quattro cento sei. [v. 33-34]‖
194
and its foundation date by Pope Innocent III, 1209.551 The Virgin of Humility, with hands
joined in prayer as she lowers her head, gazes towards her son in her lap. Mary occupies the
whole central space of the painting, flanked by two praying angels floating above the flowerstrewn grass. Among the tiny kneeling figures in the lower right corner, the foremost
kneeling figures may stand for cardinal Saint Albert, the founder of the Carmelites, Pope
Innocent III who favored Albert‘s career as the patriarch of Jerusalem, and King Henry VI
who entrusted Albert with a delicate mission to mediate with the papacy. 552 This
interpretation may wishfully assume iconographical explanations for a banner that is hardly
documented at all. Behind this roster of three important characters, the faithful seem to be
friars dressed in the Carmelite white habit. Mary‘s white cloak may be a more secure allusion
to the Carmelite origin of the commission, showing her as honoring them by assuming the
friars‘ distinctive color of clothing. The ashlar wall behind Mary may refer to the city wall
that the monastery reached, as well as the usual enclosed garden (‗hortus conclusus‘),
symbolic of Mary‘s virginity. It is likely that the picture was commissioned by the friars who
were established in Perugia from 1296 and in that church from 1335. It would partially
explain its location on the main altar, documented from the eighteenth century.553
As to the Perugian Dominicans, they became associated quite late with a miracleworking plague banner when a visionary Dominican nun, Beata Colomba, petitioned the
municipal authorities to fund a gonfalone during the epidemic of 1494. In this Gonfalone of
San Domenico (fig. 65a), Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena are represented
551
For the Gonfalone of San Simone, see bibliographic references in Dehmer‘s catalogue, 336, entry 85. Present
scholarship follows Mancini, Bonfigli, 139, who dates this fresco around 1480. Ettore Ricci, Storia critica dei
SS. confaloni, 189, dates the gonfalone to ca. 1440. The inscription reads: DUM FLUIT UNDA MARIS CURRET QUE
PER AETHERA PHEBUS VIVET CARMELI CANDIDUS ORDO MIHI MCIX (―As long as the waves of the see flow and the
sun runs its course through the sky, the candid order of the Carmelites will keep honoring me‖). Ricci
convincingly argues that a C is missing and that the date must read MCCIX.
552
553
Mancini, Bonfigli, 140.
On the dating and the origin of the commission, see Jemma, ―Le confraternite di S. Fiorenzo e di S. Simone,‖
44-47. By 1609, it is placed on the altar of the Madonna of the Carmel. See Cripolti, Perusia Augusta, 124.
Annibale Mariotti saw it above the high altar in 1788. Quoted in Mancini, Bonfigli, 139-140.
195
kneeling on the ground while each extending an edge of their black robes to embrace a
miniature rendition of the Perugian population. Beata Colomba is represented in the forefront
and gave her name to this banner, also called the Gonfalone of Beata Colomba.554 Saint
Dominic and Saint Catherine are of the same size as Christ and the six holy figures flanking
him in the top half of the composition. Their visual and physical prominence clearly
identifies this banner with the Dominican order.
The last Perugian extraordinary banner is the Gonfalone of the Duomo (fig. 66) of
1526. It had been commissioned in July 1524 by a certain ―Sotietas rogationis‖ that met every
Sunday in the cathedral, but that is otherwise not documented. I presume that a banner for
Perugia‘s main church and under the aegis of the chapter canons was a prestigious
commission. The city government voted then the substantial sum of 15 florins to spend on
this banner ―in the honor of the Virgin Mary;‖ but it was executed only two years later, in
July 1526, at the cost of 25 florins.555 At that time, the virulence of the epidemic had not yet
diminished and the delay in executing the banner may be due to the critical situation. The
painter attempted to portray the emotional distress of the Perugians by modelling them after
Raphael‘s witnesses of Christ‘s Transfiguration as Daniel Arasse aptly commented.556 The
554
For the Gonfalone of San Domenico, see: Dehmer‘s catalogue, Bruderschaftsbanner, entry 81, 334 and
recently, L. Teza, ―Pittura tra Rinascimento e Manierismo,‖ in La Basilica di San Domenico, 464-466, who
attributes this painting to Ludovico d‘Angelo Mattioli, following and quoting Ricci (1930s)‘s suggestion (see
footnote 50).
555
For the Gonfalone of the Duomo, see Dehmer, ibid., entry 80, 333. The ―Sotietas rogationum‖ is mentioned
by Bury, ―Gonfaloni of Perugia," n. 46. I report here a longer transcription from ASP, ASPg, Riformanze 143, f.
138r for the deliberations of July 17 th July 1524:
―elimosina de XV fl.: ―Item pro parte superstanti sotietatis rogationum que dicuntur omni die dominico
in ecclesia Sancti Laurentii maiori ecclesie perusine fuerit petita certa quantitas florenorum pro
faciendo confalonem ad honorem Virginis Marie nostre sic preposta pro dictos Magnificos Dominos
Priores coram dictis camerariis (…) concesserunt dictis sumptibus florenos quindecim (…)
expendendos pro dicto confalone.‖
See also ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1526, for the deliberations of 3 rd July (f. 270r) and of 19 th July (f.
271r). The 41 present chamberlains granted 25 florins for the ―gonfalone recently made in the church of San
Lorenzo.‖
556
Daniel Arasse, ―Entre dévotion et culture : Fonctions de l‘image religieuse,‖ in Faire croire. Modalit‟es de la
diffusion et de la réception des messages religieux du XIIe au XVe siècle (Rome : Ecole française de Rome,
1981), 145-6.
196
unfurled scroll above them, ―SALUS NOSTRA IN MANU TUA EST ET NOS ET TERRA NOSTRA TUI
SUMUS,‖
is a quote from, respectively, Genesis, 47:25 and 47:19. In the Biblical passage, the
starving Egyptians offer themselves in slavery and present their land to Pharaoh because they
believe in his power to save them from famine thanks to Joseph‘s strategies. Here, the
Perugians acknowledge the Virgin‘s intercessory authority and dedicate their city, depicted
between them and the heavenly spheres, to her. The use of this banner is otherwise not
documented until April 1593 when a three-day long earthquake occasioned no damage to the
city, a miracle attributed to the procession of the banner.557 Thus, in association with the
perfectly legible scroll (―terra‖ means both earth and land), the banner also became famous
for protecting the city from earthquakes. The varied poses of the agitated figures contrast
with a resolutely orderly rendition of the upright towers of the city. On the banner, Saint
Joseph is prominently placed next to the Virgin, a sign of the invigoration of his cult from the
time that the ring with which he wed the Virgin was acquired by the city of Perugia in 1473,
and Sixtus IV‘s institution of the cult in 1479.
From an iconographic point of view, the patronage of a religious community is also
visible on the banners through a precise depiction of their headquarters such as the local
church dedicated to Saint Francis for the Franciscan banners of San Francesco al Prato,
Civitella, Montone, and Assisi (figs. 51; 53; 57; 68). The Dominican church of Perugia
appears under Saint Dominic in the Gonfalone of the Beata Colomba (fig. 65a) while the
cathedral is located below the Virgin in the Gonfalone of the Duomo (fig. 66). If the church
where the banner was kept does not appear in the view, it is implied, as, for example, in the
557
G. M. Lesmi, Notizie istoriche dei S‟. Confaloni di Perugia con alcune preci diverso castighi, e flagelli
opportune da farsi nelle chiese, e nelle case (Perugia: Baduel, 1807), 37. Unfortunately, the archive of the
cathedral has been closed for many years impeding research on objects such as this gonfalone.
197
veduta of the banner of Corciano (fig. 55) depicted as if from the Augustinian convent which
had commissioned it and had it in its custody until 1879.558
The role of confraternities
Typically, representatives of one local religious order petitioned the political
authorities in order to obtain funds for the making of a gonfalone with an intercessory
imagery. The clerics then entrusted this painting to a confraternity whether it already existed
or whether it was created ex nihilo for that purpose.559 The Gonfalone of San Francesco al
Prato is a documented example of a special painting, for the care of which a new
confraternity was founded.560 Upon the request of the friars, the Commune sent ambassadors
to the newly elected Pope Paul II in October 1464, in order to obtain an indulgence attached
to the procession of this miracle-working banner, thus launching a first step in the longlasting cult of this image. The next step was the creation of a special company of the
Madonna called the ―Confraternity of the Gonfalone‖ a few months later. Surprisingly, the
already existing confraternity of San Francesco located in proximity to the church (via degli
Sciri) was not considered for this job although the miniature white-robed penitents depicted
on the banner may represent this company. The ―Confraternita del Confalone‖ became
responsible for any measure enhancing the presentation of the painting. The intention of the
friars (documented in October 1464) to have a special chapel built to accommodate the
extraordinary banner was realized by the confraternal members to whom a municipal
deliberation granted stones and wood for it in February of 1465; by October of the same year,
558
Francesco Santi, I gonfaloni umbri del Rinascimento (Perugia: Volumnia, 1976), 39; Mancini, Bonfigli, 134.
559
A similar process of housing a miracle-working image and then entrusting it to a confraternity took place in
Spello in 1524. See the chronicle of Giovanni and Guido Olorini (1477-1594) transcribed by M. Faloci
Pulignani in ―Le cronache di Spello degli Olorini,‖ BDSPU XXIII (1918), 289.
560
See Michael Bury‘s research, amply quoted so far, and the important article by Valentina Borgnini, based on
her B.A. thesis (tesi di laurea), reconstructing the architectural history of the church of San Francesco al Prato:
V. Borgnini, "Vicende costruttive e conservative della chiesa di San Francesco al Prato di Perugia," Miscellanea
Francescana 104, III-IV (2004): 671-722.
198
the chapel, affixed to the façade of San Francesco, was completed. 561 The confraternity
secured an endowment of ten florins, a substantial sum, for the purchase of wax to illuminate
the image on the feast of the Annunciation. It also negotiated 100 florins from the Commune
to fund an ornate frame and a grille to protect the banner in June of 1466.562
The Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova (fig. 62a) is a puzzling case. According to
Michael Bury, the Sylvestrine friars took the initiative of commissioning the banner in 1471
but by November 1472, a ―Societas confalonis‖ was created for the custody of this gonfalone.
By September 1477, the Confraternita di San Benedetto took over the responsibility for the
painting, as Bury suggested. However, on the banner, Saint Benedict and Santa Scholastica
each present black-robed members of a confraternity to the looming Christ in majesty. These
two men are identifiable as flagellants because of the opening of their habit in the back for
self-scourging. It would be logical to interpret these tiny figures as the confratelli dedicated
to Saint Benedict, especially since their premises faced the church of the Sylvestrines. 563 But
the intention of the Sylvestrines who commissioned the banner is not clear. Are these figures
the members of the ―Societas confalonis‖ or of the ―Confraternita di San Benedetto‖?
Possibly, the former was in charge of another, non-extant, banner that was also kept in Santa
Maria Nuova and the friars conceived this painting with the latter in mind. In any case, this
561
―societas Madonne vocata el gonfalone‖ in a deliberation of February 17, 1465. ASP, ASPg, Riformanze
101, f. 25v-26r. In June 1466, it is also called ―sotietatis sancta Marie pacis‖ (Society of Saint Mary of the
Peace). The banner was otherwise also known as ―Santa Maria delle Grazie.‖ The confraternity name became
―Confraternita della Concezione di Maria SS. del Gonfalone di San Francesco‖ and remained in existence into
the 20th century. See O. Marinelli, Le confraternite di Perugia. Borgnini, "Vicende costruttive e conservative,‖
710, assertively identifies the tiny figures as the flagellants of the Confraternita of San Francesco. I suggested
earlier that they could represent a spontaneous movement of the laity, similar to the Bianchi of 1399. The chapel
of the Gonfalone was demolished in 1923 in order to restore the façade to its original 14th century appearance.
See Borgnini for a recent reconstruction of the architectural history of the church.
562
See transcription of the petition of June 24, 1466 in Bury, ―Tabernacoli,‖ 56, n. 15. 25 florins were granted
for the frame, see Bury, ―Gonfaloni of Perugia," 72, n. 11.
563
In his testament of 17th July 1471, a ―merciario‖ made a bequest of ten florins for the ―ornament of the
gonfalone recently made‖ in the church of Santa Maria Nuova. Quoted in Bury, ―Gonfaloni of Perugia," 72-3, n.
13. Bury, ―Tabernacoli,‖ 53, found a record of a payment due by the Compagnia di San Benedetto to the
―Societas confalonis.‖
199
shows that the patronage of a banner could involve first a religious order and later a
confraternity.
In other cases, the origin of the commission and the transfer of responsibility for
maintaining the banner are also unclear. For example, the Gonfalone of San Simone seems
not to have been in the custody of the Confraternity of ―the order of Saint Mary of the Mount
Carmel,‖ founded in the 1330s because no document mentions it. Its premises, rented from
the cathedral chapter, were adjacent to the friars‘ monastery and consisted of a house with a
―hospital,‖ that was a shelter for the poor and pilgrims, and a garden. From their fiscal
records of the mid-fifteenth century, it is obvious that this association suffered economic
difficulties and could not have been able to afford a gonfalone of that quality. Its lack of
means is evident in the 1507 subsidy that the confraternity requested from the city priors
because their oratory was threatening collapse. It is no wonder that the next known record for
this poverty-stricken group mentions that it had merged with the nearby confraternity of San
Fiorenzo - probably in the 1560s - and that they only own a ―small house.‖564 Apparently the
Gonfalone of San Simone remained throughout its existence an exclusive property of the
Carmelites. When they redecorated the apse of the church in 1840, they declared in an
inscription under the banner, that they, the friars, were responsible for the new decorous
setting of the banner.
As to the Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo, it is documented as carried in procession by the
unified confraternities of San Simone and San Fiorenzo only from the late sixteenth century.
Although the confraternity of San Simone and that of San Fiorenzo were affiliated with two
different mendicant orders (respectively the Carmelites and the reformed Servites), they were
neighboring associations, located on the same processional route. Their statutes of 1594
564
On the history of this confraternity, see Jemma, "Le confraternite di S. Fiorenzo e di S. Simone,‖ 133-137.
The union took place before 1571 as, in December of that year, bishop Mario della Rovere visited their
premises. See her appendices, 53-54, for a transcription of the bishop‘s visitation to the Oratory of the
Confraternity of S. Simone and S. Fiorenzo on 8 th December 1571.
200
document assertively that they are in charge of the Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo (fig. 63a) and
that it is kept in that church. When the banner first became their responsibility is
unfortunately not clear. The provision listing the officers indicates that the custody of the
sacred painting generated a new office ―a few years‖ earlier (―da pochi anni in addietro‖),
that of the deputy to the banner (―deputato al “santo Confalone‖).565
The Gonfalone of the Duomo (fig. 66) does not seem to have had any relation with a
confraternity. Despite Saint Joseph‘s prominent position, the Confraternity dedicated to him
and founded in 1487 would not have been adequate as a custodian of this banner because it
functioned quite differently from other sodalities. The several hundred members of the
Confraternita di San Giuseppe who had signed their names in the corporate register only
pledged to observe the tenets of a pious Christian life but they had no premises, no
possessions in common, and no collective rituals beyond their gathering for Saint Joseph‘s
day in the cathedral and their participation in processions.566 This banner was placed by the
end of the sixteenth century and until 1620 above the altar of the Ghiberti chapel but the
patronage of the Gonfalone of the Duomo is unclear until the early eighteenth century. 567 In
1703, the bishop and the cathedral chaplain promoted the devotion towards this painting by
giving it a public location above an altar in the left nave and having the altar newly adorned.
In addition, 8th November was established as an annual feast day for the gonfalone. In 1708,
565
These excerpts from provisions b) and c) of the statutes are transcribed in Jemma, "Le confraternite di S.
Fiorenzo e di S. Simone,‖ appendices, 57-59:
b) ―si farà qualche funzione al nostro gonfalone di San Fiorenzo secondo che dal Deputato gli sarà
notificato per schedola del mandatario.‖
c) ―Siccome resta annessa alla fraternita la custodia del confalone in S. Fiorenzo, per ciò da pochi
anni in addietro, è stato ammesso tra il numero degli offiziali anche il deputato al s. Confalone. Si è
detto da pochi anni perchè nè dalle costituzioni nè dai partiti antichi si ha che questo fosse offizio
separato.‖
566
See Giovanna Casagrande, "Devozione e municipalità. La Compagnia del S. Anello" in Le Mouvement
confraternel au Moyen Age (Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 1985), 187-183. For primary sources and
bibliographic references: Marinelli, Confraternite, 472-557.
567
See Cesare Crispolti in his guidebook to Perugian churches (1597) in Teza, Raccolta delle cose segnalate, 83
and Teza‘s footnote 14, 151.
201
the painting was restored and the bishop with the approval of the chapter and the city officials
entrusted the painting to the guild of the barbers, a very peculiar case for a miracle-working
banner. Like many other guilds in the middle ages, the barbers used to hold their meetings in
the cathedral. I presume that they traditionally met in front of the altar of the gonfalone that
must have existed since 1593 when the banner was acknowledged as having protective
properties, hence their custody of this painting into the nineteenth century. 568
The plague banners that I described were cult objects because of their miraculous
properties. Confraternities in charge of them were responsible for their maintenance and
safekeeping. These companies played a very special role when a crisis procession was
deemed necessary. In 1477, the confraternal brothers of San Benedetto asked the friars to let
them carry out the Gonfalone of Santa Maria on the day of Mary‘s Nativity and also
requested from the Priori a £12 wax donation for the procession of the gonfalone in order to
relieve the city from the plague. Therefore, confraternities were placed in the spotlight
because their banner invested them with the mission to free the inhabitants of plague, dearth,
and enmity. For example, in 1563 and 1581, the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova and that of
San Fiorenzo were processed because of drought while in 1587, the confraternities of San
Francesco, San Benedetto, and San Simone e San Fiorenzo were told to process their
extraordinary gonfaloni because of a raging rain.569 The sustained belief in the power of these
banners across the centuries and the intensive care granted by confraternities explains the
survival of these extraordinary banners to this day.
568
On the 18th century vicissitudes of this gonfalone, see Ricci, Storia critica, 176 and Lesmi, Notizie istoriche
dei S‟. Confaloni,‖ 35-38. The matricola (collection of statutes) of the barbers covers the period 1331-1717 is
kept today in the British Museum in London. It would probably yield more information on this guild‘s
involvement with the altar and the gonfalone. For a brief description of the matricola, see A. Mariotti, Spoglio
delle matricole de‟ collegi delle arti di Perugia, BAP, ms. 1230, 124-130. The date of the restoration is
documented on the verso of the banner. See M. G. Bistoni‘s entry in Arte sacra in Umbria. Mostra di dipinti
restauri 1976-1981 (Ministero per i Beni Culturali, 1982), 64-67.
569
96.
―Memorie du Romolo Allegrini,‖ in Fabretti, ―Memorie di Romolo Allegrini (1580-1630),‖in Cronache, V:
202
The civic authorities and the responsibility of purifying the city
Epidemics were regarded as contracted through a venomous vapor present in the
air.570 This corruption of the air is one more aspect of the pollution that mortals had created
and that needed purging. Individual measures consisted in a better hygiene and in wearing
odoriferous herbs or spreading perfumed incense at home. But collective manifestations of
piety, such as processions, were public demonstrations to the higher spheres of the
consensual will to erase sinful behavior. Although the dangers of contagion were wellknown, governments often followed religious advice regarding the need for large gatherings
in the form of penitential processions. As we have seen, in Perugia as in other Italian citystates, civic authorities were responsible for setting up city-wide events such as general
processions for the celebration of the feast days of patron saints. It was thus natural that they
also oversaw the organization of special processions destined to assuage God.
These crisis processions took place in a time of disruption of the normal pace of life
for the inhabitants. Christians were supposed to fast and avoid any mortal sins, according to
the recommendations of preachers. The government ordered shops to close down and it was
forbidden to conduct any business. In times of catastrophe, charity was not only an individual
and praiseworthy initiative but also a civic measure that took the form of alms to the poor (in
money or in kind), free medical assistance to the plague-stricken, bee wax and olive oil for
the illumination of sacred paintings or the extraordinary banners placed over altars, and the
candles and tapers necessary for solemnly processing through the city. 571 In other words,
penitential processions were part of a larger radical process, that of purifying the city through
regulatory or pious enterprises launched both by the ecclesiastical and the civic authorities.
570
Marsilio Ficino dedicated his first chapter of on the air. cf Comez, "Provvedimenti adottati in tempo di
peste,‖ 61.
571
On charity as a response advocated by the clergy to solve a crisis, see R. Trexler, Public Life, 350-1.
203
The special decrees issued in times of epidemics pitted the contado against the urban
space. Afraid of losing too much of the urban population, the laws implyied that the city was
the only safe place. For example, in June 1424, the chief justices ordered all Perugian citizens
who had gone to the contado, whatever the reason, to come back immediately, with the
premise that the disease was located outside the city. But cities were actually the most
vulnerable places in cases of contagious disease because of their dense concentration of
humans and animals. The inhabitants knew this and many chronicles report that the
population fled to the countryside and that the university students had returned home. 572 The
execution of the Gonfalone of San Francesco, the first extant Perugian plague banner, may
have been motivated by the exodus of the population in 1464, depicted in the foreground of
the painting. To avoid this massive depletion of human forces, the Commune had this banner
executed as a clear message of civic responsibility publicized by the parading of the image
and by its location in an important and lavishly adorned church of Perugia. The subsequent
success of the processions with that particular image partially explains its pictorial imitations
although the scene of the inhabitants in flight remains unique. The plague-stricken were a
terrifying urban sight. In June 1485, the sick and those in contact with them had to wear a
distinctive sign, a white piece of cloth worn on the back. In addition, declaring the number of
the sick and the deceased of the plague was a duty of all religious orders and parish priests,
who had to affix their calculation onto the door of the episcopal palace.573
Cities, however, offered the logistics for sanitization and obtaining divine grace and
pardon. Cisterns, wells, and streets were restored and churches subsidized.574 The numerous
lay and secular ―praying agents‖ accumulated a great variety of devotional practices that
572
For example, Diario del Graziani, 288 for June 1424; 334 for September 1429 (students too); 595 for
October 1447 (mentioning the university students as well); 607 for July 1448; 639 for July 1464. Even the
officials left (in 1429, for example).
573
The law on the distinctive sign and the mandatory notification of the number of the plague-stricken were
publicly announced in a ―bando‖ dated June 5, 1485. See C. Massari, Saggio storico-medico, 55-57.
574
Ibid., 49 for 1476.
204
unfolded in front of innumerable altars throughout the urban space. They thus offered a pious
response to the sinful city inhabitants. The political authorities for the entire territory were
based in the midst of the city. They closely surveyed law and order by continuously adapting
legislation and producing new decrees that responded both to daily matters and special
circumstances. Plagues and natural disasters were a disruption of that order. They were
believed to originate in the mortals‘ unruly behavior, an issue that civic legislation sought to
rectify. Thus, the yearly revision of the city statutes and their frequent emendations (the
―riformanze‖) by the elected priors from the guilds were supposed to act as salutary measures
for maintaining law and order.
Appeal to the civic patron saints
A Perugian fifteenth-century lauda, or a chanted devotional play, could be described
as a textual version of images begging for holy intercession in a pandemic situation. Mara
Nerbano has stressed the textual correspondences with the iconography of the Umbrian
plague banners showing the Madonna della Misericordia. 575 In this text, Christ advocates the
necessity of statutes and laws as he reprimands the sinful population of Perugia. As the
Perugians then invoke the Virgin and beg her not to abandon their city, Mary addresses her
son by specifying how much they honor her with processions and chants and that, at least on
behalf of the flagellants, he should pardon them because they live an honest and pure life that
will purge the sinners. The patron saints of Perugia, first Sant‘Ercolano and San Lorenzo, and
then San Costanzo intervene in the dialogue in favor of the inhabitants. Finally, a placated
Christ reiterates the need for the Perugians to reform their ―iniquitous laws‖ in order to put an
end to the sins that generate evil (―Peroscine, or correggete / le ennique legge ched avete
575
On the Umbrian laude, see several entries in Movimento dei Disciplinati and Mara Nerbano, ―Arte,
drammaturgia e devozioni.‖
205
[sic]‖).576 Mara Nerbano persuasively argued that this text was composed, not in the Trecento
as was previously thought, but in the wake of the statutes of 1425 that reformed the morals
and customs of the Perugians following the influential sermons of San Bernardino of Siena in
the city. Thus, civic legislation was regarded as a rightful process that aimed at keeping its
subjects virtuous. It was part of an on going attempt at purifying the city, a daunting task of
the clergy and the government. Coupled with an address to holy intercessors, it was a solution
for a return to a plague-free life.
Civic patron saints are included in most Umbrian plague banners. In the Gonfalone of
San Francesco al Prato (fig. 51), the four patron saints are placed according to their
chronological hierarchy and their significance for the city. The Perugian holy patrons stand at
the highest position, closest to heaven, near the Virgin‘s shoulders. San Lorenzo and
Sant‘Ercolano are located to Mary‘s worthy right. They face San Constanzo and Saint Louis
of Toulouse, the latest adopted saint.577 In the Gonfalone of Montone (fig. 57a), John the
Baptist, the oldest civic protector, faces Saint Gregory to whom the church of San Giovanni
Battista was rededicated.578 In other plague banners, the hagiographic distribution may follow
other patterns. In the Gonfalone of San Domenico (fig. 65), Ercolano and Lorenzo kneel on
Christ‘s left because Christ‘s right hand side is occupied by Mary, Joseph, and Saint
Sebastian. The presence of Joseph testifies to the successful development of his cult in
Perugia that the city attempted to foster from the time of the acquisition of the Virgin‘s
wedding ring in 1473. The Gonfalone of the Duomo (fig. 66) also includes San Ercolano and
576
Verses 67-72: ―Io so‘ da loro tanto honorata / en processione e canto / e anco en quista radunata / che te fa
quisto popol sancto / ch‘almen per quiste descepline / voglo ch‘a perdonar t‘enchiene.‖ Quoted in Nerbano,
ibid., 170. For the three patron saints, see verses 79-102 and for Christ, v. 107-108, ibid., 170-171.
577
In 1310, the communal councils launched the cult of San Costanzo by establishing an annual procession in
his honor while Saint Louis of Toulouse was added to the Perugian civic pantheon in 1319. The city-wide
torchlit procession for San Lorenzo started from 1394 on an annual basis. Rita Chiachella, "L'evoluzione del
culto del santo patrono in età moderna: il caso di Perugia," Richerche di storia sociale e religiosa 34 (1988):
101-15, here 105-106.
578
Saint Blasius (Biagio) on the right of Mary corresponds to Saint Nicholas of Bari. I cannot account for the
presence of these two saints. Maria Rita Silvestrelli, in Museo comunale di San Francesco a Montone, 110-11.
206
San Lorenzo on both sides of a threatening Christ while Mary kneels to her son‘s right
serving as an intercessor between the highest spheres and the Perugian folk down below.
The Gonfalone of Assisi (fig. 68) depicts its patron saints Vittorino and Rufino, two
local bishops of the early local history but it also prominently displays Saint Francis, who
died and was buried in this town in 1226, as an additional prime protector of the city. In this
case, the scale on which the saints are depicted outdoes that of the Virgin who is here a
simple mediatrix addressing her son. She does not play as active a role as the six saints below
her who are connected either directly to the plague (through the figures of saints Sebastian
and Roch) or directly linked to the city of Assisi itself. It is indeed quite logical to find the
civic pantheon so conveniently located on these processional paintings. Similarly to the
figures in the sacre rappresentazioni of altarpieces, the depicted saints on banners
commemorate civic and religious patrons.
3) The Depiction of Civic Identity
In most plague banners and in some ordinary ones, this idea of the whole urban
community unified in its search for protection is also expressed by a precise urban view that
unfolds at the feet of the Virgin or in the background. In general, the basic urban fabric is
conventionally represented with foreshortened blocks and tiny wedges for the roofs. But
recognizable campanili, churches, and political buildings allow for the urban veduta to
establish the identity of a unique urban community. While religious patronage can be
visualized by means of the representation of the monuments associated with the clerical
patrons of the banner, the civic sponsorship of both banners and processions is highlighted by
a depiction of political spaces. The city walls and the Palace of the Priors with its bell tower
are well delineated on the Perugian banners of San Francesco, San Domenico, and the
Duomo (figs. 51; 65; 66). The fortified castles on the Civitella, Corciano, and Montone
207
banners (figs. 53; 55; 57) come to the fore, well erected on the central axes of the
compositions. The city councils‘ deliberations regularly revolved around issues of
maintaining the urban infrastructure in good standing, be it the thoroughfares and streets, the
fortified walls and gates, bridges, or churches.
The city may also be identifiable through a variety of signifiers, thereby giving a
strong civic overtone to the composition. For example, in the Gonfalone of San Francesco al
Prato (fig. 51), the Perugian emblem, the griffin, is clearly painted on the city gates, or in the
Gubbio banner (fig. 69a-b), the coat of arms of the city is represented on the painted frame
just below the patron saint on one side, and below the Virgin on the reverse. 579 By way of
proof of the enduring pride that a mirroring view of urban identity could elicit, the veduta
was updated according to the accrued architectural modifications. For example, the view of
Paciano in the eponymous gonfalone has been repainted in the seventeenth or eighteenth
century and does not correspond to the Quattrocento topography any longer. In the same vein,
the cityscape in the plague Gonfalone of Assisi (ca. 1470) shows the cathedral with Galeazzo
Alessi‘s cupola and lantern of 1571-85.580 It seems that updating the cityscape maintained the
efficacy of the image for contemporary viewers.
The city as the privileged locus for salvation
The cityscapes that unfold under Mary and her holy cohorts celebrate the good work
of the political authorities. Civic authorities commissioned and funded banners because these
evocative images benefited the entire city once they were ―ritually activated in a process of
negotiation with God‖ (Marshall). We have seen two banners (the Gonfalone of San
579
For another example of the presence of civic heraldry, see the 1515 contract for a banner and its frame
(‗tabernacle‘) requested by a confraternity from Marseilles, France. The painter must paint the royal arms on
one side of the frame and the city coat of arms on the opposite side. For the text of the contract, see Dehmer,
Bruderschafstbanner, 275-6.
580
For Paciano, see footnote 488; for Assisi, see Umberto Gnoli, "Il ‗Gonfalone della peste‘ di Niccolò Alunno
e la più antica veduta di Assisi," Bolletino d'arte V (1911): 63-70.
208
Francesco and the Gonfalone of Civitella, figs. 1, 3) include in the lower parts of their
composition a procession of white-robed men. However, I have not stressed so far that they
march together inside the circumscribed urban space. While penitential processions also took
place in fortified villages and rural communities, and also included flagellants, these two
paintings, as well as other plague images, only depict processions as an urban
phenomenon.581 Cities are thus shown as the privileged locus for pious collective responses.
In these images and during the rituals that they depict, the remedies to the scourge are
implemented within the city walls thus imparting a strong sense of civic identity in times of
crisis. When all clerics and confraternities from the suburban areas were summoned to gather
for intra-muros processions in Perugia, as was the case in March, July, and September of
1448, the city authorities reinforced the idea of the city as the rightful location for petitioning
the cosmos.
In all these cityscapes, the urban space appears bounded by walls and separate from
the countryside which, when included, consists of a green and empty peripheral space, devoid
of inhabitants and houses. The constant economic and social interactions between the city and
its contado are absent in these images. This contrast constructs the city as a unitary space just
as later axonometric maps of Umbrian cities suggest.582 In the San Francesco banner (fig. 51),
an inscription on the fortifications specifies the date (―1464‖) and the location (― IN PERUSIO‖)
where the scourge of the plague (―FU‖ for ―FUNUS‖) is operating. In this composition, as well
as in the Gonfalone of Montone, Death in the guise of a gigantic winged skeleton armed with
arrows is situated in the foreground outside the clearly defined urban space. In the first
581
―[anno 1348] Stavano tutte le gente de la cità e de castelle e de ville in processione et in discipline e letanie,‖
Diario del Graziani, 148. For other depictions of urban processions, see, for example, a wall of the Roman
church of San Pietro in Vincoli frescoed in ca. 1476 showing the population led by the pope marching through
Rome. See: Andreas Dehmer, "un dipinto votivo in San Pietro in Vincoli," 71-76.
582
For a similar graphic depiction of Northern European cities, see Martha Howell, "The Spaces of Late
Medieval Urbanity," in Marc Boone and Peter Stabel, eds., Shaping Urban Identity in Late Medieval Europe/
L'apparition d'une identité urbaine dans L'Europe du bas Moyen Âge (Leuven: Garant, 2000), 3-23.
209
banner, Death is chased by an angel as a result of Mary‘s protection while in the Montone
flag (fig. 57a), a bust of San Bernardino radiating as in a majestic vision intervenes to annul
the fatal effects of the scythe-equipped Death figure. Although the city is thus tagged, a
figure of Death is seen mowing down the citizens outside the walls. Thus, the narrative
unfolding outside the city presents the urban community as the only legitimate location for
survival.
Typically, the Perugian government appointed a total of 200 to 250 men to guard the
gates and prevent anyone who came from the contado or from an unhealthy location to enter
the city, suggesting that the contagious hazards lay outside the city. 583 In 1485, the bishop of
Perugia had public announcements heralded throughout the city that anyone fleeing the city
would be excommunicated. The same message, however, also summoned suspicious people
to leave the city. All foreign beggars were commanded to go away within two days; the same
applied to prostitutes and their pimps who, in addition, could be freely insulted or robbed.
These orders were taken for fear that the raging plague in Northern Italy would reach Perugia
–which it did. Once the plague broke out in 1486, criminals and gypsies and their families,
normally welcomed to participate in the October fair, were not allowed to stay.584 The city
retired within itself or within its non-controversial Christian subjects by eliminating its
polluted elements. Against this pattern of exclusion and retention penitential processions
could continue the purification process
583
On the fear of contagion, see the announcement of 1394 in Massari, Saggio storico-medico, 184-5. In 14291430, 200 youth were paid to guard the gates and public squares, day and night (ibid., 40); in June 1448, 250
guards were appointed (Diario del Graziani, 604, with transcription of the public announcement issued on April
22, 1448). For June 1465, see transcription by Massari‘s transcription of the ―bando,‖ 180-181.
584
For the ostracization of Jews and prostitutes, see C. Massari, 55-6 (―bando‖ of June 5, 1485) and that of
gypsies, see Comez, "Provvedimenti adottati in tempo di peste,‖ 64-65.
210
The depiction of ritual space
I believe that vedute in plague banners reflect processional itineraries. This can be
demonstrated with some Perugian examples as well as the Gonfalone of Assisi (fig. 68, see
below) but it is probably true of other cities as well. Perugia developed according to a stellar
plan, following the natural topography with its ridges and slopes that turned into five districts
or ―porte‖ (see map, fig. 70).585 Each of these areas comprised the major churches of the
religious orders. On a North-West – South-West axis, the Franciscans in Porta Santa
Susanna were at opposite ends from the Dominicans and the Benedictines in Porta San
Pietro. The Augustinian church lay towards the North gate of the city (Porta San Angelo)
while the conventual Servites were close to the Southern gates (Porta Eburnea). Finally, the
Carmelites, the Observant Servites, and the Sylvestrines were in the same neighborhood, the
Porta Sole, to the East.
The itinerary is not systematically specified in archival records but usually the
meeting place was at the cathedral of San Lorenzo situated on the main square of the city
where the main architectural symbol of political power, the Palazzo dei Priori, also loomed. It
was, and still is, the core of the city and its social and geographical nexus where all the
district boundaries met. Unlike the general processions that commemorated specific saints‘
days, crisis processions were repeated over the course of three (triduum) or five days, or even
15 consecutive days as happened at the end July 1476, possibly because the triduum of early
July had had little success. The three-day procession was modeled on Pope Gregory‘s litany
of 490. Processing for five consecutive days, however, had a considerable advantage in
585
The origin of the five districts goes back to the five gates (hence, by metonymy, the word ―porte‖) of the
Etruscan settlement. The city expanded from and beyond each of these gates in the Middle Ages. See
Grohmann, La città medievale, 51, and on the symbolism of the names attached to the Perugian topography,
especially in ancient times, see Mauro Menichelli, Il simbolismo delle porte e dei rioni di Perugia (Perugia:
Futura, 2006).
211
Perugia. It allowed for the whole city to be sanctified by the passage of the holy banners in all
its five districts.
The five-day procession unfolded according to the topographical distribution of the
major Perugian churches: San Lorenzo (the cathedral), San Francesco, San Domenico and
Sant‘Agostino. It also included female convents such as the Cistercians of Santa Giuliana and
the Clares of Monteluce, or parish churches such as San Savino or Sant‘Angelo.586 A
procession heading from San Lorenzo to Sant‘Agostino could easily avoid the most direct
route and would detour to walk past the monasteries of the Observant Servites (San
Fiorenzo), the Carmelites (San Simone) and the Sylvestrines (Santa Maria Nuova). This is
probably what the biographer of the Beata Colomba meant when he stated that in 1521, the
three-day procession ―circumambulated all the temples of the city.‖587 A three-day procession
usually meant that the departure (and the arrival) took place at the cathedral and the cortège
headed towards the houses of the main mendicant orders of Perugia: the Franciscans, the
Dominicans, and the Augustinians, while passing in front of the church of the Servites on its
way to San Domenico.588 Typically, the itinerary covered the Franciscan monastery on the
first day, the Dominican one on the second day, and finally the Augustinian (see map, fig.
70). The panoramas of the banners of San Francesco, of San Domenico, and of the Duomo
(figs. 51; 65; 66) exactly correspond to the traditional processional route. The Gonfalone of
San Francesco (fig. 51) shows in an elliptical representation only the major constructions: the
586
For example, in March 1448, the penitential processions passed by all the main churches from the
Benedictines and Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Cistercians and the Sylvestrines, the Servites and the
Cistercian nuns, the Augustinians. They went to San Pietro (first day); to San Francesco and Sant‘Andrea (day
2); to San Fiorenzo and Santa Maria Nuova (day 3); to the Servi, San Savino, and Santa Giuliana (day 4); to
Sant‘Agostino and Sant‘Angelo (day 5). See Diario del Graziani, 600.
587
Alberti, Vita della Beata Colomba da Rieto (Bologna, 1521), quoted in Nerbano, ―Arte, drammaturgia e
devozioni,‖ 208.
588
There were two ways of arriving at San Domenico from the main piazza, either indirectly by walking down
the high way past the Servire church or more directly by reaching the Piazza del Supramuro one block down
from the communal palace and then down the street that led past the church of Sant‘Ercolano. The other
Mendicant order, the Carmelites, were not a significant community in Perugia, although they owned a miracleworking banner.
212
apse and the bell-tower of the Franciscan church next to the large and crenellated Palazzo of
the Priori and to the cathedral with its polygonal campanile. This is the privileged route San
Lorenzo-San Francesco (and back), usually the first of a multi-day procession. The
Gonfalone of San Domenico (fig. 65a) shows a similar topography seen from the East and
spanning a South-East / North spatial arc that encompasses the church of the Dominicans on
the left, the government seat and the cathedral in the middle, then the Sylvestrine monastery,
concluding with the Augustinian church. This view corresponds to the other two major
routes: San Lorenzo-San Domenico (and back) and San Lorenzo-San Agostino. The veduta
of the Gonfalone of the Duomo (fig. 66) conflates and expands these itineraries. It spans the
city on a North-South axis, from left to right, from the circular vault of the church of
Sant‘Angelo (situated north of Sant‘Agostino), the towers of San Francesco al Prato and
those of the dwellings of Porta Eburnea to the campanile of San Domenico and San Pietro.
The Gonfalone of Assisi (fig. 68) offers the most detailed axonometric view or, to use
Louis Marin‘s term, a ―synoptic overview‖ because it is well enclosed by its walls and
supervised by its depicted holy patrons or by its actual beholders. 589 Its accuracy and breadth
substitutes the depiction of a praying population in awe of the Heavens above them. The
absence of the Virgin‘s protégés and the size of the six saints above the cityscape allows for it
to spread across the entire width of the lower bottom of the composition. Viewers face a
portrait of the city so faithful that it entices them to read it, to spot the dominant political and
religious monuments of Assisi, such as (from left to right) the church of San Francesco, the
communal palace, and the cathedral. The banner invites the inhabitants of Assisi to project
themselves onto that representation and complement its depiction by mentally including
themselves. It mirrored the kinetic experience of procession members by depicting the spatial
markers of their itinerary. In other words, the view spans the processional route of city-wide
589
Louis Marin, "The City in Its Map and Portrait," in On Representation (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University
Press, 2001), 202-18.
213
events and signals the monuments as pauses or stopping points in the forward motion of the
cortège, or as places of gathering and arrival.
The social rhythms of immobile banners
An important - but overlooked - element in the definition of ―plague banners‖ is that
they were not just processional objects but also paintings that were encased in an altar against
a wall almost permanently. Their stationary position started once they were adorned with an
elaborate ―tabernacolo‖ as occurred with the Gonfalone of San Francesco (fig. 51) and that of
San Fiorenzo (fig. 63), respectively two and four years (1466 and 1480) after their execution.
Most of these framing devices have been replaced in the modern era and are no longer
extant.590 The richly carved and gilded frame made for the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata (fig.
71b) gives an idea of the splendor and impressive size that these ‗tabernacoli‘ could reach,
even if in this case it was not designed for a plague banner (see last chapter). Such a
―tabernacolo‖ cost approximately 25 florins, more than the average cost of a banner. Most of
these banners received a new housing when their churches were remodeled according to
Baroque taste. The ongoing cult of these banners and the care given to their presentation
explain how come they came down to us, either in their modern arrangement or in their
contemporary exhibition as works of art in museums or private collections, estranged from
their original contexts.
The earliest documented case of a banner located on an altar is the Gonfalone of San
Francesco of 1464. It was placed there soon after its execution in a special chapel and
remained on the high altar set in a fine frame paid for by the Commune in 1466. The
decoration of this chapel was repeatedly enhanced throughout its existence with a painting
placed to the left of the altar in 1549. In 1646, this altar was redesigned and its Baroque look
590
M. Bury has attempted to reconstruct their appearance and offers a few comparanda. See Bury, Tabernacoli,
52-55.
214
is known through photographs made before the demolition of the chapel in 1923.591 Intarsia
panels with blue and gold work were paid for by the alms of the faithful. The confraternity‘s
oratorio was in an adjacent room. These conditions show how well guarded the banner was.
Whenever the banner was needed, it was carefully removed from its frame. This is the case
for all cult banners discussed in this chapter, therefore framing a banner and placing it above
an altar did not preclude its processional use.
The Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo (fig. 63a) was located above an altar as soon as it was
executed since the friars celebrated a ―mass of the gonfalone‖ (see appendix 11) during
certain festivities as early as 1477 at least. By the mid sixteenth century, the banner and its
altar were in a chapel near the sacristy. In July 1480, the convent successfully petitioned the
Commune for the adornment of the banner in the form of an elaborate frame (―tabernacolo‖)
for which they received thirty florins. Unfortunately this frame is no longer extant. In 1770,
the banner was moved to the second altar on the right from the entrance because the church
was entirely renovated. In the late eighteenth century, it was inserted in a marble architectural
ensemble, a lavishly ornate altar especially designed for it (fig. 63b) by the Confraternity of
San Simone and Fiorenzo.592 The gonfalone had won a place of honor and visibility in the
right transept next to the sacristy.
Today, the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova (fig. 62a-b) is visible is a similar setting.
It was placed above an altar in a special chapel as soon as it was made. A few months later,
its popularity constrained the confraternity of San Benedetto to ask for funds to protect it with
an iron grille that was finally set up by June 1475 at triple the cost of the banner. The original
direct access to the chapel containing the banner had enticed robbers to steal precious objects
591
592
See Borgnini, "Vicende costruttive e conservative,‖ 715.
For a reconstruction of the locations of the gonfalone in the church, see Mancini, Bonfigli, 136-8. The city
subsidy of 1480 is in ASP, ASPg, Riformanze 116, f. 30r. For the altarpiece, see Santi, Galleria Nazionale
dell‟Umbria, II: 71-72, fig. 54.
215
from the altar. In 1646, the gonfalone was encased in a new Baroque altar made of red gilded
wood imitating marble (fig. 62b) where it is still.593
Another contemporary example of a devotional painting that received the protection
of an iron grille is the Gonfalone of the Annunciation (fig. 71a) in the conventual church of
the Servites (see last chapter) for which 25 florins were spent. With the change of residents of
the monastery in 1543, that is, as the Observant Servites moved in, the interior of the church
was renovated and it lost its Gothic appearance. The making of a metal enclosure for a chapel
emphasizes the importance of what is being protected. Iron grilles were typically set up for
spaces that contained reliquaries and attracted donations in kind. For example, in 1439, the
sarcophagus containing the body of the blessed Egidio, the third companion of Saint Francis,
was removed from the crypt and placed in the Crispolti chapel in the church of San
Francesco. At that time, the Priors voted a subsidy in order to have an iron ―grata‖ made for
this ―arca.‖594
The Gonfalone of San Simone (fig. 64a) can still be found in its original location,
inside the Carmelite church, although it has occupied various locations within that space.
Ricci suggests that this processional painting was trimmed on its left side, eliminating a
group of kneeling faithful in the lower left corner, in order to make it look like an
altarpiece.595 It is documented indeed as placed above the altar of the Madonna del Carmelo
by the early seventeenth century. It was probably still there when it was miraculously
preserved from a fire that broke out in the choir in 1746.596 Two years later, the banner
593
The Priori subsidized the cost of the banner with 10 florins in 1472 while the grille cost 30 florins in 1475.
See Ricci, Storia critica, 80-81. The date of the altar appears in Lancellotti‘s Scorta Sagra quoted in Mancini,
Bonfigli, 131.
594
See Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 48 and Borgnini, "Vicende costruttive e conservative,‖ 685-6.
595
Ricci, Storia critica, 179. Also on this church: Raffaelle Marchesi, I lavori di pittura della chiesa del
Carmine (Perugia, 1856). I have not been able to consult this book.
596
The information given by an inscription in Latin dated 1840 and frescoed in capital letters below the
painting:
D.O.M
216
received a more decorous placement above the major altar, where Annibale Mariotti saw it in
1788. Serafino Siepi mentions in 1822 that the banner had been relocated onto the wall of the
choir (fig. 64b). The relocation may have happened shortly after the demise of Napoleon, a
few years before Siepi‘s publication.
A wall inscription dated 1840 below the banner states, in the form of a faux plaque,
that the friars of this monastery funded the new ornamentation for, and around, this banner.
This remodeling is extant and consists of the neo-classical frescoes executed in the choir in
order to spotlight the banner. The apsidal wall is painted with faux marble paneling and
coffers in the vault. High up in the center of the apse, an illusionistic aedicule (fig. 64c)
serves as a framing device for the Marian depiction placed on an axis with the main altar.
This frescoed tabernacle is complete with its two elegant Corinthian columns carved on their
shafts with arabesques and its entablature topped by a triangular pediment seen da sotto in su.
Thus, with restricted financial means, the friars of San Simone managed to custom-shape the
banner‘s visual environment. Although out of reach, the Gonfalone of San Simone is very
visible, enhanced by a trompe l‘oeil classical stone frame that is embraced by illusionistic and
resplendent marble panels. This artistic enterprise consequently erased previous wall
paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that had not been done for the banner. In
1840, I believe that this painting was at the height of its veneration. A couple of decades later,
with the unification of Italy and the swift appropriation of religious buildings by the new
QUOD CARMELI PERUSINI VETUSTISSIMAM DEIPARAE IMAGINEM
CUJUS OPE[RIS] AUGUSTA CIVITAS OLIM A PESTE SERVATA
MAXIMIS IN DIES CUMULATUR BENEFICIIS
IN HANC ARAM PRINCIPEM
UBI FLAMMAE EX INCENDIO IN CHORUM EXCITADO ANNO MDCCXLVI
MIRABILITER RESTITERE
TRANSLATAM ET DECENTIUS COLLOCATAM ANNO MDCCXLVIII
FRATRES KARMELITAE SUMPTIBUS CONVENTUS
ORNARI CURARUNT ANNO
MDCCCLV
Serafino Siepi, Descrizione topologico-istorica della città di Perugia (Perugia, 1822), I: 359 (Mario Roncetti,
ed., Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1994) reports a slightly different inscription: he adds
LUDOVICUS DE UBALDIS PIETATE ET NOBILITATE CLAVISSIMUS ORNARI after COLLOCATAM and CURAVIT instead
of CURARUNT.
217
State, the convent of San Simone was turned into an institution for the care of infants and
toddlers.597 The banner then lost its attractive powers but remained, alone and neglected, on
its apsidal wall.
The Gonfalone of Beata Colomba of 1494 (fig. 65a) possibly served as an altarpiece
as soon as it was executed. It is documented in the old Dominican church in the mid-sixteenth
century above the altar of the Rosary in the chapel ―under the bell tower.‖ It remained there at
least until 1630 where the acts of the trial for canonization of Beata Colomba still described
it.598 By the early eighteenth century, it had entered the new Dominican church and was
placed in the chapel of San Lorenzo. It was transferred to its own chapel and inserted into a
marble Baroque frame in, or soon after, 1711. This is still its present location (fig. 65b).
The Gonfalone of Montone (fig. 57a), from another Umbrian hilltop city, exemplifies
yet another endeavor. Commissioned by the Franciscans for their small single-nave church, it
received a privileged location above the first altar on the right facing that of the Montone‘s
leading family, the Fortebracci. The banner was executed in 1482 as part of the final phase of
a ten-year long embellishment and renovation of the church that was initiated by the friars
with financial aid from the local wealthy or noble families.599 This enterprise had been
spurred by the donation of a Holy Thorn to the Commune in 1473. The banner may have
been originally connected to the celebrations for the Holy Thorn but they are documented
only from 1597.600 Apparently, the banner was not made originally in the midst of an
597
M. Montella, ed., Perugia (Perugia: Electa Editori Umbri, 1993), 128.
598
San Domenico was rebuilt in the fifteenth century next to its first location called San Domenico Vecchio.
The new church received the popular name of san Domenico Nuovo. See A. Sartore, ―La fabbrica di San
Domenico da Benedetto XI a Pio II,‖ in La Basilica di San Domenico, 73-77 and in the same volume, L. Teza:
―Le opere d‘arte,‖ 488, n. 32, for the locations of the gonfalone. Crispolti (1597) in Teza, Raccolta delle cose
segnalate, 123-4, confirms the location of the gonfalone ―nella cappella sotto il campanile.‖
599
600
See Mercurelli Salari‘s entry 15 in Museo Comunale di San Francesco a Montone, 50-54.
Exploring the Archivio storico of Montone (such as the deliberations of the city officials) may yield further
information but the ―annali‖ do not document the donation of the holy ―Spina.‖ The earliest primary sources go
back to the late sixteenth century. See Angelo Ascani, Montone. La patria di Braccio Fortebracci (Città di
Castello, 1965), 261-271.
218
outbreak of pestilence (1475-9) but as an afterthought and as a way to enhance the prestige of
the Montone friars. Right after its execution in 1482, the banner was encased in a brand-new
monumental framework carved all‟antica and reminiscent of a triumphal arch topped by a
pediment with a bust of God the Father in a blessing gesture. Once placed within this over
seven-meter high ―mostra d‟altare‖ (fig. 57b), the banner concealed earlier frescoes and
proclaimed the positive effects of Franciscan intercession. It received an ornately convoluted
Baroque frame of gilded wood that was adapted in size –but not in style- to fit the
Renaissance tabernacle.601 This painting has been researched only in terms of its attribution
and of its iconography but not from the point of view of its ritual use. I propose to see here
the last painting of five in the series launched by the gonfalone of San Francesco in 1464. It
purposefully emulated the successful formula of a few of the most prestigious plague
banners. It may not have been made for processions in the first place but rather conceived as
an altarpiece that highly enhanced the redesign of a church. Because it was painted on fabric,
it could be easily removed from its altar and be transported if necessary -a weapon against the
ravages of the plague kept in reserve.
Thus, in Umbria – but this is probably true of all Italian regions - most plague banners
were preserved to this day because of their prolonged immobility and constant care. In
reality, these paintings became altarpieces that were always visible and available for public
indoor devotion.602 This arrangement avoided the kinds of manipulation common to
processed paintings that entailed repeatedly rolling them up to store them away in a chest or a
cupboard. It allowed the banners to benefit from a well-aired environment inside a church.
Only sporadically were they taken out of their elaborate frames or tabernacles and processed.
601
For the stone frame, see Mercurelli‘s entry ―Mostra d‘altare,‖ in Museo Comunale di San Francesco a
Montone, 48-54 with photo of the Gonfalone inserted in the rococo frame (p. 53) that she does not comment on.
For the rococo frame (350 x 160 cm), see Carla Mancini‘s entry 90 in the same volume, p. 143, with no mention
of the gonfalone.
602
For an overview of the stationary placement of banners in Northern and Central Italy, see Dehmer,
Bruderschaftsbanner, ―Formen stationäre Kollokation,‖ 124-133.
219
Banners as cult objects
In 1807, five banners (the Gonfaloni of San Francesco, Santa Maria Nuova, San
Fiorenzo, San Domenico, and of the Duomo) were the object of a publication with prayers
attached to them.603 It confirms the long-lasting belief in their effectiveness and their status as
cult images. Not all these banners combated the plague, but they were also promptly used to
also stop heavy rains or drought, or to restore clement weather, health, or peace. The Duomo
gonfalone (fig. 66) gained its fame much later than the other four banners as can be deduced
from records of the early modern era. Crispolti (1597) mentions four ―confaloni‖ that are
processed to stop the rain or recover clement weather while in Cesare Rossi‘s chronicle
(1575-1630), the ―usual‖ banners (i confaloni soliti) were those of San Francesco, San
Fiorenzo, and Santa Maria Nuova. Ottaviano Lancellotti in the mid-seventeenth century
writes about four gonfaloni that are taken out and carried in procession to obtain divine grace
in times of natural disasters.604
The Gonfalone of San Francesco of 1464 (fig. 51) was by far the most popular of all
and it is also the best documented. Michael Bury brought to light the logistics of the swift
implementation of its cult.605 First, ritual practices and reward were established soon after it
was executed, in the form of an indulgence (requested in October 1464) for the faithful who
attended plague processions. Then, came its adornment and maintenance with an appropriate
603
Lesmi, Notizie istoriche dei SS. Confaloni.
604
Crispolti in Teza, Raccolta delle cose segnalate, 99: ― Si suole portare in processione [the Gonfalone of San
Francesco] per la città, per impetrare la pioggia, o la serenità, com‘anche altri tre confaloni, de‘ quali di sotto si
farà mentione;‖ Fabretti, ―Memorie di Cesare Rossi,‖ in Cronache V: 198: ―ordinò [the bishop of Perugia]
ancora che il dì 29 aprile, e primo e 3 di maggio andassero le processioni per la città, e si portassero li Confaloni
soliti, cioè il confalone di S. Francesco, di S. Fiorenzo e di S. Maria Nuova;‖ Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, 172
(entry on 21st March):
―quattro gonfaloni che nei maggiori bisogni della città sogliono cavarsi e portarsi in processione per
ottenere come quasi sempre s‘ottiene dalla divina pietà la grazia della serenità o della pioggia, o della
sanità, o della pace. (...) Sono i detti Confaloni quadri grnadi di molta divozione fatti da questo publico
per voto in tempi di gran miserie, e calamità.‖
605
See also Ettore Ricci‘s unpublished manuscript, Storia critica, that records the various stages of the
Commune‘s involvement.
220
illumination and a lavish framing (―tabernacolo‖) in a chapel that was especially constructed
for the banner and completed by June 1466. The essential dynamics of patronage also worked
in order for the painting to take on a distinctive status: a powerful mendicant order took
charge of the banner while the civic authorities consistently sponsored its costs, and finally, a
special confraternity was created (by February 1465) for its custody. At least from the late
sixteenth century, it was thought to have been made miraculously. A popular belief held that
no one would die of the plague on the streets through which the gonfalone was taken and that
the plague ceased on the day of its procession.606 This banner was systematically present in
any crisis procession unlike the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova (fig. 62a) that did not leave
its chapel from its execution in 1471 to 1477, as the text of the petition of the confraternity of
San Benedetto to the Priori informs us. However, by the late sixteenth century, the latter
received precedence in processions, maybe because it was thought then and for a long time to
be the oldest.607
The Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato (fig. 51) is frequently mentioned in official
records because its procession and its maintenance over its altar implied alms from the
Commune, usually in the form of wax. If one considers the period that runs from 1464 to the
end of the 1520s, this extraordinary painting was paraded on the streets relatively often, from
an annual pace to eight-year intervals. The processional frequency of the Gonfalone of San
Francesco al Prato is better documented for the post-tridentine period. For example, from
1567 to 1659, it is mentioned 16 times in the municipal deliberations.608 In that period, each
606
―quando si portava processionalmente per la città, per quelle strade, che passava quel giorno, non solo non
moriva alcuna persona, ma etiam cessava la peste:‖ C. Crispolti in Teza, Raccolta delle cose segnalate, 98.
Annibale Mariotti, Lettere pittoriche perugine (Perugia: Balduel, 1788), 79, also recounts the belief in the
celestial creation of the Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato.
607
―Memorie du Romolo Allegrini,‖ in Fabretti, Cronache V: 96. Crispolti, Perusia Augusta, believed it to date
back to 1430. Massari, Saggio storico-medico, 45, reports the year 1464.
608
The reason for the processions with this banner is not consistently documented in the municipal
deliberations. It was taken out in 1567 (because of the continuous rain); in 1568; in 1587; for 3 days in June and
in November 1589 to obtain clement weather; for the same reason in 1595 and in 1601 (together with the
banners from Santa Maria Nuova and San Fiorenzo); in 1617 for the visit of the seven station churches; in 1621
221
Perugian would have seen the Gonfalone of San Francesco paraded on average only five
times in a single lifetime. Other miraculous banners were even more rarely exhibited
outdoors. According to a chronicler, the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova was not taken out
for 24 years (between 1563 and 1587) and the Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo for six years
(between 1581 and 1587).609
Whether seeing these banners was an annual event (in the late 1460s or in the 1520s)
or the highlight of a decade, their appearance was an extraordinary sight that was never
scheduled in advance. In the context of penitential processions, reverence for them reinforced
solidarity and contributed to social consensus. Through repetition, ritual features created the
feeling of belonging to a specific urban community: sensory paraphernalia such as wax,
incense costumes, chants and chiming bells punctuated the solemn forward and solemn
motion of ordered groups advancing down familiar routes of the city. In penitential
processions, extraordinary banners were presented as the prime means for communication
between the profane world and God, and the ritual context effectively sacralised them. The
process was similar to Marcel Mauss‘ research on the nature of sacrifice in which a
propitiatory victim was destroyed in order for celestial powers to intervene favourably.
Processions were likewise a process of purification and they also included donations (of wax,
for example) to the Church, similarly to immolations in other cultures. Processions were a
means of collective expiation of sin and in that context, banners became a concrete means to
attract divine attention and grace.610 However, I believe that iconography may also account
for the power of such paintings. The Virgin was definitely the most potent intercessory figure
for good health and for clement weather; and in 1627. It was also processed in 1629 (the year of dedication of
the city to Virgin); in 1630 (plague); in 1639; 1646; 1649 (heavy rain); 1657 (plague); 1659. See Riccieri,
―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 104, 113-4, 118, 123, 127-133. A chronicle kept in the archives of San Pietro in
Perugia, adds even more years for the plague. See Archivio Storico di San Pietro, Perugia, ms. CM 326.
609
610
Fabretti, ―Memorie di R. Allegrini,‖ in Cronache V: 96.
H. Henri and M. Mauss, “Essai sur la fonction et la nature du sacrifice,” in: Année Sociologique II (1899) :
29-138. Translated as Sacrifice: its Nature and Function (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1964).
222
in the imagery of Umbrian extraordinary banners. In the following section, I seek other
reasons, beyond mere artistic emulation, for the success of the short-lived formula based on
Bonfigli‘s Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato of 1464 (fig. 51).
4) Mary’s supreme authority: the aura of textile
In the Umbrian type for the plague Virgin of Mercy (figs. 51; 53; 55; 56; 57), Mary
has complete sovereign autonomy in averting the plague (symbolized by the arrows) by
countering her son‘s destructive plans (the arrows smash on her dress). This formula was
short-lived and restricted to seven Italian banners, essentially Umbrian.611 To achieve a
convincing representation of her absolute power, the artists have placed Mary full-face on the
central axis where she dominates in size all other figures and monopolizes the space of the
composition. The saints, symmetrically distributed around her, acknowledge her gleaming
presence by leaning towards her with imploring hand gestures. As Queen of Heaven, the
Virgin wears a crown and a halo while the gilded background sets the top half of the scene in
heaven. More significantly, this iconography suggests that Mary can defeat a divine plan
being carried out, an ability made visible by the arrows that break on her invincible cloak.
Once carried out on the streets, the almost life-size Virgin on the banner must have seemed to
be marching along with the faithful, including them under her widely spread protective
wings. In this roster of banners, Mary‘s conspicuous dress deserves a deeper analysis because
it was essential in the perception of her power. It is painted in gold leaf to emulate luxurious
silk worked as red and gold brocade, the most sumptuous textile of the day, sported only by
the highest-ranking secular or ecclesiastical figures.
611
The seven banners are: the Gonfaloni of San Francesco (fig. 51), of Corciano (fig. 55), of Civitella
Benazzone (fig. 53), of Paciano (fig. 56), and of Montone (fig. 57) to which the Gonfalone of Terni (fig. 67)
must be added and another banner, kept today in Englewood but probably originating from Foligno (Dehmer,
cat. 28). The already mentioned processional panel from Tuscania is an example from Latium. Another banner
outside Umbria (Imola) has a comparable but not similar iconography with a kneeling Virgin of Mercy in a
three-quarter view (Dehmer, cat. 46).
223
Mary‘s extraordinary attire
Mary‘s cloak, adorned with gold braiding, shows a typical Florentine design which
scholars call ―ferrronerie‖ because it looked like ironwork. In the mid-1420s, Masolino
staged an elegant Florentine citizen wearing a similar coat in his frescoed scene of the
Resurrection of Tabitha (Church of the Carmine, Florence). It can be reconstructed as a thin
stem circling around corollas enclosing four pomegranates. The gold-brocaded velvet of
Mary‘s dress was an Italian specialty and the most expensive woven cloth in late medieval
and Renaissance times. This textile is recurrent in Italian or Northern Renaissance art in
depictions of Mary, Christ, saints, or aristocrats.612 It always signals divine kinship, might, or
supreme authority in art as well as in life.
In Giovanni Boccati‘s Madonna dell‟orchestra (fig. 72), the Virgin‘s blue mantle and
her red dress, both made of lavishly brocaded velvet, dominate the composition. Bonfigli
used such velvet for St. Nicholas‘ cope and on of the Magi‘s cloak in his Adoration panel
while in his Annunciation panel for the Perugian notaries, he painted this fabric as a cloth of
honor, using the stem as a supplementary halo for Mary (fig. 21). A brocaded velvet drape of
honor forms a luxurious backdrop for the Virgin in Niccolò da Foligno‘s Gonfalone
dell‟Annunziata (fig. 71, discussed in the last chapter) and in the Gonfalone of St Fiorenzo
(fig. 63a). This textile is not limited to Mary or to her dress. In the Gonfalone of Santa Maria
Nuova (fig. 62a), that of San Bernardino (fig. 13), or of the Beata Colomba (fig. 65a), it is
Christ who is seen wearing a brocaded cloak. In the Gonfalone of Sant‟Anna from Bettona
(fig. 73), it is Saint Anne who wears one as a protection against the fatal arrows. In all these
works, the awe-inspiring clothes are an essential element for producing an image of
612
On brocaded velvet, see Jacqueline Herald, Renaissance Dress in Italy. 1400-1500 (London: Bell and
Hyman, 1981). For the Trecento, see Brigitte Klesse, Seidenstoffe in der italienischen Malerei des 14.
Jahrhunderts (Bern: Stämpfli, 1967).
224
unquestionable authority in the eyes of the faithful. In the Gonfalone of San Simone (fig.
64a), the Virgin sports another fashionable textile called ‗porpora‘, made of heavy silk, here
white and gold, that connotes leadership. In his fresco of Sigismondo Malatesta praying in
front of his patron saint (1451), Piero della Francesca has portrayed both the ruler of Rimini
and St. Sigismund wearing a gold-brocaded white silk textile that was synonymous with
imperial and regal luxury (fig. 74).613
By disregarding how folds should affect the shape of the decorative designs on
Mary‘s dress, Bonfigli and his followers highlighted the regularly of that pattern but they also
made Mary look more two-dimensional. This pictorial manipulation has two consequences:
the figurative weave that stresses its symbolism is easily recognizable while the clarity and
frontality of the pattern add another degree to the iconic appearance of the Virgin. The floral
weave can be readily identifiable as the ―motif of the pomegranate‖ that is present on the
majority of Italian luxurious textiles of the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries. This generic term
was coined in the nineteenth century and includes lotus, pineapple, pinecone, carnation, or
thistle. More specifically, the banners of San Francesco al Prato, Corciano, Civitella, and
Montone display the griccia design. It consists of a curving stem blooming into a seven-lobed
corolla which encloses a pomegranate amid a profusion of surrounding vegetal elements.614
The Perugian Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato and that of Civitella show exactly the
same fabric. Civitella (fig. 53) shows a full repeat, that is, the complete module of a woven
pattern to be repeated while the Perugian banner (fig. 51) features at the bottom of the dress
the beginning of the next repeat, the seven-lobed corolla. In the Gonfalone of Montone (fig.
57a) and that of Corciano (fig. 55), Mary wears an identical dress with a serpentine trunk that
613
For a definition of ―porpora‖ and the linguistic use of the color ―purple,‖ see John Gage, Color and Culture:
Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction (Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1999). Jane
Bridgeman, "Dress in the Works of Piero Della Francesca," Apollo 136 (Oct. 1992): 218-25.
614
On the 15th century evolution of the pomegranate motifs, see Fanny Podreider, Storia dei tessuti d‟arte in
Italia. Secoli XII-XVIII (Bergamo: Istituto italiano d‘arte grafiche, 1928), 107-114.
225
divides into two separate branches running vertically and parallel to each other. Each of the
first symmetrical arches sprout into a lobed leaf with a pomegranate inscribed inside while
the second arches merge to bloom into a single inflorescence, the seven-lobed corolla motif.
In the Gonfalone of Paciano, we can see two full repeats of another module while that of
Terni shows four.
The pomegranate motif pleased both the secular and the ecclesiastical clientele
because of its ancient and Christian symbolism of fertility and immortality. Associated with
the Virgin Mary, it alludes to Christ‘s resurrection or to her chastity. 615 This symbolism is
highlighted in these plague banners by the non-distortion of the motif despite the heavy folds
of the dress of Mary. The conspicuous corolla, strategically placed at the very center of the
image, acts as a focus on the most significant part of Mary‘s body, her womb, the receptacle
of the Incarnation. Bonfigli has thus turned a recognizable type of textile into a symbol of the
righteousness of the Virgin‘s protective power. Additionally, this stem recalls images of the
Tree of Jesse in which the Virgin is the terminus of a genealogical vegetal shaft emerging
from the body of David‘s ancestor.
The special attention that was given to the tubular, regularly spaced, and parallel folds
of Mary‘s dress and cloak, also highlighted the weight of the fabric. The numerous cloth
makers and merchants of Umbria would certainly have gauged in these banners the vast
amounts of textile and costly dyes necessary for the making of Mary‘s raiment. They would
also have been able to evaluate its astronomic price.616 What is striking in Mary‘s dress is the
representation of an abundance of gold threads which dominate the weft and illuminate the
whole weave and that gave the name of ―cloth of gold‖ to such fabrics. The highly praised
velluti operati, that is figured velvets, were made of a combination of cut and uncut areas
615
James Hall, Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (Boulder: Westview Press, rev. ed. 1979[1974]), 249;
330; Guy de Tervarent, Attributs et symboles dans l‟art profane (Geneva: Droz, 1997[1958]), 244.
616
Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in fifteenth century Italy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
226
(called ‗pile on pile‘); the more sumptuous ones comprised gold threads and gold loops.
Technically, the scarlet velvet pile stands out in relief between the metallic areas.
Expressing authority through clothing: color, patterns, and form
The red dye for the shades of the depicted scarlet velvet on Mary‘s dress must be the
insect extract called kermes, of the best quality and highest cost as an import from
Constantinople. Florence and Venice strictly regulated and controlled the quality of its silkwoven fabrics, which were internationally famous. The red color has been highly symbolic of
authority since antiquity because of the cost involved for the best dyeing quality and because
of the restrictions as to who was allowed to wear it.617 Dressing up with red mantles to attend
special occasions was a deep concern of the Perugian officials since it is the topic of many of
their deliberations reported by chroniclers. These ―mantelli de rosato‖ were ordered from
Florence for the papal entry in September 1443 and November 1449. In July 1450, a
Florentine envoy was presented with a red habit by the civic authorities so that he could walk
solemnly through the main piazza and the city, preceded by trumpeters, and announce the
peace concluded between the King of Aragon and Florence.618
Extant gold and silver brocaded velvets have been found in graves of political leaders
buried in their best attire, or in sacristies. For example, the lord of Rimini, Sigismondo
Malatesta, was buried in 1468 with his brocaded cape, doublet and silk belt.619 In Mantegna‘s
fresco showing the Gonzaga family in their ducal palace at Mantua, this resplendent textile
appears everywhere from the curtains to the clothing (fig. 75). Reproduced in these banners is
either a Venetian or Florentine cloth, close to the extant robes Pope Nicholas V ordered in
617
See Gage, Color and Culture, especially his first chapter: ―The Classical Inheritance,‖ 11-27.
618
Diario del Graziani, respectively, 537 (for 1443); 621 (for 1449); and 627 (for 1450).
619
See Flury-Lemberg, Textile Conservation, entries 22-24, 440-455.
227
both cities for the celebrations marking San Bernardino‘s canonization in 1450. These
examples show the connotations of power and wealth that this brocade implied.
A look at Italian sumptuary laws confirms that Perugian legislation was no different
from other cities in Italy and that only rulers and high-ranking clerics could be clothed in this
luxurious textile.620 From 1366, the Perugian Statutes forbade women to wear any garment
made of silk (―drappo,‖ ―setanino,‖ camuccà‖) or velvet (―velluto‖) with or without a gold
weave, including coats (―mantellum‖). Even linings made of these precious fabrics were
outlawed. Some types of silk fabrics (―sindone,‖ ―taffito,‖ ―ciambellocto‖) were allowed as
long as their price did not exceed 25 florins. The papal legate‘s constitution of 1445
comprised very precise provisions: owning and wearing pile on pile silk or gold or silver
brocade was strictly illegal, even at home. Female but also male trespassers as well as
complacent tailors were liable to a fine, and possibly excommunication. A brief legal
interlude in 1506-8 allowed professors‘ and knights‘ wives to wear one large jacket
(―camorra‖) made of gold or silver brocade while one pair of detachable sleeves of that
precious material was permissible to anyone. But from April 1508, this sumptuary tolerance
was revoked and whatever their ―status, rank, or condition,‖ ladies were not granted any item
of clothing ―generated‖ in gold, silver, or embroidery. This disposition is documented until
the end of the sixteenth century.621 The other limitations include sartorial ornaments and
jewels, the width of sleeves and the length of female garments.
620
On Sumptuary laws in Italy, see M. Kosevi Killerby, Sumptuary Laws in Italy 1200-1500 (Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002); Diane Owen Hughes, ―Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in
Renaissance Italy‖ in Disputes and Settlements: Law and Human Relations in the West, John Bossy, ed.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 69-99. M. Newett, ―The Sumptuary Laws of Venice‖ in T. F.
Tout and James Tait, eds., Historical essays by members of the Owens college, Manchester (London and New
York: Longmans, Green, and co., 1902).
621
Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione Suntuaria, 72-73: De velluto et drappis non portandis, a provision repeated at
the beginning of the 15th century, ibid. 101 and 111; deliberation of 22nd June 1402, 106-107; papal legate‘s
constitution of 18th March 1445, 124-7. For 1506, ibid., 150-153, see entries 67-68 For the prohibition of gold
and silver brocade thereafter, see entries 71 (1508); 78 (1529) and subsequent entries for the years 1529; 1536;
1548; 1562; post-1564; 1571.
228
On these plague banners, Mary‘s mantle was noticeable because female garments
were not supposed to trail on the floor beyond one Perugian foot (36 cm) as per the papal
legate‘s decree of 1460.622 Her attire on these paintings was perceived as exceptional,
especially since these laws mainly, if not exclusively, targeted women. The gold brocade of
her dress must have glittered in the day light when banners were carried outdoors but the
Virgin must have appeared even more stunning when one came close to the candle- and oillamp lit altars where, in the darkness of a church, these gonfaloni were triumphantly erected.
The emphasis on the sheen of Mary‘s dress turned the banners into impressive depictions,
surely capable of exerting supernatural deeds in the eyes of contemporaries.
Velvet, even if in a plain and non-brocaded version was itself a desirable fabric and it
was offered as a trophy in tournaments. For example, in 1467, the Commune of Perugia
announced a ―giostra‖ reserved to noble men and the award was a nine-meter long ―pallio,‖
or cloth, of blue velvet. The illustrated chronicle of Villani offers examples of the parade of
such palii (fig. 76). Tributes from subjected territories also took the form of cloth like the
submission of the palii on Sant‘Ercolano‘s day in Perugia (1st March). It was the occasion for
a parade of horsemen holding the cloth like a flag; this textile donation demonstrated the
political dominance of a city like Perugia or Florence. A fifteenth-century Florentine wedding
chest (cassone) shows this scene (fig. 77). These cloths were later recycled as altar
adornment, vestment, flag, or as canopy maintaining the textile‘s connotations with
submission, sacredness, and magnitude.
Figured and brocaded velvets were also encoded with the Church‘s magnificence and
authority. Sumptuous clothes were frequently bequeathed to a church and turned into
vestments and altar adornments. For example, there is an extant chasuble from the late
622
The length was extended to two feet from 1485. Ibid., entries 53 (1460), 61 (1475), 62 (1485), 71 (1508),
129-130; 142-143; 143-144, 157. Angelo Martini, Manuale di metrologia ossia misure, pesi e monete in uso
attualmente e anticamente (rome: Editrice E.R.A., 1976), 518-519 for measures in Perugia.
229
fifteenth century in Orvieto that bishop Sebastiano Vanzi wore in 1563 for the Countil of
Trent (fig. 78). In an antependium for the Siena cathedral, the length of the cloth is used
horizontally so that the griccia pattern reads as an undulating line to which embroidery was
added (fig. 79). Mary‘s cloak actually replicates, not a secular garment, but a semi-circular
cope held together with a morse (or clasp) of precious craftsmanship. Copes were worn by
clerical dignitaries during religious ceremonies and pageants. By opening up her protective
mantle, Mary actively discloses her ecclesiastically sanctioned authority and shows a dress
that has a liturgical resonance since this textile was used in the making of church
paraphernalia and vestments.
This red and gold velvet, being used on altars, associates Mary with the decorum
linked to the sacrament of the Eucharist. Mary‘s cloak and dress, reminiscent of vestments,
also stress her role as the embodiment of the Church. The pomegranate with its numerous
seeds further alludes to the spread of Christian faith. Thus, Mary pictorially confirms her role
as ―Ecclesia‖ (the congregation) and rallies the faithful and sustains their hope for salvation.
She is accessible to ordinary people as well as to holy figures. Her symbolic status is
reiterated as she typically is figured standing above a church, usually the one where the
banner was kept. Therefore, for a fifteenth-century viewer, Mary‘s clothes in these banners
were associated both with the secular and with the ecclesiastical elite. In the engraved copies
of banners in the modern era (fig. 80), Mary‘s dress shows no brocaded motif, an indication
that this renaissance sartorial fashion bore no special meanings to a seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century audience.
Mary‘s supreme authority as the ―Madonna della Misericordia‖ derives from longheld beliefs about her royal and maternal status which allows her to placate her son. These
beliefs were exemplified in widely read literary accounts of her miracles and in prayers. In
the Umbrian series of five banners ranging from 1464 to 1482 (figs. 51; 53; 55; 56; 57), the
230
Virgin of Mercy looms as a powerful agent in her own right and does not even acknowledge
the presence of a wrathful God. This must have been a disturbing implication of female
autonomy from a theological and a social perspective. This is why, in my opinion, the
representation of Mary‘s independent sovereignty was not widely adopted. In contemporary
and later Marian plague banners from Umbria, the Virgin still hols an intercessory role but
she does not dominate the composition anylonger. In the Gonfalone of Assisi (fig. 68), she is
placed in the top left corner from which she gestures towards a distant Christ; Assisi‘s patron
saints appear much larger than the Heavenly court. In the Gonfalone of San Domenico (fig.
65), Mary, off center, still occupies a privileged position close to Christ up in Heavens but
she is one of many saints who, in a humble and obedient way, pray for his benevolence.In the
Gonfalone of the Duomo (fig. 66), Mary forcibly appeals for her son‘s clemency by
restraining his threatening arm but she is marginalized by the emphasis on the population and
a precise veduta of Perugia that take up two-thirds of the canvas. The more radical plague
imagery that was developed in Umbria, depicting a monumental, all-powerful Madonna
outdoing God‘s actions in his presence, did not survive the Reformation. The Council of
Trent banned this iconography as heterodox.623
5) Ordinary banners against the plague
I have discussed in this chapter plague banners of a special kind only: those that, by
working miracles, became objects of a cult, hence their deserved epithet of ―extraordinary.‖
They were typically placed above an altarpiece for public devotion and entrusted to a
confraternity for their maintenance and processional display. Many confraternities that had
emerged out of an epidemic context did not own extraordinary banners but they did have
623
Marina Warner, Alone of Her Sex. The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary (New York: Vintage Books,
1983 [1976]), 327-8.
231
ordinary ones. In general, these ―segni‖ did not show Mary but instead a confraternity‘s
patron saint believed to act efficaciously against epidemic outbreaks.
Marshall has shown that many plague images may displace the Virgin from center
stage and portray instead other saints connected to pandemic prophylaxis, such as Sebastian,
the oldest plague saint in the Christian world.624 We have seen that in the processions of
March, June, and September of 1448, the public demonstration of piety was supposed to
show proof of penance and reliquaries were added to address a variety of saints. But, when it
became clear that these solemn events had brought little respite from the raging epidemic, the
council of the Priori and Camerarii turned to Saint Sebastian. On 5th December 1448, they
called for a mandatory city-wide celebration of Saint Sebastian‘s day with large quantities of
wax (540 pounds) subsidized by them as in the other major feasts. 625 In January 1456, this
feast day (20th January) was promoted to an annual celebration that departed from the
cathedral and reached Sant‘Agostino. It was the church with which the cult of Saint Sebastian
was associated in Perugia because it had a chapel dedicated to that saint, possibly as early as
the mid-fourteenth century. The connection is also explained by the involvement of the
Confraternita di Sant‘Agostino that received a subsidy of six pounds of wax from the
government for the annual procession. Its premises were adjacent to the church. The Perugian
cult of Sebastian was given a new importance with a confraternity founded in 1483 and fully
dedicated to the otherwise abhorred and terrifying care of the plague-stricken.626 As early as
624
For a list of Renaissance cycles of Sebastian in Italy, see Marshall, Waiting on the Will of the Lord, 264-266,
appendix 1.
625
ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, December 5, 1448: ―Lex quod festum Sancti Sebastiani custodiatur pro parte
pestem,‖ f. 112r and ibidem December 22, 1448: ―Lex quod custodiatur dies Sancti Sebastiani,‖ f. 116v:
(...) ad hoc ut omnipotens Deus sua pietate et misericordia et meritis beati martiris Sancti Sebastiani
cuis merita patriam Lombardie a peste et epidemie liberaverunt et omnes etiam et personas civitatis et
comitatus Perusii ad dictam horrenda peste et epidemie liberare dignetur; quod dies in qua est festum
dicti martiris celebratur, custodiatur et ab operibus desistatur ut aliis diebus in statuto comunis Perusii
descriptis (...).‖
626
ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, 12th January 1456; f; 4: ―lex luminarie Sancti Sebastiani perpetuo faciendi.‖
Although the Confraternity of Saint Sebastian was also based in Sant‘Agostino, their participation in the
232
1464, Saint Sebastian is systematically present in the roster of saints depicted in Umbrian
processional paintings (figs. 51; 53; 55; 56; 57; 63; 65; 68). On ordinary banners, he appears
by himself: ―Those who are dedicated to God and Saint Sebastian will never die of the
disease‖ says the inscription on a banner from Foligno (fig. 81) painted by Pierantonio
Mezzastris around 1477.627
Saint Roch is the other typical saint invoked against the plague, often in conjunction
with Sebastian. In Foligno, in June 1481, the Commune decreed the annual celebration of
Saint Roch‘s feast day (16th August) with a procession that ended in the local Servite church
where an altar was dedicated to that saint. The city government of Foligno also endowed this
altar with a taper of five pounds to be sent every year on that occasion. A banner (fig. 82)
representing Saint Roch with a tiny praying population at his feet, present in that church, was
chosen for that annual procession. The inscription above Rocco‘s halo confirms the saint‘s
intercessory ability (― Oh Lord, through prayers and rewards, save us from the scourges of
your ire that our sins deserve‖) while the sentence on the lower painted frame reflects the
imploring mood of the repenting sinners (―Oh Lord, reach out your arm. Do not let us
perish‖).628
In Perugia, a chapel was erected in the honor of Saint Roch in Santa Maria degli
Angeli in 1487. In 1523, the parishioners of Ponte Felcino, outside Perugia, commissioned
under the aegis of their priest to Bernardino di Mariotto (fig. 83) a banner that shows the
Virgin of Mercy flanked by San Felicissimo, to whom the church was dedicated, and Saint
Roch. That same year, the confraternity of Saint Sebastian will include Saint Roch in its
procession of their patron saint is not recorded as being funded by the civic authorities. However, they regularly
received alms from the government for their care of the plague-stricken.
627
The inscription in the banner from Foligno reads ―Chi a Dio et San Sebastiano se raccomanda mai da morbo
non morirà.‖ See Elvio Lunghi‘s entry in Nicolaus Pictor, 177-8.
628
See E. Cecconelli‘s entry for that banner, in Nicolaus Pictor, 175-6. The latin inscriptions in a Gothic font
read ―Parce nobis D(omi)ne flagella ire tue que / pecca(ta) n(ost)ra meretur p(re)cibus et meritis‖ and
―Exte(n)de D(omi)ne bracchium tuum nos ne perramus.‖
233
dedication and, from then on, add the celebration of the feast-day of the latter. For their
processions, the confratelli carried a statue of Saint Roch together with their statue of Saint
Sebastian, a ritual practice that is documented until at least 1771, as the Diario perugino
ecclesiastico e civile of that year attests.629 In a banner painted by Lo Spagna in the early
sixteenth century (fig. 84), these two saints dominate the composition as the major figures
able to protect the small community of Bazzano, near Spoleto, depicted between them. They
address a smaller figure of God placed in the upper center. This plague banner in which the
Virgin is absent shows that Mary can be deprived of any intercessory role. Another popular
plague saint is Bernardino of Siena whose propagandistic imagery will be discussed in the
next chapter.
Marshall has also stressed the importance of other plague saints, such as Nicholas of
Tolentino whose canonization in 1446 reinforced his cult as a thaumaturge in an epidemic
context. His presence in the Gonfalone of Paciano (fig. 56) testifies to his role in intervening
in times of a plague threat. The Perugian Augustinians who did not possess any extraordinary
banner successfully petitioned the civic authorities in 1495 in order to turn Nicholas‘s feast
day on September 10 into a new major celebration (―una festa di precetto‖) for ever (―in
perpetuo‖). From that year, the friars received alms from the government for this procession,
but this is not documented on a yearly basis and only, it seems, until 1537.630
In the light of the Umbrian examples, one must agree with Marshall that plague
imagery was a creative response to the threat of the plague and played a reassuring role for
worshippers. Among the various types of gonfaloni, Michael Bury has rightly treated those of
the plague as a special category. Not only did they, in many cases, become cult objects with a
629
For the Confraternity of Saint Sebastian and Saint Roch, see Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 77-79, 83, 9192 for the years 1483; Marinelli, Confraternite, 966, entry 5307. For the banner of Ponte Felcino, see Loretta
Rossi‘s entry in V. Sgarbi, ed., Pittori del Rinascimento a Sanseverino: Signorelli, Pinturrichio, Bernardo di
Mariotto (Milan: Motta, 2006), 202-203.
630
1537 is the last mention of it in Riccieri‘s “Annali ecclesiastiche.‖ However, his interesting research has
many important lacunae.
234
power surpassing that of relics, but they were kept and maintained to this day. Their longlasting life is proof of the reassuring role of plague banners in times of desperation and
highlights the social networks that these mobile images fostered. The first known plague
image of the Madonna of Mercy (ca. 1372) was conceived exclusively for the protection of
its confraternal patrons in Genoa. Unlike this example, the Umbrian banners show Mary
sheltering a mixed crowd, an image of an ideal population.
Plague banners embody a visual way by which religious orders and confraternities
indicated their pious intent of requesting protection on behalf of the welfare of an entire
community. Processions with such images were an act of contrition and piety addressed to
the divine spheres. The venerated Perugian banners, especially that of San Francesco and
another four called the ―santi gonfaloni,‖ became a systematic recourse in times of crisis and
their display in penitential processions was subject to rules of precedence. The significance of
these extraordinary banners changed over time. While the Gonfalone of San Francesco al
Prato was highly revered and given an entire chapel from its inception in the 1460s, crisis
processions included several extraordinary banners by the mid-seventeenth century. One
piece of textual evidence is Lancellotti‘s Scorta Sagra, a guidebook to all annual Perugian
commemorations of liturgical and civic-religious feasts:
―In the major needs of the city, four banners are customarily taken out and carried in
processions in order to obtain, out of divine pity, the grace of clement weather or the
grace of rain, that of health, or of peace. They have first rank in processions and
precede all others. There are large devotional paintings that were made out of public
vows in times of great miseries and calamity.‖631
From the seventeenth century on, the Perugian santi gonfaloni were reproduced as
prints, another indication of their popularity and dissemination (fig. 80). Down to the
nineteenth century, these banners elicited collective ritual behavior. In 1797, prayers were
631
Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, entry on 21st March. The missing banner of the five must be that of the Duomo
because of its later recognition as a miraculous banner.
235
addressed to them so that the drought would cease; a procession took place on one day and
they were processed for the next two days. The rain came two days later, confirming once
again their miraculous powers.632 I already mentioned the 1807 booklet dedicated to five of
these holy banners, to which the Gonfalone of San Simone should be added. The reception
elsewhere of the Umbrian Virgin of Mercy banners as established in Bonfigli‘s 1464
Gonfalone of San Francesco is visible in a fresco painted by Caporali around 1480 in the
Church of Sant‘Antonio in Deruta (fig. 85). The success of this iconography is certainly due
to the straightforward representation of a symbolic act of sacred protection and its immediate
recipients. The next chapter further explores the processes through which images were
empowered with apotropaic qualities, looking this time at wooden panels linked to a popular
preacher who was pronounced a saint very quickly, Bernardino of Siena. Conversely, I also
stress how images themselves could nurture the cult of that saint.
632
E. Ricci, ed., ―Cronaca di Giambologna Marini,‖ in BDSPU XXXIX (1942): 226-227.
236
CHAPTER FOUR: The unifying power of Bernardinian images in Umbria
This chapter examines the formation of Bernardinian cults in Perugia through two
categories of artistic and propagandistic projects. First, I analyze wooden tablets (―tavolette‖),
embellished only with the trigram ―YHS‖ (the first three letters of the name ―Jesus‖) and
made pictorial through unobtrusive, but important, figurative additions. Launched by
Bernardino in his lifetime, these panels had, like the ―extraordinary banners‖ of the previous
chapter, both a processional and a stationary use, and many of them acquired a cult status.
The tavolette have received little scholarly attention from an art historical point of view.
Theologians have elaborated on the origin of the inscription and discussed it in terms of
hagiographic issues relative to San Bernardino, and the use of the tablets has been discussed
in relation to his preaching agenda.633 I examine these tablets as artistic, apotropaic, and ritual
objects linked with Franciscan identity.
Secondly, I deal with symbolic representations that promoted San Bernardino‘s shortlived pre-eminence in Perugia. Communal and Franciscan propaganda comes to the fore in
the so-called Gonfalone of San Bernardino of 1465 (fig. 13).634 This large work, probably not
a processional banner, adds another dimension to the nature of the use of canvas paintings
and extends the discussion started in Chapters Two and Three about the immobility of
processional banners. Its iconography allows us to understand what political, confraternal,
and religious groups had at stake in the process of cult formation. In this picture, an oversized
San Bernardino is identified through his most common iconographic attribute, the trigram.
Below him, in the lower third of the composition, the conclusion of the annual procession in
his honor unfolds in front of the Oratory of San Bernardino, a building funded by the
633
For an illustrated description of most extant tablets, see Vincenzo Pacelli, ―Il monogramma del Nome di
Gesù,‖ in Enciclopedia Bernardiniana. Iconografia. Volume II, M. A. Pavone and V. Pacelli, eds. (L'Aquila:
Centro promotore generale delle celebrazioni del VI Centenario della Nascita di San Bernardino da Siena,
1981).
634
The Gonfalone of San Bernardino (a contemporary name for it) measures 349 cm by 221cm. It is kept today
in the Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria in Perugia (inv. n. 164).
237
Commune upon a Franciscan initiative. Together with the public ritual, this ornate sacred
edifice, for which the Gonfalone was probably painted, best expressed the local reverence for
this saint, even if San Bernardino failed to be included in the civic pantheon.
1) Ritual settings for wondrous panels: the tablets with the trigram
The ―Bernardinan tablets‖ are mobile blue panels with gilded letters that originated as
props for the sermons of the Observant Franciscan Bernardino da Siena who, from 1417, used
to display such a tablet as a concrete medium for visualizing his concepts about the Name of
Jesus.635 Although his ideas on that theme originate in the writings of St. Bernard and of
Ubertino da Casale, the active display of these square wooden panels must be credited to the
Sienese friar. Only a handful of the fifteenth-century versions survive. They were used in the
numerous sermons and processions initiated by Franciscan circles. Umbria seems to be the
richest region for extant tablets, with at least seven known examples, all rectangular, possibly
a regional preference.636 The Umbrian tablets cannot be dated very precisely. Some of them,
such as the ones from Assisi and Spoleto, are thought to be authentic donations of Bernardino
to the cities he had visited and would therefore range from 1427 (when the cult was
approved) to 1444 (Bernardino‘s death). Others must have been executed in the wake of the
visits of Bernardino or his immediate followers such as Giacomo della Marca, Giovanni da
Capistrano, Alberto da Sarteano, and Fra Ercolano in the second half of the fifteenth century.
635
Gaudenzio Melani, O.F.M., ―San Bernardino e il nome di Gesù,‖ in S. Bernardino da Siena, saggi e ricerche
pubblicati nel quinto centenario della morte (1444-1944) (Milano: Società editrice "Vita e pensiero,‖ 1945),
278, quoting Pacetti in AFH, 1940. For an overview of Bernardino‘s sermons on the theme of the Name of
Jesus, see 252-57.
636
The Umbrian panels that I have located are in Perugia, Assisi, Montefalco, Deruta (two panels), Spoleto, and
one side of a stendardo from Trevi. As far as Umbria is concerned, Vincenzo Pacelli, Iconografia, only
describes the Perugian (194, fig. 716), Spoletan (192, fig. 705), and Assisi (193, fig. 711-714) tablets. However,
the Perugian tablet reproduced in that book is not recorded as part of the collections of the Galleria Nazionale
dell‘Umbria (oral communication of the curatorial staff and Professor Paola Passalacqua, conservator at this
museum).
238
The Perugian (fig. 86a) and Montefalco (fig. 86b) examples can serve as a precise
illustration of Bernardino‘s own iconographic intentions.637 The background must be blue
because this color is symbolic of the ―glory of Heaven.‖ The three letters YHS are written in
what was then a quite common Gothic script, and must be gilded because, as Bernardino
explains, gold surpasses all other metals and is thus appropriate for writing the name of Jesus.
A sunburst made of twelve major rays with numerous shorter ones interspersed between
them, surrounds the letters providing a mnemonic device for the preacher‘s conceptual
explanations to the faithful. An inscription in Gothic minuscule from Paul‘s Epistle to the
Philippians runs around the edges of the panel and translates as ―at the Name of Jesus, every
knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.‖638
Extant tavolette of San Bernardino: text or image?
One important detail does not appear in Bernardino‘s prescriptions, namely the short
horizontal stroke on the upper portion of the ‗h‘. The abbreviation of ‗Jesus‘ to ‗yhs‘, not
Bernardino‘s invention, presents a philological anomaly which presents a considerable
iconographic advantage for the reception of the tablet.639 While the upsilon was commonly
used for the Latin ―i,‖ the ―h‖ is a deformation of the Greek letter eta (the Latin ‗e‘), another
Greek letter which normally is written like an ―n‖ with a descender for the first stroke. This
incorrect graphic form that was retained by Bernardino allowed the letter to read as a cross
once the ascender of the ―h‖ was barred. The controversy about Bernardino‘s use of the
637
Bernardino‘s description is recounted by Melani, ―il nome di Gesù,‖ 275-6. A more detailed version from a
manuscript kept in Hungary is quoted in Giovanna Baldissini Molli, ―Problemi iconografici del San Bernardino
di Andrea Mantegna‖ in G. Colalucci et al., eds., La lunetta di Andrea Mantegna al Santo: arte e cultura
(Padova: Centro studi antoniani, 1998), 313-330, here 315.
638
The inscription invariably reads: ―IN NOMINE IESU / OMNE GENU / FLECTATUR CELESTIUM / TERRESTRIUM ET
(Paul, Philippians, 2, 10). See Bruce Metzger and Roland Murphy, eds., The New Oxford
Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal / Deuterocanonical Books (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994),
281.
INFERNORUM
639
See Pacelli, Iconografia, 185-7 who offers an example in Coptic Egypt and cites 13 th- and 14th-century
examples of such inscriptions.
239
tablets explains this necessary addition to his original design. In the late 1420s, as Giovanni
Capistrano was preaching in L‘Aquila, the bishop and the cathedral canons refused to let him
show a tablet that bore no image of the crucifix. To the preacher‘s displeasure, a tiny
crucified Jesus was added to the letter ―h.‖ A comparable figure hanging from the first
ascender of the ―h‖ is visible in the Assisi, Foligno, and Matelica panels (figs. 88; 90; 94).
The absence of a cross, along with that of a crown to signify Jesus‘ regal status, was precisely
the subject of some of the accusations levelled at Bernardino during his first trial (May-June
1427) in Rome. Bernardino believed that that the letters sufficed and were self-explanatory
but he accepted the addition of these iconographic elements.640 The monogram may have
been intended as an abbreviation, but the yearning for clear and pictorial tangible symbols
also made it understood as a cross. None of the extant tablets and none of their depictions in
any media show the ‗h‘ without this design.641
All extant Umbrian copies, like most extant panels or representations of them, show
further developments of Bernardino‘s directions for the trigram, such as the presence of three
nails on the ―h,‖ two in the horizontal arm and one pitched in the left part of the foot of the
letter.642 Additional images on some of these panels, such as the Holy Spirit in the form of a
dove in a lunette for Deruta (fig. 87a) or the Stigmatization of St. Francis and the
Annunciation (fig. 88a-b) on a trapezoidal base for Assisi stress the evident need to
supplement the trigram with figurative motifs. Daniel Arasse has cogently commented on the
640
Pietro Scarpellini, ―Stendardo processionale a due facce con il trigramma di San Bernardino,‖entry no. 9 in:
M. Ciardi Dupré dal Pogetto, ed., Il tesoro della basilica di San Francesco ad Assisi (Assisi and Florence: Casa
editrice Francescana, 1994), 51-55. Scarpellini sums up the controversies about the design of the ―h‖ on page
54, quoting the antagonistic reactions of an Augustinian friar, Andera da Cascia. For Scarpellini, the extant
panels of Assisi and Foligno should not be dated before June 1427 because of the crossed ―h.‖ However, a large
rectangular Sienese tablet of possibly 1425 (fig. 89) already shows these modifications.
641
Furthermore, in a Florentine manuscript containing reportationes, Bernardino‘s sermon of Lent 1424 is noted
with a drawing of the tablet that shows the ―h‖ with a short bar crossing the ascender. It reads to me as a cross
but Pacetti, Iconografia, 189, interprets it as a diacritic mark signaling the abbreviation and fig. 690. It could
have meant both. Pacetti offers a catalogue raisonné and numerous examples of tablets with the monogram.
642
Pope Eugene IV is said to have suggested this insertion. See Alberta de Nicolò Salmazo, ―L‘affresco di
Mantegna al Santo,‖ in La lunetta di Andrea Mantegna, 306.
240
humanist polemic of text-versus-image that the original tablets launched by examining
Andrea Biglia‘s pamphlets against the preaching of San Bernardino. Biglia, a Milanese
Dominican theologian, violently accused Bernardino of inciting crowds to idolize the gilded
tablet on the grounds that a mostly illiterate audience was likely to misinterpret the
monogram. Humanists saw the public display of a text (the three letters), painted on a tablet
in the form of an artistic picture, as a hazardous experience because images generate an
emotive power superior to writings. While a scholar would have the ability to read an image
made of words as a mystical metaphor, the populus was prone to be confused by the apparent
splendour of the painting with its scintillating gold rays and arcane letters, and not grasp its
subtle theological substance.643 The accusatory articles against the Sienese friar describe the
scandalous usage of the tablets as idolatrous substitutions for the cross, the essential symbol
for adoring Christ.644 The arguments of Bernardino‘s opponents help us to understand the
necessary inclusion of a carved cross topping the panel (fig. 88) or of pictorial elements such
as the narratives on the Assisi ―predella‖ (fig. 88a-b). The image of a cross was thus obtained
by adding a stroke to the vertical bar of the h (figs. 86a-b; 87; 88a; 89), and a crucified Christ
could even be applied to the cross design (figs. 90; 94).
Empowering the tablets
Bernardino used the tablet as a practical device not only for didactic purposes, but
also to create a more successful and exciting homelitic performance. Contemporary
reportationes (accounts and transcriptions of sermons) recount how Bernardino would
643
See Daniel Arasse, ―Andrea Biglia contre saint Bernardin de Sienne,‖ in Acta Conventus neo-latini
Turonensis. 3ème congrès international des études néo-latines (Paris: J. Vrin, 1980), 424.
644
Published by Ephrem Longpré, ―Bernardin de Sienne et le Nom de Jésus (3)," in Archivum Francescanum
Historicum XXX (1937), 177-185.
241
suddenly produce the tablet as an element of surprise in the unfolding of his sermon. 645 He
would make sure that everybody could see it by raising it high in the air, sometimes only at
the apex or conclusion of his speech. By displaying the tablet, San Bernardino addressed the
audience‘s gaze, appealing to seeing as opposed to listening, even if, as can be gathered from
his detractors, the audience primarily saw a glittering object rather than an illustration of
theological concepts. This misinterpretation could easily occur through the preacher‘s special
gestures with the tablet, such as orienting it towards the sunlight to enhance the reflection of
the gilded letters.646 Since Bernardino was known for his skills as an orator, his dramatic
handling of such tablets suggests a clever strategy on his part, one of many devices to sustain
his audience‘s attention. As he exhibited and held the panel like a theatrical prop, his
audience broke into loud cries and tears at the view of the ‗sweetness of Jesus‘, attesting to
the power of pictorial representations in a ritual spectacle.
One should keep in mind that Bernardino created a solemn atmosphere to further
capture the crowd‘s attention. He stood, elevated from the masses, on a podium decorated
with precious fabrics, as Sano di Pietro‘s panel (fig. 91) or the Liverpool predella (fig. 92)
clearly document in accordance with written sources. Such images also document that,
ideally at least, men and women were physically separated, just as they would have been in a
church service, with male auditors on the right and women on the left when facing the pulpit.
In addition, eye contact between the sexes was fully avoided this time by the imposition of a
high curtain (fig. 91). Along with this physical control of his listeners, Bernardino would also
prepare them emotionally before showing the tablet. He had vividly described typical sins,
thus urging poignant feelings of guilt and a sincere yearning for repentance. Displayed at just
645
For example, reports for his sermons in Florence (1424) and in Siena (1425) (―cavò fuori‖ / ―mostrò in su‖).
Quoted in Lina Bolzoni, La rete delle immagine. Predicazione in volgare dalle origini a Bernardino da Siena
(Torino: Einaudi, 2002), 210.
646
The third articulum against Bernardino describes him gesturing in this manner. See Longpré, ―Bernardin de
Sienne et le Nom de Jésus (3), ‖ 179.
242
the right time, a scintillating three-dimensional object presented as the salutary embodiment
of Christ‘s compassion for sinners could only excite cathartic and loud collective
manifestations of redemptive piety. It was thus natural that the ostentation of the tablet would
give the signal for the penitential processions that spontaneously followed many dramatic
sermons of San Bernardino or of his followers.647 Divine protection was expected from such
collective kinetic actions, and such tablets slipped easily into the category of cult objects,
prone to act as efficacious intercessors. The enthusiastic response of the populus to the fiery
display of the tablets explains why Bernardino was accused of encouraging his audience to
adore the symbolic object rather than the name itself. 648.
San Bernardino himself had described the extraordinary power of the Name of Jesus
which, once invoked, would chase demons, heal, and exorcise. His praise of the conceptual
potency of the trigram through a tangible image that glittered when exposed to light still
presented dangers of superstitious interpretation to a popular audience. Additional figurative
elements made the literal combination more acceptable by giving it elements of an imago,
and thus quelled the opposition to the adoration of letters. But these were details that were not
observable from a distance. In the mind of contemporary folks, the power of the Name of
Jesus could easily be transferred to the tablet itself, giving it a magical function. For example,
in 1424, a woman possessed by the devil for the past fourteen years was freed from it as
Bernardino showed the tablet.649 A scene in a polyptych from L‘Aquila (fig. 93) illustrates
the direct link between the ostentation of the tablet and exorcism. In this scene, the
Franciscan preacher Giovanni da Capistrano exorcises a woman from his podium while
647
Bolzoni, La rete, 210 for 1425.
648
Daniel Arasse, ―Iconographie et évolution spirituelle: la tablette de saint Bernardin de Sienne,‖ Revue
d'histoire de la spiritualité 50 (1974): 433-456 and his ―Andrea Biglia.‖
649
From a Sienese reportatio of 1425, quoted by Bolzoni, La rete, 210.
243
conspicuously displaying the tablet to the audience.650 A fresco in the church of San
Francesco in Montefalco shows a similar scene, with Bernardino using the tablet this time.
Actually, any object bearing the letters YHS was potentially susceptible to exerting
this protective power. The magical efficacy of words was already exemplified by the
widespread use of textual amulets made of scraps of paper with prayers written on them,
carefully folded up, and carried in one‘s clothing in order to ward off evil.651 The monogram
was a very common component of these brevi. Bernardino had vehemently fought this kind
of magic implement, and would have them burnt in the bonfires of the vanities that he caused
to take place. He proposed the monogram by itself as a means to counter these superstitious
beliefs, ascribing no power to the tangible depiction of the letters.652 But it is doubtful that
mentalities changed in that regard, and people must have credited the tablets with the same
apotropaic powers as they would have ascribed to textual amulets.653
From homelitic tool to processional object
The tablets were used for sermons but processions with them often followed or were
staged independently from a preacher‘s activity. The processional use of the trigram is
documented for the first time in November 1425 when Bernardino told the Perugians to
organize an annual procession with a ―tabula cum nomine Iesu.‖654 In Siena, such tablets
650
George Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Central and South Italian Schools of Painting (Florence:
Sansoni, 1965), entry 205, cols. 641-2, fig. 747.
651
Don C. Skemer, Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages, Magic in History (University Park, Pa.:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006) and Edina Bozoky, Prières.et charmes apotropaïques (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2003).
652
Bolzoni, La rete, 214.
653
Arasse in ―Iconographie et evolution spirituelle,‖ 445, shows how the rendering of the original tablet
distanced itself with Roman letters, a tilde (an undulated accent) instead of a cross, an oval shape instead of a
square one in order to rationalize a type of object that could easily be regarded as magical.
654
Scarpellini, Tesoro, 53-4. Otherwise, the processional use of the trigram tablets is documented through the
opposition that it elicited. In April 1426, the Dominicans had refused to take part in Bernardino‘s procession in
Viterbo because the tablet with the trigram was the leading device. When Bernardino‘s fellow preacher, Alberto
da Sarteano, organized a solemn procession in April 1427 in Perugia, the Augustinian Paolo da Venezia fiercely
protested while both Dominicans and Servites abstained from participation. Even in Siena, as late as 1432, the
244
were most probably paraded for the celebration of the two annual feast-days in which the
Name of Jesus was honored, the Circumcision and Pentecost, that Bernardino had
instituted.655 The elaborate panel from Deruta (fig. 87a) must have originally been a homelitic
tablet to which further parts were added for easier processional use.656 The Assisi panel (fig.
88a-b) is believed to have been handed over by Bernardino himself in 1425 after his sermon
and the procession with his tavoletta.657 Since Bernardino preached in Assisi on many
occasions (again in 1427, 1438, and 1441), the traditional status of this panel as donated by
the friar himself may be true.658 The stocky base of the Assisi tablet is a later addition that
stabilized the processional stendardo even further. It conceals a hole at the summit of the
figurative inverted trapeze in which a pole was inserted for convenient mobility, a common
feature of processional panels, or stendardi.659 The pedestal of most extant tablets could serve
to stabilize them on an altar where they might replace the usual cross. This did not prevent
the painting from also being carried in procession, once secured on a platform and lifted up
by two or four men, sometimes with the help of horizontal staves. For centuries, the
Franciscan friars of Assisi took their tablet from the lower to the upper basilica on January 1st
bishop prohibited the procession across the city and it had to take place in the vicinity of the Franciscan
monastery. For Perugia, see Melani, ―il nome di Gesù,‖ 295; for Viterbo: Longpré in AFH XXVIII (1935), 459
and Longpré, ―Bernardin de Sienne et le Nom de Jésus (3), ‖ 182-3; for Siena, ibid., 183.
655
For processions in Siena and the use of the trigram tablets, see Martino Bertagna, ―L'Osservanza di Siena.
Studi storici,‖ Studi Francescani 60 (1963):1-143, here 38-41.
656
Close examination reveals that the lunette with the painting of the Holy Spirit is a later addition, dating
possibly from the seventeenth century. The tablet was then reinforced by a panel affixed to its back. The
combined pieces were then painted on their verso with a fictitious blue and red curtain. Two notches on the base
of the reinforcement give evidence for the insertion of staves, and indicate either a processional use, an elevated
stationary position, or both. The false curtain also shows that the tavoletta formed the recto of double-sided
panels.
657
Its iconography seems too elaborate for such an early date. Scarpellini, Tesoro, proposes 1427 as terminus
post-quem because of the presence of the crucifix on the ―h‖ letter. The Assisi panel is attributed to Pellegrino di
Giovanni d‘Antonio, a painter who died in 1437, a terminus ante-quem for the tablet. See also Pacetti,
Iconografia, 193.
658
Similarly, a well-preserved panel in Siena (fig. 89) is traditionally regarded as the one Bernardino used
during a sermon that reportedly attracted an audience of 30,000 on May 28 th 1425. The preacher subsequently
presented it to his own Sienese convent, the Osservanza, where it is still kept. If the date is authentic, then the
iconographic transformation of the crossed ascender of the ―h‖ appeared already before Bernardino‘s trial for
heresy in 1427.
659
Maria Rosaria Valazzi, ―Maestro di Staffolo. Signum bernardiniano‖ in Gentile da Fabriano, 186-7.
245
and, on this occasion, the population of Assisi and its countryside was blessed.660 Additions
such as a gable (the Montefalco tablet, fig. 86b, for example), a small cross at the apex, a
trapezoidal base, or flame-like carvings around the frame (figs. 86b; 88; 87a) are also
common features of stendardi and made the tablet taller and more conspicuous once hoisted
on a staff.
The tablet as part of a double-sided wooden stendardo was also visible when carried
in procession by lay confraternities. Since San Bernardino had revived, created, or preached
to many lay confraternities, it was natural to find the trigram tablet associated with these
groups.661 Because the tablet with the monogram became a major iconographic attribute for
Bernardino early on, its concrete existence also worked to promote his own cult. 662 The
Confraternita di San Girolamo, founded by Giacomo della Marca in Perugia in 1445, adapted
a wooden panel with the Bernardinian trigram as their altar frontal. 663 Confraternities adopted
the tablet design, using it as one side of their double-sided wooden processional panels and
adding a pointed top. A stendardo from the Marches (fig. 94), once in a Franciscan church,
was unequivocally in the possession of a confraternal group linked with the local Minorites.
On one side, Saint Francis is shown flanked by two flagellants, while on the reverse the
660
This ritual lasted until the 1970s but it is unclear when it actually started. The procession is documented in
1915 and is evoked as ―a very ancient custom‖ by Faloci Pulignani in Miscellanea Francescana, XVI (1915):
31-32. I consulted with no success the Memorie del sacro convento di San Francesco d‟Assisi dell‟anno 1714 al
1750, Fondo moderno, ms. 245. These sources are also silent on the possible use of the tablet in Assisi for the
friars‘ celebrations on San Bernardino‘s day (20th May).
661
Bernardino revived the Sienese confraternity of S. Giovanni Decollato dedicated to burying the condemned
to death. He is shown preaching to them in a panel attributed to Vecchietta (Pinacoteca Nazionale of Siena, inv.
no. 205). Bernardino founded a ―societas‖ of the Name of Jesus in Siena whose members had one of his tablets
in custody in their premises, the oratory bearing the name of the saint in Piazza San Francesco where it can still
be seen. These confratelli were also in charge of organizing processions. See Bertagna, ―L'Osservanza di Siena,‖
39-41. Recent research attributes a triptych dated 1445 with large-scale depictions of San Bernardino to a
Sienese confraternity. M. Mallory, G. Freuler, ―Sano di Pietro's Bernardino altar-piece for the Compagnia della
Vergina in Siena,‖ Burlington Magazine 133 (March 1991):186-192.
662
663
Melani, ―il nome di Gesù,‖ 251.
Their 1520 inventory records ―l‘altare cum lo palio de lengniame però messo a oro cum el nome de yhu in
mezo‖, or ―the altar with its wooden image set in gold with the name yhu in the middle.‖ ―Palio‖ usually
designates a cloth but in this context, it is meant as the altar front since the altarpiece is described in the
preceding entry. See Nessi, ―La confraternita di S. Girolamo,‖ 110.
246
Bernardinian trigram is depicted in its common form. This visual association shows the
strong reverence of groups associated with the Franciscans for the trigram. To my
knowledge, confraternal groups linked with other religious orders did not associate their
patron saint with the trigram in their processional ―segni.‖664 In other words, the combination
of the tablet with a depiction of Franciscan holy figures was a straightforward message of
allegiance to the Minor order in the fifteenth century.
The tablets as cult objects
Bernardino was revered as a thaumaturgic saint. A tabernacolo showing a series of
his miracles on eight panels was made for a (non extant) statue of San Bernardino. It
comprised a ―ceiling‖ with an elaborate design of YHS, thus placing the trigram in immediate
visual association with supernatural deeds the frame formed by eight panels (fig. 99). 665 In
addition, San Bernardino had a special reputation for pious achievements in regards to the
plague, facts known to the faithful because they were spread through the sermons of other
Franciscan preachers. In his youth, as a lay brother of the Confraternity of Santa Maria della
Scala, Bernardino had exemplarily nursed plague victims in the wards of the overcrowded
hospital of the same name during the outbreak of the epidemic in Siena in 1400. He had
attended the sick and the dead without respite for four months and recovered from the disease
himself thereafter. He was often present in plague images, including the Umbrian
extraordinary banners of the previous chapter (figs. 51; 53; 57a). In turn, his thaumaturgic
powers naturally associated the monogram with plague imagery.
664
However, a ―Confraternita del Nome di Gesù‖ met in the chapel of St. Vincent in the Dominican church of
Perugia.
665
Laura Teza, "Una nuova storia per le tavolette di San Bernardino," in L. Teza and M. Santanicchia, eds.,
Pietro Vannucci Il Perugino. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studio, 25-28 Ottobre 2000 (Perugia:
Volumnia, 2004), 247-305. This long book chapter is based on Professor Teza‘s meticulously researched Ph.D.
dissertation.
247
A panel attributed to Pietro Mazzaforte (fig. 90), a painter who worked in Foligno,
used the Bernardinian tablet on one side, but the verso shows the Virgin of Mercy protecting
unidentified men and women divided by sex. This stendardo does not have a precise
provenance, but Mary wears a knotted hemp belt, an element of the Franciscans‘ habit, and
therefore points to an association with that milieu. As I discussed in Chapter Three, the
Virgin of Mercy was a familiar iconographic formula for plague imagery. The combination of
this Marian motif with the trigram on the other side lent this painting apotropaic qualities.
Bernardino himself exhorted his listeners to place the Name of Jesus on their house doors to
ward off lethal diseases, a practice that stopped the plague in Ferrara in 1438, as the Sienese
preacher reported in his writings.666 Thus, Bernardinian post-mortem cults developed the
preacher‘s ability to ward off epidemics, hence his presence in many plague images with the
major prophylactic saint for the fifteenth century, Sebastian.
In 1459, the citizens of Fabriano invoked his name to quell an outbreak of the plague
and around that time, the local Franciscans had a plague image painted on silk by the Maestro
di Staffolo. God the Father in the pointed top of the composition is ready to hurl arrows down
below while the Virgin and Bernardino kneel in intercession in the foreground. Bernardino
holds a round monogram with his right hand while his left fingers are locked with those of
Christ child floating above him in a straw crib. With his other palm, baby Jesus support a
small depiction of the city of Fabriano. Thus the tablet is visually equated with the body of
Christ and its mediating power is rendered visible in a concatenation of motifs that lead to the
irate God.667
666
Vittorino Facchinetti, S. Bernardino da Siena. Mistico sole del secolo XV (Milan: S. Lega Eucharistica,
1933), 377.
667
This work was processed for the first time in 1496 to fight abundant rain like several extraordinary banners
of Perugia (Chapter Three). Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 48, mentions this plague image because it falls out
of his taxonomy for plague banners: although on textile, its outer shape (a pointed rectangle) shows that it was
not intended to hang from a crossbar as banner do. However, its iconography, lightness, and the established
devotional practices in front of this image turned it into an appropriate painting for penitential processions,
which occurred three decades after its creation.
248
As cult objects require public access and permanent display, I believe that most
tablets, once stabilized with a base, were kept for public veneration in a church chapel,
especially in the fifteenth century when Bernardino‘s cult was active. Some may have been
safely placed in the church treasury among the reliquaries. The Spoleto tavoletta, for
example, can be found today in the Capella delle reliquie. This is seemingly also the case of
the Assisi tablet from the seventeenth-century, as an engraving of the Treasury indicates (fig.
88c).668 The excellent preservation of the Assisi tablet points to its early significance as a
revered object in a stationary position, first in a chapel and then in the Treasury. It is one of
the most sophisticated versions, with its double-sided figurative pedestal similar to a predella.
Bernardinian trigram panels, thus installed on altars, received many visitors who, before
meditating in front of the image, would take off their hats, kneel and cross themselves. This
setting and behavior are known through several Articuli contra fratrem Bernardinum that, in
denouncing them as idolatrous, concomitantly documented the ritual practices around the
tablets.669 It is easy to realize that for contemporaries, the sunburst, the crown, and the letters
on the panels of the Name of Jesus became animate, glowing in the warm and flickering
illumination of numerous oil lamps and candles. There, on the tablet, the devoted faithful
could make out the image of the cross, or the crucified Christ, and the three nails. Whether
fifteenth-century viewers were aware of, or remembered, the interpretive narratives that the
three letters were meant to trigger is questionable. Literate people, on the other hand, were
certainly able to read these panels in tune with Bernardino‘s weaving of Jesus‘ name into a
mnemonic web. They would recall, for example, his associations of the three letters with the
668
Scarpellini, Tesoro, 52, indicates (without references) that the tablet appears in many inventories of the
sacristy but the tablet does not show up in these records from the 1590s to the early 18 th century. I consulted the
following archival documents of the Fondo antico (with dates in parentheses): ―Inventario della sacrestia‖: ms.
38, inv. 38 (1592 & 1597); ms. 41, inv. C (1600); ms. 42, inv. D (1613); ms. 24, inv. Misc. X (17th c.); ms. 47,
inv. F (before 1739). The caption of the seventeenth -century engraving (on another sheet) reads for the tablet:
―a large painting on which the holy Name of Jesus is depicted, given to this Basilica by the very hand of San
Bernardino.‖
669
See Longpré, ―Bernardin de Sienne et le Nom de Jésus (3), ‖ 179-184.
249
Scriptures and the Trinity, or use the twelve sunrays to evoke mental images such as the
twelve apostles.670 For Bernardino, these hermeneutic correspondences justified the existence
and use of the ―yhs‖ tablets.
The visibility of the trigram
It was the tablet that attracted much of the opposition to the cult of the Name of Jesus
because it was the most tangible medium for latent superstitious behaviours. Papal
endorsement of the practices around the tablets confirmed anew the legitimacy of the trigram
and of its ostentation in tablet form by any preacher.671 From the 1420s on, the trigram in a
sunburst appeared not only on a whole range of ecclesiastical furnishings but also on civic
buildings, such as the façade of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, or on city gates.672 It is found
on functional and decorative objects, such as the marble water reservoir from a church in
Bettona or on special medals.673 The ubiquity of the trigram in all sorts of media signalled a
conspicuous success that finally silenced Bernardino‘s opponents, especially after 1432 when
pope Eugenius IV issued his bull. In 1530, Pope Clement VII approved the liturgical office of
the Name of Jesus for the Franciscans and the Clares, fixing its feast day on January 14 th. The
celebration of the ―Triumphant Name of Jesus‖ soon spread to other orders, and eventually to
the whole Church in 1721.674 The trigram was eventually adopted as a sign of Christian belief
670
Bolzoni, La rete, 211-213.
671
First with Martin V‘s recognition of the cult of the Name of Jesus and then with Eugene IV‘s bull of 1432.
672
In 1425, the council of the popolo in Siena had decided to replace the coat of arms of the Visconti with a
monumental trigram adorned with rays of gilded bronze that can be seen on Sano di Pietro‘s San Bernardino
preaching (fig. 91). For the trigram on city gates in Orvieto and Viterbo, see AFH, 1935, 458-62.
673
For the water reservoir of the first half of the Quattrocento, see Flavia de Rubeis, entry 103 in: V. Casale, ed.,
Pinacoteca di Bettona (Perugia: Electa Editori Umbri, 1996), 163. The rectangular container of Bettona has no
provenance but a similar one is in the church of San Lorenzo in Spello. The city government of Padua, for
example, commissioned medals with the trigram to distribute in honor of Bernardino. See Molli, Lunetta di
Andrea Mantegna, 321.
674
Johannes Hofer, Johannes Kapistran. Ein Leben im Kampf um die Reform der Kirche, Ottokar Bonmann ed.,
rev. ed. (Rome and Heidelberg: Kerle, 1964-1965), 402 and Melani, Il Nome di Jesu, 296-7.
250
but it long kept a connotation of Franciscan loyalty.675 In Perugia, a particularly high number
of monograms can be found in the neighbourhood of Porta San Angelo through which one
had to go to reach the Franciscan Observants‘ monastery, just outside the city walls. A census
of extant outdoor trigrams in this city shows the popular nature of the devotion to the Name
of Jesus as it spread primarily in the urban areas inhabited by the lower classes.676 The oldest
extant trigram, dated 1452, was carved on a well in the vicinity of the Dominican church (fig.
95). This location indicates that the Perugian Dominicans had adopted the monogram
regardless of its Franciscan allegiance at a time when civic authorities were advocating
Bernardino as an additional patron saint for the city.
Bernardino‘s popularity spread widely in his lifetime and even more so after his death
in 1444 and canonization in 1450. All the extant tablets testify to the fascination with an
object symbolic of a famed preacher whose reputation and cult were alive for most of the
fifteenth century throughout Italy. However, the fact that the letters became interpreted as an
acronym for ―Yhesus Hominum Salvator‖ or ―In Hoc Signo‖ points to the multivocality of
this symbol and its unstable reception. The unease provoked by the tablet in scholarly circles
continued until the late Quattrocento, as can be assessed by the absence of the tablet in
Pinturricchio‘s frescoed scenes of Bernardino‘s life in the Roman Church of the Aracoeli,
designed for a humanist patron.677 The extant tablets probably do not date any later than the
675
In the late 1530s, Ignatius de Loyala adopted the three letters as the emblem of the Society of Jesus. It
appeared in the first edition of the Spiritual Exercises of 1548 and it was chosen for the Jesuits‘ official seal ca.
1550 at the latest. The Jesuits gave an international diffusion to the monogram. See H. Pfeiffer, ―The
Iconography of the Society of Jesus,‖ in J. O‘Malley and G. A. Bailey, The Jesuits and the Arts. 1540-1773
(Philadelphia: Saint Joseph‘s University Press), 199-228, here 199-200.
676
Fifty-seven trigrams have recently been counted in the streets of Perugia, ranging from the mid-fifteenth
century to the early nineteenth. See Andrea Majarelli and Riccardo Norgini, ―Il monogramma di San Bernardino
a Perugia: una originale mappa di religiosità popolare,‖ Archivio Perugino-pievese. "Perugia Giubilare" III
(2000):41-47.
677
Pinturrichio frescoed the three walls of the Bufalini chapel in the Observant Franciscan church of Santa
Maria in Aracoeli in 1485. See Arasse‘s analysis in ―Iconographie et évolution spirituelle,‖ 444-456. Arasse also
suggests that tablets with Gothic letters were outmoded by the 1480s and modern taste required a different
epigraphy. However, the Gothic letters were still widely used for carved trigrams on buildings and remained
popular because of their connotation with Bernardino‘s time.
251
1490s. Their potential for spurring idolatry, still felt at that time, also explains their
disappearance, along with a general decrease in Bernardinian cults. As Daniel Arasse has
shown, the representations of San Bernardino on panels, canvases, or frescoes were
extremely numerous before his canonization and thereafter until the 1490s when
Bernardinian iconography abruptly diminished, limiting its occurrences to a Franciscan
context.678 The veneration for the Sienese friar in Perugia followed the pattern described by
Arasse. The next section examines how rituals and images, including the trigram on flags,
contributed to the cult of Bernardino in the Umbrian capital.
2) Images and processional paraphernalia for Bernardinian cults
In his lifetime, the Sienese preacher sojourned five times in Perugia with the support
of the local government, which gave him an allowance.679 He was even invited to board in the
communal palace in 1444, only a few weeks before he died in L‘Aquila, in the Abruzzo
region.680 Bernardino‘s death occasioned many solemn celebrations organized by the city
authorities that had welcomed him.681 The Perugian government who called him ―amator et
intercessor populi perusini‖ in the deliberation on the obsequies decided on a sum of 120
florins to be spent for an outdoor mass and cenotaph in front of the cathedral, on the main
piazza, and for a city-wide procession with over 500 pounds of candles funded by the city. A
sermon followed, a clear sign of honor reserved for the funerals of exceptional personages.682
The death of the Sienese preacher occurred at a crucial moment in Perugia‘s official political
678
Ibid., 434.
679
In September 1425; 1427; 1438; 1441; and 1444.
680
See AFH, XV (1922), ―Documenta Perusina de San Bernardino,‖ 103-138 for primary sources on the
government‘s involvement with San Bernardino during his lifetime and 138-154 and 406-475 for further
transcriptions of documents relating to the formation of Bernardinian cults in Perugia.
681
For the festivities in Rome see Arasse, ―Iconographie et évolution spirituelle,‖ 440-443; for Siena, same
author, "Fervebat pietate populus. Art, dévotion et société autour de la glorification de Saint Bernardin de
Sienne," Mélanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome 89 (1977): 189-261, here 190-202.
682
This was but a pale reflection of the extraordinary ceremonial setting at L‘Aquila where the city spent 5000
florins for the same purpose while Bernardino‘s body lay in state for 40 days in the cathedral.
252
use of holy figures. Two years earlier, in 1442, the Perugian Franciscans had failed to acquire
the body of Saint Francis from Assisi, a relic that would have imparted much prestige to a
city that conspicuously lacked any important relic until its acquisition of the Virgin‘s ring in
1473.683 A deceased saint‘s body formed the basis for highly orchestrated devotional
practices, attracting pilgrims and enhancing business. Establishing the cult of Bernardino was
an issue for Perugia‘s ―civic religion,‖ essentially in the first three decades after his
canonization.
A brief look at the civic pantheon of Perugia shows that saints were constantly added
but not always for long.684 Saint Louis of Toulouse was declared protector of the Palazzo dei
Priori and of the city in 1319. His cult has left few visible traces apart from the Angevine
arms in that portal and a cycle on his life in the chapel of the Priori residence. He never
became a charismatic figure in Perugia although a procession with his statue was instituted in
1444.685 Although the majority of saints recognized by the Roman Church between 11981431 were bishops, neither Ercolano nor Costanzo ever underwent a trial for canonization.
Their cults are paradigmatic of a number of figures venerated as civic patrons regardless of
their official status for the Church.686 As soon as San Bernardino was pronounced a saint, the
city officials attempted to include him in their civic pantheon calling him ―intercessor,
683
R. Trexler, ―The Stigmatized Body of Francis of Assisi,‖ in Religion in Social Context in Europe and
America. 1200-1700 (Tempe : Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002), 183-226, here 222,
n. 114.
684
Dickson has counted 56 saints in civic association with Perugia. Dickson, The 115 cults, 11.
685
Louis of Toulouse was canonized in 1317 in Orvieto by Boniface VIII but it was believed that the ceremony
had taken place in Perugia. The pope had conferred him the bishopric of Toulouse in the chapel of the Priori.
The earliest documented reference to a chapel dedicated to him in the palace is 1325 while the new chapel with
Bonfigli‘s frescoes dates back to 1442-50. See Roncetti, Leggere i documenti, 68 and footnote 34.
686
On canonized bishops, see La sainteté en Occident aux derniers siècles du Moyen Age d‟après les procès de
canonization et les documents hagiographiques (Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 1998), 329-358 and for the
cult of non-canonized bishops, 220-223.
253
protector et defensor totius populi civitatis Perusii,‖ and establishing an annual procession in
his honor.687
Establishing San Bernardino‘s cult in Perugia: the Gonfalone of San Bernardino
Bernardino‘s canonization in 1450 came at a propitious moment, when a strong
yearning for exceptional relics crystallized in the possibility of attaining a venerable holy
body associated with the Franciscans. No other celebration was organized after Bernardino‘s
death until he was pronounced a saint six years later, on 20th May 1450. Perugia, like Siena
and Rome, claimed the saint‘s body in vain from the civic authorities of L‘Aquila and
rivalled each other in visual means to signify the appropriation of the sanctified preacher.688
In Perugia, on 23rd June, a municipal deliberation decided on a general procession in honor of
Bernardino to be held that year on 14th July. The deliberation of 3rd May 1452 established this
celebration as perpetual and fixed the date of 20th May for it as well as the amount of allotted
funds. The regulations, elaborated by the Commune, were approved by the archbishop and
the pope.689 It is in this context that one should analyze the Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig.
13a), attributed to Benedetto Bonfigli, and dated 1465. It is a representative image mirroring
the communal sponsorship of Bernardino‘s cult at a point in time.690
The whole composition of the Gonfalone is dominated by a towering figure of the
seated Christ who, surrounded by an angelic court, holds a prominent, silvery (now
687
The quote is from the deliberation on the procession commemorating the canonization on 23 rd June 1450,
transcribed in AFH XI (1918), 177. The law establishing a perpetual annual procession on Bernardino‘s feastday was passed on 3rd May 1452. See for the transciption AFH XV (1922): 406-412.
688
Even the pope who wished to have Bernardino‘s body transferred to Rome as soon as 1444 was unsuccessful
in his query. Only three days after the announcement of Bernardino‘s official holiness, Siena had proclaimed
him as its fifth advocate and protector and set up a magnificent spectacle including a simulation of his
Ascension to Heaven. See Arasse, ―Fervebat,‖ 192-203.
689
For a recapitulation of these legal steps and references to the archival documents, see Mancini, Bonfigli, 199201 and Commodi, Oratorio di San Bernardino, 36-40. The official documents of the deliberations have been
transcribed in AFH, XI (1918): 176-181; 406-407; AFH, XV (1922): 137-154.
690
This painting is not documented at all until Vasari‘s attribution to Benedetto Bonfigli in 1568. See F.
Mancini, Bonfigli, entry 109, 109-113.
254
blackened), flag of the Resurrection that is usually represented as a red cross on a white
ground (here silver). Christ is looking down below, blessing the Perugians, while on his right
a haloed figure of Bernardino, of a lesser scale but still over life size, addresses him in an
intercessory gesture. The bottom scene portrays the ritual donation of wax and cloths
(tovaglie) at the conclusion of the yearly procession. This part of the painting anchors the
event in the Franciscan-dominated area of Perugia. The architectural backdrop consists of one
single location, the public ―field‖ (―prato‖) of San Francesco al Prato, shown on the right,
where the annual procession in honor of San Bernardino concluded. In the center of the urban
backdrop, the Oratory of San Bernardino of Siena appears as it was newly completed in 1461
with its ornate façade sculpted in relief by Agostino di Duccio (fig. 13b).691 The architectonic
history of this building shows that it was first a Franciscan initiative that competed with the
cathedral canons‘ enterprise to have a chapel dedicated to the same saint in the Duomo. The
cathedral chapter had obtained financial aid (300 florins) from the government as early as
19th March 1451. This prompted the Franciscans to embark on a sustained campaign for
communal funds, especially since donations occasioned by Bernardino‘s sanctification did
not suffice. Thus, as early as 3rd May 1451, the Franciscans obtained 150 florins for the
construction of the oratory shown on the Gonfalone.
Bonfigli depicts the Oratory of Bernardino (fig. 13b) so clearly in the very center of
the urban backdrop that it points to the location meant for this work.692 However, the function
of this painting remains unclear. Art historian Francesco Mancini opposes its processional
use on account of its monumental size but such dimensions were not unusual for banners.
691
The oratorio‘s construction, started in 1451, was protracted by financial problems, repeatedly resolved
through communal intervention. From 1457 to 1462, the building was completed with Agostino di Duccio‘s
reliefs for the façade. See the transcription of the archival sources in: AFH, XV, 147-152. The painting is dated
on the trabeation of the oratory in the lower middle background.
692
Laura Teza has suggested this. See "Frammenti della Perugia quattrocentesca: il Perugino e la Confraternita
di San Bernardino," in Commentari d'arte. Rivista di critica e storia dell'arte II, no. 5 (1996): 43-54. The
topography is exact but the frieze of the oratory has the date of the painting (1465) instead of its actual inscribed
completion date of the building (1461).
255
Dehmer‘s catalogue of Central and Northern Italian banners has a number of documented
processional paintings of a similar size. Civic authorities may have intended to assert their
patronage through such an impressive height as happened with St. Ambrosius‘ banner in
Milan. For the conservators who restored this work, its lacerations and cuts indicate
numerous displacements. However, seventeenth-century records mention it as a ―tela‖
(canvas) or even ―tavola;‖ it was called a ―gonfalone‖ for the first time in 1866.693 Primary
sources from the modern era describe it on a wall or as an altarpiece. 694 In addition, the
Confraternity of San Bernardino, that logically would have processed such a banner, was
located at the other end of the city (until 1537) in the church of San Mustiola. There is no
record of their association with Bonfigli‘s painting.
This monumental painting may have been painted on cloth out of time pressure. This
technique does require less preparation but nevertheless achieves splendid effects. 695 In the
last chapter, I deal with the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata (fig. 71) that similarly was, in my
opinion, a celebratory image kept in a fixed position inside a church. As Vasari pointed out in
1568 in his chapter on Del dipignere a olio su le tele: ―And because this fashion [modo]
seemed pleasant and convenient, not only were small paintings made for easy transportation,
but also altarpieces and other works with grand narratives.‖696 I thus suggest that there might
be many more works called ―gonfaloni‖ in their own time or later that were painted on textile
693
F. Mancini, entry ―‗Gonfalone‘ di San Bernardino da Siena,‖ in Bon Valsassina, ed., Dipinti, sculpture della
Galleria Nazionale, 199-202, and conservators Sergio Fusetti and Paolo Virilli, ibid., 202-203: ―A convalidare
l‘uso processionale dell‘opera del Bonfigli sembra concorrere il genere di deformazioni presenti lungo le
lacerazioni ed i tagli della tela. Esse infatti sembrano provocate da sollecitazioni dinamiche dovute a frequenti
spostamenti.‖ This work was first called a ‗banner‘ in 1866 by art historians Crowe and Cavalcaselle. See
Mancini, ibid., 200.
694
This painting is documented on the right wall of this chapel in 1683 and from 1787 on the altar until it was
transferred to the Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria in 1863. See Mancini, ibid., 200 and same author, Bonfigli,
110.
695
See Cennino Cennini‘s chapter on ―Del lavorare in zendado palii, gonfaloni, stendardi,‖ in F. Brunello, ed., Il
libro dell‟arte (Vicenza, 1982 [1390]), 170-175. For Cennini and more sources on the technique for painting
banners, see Dehmer, Bruderschaftsbanner, 239-244.
696
Vasari, Le Vite de‟ più eccelenti pittori, scultori e architettori, introduction to chapter 23: ―E perché questo
modo è paruto agevole e commodo, si sono fatti , non solamente quadri piccoli per portare attorno, ma ancora
tavole da altari et altre opere di storie grandissime.‖ Quoted in Dehmer, ibid., 245.
256
for non-processional purposes. Only the meticulous study of particular, ambivalent cases may
determine more precisely the actual function of such paintings and create a new genre (see
excursus no. 3). The scholarly examination of the Gonfalone of San Bernardino has
unfortunately not yielded much documentation for the time of its inception.
Daniel Arasse was the first to analyse its iconography in depth. He demonstrated that
this painting celebrates political continuity and the success of the Commune‘s financial
efforts in building the Oratorio di San Bernardino.697 Roberto Rusconi has further suggested
that the political nature of Bernardino‘s preaching activity is reflected both in the reliefs of
the Oratorio di San Bernardino and in the Gonfalone.698 Bernardino had a reputation for
calming hostilities between rival factions, and he was welcome in Perugia where family clans
fought each other vehemently. For the Commune, there were political advantages in inviting
a popular preacher who helped establish a stable government.699 Therefore, in Bonfigli‘s
painting of 1465 that I interpret as a civic commission, the city officials are easily
recognizable in their prestigious red cloaks, and are naturally placed just beneath Bernardino.
For general processions like this one, the city officials wore a shorter red mantle (the lucco)
and a red and lightly conic beretto alla capitanesca, similar to the Duke of Urbino‘s in Piero
della Francesca‘s contemporary diptych kept in the Uffizi museum. In the left foreground,
seen in full profile, the man with a distinctly long cloak of a pink color and his neatly packed
and massive red cappuccio must indicate the Podestà, the chief Justice.700
697
Arasse, Fervebat, 203-7.
698
Rusconi, ―Predicò in piazza,‖ 114-127.
699
Bernardino‘s visit in 1425 had been arranged through the initiative of the pontifical legate who sought to
impose papal authority in Perugia after Braccio da Montone‘s lordship. Bernardino‘s preaching was temporarily
efficient in ending enmity between family clans and the so-called stern ―City Statutes of San Bernardino‖ were
adopted. Rusconi, ‗Predicò in piazza‘, 114-116.
700
A cappuccio is a male headgear made of a mazzocchio (a circle stuffed with borra), a foggia (a piece of cloth
that hangs in the back), and a becchetto (a cloth trail). For male and female clothing of the Renaissance, see Levi
Pizetscky, Storia del costume, II: 355. Mancini, Bonfigli, 110, gives a vague identification of the figures.
257
The dress codes of Bonfigli‘s figures signify social consensus around the celebration
of San Bernardino that the Perugian civic authorities orchestrated and the importance of the
humble Franciscan order in that matter. Christ wears a bishop‘s tunicella (or tunicle)
signalled as such by its blue hyacinth color, adorned with a visible orphrey on the chest. His
cope, a cloak reaching to the ground which prelates or pope would usually clasp with a morse
(absent here), is visually repeated in the earthly scene, down below in the bishop‘s garb. In
both cases, we can see extremely elaborate pieces of textile made in velvet and threads of
gold and, for Christ, lined with fur.701 This magnificent liturgical attire suggests Christ‘s
supreme power and insinuates the respect due to ecclesiastical leadership and its hierarchy on
earth (the bishop and the apostolic governor in the Perugian situation).
By contrast, San Bernardino, in his simple coarse and undyed brown habit tied with a
rope in lieu of a belt announces his order‘s voluntary poverty. Similarly dressed, Franciscan
friars wear the traditional tonsure and humbly stand in the background, behind the
ecclesiastical premier of Perugia.702 The black robes worn by three women in the foreground
identifies two of them as nuns and one as a widow. The nuns wear a white thin wimple that
tightly wraps their neck and a simple folded cloth of fine white linen above their black cowl.
The widow on the other hand typically wears a long black cloak worn over her head with a
white veil loosely tucked loosely underneath the hood.703 The two women wearing grey in the
701
On the tunicella, see Joseph Braun, Die Liturgische Gewandung im Occident und Orient (Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1964), 291-3. For a history of the cope, see his chapter 3 of part II: ―Das
Pluviale,‖ 306-358. The orphrey, a piece of embroidery or cloth is applied to chasubles, copes, and dalmatics as
a band in a vertical way (a pillar orphrey) or as a rectangle, horizontally. Fra Angelico‘s portrays of the deacon
Lawrence and his subdeacons often include this rectangular ornament, also worn in the back. See, among other
works, his fresco cycle in the chapel of the pope Nicholas V in the Vatican, or sacre conversazioni such as the
Annalena and the San Marco altarpieces.
702
Brownish cloth was cheaper to produce than fabrics dyed in black.
703
On Italian costumes of the Renaissance, see Levi Pisetzky, Storia del costume, II: 461-7 for widows.
258
right background are certainly Franciscan Tertiaries, possibly those of the monastery of
Sant‘Antonio, which many noble ladies had joined renouncing wealth.704
Facing the podestà and unobstructed by the other female figures, a woman (the
podestà‘s wife?) stands out in her luxurious attire.705 Her mantellina (short cloak), dotted
with gold eyelets, and her fashionable coiffure agree with her noble birth making her exempt
of the sumptuary laws. She is also the only woman who makes an offering of wax, here
gendered as a male donation, beside her tovaglia. Another lady, facing the viewer, proffers a
similar hairstyle with a wide and plucked forehead. The mass of her hair is modestly held
back under a transparent veil that still shows trendy hot-ironed wavy streaks of hair falling to
her temples. The flower garland in her coif is a token of her respect of sumptuary laws that
prohibited jewels or gemmed diadems. Bonfigli proposes an image of a population that
conforms to sumptuary laws and he has adequately shown no extravaganza in the figures‘
clothing.706 This was probably not close to reality but it is what needed to be mirrored in a
devotional painting that could serve as a model of conduct.
The civic authorities appear in the act of making a pious gesture of wax donation
funded by tax revenues. For such annual rituals, the city government subsidized the tapers
and candles of many praying agents. Public gatherings were thus opportunities for the city
officials to appear legitimate and righteous. Subsequently, they could project the image of
being the leading force behind the harmony binding the Perugian population. The painting
also records the Franciscan success in establishing a devotional focus on their territory. The
Franciscans are not placed in the foreground, but they do stand in the central axis of the
704
On regulations for Tertiaries‘clothing, see Lino Temperini, Testi e documenti sul Terzo Ordine francescano.
Secoli XIII-XV (Rome: Edizione Franciscanum, 1992), 91-93, 223, 255-257.
705
Mancini, Bonfigli, 112, ventures the name of Anastasia Sforza, second wife of Braccio Baglioni (Malatesta‘s
son).
706
In 1460, a council was called to remedy the abusive expenses for women‘s ornaments which impeded
marriages. Again in 1472, a friar persuaded the magistrates to pass a law limiting sumptuous female clothing.
Quoted in S. Majarelli and U. Nicolini, Il Monte dei poveri di Perugia. 1462-1474. Il periodo delle origini
(Assisi, 1962), 96.
259
composition. These depicted characters get even more visibility if one agrees that this section
of the Gonfalone would have been at eye level once the painting was hung on a wall or above
an altar.
Processional paraphernalia on 20th May
In 1450, to mark the first procession in honor of San Bernardino, the Priors had
commissioned a flag in red silk showing the newly canonized preacher as an intercessor in
the presence of Christ. This ―vexillum‖ has not survived but it was definitely regarded as a
civic flag.707 As the Commune declared Bernardino an ―intercessor, protector and defender‖
of the city, this flag, probably kept in the communal palace, was a means to visualize him as a
new city patron and to recall the government‘s sponsorship. Apart from this civic-minded
vexillum, the focus of the procession may well have been a non-extant statue of Bernardino,
similar to that from the church of San Francesco in Corciano (fig. 98) attributed to Agostino
di Duccio. For a time, scholars believed that the Gonfalone of San Bernardino was encased in
a ―tabernacolo‖ painted with eight perspectival scenes of San Bernardino‘s miracles, dated
1473 (fig. 99). According to Laura Teza, this ornate niche once enshrined the lost statue of
Bernardino rather than this ―gonfalone.‖708 Teza persuasively suggests that the statue and its
‗tabernacle‘ were once placed on the marble altar of San Bernardino completed in 1475 in the
Perugian cathedral. Every year on 20th May, the statue was taken out of its elaborately
painted frame and processed from the cathedral to the church of San Francesco al Prato
beneath a baldacchino.709 We can imagine this magnificent combination of a painted and
carved niche sheltering a statue through the reconstruction proposed by Laura Teza of a small
707
Arasse sees the upper half of Bonfigli‘s Gonfalone di San Bernardino as a reflection of that flag. For the
commission of that flag, see document no. 45 in AFH, XI, (1918), 176-179 and document no. 22 in AFH, XV,
146.
708
Teza, "Una nuova storia per le tavolette di San Bernardino," 247-305.
709
Teza, ―il Perugino e la confraternita di San Bernardino,‖, 46.
260
wooden figure of Saint Francis kept in the main Franciscan convent and a ―tabernacolo‖
dated 1487 and signed by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo for an altar in the church of the convent, San
Francesco al Prato (fig. 100).710
Presumably, other confraternities sponsored by the Franciscans also paraded images
of the canonized preacher. For example, the Confraternity of San Bernardino was founded
between 1456 and 1460 with its headquarters in another district than that of the conventual
Franciscans.711 They received six pounds of wax for the celebration of the feast-day of their
patron saint, 20th May. The exact role they assumed on that day is not clear, but they had to
walk across town to reach the cathedral and join the general cortège that marched to the
Franciscan convent and the Oratory of San Bernardino. They owned their own ordinary
banner that they kept in their oratory, documented in 1463 as being in frayed condition. At
that time, the confraternity managed to have the government subsidize its repair. Their banner
was eventually replaced in 1496 by a canvas painted by Perugino and erroneously called
Madonna della Giustizia (fig. 40) that received a tabernacle in 1501.712 They may have been
given the responsibility of carrying the civic flag of 1450, or a new version of it.
Flags with the trigram may also have been used on 20th May processions in Perugia
and elsewhere. They would have pleased Bernardino, who called the Name of Jesus the ―flag
of the fighters‖ (―vessilo dei combattenti‖). During Bernardino‘s trial in Rome in 1427,
Giovanni da Capistrano led a procession to support his colleague‘s cause, holding a flag with
the trigram. In 1456, Capistrano carried a similar flag when he helped the Christians‘ fight
against the Turks in Belgrade, an event sometimes chosen for the depiction of scenes from his
710
L. Teza, Per Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, pittore e scultore. Una proposta di ricomposizione della nicchia di San
Francesco al Prato a Perugia (Perugia: Quattroemme, 2003).
711
In 1537, it moved to the Oratory of San Bernardino as it merged with the important Confraternita della
Giustizia founded in 1374. See Commodi, L‟oratorio di San Bernardino, 67-68 and my Chapter Three.
712
Laura Teza, ―il Perugino e la confraternita di San Bernardino,‖ 46, has shown that this 1496 banner belonged
in the first place to the Confraternita di San Bernardino and not, as had been so far thought, to the Confraternita
della Giustizia.
261
life (fig. 101).713 Similarly, Joan of Arc had added the trigram to one of her flags. 714 A relief
on the façade of the Oratory of San Bernardino in Perugia shows a flock of sheep kneeling in
front of the flag with Christ‘s monogram (fig. 97). A contemporary friar mentioned that
Bernardino used to carry such a ―triumphant flag‖ (with the trigram) because it prompted
elevated spiritual works that ended enmity and inspired penance. Furthermore, there is some
written and visual evidence for flags as a homelitic prop used by Franciscan preachers. Friar
Bernardino da Feltre, during a sermon in Todi in 1487, suddenly extracted a large painted
flag showing Christ extending his arms above a view of the city, striking his listeners with
awe.715 He was exhorting them to accept the authority of the pope and give up clan rivalries.
In a life-size portrayal of Giovanni da Capistrano by Bartolomeo Vivarini (fig. 102), the
Franciscan friar holds the Resurrection banner adorned with an image of the model preacher,
San Bernardino. In L‘Aquila, a comparable picture of that preacher shows the white-ground
flag flag of the Resurrection with the trigram at the intersection of the red cross.716
Not all flags were acceptable in the preacher‘s eyes. Heraldic flags that hung in
churches were judged the epitome of vanity because they made a single person‘s secular
identity known in a sacred space (see Chapter Two). As far as civic heraldry on flags is
concerned, Bernardino or his followers probably deemed a collective symbol useful to
represent the entire local population. The Perugian coat-of-arms, a white griffon on a red
field, appears in the Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13a) on the pennons attached to the
713
For the 1427 procession, see Bolzoni, La rete, 208. For the 1456 battle, see Rusconi, ‗Predicò in piazza‘, 123.
For a depiction of Capistrano on the battlefield with a flag adorned with the trigram, see George Kaftal, Central
Italy, entry 205, col. 639, fig. 746.
714
Joan of Arc had the trigram embroidered on one of her battle flags. See Adrien Harmand, Jeanne d‟Arc, son
costume, ses armures. Essai de reconstitution (Paris: Librairie E. Leroux, 1929) for a reconstruction of her flag
and Hilaire de Barenton, «Jeanne d‘Arc, son tertiairat, son étendard et l‘ouvrage de M. Adrien Harmand,» in
Etudes franciscaines, XLIII (1931), 546-556 ; 561-683, here 675-81, for a constructive criticism of this study,
and 677, for a depiction of Jeanne‘standard.
715
In his ―Life‖ of Bernardino, Friar Sante Boncor evokes the preacher‘s ―triumphal stendardo‖ while other
hagiographers only mention his tablet with the trigram. Quoted in Rusconi, ‗Predicò in piazza‘, 122 and n. 38,
and 136.
716
Kaftal, Central Italy, entry 205, col. 638, fig. 74.
262
trumpets of the two city heralds, just below Christ‘s feet. The two trumpeters, shown in full
action, signal by their music the Commune‘s voice and power. A few days before each citywide procession such heralds on horseback, dressed in the city livery, trumpeted their horns
to proclaim the closing of shops for the next day(s), reminding the population of their
mandatory participation in the procession, each equipped with a candle. In the image studied
here, these messengers are conveniently placed to Christ‘s right, a position that visually
connotes honor and protection avowed by God‘s son to the city and local government. Their
diagonal position reads as a link between San Bernardino and divinity.
Christ‘s prominence is shown not only through hierarchic perspective but also
through his deployed enormous flag, which certainly struck the viewers with its stunning
glittering effects of the then intact silver background. Red and silver recall the Perugian
heraldic colors (figs. 3; 4), possibly emphasizing the city‘s pious role in representing the
population in the intercessory request (figs. 3; 4). Christ holds the Resurrection banner, the
highest ranking of all secular or religious flags in the collective imagination of Christians. His
hand gestures are also symbolic: holding the banner in his left hand so that he may bless the
Perugians with his right, the honorable side, thus the only appropriate hand to do so.717 This
imposing vexillum draws attention to the triumph of Christ and to Bernardino‘s righteousness
in evoking the name of Jesus.718 The size of the canonized Sienese preacher and the presence
of the city authorities below him stress the newly acquired importance in community matters
717
Gertrud Schiller, Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1971), III, 75,
notes that this blessing gesture coupled with holding the banner imposes itself gradually in the course of the 13 th
century.
718
For the symbolism of the Resurrection banner as victory over death, see Hall, Dicionary of Symbols, entry
―Flag‖, 122-123. For occurrences of Christ holding the Resurrection banner, a motif that dates back to the 12 th
century, see the iconography of the following topics: Christus Victor, the Resurrection from the tomb, Descent
into Limbo, Apparition of Christ to His followers in: Schiller, ibid., III: 68-91; 179-181; 374-5; 383 and the
relevant illustrations, particularly figs. 167-170; 232-236 for Italian Renaissance art. In her discussion of the
variants in images of the Resurrection, Schiller does not comment on the flag which Christ usually carries in his
left hand.
263
of Bernardino‘s cult, of which the annual procession and the oratory were important civic
expressions.
A Franciscan appropriation and a failed civic adoption
The popularity of the Oratory of San Bernardino is evident in the fact that the
pavement was already damaged in the early sixteenth century and had to be replaced with
majolica tiles from Deruta.719 The success of the annual procession on 20th May in Perugia is
partially explained by the papal indulgence that the faithful earned if they visited the oratory
on that day.720 This award legitimised not only the rituals for the feast day and the importance
of this new Franciscan building, it also gave more visibility to the ‗gonfalone‘ of San
Bernardino, if one agrees that it was hung on the wall.
Although the cult of the Franciscan preacher was well established in Perugia in the
first three decades after his canonization, the devotional fervor eventually diminished. For
example, the members of the Confraternity of San Bernardino declared themselves extremely
poor in 1482, so that the Commune had to subsidize them. By the 1530s, the sodality had
very few members left; it was revived through its fusion with the Confraternita di
Sant‘Andrea in 1537 which took the name of ―Confraternita di Sant‘Andrea e San
Bernardino‖ (see Chapter Two).721 This lack of interest may indicate that Bernardino‘s
impact on the production of depictions like the trigram was limited in time. His influence
largely depended on his charisma and reputation in his lifetime as well as after his death,
because his homelitic material and preaching methods were assumed by his best followers.
However, even if his memory was kept alive, his prescriptions were not. Bernardino da Feltre
719
Tiziana Biganti, ―Attività ceramiche a Perugia nel XV secolo,‖ in Rosaria Mencarelli, ed., I Lunedi della
Galleria. Atti delle conferenze (Perugia: Quatroemme, 1997), 89-110, here 94-95.
720
On 16th December 1452, Eugenius IV granted an indulgence for those praying at the oratory on 20 th May,
upon bequest of the Commune.
721
In Teza, ―il Perugino e la confraternita di San Bernardino,‖ 46
264
had another bonfire of the vanities lit in 1486, evidence that that the humility and simplicity
that the Sienese saint advocated had not been adopted by the Perugians.722
The delay in visually including Bernardino inside the cathedral is paradigmatic of this
diminishing of the original sense of popularity in the cult. The cathedral chapter first had an
image of the saint painted on a pillar in the first bay of the left side aisle as early as 1451. It
marked the area for the chapel dedicated to San Bernardino, but the Franciscans managed to
divert communal funds for this to the building their own Oratory of San Bernardino. On the
Gonfalone of San Bernardino, the bishop is but a tiny figure, necessary to the subject matter
because of his ritual blessing of the donations. But it was a time (the mid 1460s) when the
completion of San Bernardino‘s altar in the cathedral dragged on without completion.723
While the Oratory of San Bernardino was completed in 1461, the chapel of the Sienese saint
in the cathedral was not completed until 1483, and was eventually rededicated to the relic of
the Virgin‘s Holy Ring in 1486. This forced San Bernardino‘s altar to be dismantled and
reconstructed in his new titular chapel on the opposite side of the nave. While the Oratory of
San Bernardino accommodated the Confraternita della Giustizia (another name for the
Confraternita di Sant‘Andrea e San Bernardino) from 1537, the chapel dedicated to the
Sienese saint in the cathedral did not receive as much attention, with only one mass
celebrated there once a year on 20th May.724 The Renaissance stone altar was eventually
renovated with Mannerist stucco statues, but by the time Federico Barocci completed his
monumental altarpiece of the Deposition of Christ in 1569, any visual relation with San
Bernardino had been lost. A few months later, the major guild of the Mercanzia gave the
processional statue of the Sienese saint (no longer extant) to the Confraternita della Giustizia.
722
Serafino Siepi, Annotazioni storiche I, in Descrizione topologica, M. Roncetti, ed., 1994 [1820s], 314.
723
For a detailed study of the chapel of San Bernardino in the Perugian cathedral and an attempt to reconstruct
its Renaissance altar, see Teza, Tavolette di San Bernardino, 251-259.
724
In 1559, the jus patronatus of San Bernardino‘s chapel was transferred from the Commune to the Mercanzia
guild.
265
The history of the two visual landmarks for the Perugian cult of San Bernardino, the
Oratory and the Cathedral, shows that although the Commune supported both institutions
financially from the mid-fifteenth century, the Minor friars were clearly favored with the
swift construction of the oratory next to their convent. The devotion for San Bernardino
became essentially a Franciscan affair, with rituals associated with visiting the lavishly
decorated oratory and with the activities of the Confraternita della Giustizia (see Chapter
Two). The chapel in the cathedral could not compete with the Commune‘s new acquisition of
the Virgin‘s ring in 1473. Once the civic and religious authorities of Perugia introduced the
appropriate rituals around this precious and unique relic, such as its periodical ostentations,
and once the Confraternity of San Giuseppe had been founded in 1487, the Chapel of the
Santo Anello, opposite San Bernardino‘s, became a very popular devotional attraction and the
focus of much lavish decoration, as I evoked it in Chapter Two. Next to it, a mid-fifteenthcentury frescoed pillar with a full-length Bernardino still stands in complete isolation from
the chapel dedicated to the Sienese friar.
The Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13a) expresses major corporate enterprises
while signalling the essential part assumed by the city government at the time in the
commemoration of San Bernardino. The images of the procession and the magnificent
oratory are linked visually to representatives of the Commune, while the Perugian
Franciscans are recorded in the looming presence of the buildings in which they officiated,
and through the depiction of a large number of friars. By painting San Bernardino larger than
life, and placing him markedly as a visual link between the earthly and celestial realms,
Bonfigli‘s image legitimises him as a protector of Perugia while skilfully highlighting that
this process happens under the auspices of the local government. This attempt to adopt yet a
new patron saint for Perugia is paradigmatic of the multiplication of holy protectors in the
urban sphere in late medieval and renaissance Italy. André Vauchez has suggestively
266
interpreted this phenomenon in terms of a declining political regime that sought
legitimisation through the necessary rituals of civic religion.725 I
The politics of wax distribution
The Gonfalone di San Bernardino (fig. 13a) shows a rare iconography, that of a
public wax donation, and the even rarer depiction of a textile donation, here ―tovaglie,‖
locally woven napkins and tablecloths made of linen and cotton. 726 This painting illustrates
the phenomenon of wax as a marker of social status. Franciscan friars visible before the
doorway of the church carry a thin candle that the government provided. Such a candle was
the equivalent of a sixth of a taper in weight, as official provisions point out. Magistrates in
the foreground instead bring tapers of a much bigger size. Members of the Perugian
population are depositing the extinguished tapers or the candles that each was carrying lit in
the procession into wicker baskets.
Once gathered, the candles and tapers were auctioned and the proceeds assigned to the
construction of the oratory. In 1465, at the time this ―gonfalone‖ was painted, the funding of
this edifice was already completed and the money raised probably served for its maintenance,
a typical way of endowing churches. Offering candles or tapers to the main altar of the
church at the end of processions was a normal procedure. According to this painting, the
donation occurred in the open air.727 Indeed, no procession could take place without a large
number of tapers and candles carried by groups and individuals. It was scandalous not to
carry at least a tiny candle, especially for members of a group. For example, notaries who
were unable to attend their group‘s commemoration of the Annunciation would pay a fine
725
A similar enterprise took place in Orvieto with the cult of Mary Magdalene. See Dugald McLellan,
―Communal cults and civic liturgies in late Renaissance Orvieto,‖ BDSPU CI, I (2004), 239-280.
726
―Tovaglie‖ donations are recorded for bequests but not at all for this procession. Therefore, this image
provides visual evidence for this practice.
727
In the mid-seventeenth century, Lancellotti has left a description of the procession to the eponymous oratory
which entails many elements shown by this image. See transcription in appendix 17.
267
and had to send an intact taper in their place. Members of the consortium who could not
afford to bring a taper of at least one pound of wax were excused from participation in the
procession.728 In short, wax candles were a fundamental component of collective processions
and could not be spared without harming their decorum.
In medieval and early modern Christianity, pure bee‘s wax was essential for
devotional and liturgical practices because it marked due respect to the worship of God. 729
Lights, in the form of oil lamps, candles, or tapers, recalled the theophanic dimension of light.
The high cost of wax also made it a luxury product used by aristocrats and rulers in lay
contexts. The abundance of wax in a procession was thus an extraordinary sight. It was also
stunning to contemplate the lights in front of a sacred image. In Italy, just as city
governments were responsible for the proper illumination of certain shrines and sacred
images, the provision of wax for processions was stipulated by city statutes and debated in
municipal deliberations.730 The quantity, weight, and cost of wax were a recurrent theme in
the city council minutes because the Commune was responsible for supplying it at its own
expense to a variety of groups, mainly government officials and the clergy. Guilds and
confraternities also had many provisions in their statutes regarding wax for processions.
Wax as an expression of civic piety meant that large sums drawn from taxes were
allotted for the purchase of oil, double-stemmed tapers (dupleria), torches (torchie), tapers
(facule), and candles (candele). The government subsidized most clerics and all the city
728
Up to ten indigent notaries who could not afford this amount of wax were excused from participation. See
appendix 12.
729
The importance of wax has been researched by Catherine Vincent in a variety of contexts for medieval and
renaissance France. There, as in Perugia, city or associative authorities were adamant about the quantities to buy
and the modalities for distributing them. See C. Vincent, Fiat lux. Lumière et luminaires dans la vie religieuse
du XIIIe au XVIe siècle (Paris: Cerf, 2004).
730
For example, the Perugian government funded the oil and wax for the Maestà delle Volte, a permanently lit
Marian image painted on the wall of a dark street that ran under the palazzo of the podestà, off the main piazza.
Individual Perugians also left oil to illuminate this miracle-working Madonna. See Cohn, The Cult of
Remembrance, 231 and 360, n. 99.
268
officials with processed wax (cera laborata) for processions.731 Guilds, single participants,
and confraternities did not benefit from such communal alms and had to bring lights at their
own expense. However, some confraternal groups did receive a wax subsidy when they had a
major role in the cults sponsored by the Commune such as the processions for the
Assumption eve (Confraternita della Nunziata), Sant‘Ercolano (Compagnia del Sasso), and
San Bernardino from 1451 (Confraternita di San Bernardino). From 1458, the Confraternita
di Sant‘Andrea received a four-pound wax subsidy in perpetuity for all processions and for
their patron‘s day. A special law was issued given the charitable deeds of this sodality and
their benefits for the entire community (assisting and burying the executed criminals) and
because they possessed a miraculous image of the Virgin, thus attracting the intercession of
the highest holy mediator, the Virgin Mary, to Perugia.732
Wax was also a strong sign for collective assertion on the social scale because the size
of the portable lights reflected economic or political authority. The weight of wax to be
carried by each participant was strictly regulated either by the city for the recipients of wax in
city-wide processions, or by each group for their own single cortège on their patron saint‘s
day. In city-sponsored processions, government officials and the highest ecclesiastical
authority, the bishop, received tapers of 4 pounds per person. Lesser officials got three-pound
faculae. Abbots and mendicant leaders received tapers of one pound while monks and friars
were given candles.733 On the eve of Sant‘Ercolano‘s feast day, the major guilds further
distinguished themselves from the minor guilds by bringing a three-pound ―facula,‖ but they
731
According to the extant city statutes and council deliberations, the quantities of distributed wax remained
remarkably constant from the 14th into the sixteenth centuries. For most processions, the distribution and
quantity of wax was modelled after the celebrations for San Costanzo, a saint who is steadily invoked but rarely
depicted.
732
Riccieri, ―Annali ecclesiastiche,‖ 61, 19th June 1458.
733
A taper of one pound equated 6 candles.
269
brought a two-pound candle for the eve of Assumption and other feasts.734 The paper-makers
could each afford two-pound candles, but minor guild workers such as the leather-repair
artisans were each allowed to provide one-pound candles.735 Thus, the size and weight of
processional wax was not only a way of rendering hierarchy visible between groups, it also
operated a discrimation within groups. Consequently, guild and confraternity statutory
provisions for processions are mainly concerned with the mandatory equipment with tapers or
candles of a precise weight according to members‘ status within the community.The next
chapter examines in what ways one specific group (the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata) was
showcased thanks to its symbolic apparatus, including gonfaloni, in a few ritual events of the
Perugian calendar.
734
See, for example, the statutes of the Mercanzia in 1358: Cardinali et al., eds., Collegio della Mercanzia di
Perugia, §51, 77.
735
For the paper-makers, see Olga Marinelli, Statuti dell'arte dei cartolari di Perugia. 1338-1554 (Perugia:
Università degli Studi, 1987), 35.
270
CHAPTER FIVE : Immobile and mobile images for unity and identity
In 1466, the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata in Perugia had an imposing painting (341
x 172 cm) of the Annunciation made with a representative sample of its members in the
foreground.736 This Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata (fig. 71a) is a major exponent of the corporate
consciousness of the confratelli. The study of this lay association affiliated with the Servites
brings together themes tackled in the previous four chapters: confraternal identity, prestigious
or ordinary images for collective representation, propaganda for Mendicant orders, and civic
and religious rituals. This chapter aims at exploring unity and collective identity through the
essential roles played by the artistic artifacts owned by the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata (or
the Nunziata, as they called themselves) or handled by them in Perugian public rituals.
The first half of the chapter consists of a detailed analysis of the splendid Gonfalone
dell‟Annunziata (fig. 71a) that, despite its name, I will argue, was not one of the
confraternity‘s ordinary banners.737 Sources never mention it as a processional item and its
excellent preservation points to a representative function in an important Mendicant
church.738 Its iconography reveals a multi-faceted social network but also tensions within the
group while its stationary placement in a major church illustrates its representative function
and the need for publicity. Because this work spotlights Doctors of Law, I explore the
professional world of legists, including the lower-ranking notaries, and their importance in
Perugian public life. The second section of this chapter examines the Easter and Assumption
festivals during which the procession of specific images showcased the Nunziata. These
736
The main bibliographic references for this work are: Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 36-37; V.
Garibaldi, in: Dipinti, sculture e ceramiche, 228-229; E. Lunghi, Un pittore e la sua città, 168; Todini, Niccolò
Alunno, 49 and 543-546; Paola Mercurelli Salari, Nicolaus Pictor, 222-223.
737
A version of this chapter including appendices 6-10; 13; and 16, but not the sections on Easter and the
Assumption has been published in the BDSPU CIII (2006), I: 303-375 under the title ―‗Societas Anuntiate fecit
fieri hoc opus‘: the gonfalone dell‟Annunziata (1466) in Perugia and its patrons.‖
738
For the inventories, see Chapter Two, section ―confraternities‖ and this chapter, section ―the power of place‖.
The mention of (non extant) processional gonfaloni in the confraternity archives indicates that there was no need
for an extra banner.
271
images range from the confraternity‘s life-sized articulated Christ, to canopies, to the
Cathedral‘s icon of the Salvatore. The ritual situations in which the Nunziata displayed its
corporately-owned paraphernalia exemplify how moving pictures may build and reinforce
corporate awareness.739
The Gonfalone dell‘Annunziata
In the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata of 1466, the general scheme for the setting and the
major holy figures corresponds to a widely diffused iconography since the Middle Ages for
the scene of the Annunciation. At the bottom edge of a paved and walled garden, closest to
the viewer, a tight cluster of tiny faithful men and women kneel between the protective arms
of two oversize holy Servites, Blessed Filippo Benizi and Blessed Giovanna of Florence (fig.
103). They can be identified as the members of the Nunziata thanks to the inscription below
them. They look up as their guardians present them to the Virgin and the archangel Gabriel
who are engaged, with arms crossed over their chests, in the recognizable moment of humbly
accepting the Holy Annunciate. The Virgin kneels at a scholar‘s desk while Gabriel brings
her a lily, a flower associated with Mary‘s purity, and the emblem of the Servite order. Two
angels confer in the left background of the hortus conclusus (enclosed garden), a metaphor
for Mary‘s virginity. The tops of cypresses, a tree symbolic of both death and eternity,
protrude from behind the wall. This device, together with the classical-looking wall with its
potted plants, is a motif borrowed from Fra Angelico‘s work.740 Just above the trees, on the
739
The only publication about the archives of the ―Nunziata‖ is Canzio Pizzoni, ―La confraternità
dell‘Annunziata di Perugia,‖ in Il movimento dei disciplinati nel settimo centenario dal suo inizi: Perugia 1260
(Perugia: Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria, 1962), 146-55. Otherwise, Giambattista Vermiglioli
reported, c. 1810-1850, on some of these documents in a personal notebook entitled Memoria della Compagnia
della SS. Annunziata estratta da libri e da altri luoghi and kept at the Biblioteca Augusta in Perugia (ms. 1536).
In 2004, the archives of the confraternity of the Annunciation (abbreviated in the footnotes as ―BDAnn‖) were
temporarily transferred from the Biblioteca Dominicini to the Archivio Diocesano in order to allow a more
flexible consultation.
740
See, for example, Fra Angelico‘s St. Lawrence before Emperor Decius (c. 1447-8) in Nicolas V‘s chapel in
the Vatican or his Annunciation (c. 1451-55) at the Museo di San Marco, Florence.
272
top tier of the composition, singing and music-making angels attend God the Father who
sends the dove of the Holy Spirit to the Virgin below on a ray of golden light.
Although this commission is not documented, the inscription in Roman capital letters:
SOCIETAS ANUNTIATE FECIT FIERI HOC OPUS A.D. MCCCCLXVI
(―the Society of the Annunciate
had this work made in AD 1466‖) in its lower border accounts for the dating and
identification of the patrons. This work is not signed but is thought to have been executed by
the Umbrian painter Niccolò di Liberatore (c. 1435-1502).741 His date of birth is unknown but
he was active from the mid-1450s in Foligno where he is documented as the head of a
prosperous workshop that received many commissions for altarpieces and confraternity
gonfaloni. Niccolò must have been in his early thirties in 1466.742 Working in an identifiable
Florentine style, with a rigorous use of linear perspective, the artist exposes his familiarity
with the popular altarpieces of Fra Angelico, Domenico Veneziano, and Benozzo Gozzoli as
well as with paintings from his hometown.743 Fra Angelico and Domenico Veneziano had
both worked in Perugia in the 1430s and 1440s and had left there influential paintings.744
Niccolò was known to work for Umbrian and Marchigian religious groups, friars, monks or
741
This attribution was first suggested by Karl Friedrich Rumohr in the second volume of his Italienische
Forschungen (Berlin: Nicolai, 1827-1831) and has been unanimously followed to this day by all historians. For
a detailed recapitulation of this critical appraisal of the authorship but containing a mistake on Rumohr‘s
publication, see Garibaldi, in Dipinti, sculture e ceramiche, 228-229.
742
On Niccolò‘s career, see Todini, Niccolò Alunno, especially 40-43 for his reputation in the 1460s; Nicolaus
Pictor, 191-203; E. Lunghi, ed., Niccolò Alunno in Umbria (Assisi: Editrice Minerva, 1993); Filippo Todini, La
pittura umbra: dal Duecento al primo Cinquecento (Milan: Longanesi, 1989). Niccolò‘s date of birth was
recently revised as being around 1434-1435 on the basis of the evidence for his actual date of marriage. See
Stefano Felicetti, ―I pittori di Foligno nei documenti d‘archivio. Verifiche e nuove ricerche,‖ in S. Felicetti, B.
Toscano, eds., Pittura a Foligno 1439-1502: Fonti e studi, un bilancio (Foligno: Orfini-Numeister, 2001). See
also Giordana Benazzi, ―Niccolò, Caterina e le case dei Mazzaforti. Qualche aggiornamento sull‘Alunno a
Foligno‖, in A. de Marchi, P. L. Falaschi Camerino, eds., I Da Varano e le arti (Ripa Transone: Maroni, 2001),
711-734 and Todini, Niccolò Alunno, 15.
743
For Gozzoli‘s 1456 pala of the Sapienza Nuova (a residence for students) in Perugia, see Santi, Galleria
Nazionale dell‟Umbria, 10-11 and Vittoria Garibaldi, ed., Beato Angelico e Benozzo Gozzoli, Artisti del
Rinascimento a Perugia (Milan: Silvana editoriale, 1999). Gozzoli also left important frescoes in the church of
San Francesco in nearby Montefalco. See Diane Cole Ahl, Benozzo Gozzoli (New Haven & London: Yale
University Press, 1996), 41-79.
744
Fra Angelico‘s Guidalotti altarpiece of 1437 (Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria) was once in San Domenico.
See Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 7-10. For Veneziano‘s (non extant) work in Perugia, see Helmut
Wohl, The Paintings of Domenico Veneziano, ca. 1410-1461: a Study in Florentine Art of the Early
Renaissance (New York: New York University Press, 1980), 16-17 and 69-70.
273
confraternities linked to them. If the attribution is right, this work would be his only known
commission destined for Perugia.
Connections to the Servites
A primary component of the confraternal identity of the Nunziata brothers was their
affiliation with the Servite order. Although the exact date of the confraternity‘s foundation is
unknown, it is first mentioned in the 1330s with names such as the fraternita dei disciplinati
dei Servi di S. Maria, fraternitas disciplinatorum Servorum Sancte Marie de Perusio, or
fraternita dei Servi di S. Maria.745 Its premises were located in Porta Eburnea close to the
Servite church of Santa Maria dei Servi.746 The Servites or ―servants‖ of the Virgin were
dedicated to Mary and her desolation during her Son‘s Passion. Most Servite churches
celebrated the Annunciation (as in Perugia) or the Nativity of the Virgin as their titular feast,
or both (as in Florence).747 Their monasteries can be found especially in the first two
provinces of the order, Tuscany and Umbria. The Servites were present in Perugia from about
1255 and were placed under direct papal protection in 1297. In the fourteenth century, the
Perugian friars finally overcame rivalries and disputes with the local clergy regarding the
apportioning of intra-muros space which they occupied. Santa Maria dei Servi rapidly
became a well-attended church that saw a major enlargement from the 1430s into the late
fifteenth century.748 The Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata is part of this embellishment process, as I
745
See Pizzoni, ―La confraternità dell‘Annunziata‖; Vermiglioli, Memoria, 23.
The present-day location is occupied by the Conservatorio di Musica. The adjacent Oratorio dell‘Annunziata
became the confraternity‘s quarters in the 17th century when they had to switch spatial arrangements with the
neighboring Servite tertiaries called the ―Povere di Mona Simone‖. See Serafino Siepi, Annotazioni Storiche III,
in Roncetti, ed.,Descrizione topologica: ―Monastero delle Povere.‖
747
For a summary of the order‘s foundation (in 1240 in Florence) and subsequent crises until papal approval and
the official recognition of their mendicant title, see The New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York & London: Mc
Graw-Hill, 1967), XIII: 131-135. For the dedication of churches, see Franco Andrea Dal Pino, Spazi e figure
lungo la storia dei Servi di Santa Maria, secoli XIII-XX (Rome: Herder, 1997), 46.
748
The Perugian Servites moved their monastery from the nearby extra muros S. Giacomo inside the city walls
in 1313 on the Colle Landone. The protests against this settlement were settled with the intervention of the
bishop of Foligno in 1328. For disputes between this order and their religious neighbors in Italy, see Dal Pino,
Spazi e figure, 44-45 and 295-6. For a summarized history of the Perugian Servites, see Maria Grazia Bistoni
746
274
shall explain. Evidence of the ties between the Nunziata and these friars is the precious letter
of indulgence which the confraternity had obtained through them (lettera de endulgentia che
ci acatarono ei frate de Santa Maria de Servorum). They mention it in their late Trecento
inventory (appendix 6a, item no. 109) and carefully stored it in their sacristy.
The significance of the Servites for the confraternity is visible in the 1466 Gonfalone.
In the bottom foreground, two Servite beati tower on each side of the faithful in an
intercessory posture while a clearly delineated Servite nun appears on the right. Filippo
Benizi (1229-1285) is shown as the left beato with rays radiating from his head. He wears the
black habit of the Servites, following earlier depictions. The order became more important
once it was confirmed as a mendicant one (1304) by papal approval.749 As a Prior General of
the Servites, he was instrumental in consolidating the order in regard to other mendicant
communities, thereby saving it from suppression. The order became more important once it
was confirmed as a mendicant one (1304) by papal approval. 750 In the second half of the
fifteenth century, the Servites were preoccupied with accomplishing Benizi‘s canonization,
which finally took place in 1671.751 Many copies of his legend circulated, making him the
most popular and important of the early Servites even if he was not one of the seven original
founders. In 1442, probably in Perugia, a friar was copying a Legenda beati Philippi, a
Grilli, Biblioteche monastiche e conventuali perugine, codici di Santa Maria dei Servi (Perugia: Università degli
Studi, 1986/7), 5-10. For a meticulously documented and referenced essay on the church of Santa Maria dei
Servi in Perugia, see Marina Regni, ―Apporti documentari per la ricostruzione delle vicende di Santa Maria dei
Servi,‖ in V. Garibaldi, F. Mancini, eds., Perugino. Il divin pittore (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2004), 547-55.
749
See Davide Montagna, ―Iconografia beniziana antica,‖ in Studi Storici dell‟Ordine dei Servi di Maria, 29, 2
(1979): 423-27. The 1346 fresco in the former Servite convent of Todi is discussed in F. Floccia et al., eds., Todi
e S. Filippo Benizi. Itinerario storico-artistico (Todi: Ediart, 1985).
750
Dal Pino, Spazi e figure, 52-61.
751
The Servites‘ sponsoring of Benizi‘s holiness inscribes itself in the Mendicant orders‘ rivalry in spreading
the cults of men (and women) who had led a conventual life, a phenomenon that André Vauchez has
characterized as the «cléricalisation de la société masculine» in La sainteté en Occident, 249-254. In 1456, pope
Calixtus III was petitioned to canonize Benizi. It had been decided that in each general chapter of the order, a
provision (discorso) on Filippo‘s canonization would be held. For bibliographical references on Benizi‘s
canonization trial, see Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquitatae et mediae aetatis, vol. XXXV (Bruxelles:
Société des Bollandistes, 1949), 6821.
275
volume no longer extant.752 I have found no reference to a special celebration of Fra Filippo
within the confraternity, but his presence in this painting is not surprising given the multiple
connections between the Servites and this lay group.
The female beata who faces Benizi framing the faithful on the viewer‘s right has been
traditionally -but wrongly - identified as Giuliana dei Falconieri (d. 1341) whose uncle, was
one of the seven founders of the order and Benizi‘s first biographer. 753 According to Dal
Pino, a confusion arose in hagiographic renditions between Giuliana dei Falconieri and
another beata called Giovanna da Firenze. The name Giuliana was substituted for that of
Giovanna in late fifteenth century legends (that is, after this Gonfalone was painted). While
Giuliana was eventually credited with founding the tertiary order of the Servites known as the
―Mantellate‖ and even canonized in 1737, Giovanna remained in oblivion. It is therefore no
surprise that nineteenth- and twentieth- century art historians often mistakenly identify the
saint in the painting as Giuliana although Quattrocento literary and visual evidence point out
that Giovanna was then considered the main beatified female Florentine of the order.754 As an
Observant Servite tradition has it, as well as Quattrocento versions of Benizi‘s legend,
752
Mentioned by Davide Montagna, ―Nuove schede per il santuario antico dei Servi. Secoli XIII-XV,‖ in Studi
Storici dell‟Ordine dei Servi di Maria, 34 (1984): 136-45, 144. Another, extant, example is a contemporary
(circa 1460-70) manuscript of sermons, written by a Servite friar in Central Italy which contains a copy of the
Trecento legend of Benizi. See G. Besutti, ―La ‗legenda‘ perugina di S. Filippo da Firenze,‖ in Studi storici
dell‟Ordine dei Servi di Maria, 17 (1967): 90-115.
753
Giuliana is first mentioned by art historians in 1864. See J. A. Crowe, G. B. Cavalcaselle, History of Painting
in Italy (London: John Murray, 1864-1866), III: 128-129; Elvio Lunghi in Lunghi, ed., Niccolò Alunno in
Umbria, 79, first evoked Santa Monica without any rationale but joined the Giuliana identification in Un pittore
e la sua città, 26. He must have mistakenly written ―Santa Monica‖ instead of Santi‘s ―Santa Monaca‖ [a saintly
nun], Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 36. Todini, Niccolò Alunno, endorses these identifications
without any comments. A possible confusion may have arisen with a certain ―Guiduccia de Falconeriis‖ who
died in 1341 and is documented as having been buried in the SS. Annunziata of Florence. A work on the origin
of the order, written c. 1465, mentions for the first time a St. Giuliana without any last name. She becomes a
Falconieri in a later work (1494) by the same author. See Alessio Rossi, O.S.M., Santa Giuliana dei Falconieri
(Rome, 1954) and Franco Andrea Dal Pino, ―La B. Giovanna e S. Giuliano da Firenze nella documentazione dei
secoli XIV-XV,‖ Studi Storici dell‟Ordine dei Servi di Maria, 16 (1966): 104-10, reprinted in Dal Pino, Spazi e
figure, 539-549.
754
Ibid. A 1445 miniature shows a ―Bta Joanna‖ addressing the Madonna with Benizi in intercession for the
portrayed the marquis and marquess of Mantova and their children while a 1487 niello from a book binding is
labeled with ―B. Gianna da Firenze‖. – The first iconographic example for Giuliana dates back to 1543. See E.
Casalini et al., Da “una casupola” nella Firenze del sec. XIII. Celebrazioni giubilari dell‟ordine dei Servi di
Maria. Cronaca, liturgia, arte (Florence: Biblioteca della provincia toscana dei Servi di Maria, 1990), 124-33.
276
Giovanna may even have been Benizi‘s own sister.755 This would appropriately reinforce ties
between the lay people of both genders tied to the Servites shown in the gonfalone.
Closest to Giovanna‘s outstretched hands, a woman, dressed in a black mantle, is
shown in full profile. Her clothes securely identify her as a Servite female tertiary from
Perugia whose black habit had been confirmed by Pope Martin V in a letter addressed to
them in 1424.756 Here, she stands in for her whole monastery, by now Servite, which
bordered the confraternity. Although not confraternal members, these nuns are connected to
the fratelli in many legal documents disputing issues of space and boundaries. The Nunziata
occasionally supported them out of charity.757 Their house and cloister had been bequeathed
in 1387 to the brothers‘ s hospital by a certain Donna Vanna under the condition that they
would accommodate poor virgins and nuns (suore) there upon her death.758 While the wish to
establish a domus pauperum mulierum in a testatrix‘s house to be managed by a confraternity
was a frequent phenomenon, it is unclear what prompted Donna Vanna, a Franciscan tertiary
herself, to make this donation to a Servite-oriented confraternity. It is possible that her
spouse, a Baglioni, or even herself, was a member of the confraternity. 759 Another
explanation is offered by Giovanna Casagrande who argued that this nascent community of
Franciscan tertiaries switched to a Gesuate affiliation in the early fifteenth-century before
755
Montagna, Iconografia beniziana, 141-2.
Martin V was settling a dispute between the Perugian Franciscan and Servite tertiaries about their too similar
habits. Servite tertiaries must wear a black mantle and a robe in coarse linen with a leather girdle and be covered
from their chin to their bare feet, while Franciscan tertiary nuns would wear a light grey mantle and tunic held
by a rope in lieu of a belt. See G. Bortone, OSM, ―Il monastero di Santa Maria delle Povere, Spogli documentari
per gli anni 1393-1607,‖ in Studi Storici dell‟Ordine dei Servi di Maria, 40 (1990): 173-78.
757
Relationships between the confraternity and their female neighbors are better documented for the 16 th
century. For example, in the 1540s, the sixty nuns would borrow the key to the Nunziata church for their
vestition and veiling ritual. See Vermiglioli, Memoria, 40-44. For an example of alms from the Confraternity to
the tertiaries in 1477, see BDAnn, Entrate e uscite dell‟ospedale e della confraternita: 1477-1498, f. 4r.
758
The minimum number was stipulated (three or four) with a provision to elect nuns from the S. Stefano
convent in Assisi. See Dal Pino, Spazi e figure, 141-143 for an excerpt of the official donation act and BDAnn,
Memoriale dei contratti: 1333-1594, ff. 67-70, for a 15th-century copy of this document.
759
On female donations of real estate, see Anna Esposito, ―Men and Women in Roman Confraternities in the
Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Roles, Functions, Expectations,‖ in N. Terpstra, ed., The Politics of Ritual
Kinship. Confraternities and Social Order in Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1999), 82-97, here 96.
756
277
finally adopting a Servite identity from the 1440s on.760 The image of Servite nuns in this
painting offers visual evidence that the female community adjacent to the confraternity was
indeed made over to that group and credits their settlement to the Nunziata.761
Anna Esposito and Giovanna Casagrande have surveyed the ways in which tertiary
status was an attractive option for women, offering them the fullest possibility of female
religious action. Tertiaries might live alone or in a non-cloistered community of a monastic
type. The povere di Santa Maria were the only female community with a Servite affiliation
out of eighteen contemporary female monasteries in Perugia. Thus, the pictorial inclusion of
a Servite nun standing in for her community, had the effect of enlarging the image of the
Nunziata and make the brothers seem more powerful by increasing the number of pious
people associated with them.
In the Gonfalone, Filippo Benizi touches a flagellant‘s bare back with his right hand,
in a typical gesture of introduction and protection that is adapted for the depiction of holy
mediators. For example, Saint Benedict in the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova (fig. 62a)
acts in the same way. In Chapter Two, I already described these male robes that were pierced
in the back to allow for flagellation of the naked flesh. This emphasis on the brothers‘
penitential activities resonates with Fra Filippo‘s own ascetic life marked by frequent
scourging. The confraternity‘s printed statutes make numerous references to the veste, the
white and black robes that each male member had to own and use for collective gatherings in
private or public and for all rituals. They were an essential sign of confraternal membership
from the beginning to the final moments of a Nunziata brother. The robes were carefully
760
According to Casagrande, the Gesuate affiliation was initiated by « Mona Simona », a Gesuate tertiary from
Siena, who gave her name to the community which was also known, throughout the fifteenth century, as the
« povere di Mona Simona ». See G. Casagrande, Religiosità penitenziale, 269-289. For differing opinions on the
Servite origin, see Bonfiglio Mura, Cenni storichi sul venerabile monastero di Santa Maria delle povere in
Perugia (Perugia: 1857) who does not offer much reliable evidence and Bortone, Il monastero.
761
According to the 17th century annalist of the Servite order, Arcangelo Giani (d. 1623), their community is
described as the ―monastero dell‘Annunziata‖. See Vermiglioli, Memoria, 84-85. For Casagrande, Religiosità
penitenziale, 288, they are not documented as Servite Tertiaries until 1498 (burial of a sister in Santa Maria dei
Servi).
278
inventoried among the confraternity possessions, giving an idea of the number of male
members of the Nunziata, always around forty.762 Interestingly, on the Gonfalone, not all
members are clad in their flagellant‘s habit. Some wear their professional outfits so that they
can be identified with certainty but for others, only archival research allows to understand
their social standing as individuals.
Social composition and elite members
Although the matricola (register of members) is no longer extant, the Nunziata
archives that I consulted provide scattered references about the members‘ positions in
Perugian society for the fourteen-sixteenth centuries. This confraternity admitted men and
women from many different social and professional backgrounds from nobles to craftsmen,
until the seventeenth century gentrification. They range from artisans such as painters, a
tailor, a furrier, a linen weaver, a barber, or a spice and wax merchant, to notaries and
aristocrats (see appendix 15). Singled out are the notaries and doctors of law.
The man holding his red beret could be a notary if one takes as iconographic
references depictions from contemporary Bolognese matricole (fig. 104a-b) or a Perugian
illumination of 1525 showing five notaries at work (fig. 20). These legal experts were always
employed by confraternities and guilds to write up contracts and turn corporate deliberations
into official documents. A few notaries belonged to the Nunziata in addition to performing
charitable work through their own professional association (‗Consorzio‖) dedicated to the
Annunciation and the Evangelist Luke, as artistic works that they commissioned testify. For
example, Benedetto Bonfigli‘s large and richly-gilded painting showing the Annunciation in
762
This is what I retrieved from a few inventories scattered among the confraternity records. BDAnn, Libro del
camerlengo: 1385-1392, f. 34v, lists 44 « veste » in 1394. BDAnn, Libro del camerlengo dal 1434-1456 (f. 7r)
mentions 40 white robes. Memoriale dei contratti, 89-92, lists thirty-seven white veste in 1443. This figure was
crossed out and 42 was annotated; a 1463 addition to this passage translates ―28 are left‖ while another
emendation, dated 1472, accounts for 45 robes. See appendices 6a and 6b for a full transcription of these
inventories.
279
the presence of St. Luke was hung in the Consorzio‘s main room (fig. 21) from the 1450s.
Several elements in this painting, such as the garden wall, God the father, and Mary‘s cloth of
honor can be also found in Niccolò di Liberatore‘s Gonfalone for the Nunziata. Throughout
the centuries, the notaries commissioned many depictions of the Annunciation to adorn their
manuscript records and to furnish their hospital and its chapel (Santa Maria dell‘Annunziata)
with paintings.763 But beyond a common dedication, an important link between the notaries
and the Nunziata existed in the fact that the Consorzio premises (called the Udienza and
situated on the main piazza) were in part owned by this confraternity from 1381. For
centuries, the notaries paid an annual rent to the confraternity as account books of both the
confraternity and the Consorzio record.764
Among the confraternal members kneeling on the foreground, five doctors of law
(legum doctores) can be surely identified by their professional attire. 765 They particularly
stand out in their lavish red or blue robes, fur-lined hoods, and shoulder-length ermine
collars. These sartorial features were indisputably clear signs of particular office that their
professional regulations specified. Doctors of law were entitled to teach either in civil law
(doctor iuris civilis), in canon law (doctor iuris canonici), or in both (doctor utriusque iuris).
Since they belonged to the same department (facultas iurisconsultorum), they wore the same
763
For documents and illustrations of such artistic commissions, see R. Abbondanza, Notariato.
See Vermiglioli, Memoria, 90, 98-103, for a transcription of the original documents stipulating the lease.
Annual entries can be found in the already quoted 15th and 16th century account books (Entrate e uscite) of the
confraternity. For a cash payment of three florins made in June 1530 by the prior of the ‗Collegio dei Notari‘ to
the Nunziata represented by its prior, see ASP, ASCPg, Notarile, Bastardelli, 1103, ff. 276-78. Another
example, the 1589 bookkeeping accounts of the ―Collegio dei Notai,‖ mentions the obligation to pay rent to the
confraternity. See ASP, ASCPg, Consorzio dei Notai, ―Collegio dei Notai: Entrate e uscite,‖ anno 1589, 75.
765
In the 13th century, the doctorate became the top university degree. «Legum doctores» taught as university
professors and were entitled to organize doctoral exams, much like today‘s Ph.D. graduates in a teaching
position. See R. Feenstra, « ‗Legum doctor‘, ‗legum professor‘ et ‗magister‘ comme termes pour désigner des
juristes au moyen âge, » in Olga Weijers (ed.), Terminologie de la vie intellectuelle au moyen âge. Actes du
colloque (Leyde / La Haye, 20-21 septembre 1985) (Turnhout: Brepols, 1988), 72-77. The only scholar who
researched the presence of these jurists in the foreground of Niccolò‘s painting is Mirko Santanicchia in Carla
Frova et al. (eds.), Doctores excellentissimi. Giuristi, medici, filosofi e teologi dell‟Università di Perugia (secc.
XIV-XIX) (Città di Castello: Edimond, 2003), 49, 207-8. His attempt to identify these five men precisely was
unfortunately unsuccessful.
764
280
costume.766 The 1407 statutes of this collegium (i.e. academic professional organization)
specifically state that this costume must not to be lent at the risk of discrediting their
profession while the 1576 Costitutiones [sic] remind their members that this uniform was
mandatory for public occasions such as processions held during religious feasts or the entry
of a special visitor.767 When Pope Pius II visited Perugia in 1459, a local chronicler recorded
that the lawyers were «all dressed in red with the fur collar». 768 The fact that one doctor is
dressed in a blue robe in the painting is probably due to Niccolò‘s concern for variety and
clarity in outlining each of these scholars. The prestigious and ceremonial nature of this
costume is also illustrated by Perugian sumptuary laws that explicitly authorize the doctores
to be buried in their coat, hat, and ermine fur.769 In their lifetime, the legum doctores would
dress this way for teaching, supervising exams, conferring a doctor‘s degree to a student.770
This lavish clothing was common to other law universities in Italy in imitation of the ancient
Roman courts that Juvenal described.771
The ermine collar was an extremely costly and rarely seen item, and thus expressed
power and professional status.772 In Venice, a fur collar was also the exclusive privilege of
the doge who wore it on ceremonial occasions such as can be seen in Gentile Bellini‘s
766
On the successive manuscript and printed versions of the lawyers‘ statutes, see ibid., 88-90, as well as Oscar
Scalvanti, ―Alcune ‗Riformanze‘ inedite della facoltà giuridica nell‘Ateneo perugino,‖ in Annali della facoltà di
giurisprudenza dell‟Università degli Studi di Perugia, nos. I, II, III, IV (1903-1906). The clothing was correctly
identified as that of the Perugian doctores legum by Raffaele Belforti, ―Il sigillo dell‘Università degli scolari,‖ in
Perusia 5 (1933). See also Ermini, Storia dell‟università, I: 220. For the semantic evolution of the word doctor
in Bologna and elsewhere, see the entry ―doctor‖ in Teeuwen, Vocabulary of Intellectual Life, 76-78.
767
For a transcription of the 1407 statutes, see Vincenzo Bini, Memorie istoriche della Perugina Università
degli Studi e dei suoi professori (Bologna: Athenaeum, 1977 [1816]), 624-633. For the 1576 provisions, see
Santanicchia, in Doctores excellentissimi, 90-94 and Costitutiones Excellentissimorum Doctorum, chapter 15.
768
Quoted in Ermini, Storia dell‟università, 302.
769
See Nico Ottaviani, Legislazione suntuaria, xxiv-xxv and the 1366 statutes, 82 for the chapter on burials.
770
See the 1407 statutes, chapter 14 transcribed in Bini, Memorie istoriche, 631 and the 1691 statutes, chapter
13. Also quoted in Ermini, Storia dell‟università, 301.
771
This is specified in the 1576 statutes of the Perugian ‗legum doctores‘, see Costitutiones Doctorum 1576,
chapter 15. Bini, ibid., 412, stresses the long tradition for this costume which goes back to ancient Rome
according to a description given by Juvenal: iuxta morem Doctorum in Romana Curia degentium.
772
Susan L‘Engle, ―Addressing the Law, Costume as Signifier in Medieval Legal Miniatures,‖ in D. Koslin and
J. Snyder, eds., Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress, Objects, Texts, Images, (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2002), 137-53.
281
Procession in Piazza San Marco of 1496 (fig. 15) or in Matteo Pagan‘s woodcuts of 1550s
reproducing a century-old tradition.773 While elsewhere the ermine collar was worn by any
doctoral graduate, it was, in Perugia, a distinctive sign for doctors of law only. It can be seen
on the portraits of famous jurists painted on the main hall vault of Law professor Guglielmo
Pontani‘s family palace in 1530s (fig. 105). In 1714, the doctors of law agreed that the
Doctors of the liberal arts might also adopt the fur collar, but even at that late date the legal
experts were anxious to preserve their status, stipulating that under no circumstances were the
‗artists‘(professors teaching the liberal arts) to precede the lawyers in processions.774
Within the small Perugian community of doctores, the cream of the intellectual elite,
the lawyers formed the oldest of the Perugian schools and the most famous faculty, the
Collegium doctorum iuris, compared to that of the Collegia of medicine or the liberal arts.
The lawyers‘ professional organization (―Collegio‖) was the first one to exist in Perugia and
its earliest reference can be found in the city statutes of 1366. The city statutes of 1306
planned for the Studium to have six doctoral jurists and three doctoral ―artists‖. By 1366,
there were eight law professors and eleven medical doctors. Doctors of law who taught at the
Perugian Studium generale numbered only nineteen in 1429 while in the mid-century, they
grew to 24 (out of a total of 40 professors) which made their public appearances even more
noticeable. In the sixteenth century, there were twenty-six professors.775 When the whole
university paraded, the fur-collared doctors of law had precedence of rank. This double
773
Venice did not have a university until the late 19th century. For an entire reproduction of these woodcuts and
an analysis of the order of the procession, see Muir, Civic Ritual, 189-211, who does not mention the ermine
collar.
774
On the ermine collar, see Ermini, Storia dell‟università, I: 426 and I: 223. For Pontani‘s frescoes, see Santi
1985, II, 126-128 (inv. nos. 459, 461, 463, 465, 467, 469).
775
Ermini, Storia dell‟università, I: 222-3; Frova, Doctores excellentissimi, 76-77. For the origin of the Perugian
University in the 13th century, the official birth of Studium, its recognition by the pope in 1308, and the number
of professors, see Ermini, ibid., I: 15-20, 46-50, 225-229 and Frova, ibid., 71-5. For the 15th century, see
Ugolino Nicolini, ―Dottori, scolari, programmi e salari alla Università di Perugia verso la metà del sec. XV,‖ in
BDSPU LVIII (1961): 139-159.
282
privilege, marching in the front and wearing a distinctive item of clothing, is documented
until the eighteenth century.
With their scarlet capes overlapping the lower painted frame that bears the inscription,
the doctores legum strongly assert their connection with the confraternity and its Servite
affiliation. They must have welcomed the pictorial inclusion of Blessed Benizi who, before
converting, had obtained a doctorate (in medicine) and had therefore been of a similar social
status. A further connection existed between this religious community and the doctores since
a few Servite friars attended the Perugian University.776 In addition, the Servites had a
Studium of their own where grammar, the (liberal) arts, and theology were taught. 777 Santa
Maria dei Servi was also a gathering place for all lawyers since it accommodated the tomb of
a famous Perugian law professor and writer, Baldo Bartolini (d. 1390) as well as the altar of
St. Jerome, the patron saint of the Sapienza Nuova, a residence for students which was
located just outside the Servite quarters. This relationship, more than the Nunziata Gonfalone
itself, explains why the doctors‘ procession on the Annunciation feast day had the Servite
church as a goal.778 Before Santa Maria dei Servi was demolished (9th November 1543), the
doctors of law could have visited the high altarpiece, dedicated to the Annunciation, as well
as the chapel of the Nunziata.
The doctors of law depicted here may well be actual portraits of Nunziata fratelli,
even though sources on their membership are mostly silent. 779 Why did the doctores legum
776
Dal Pino, Spazi e figure, 559.
In the 15th century, exchanges existed between such monastic studia and those in the city. Servite friars could
also matriculate at a city Studium generale; a few Servites are documented as professors of theology or
philosophy in the Perugian Studium. See Giuseppe Bortone, "Lo Studio generale dei Servi e l'Università di
Perugia nel Quattrocento," Studi Storici dell'Ordine dei Servi di Maria XLIV (1994): 123-28.
778
The 1576 printed statutes of the doctors of law do not specify the destination of this compulsory procession
but Lancellotti recorded that, on that day, the collegium went to the Servite church, a feature also noted by
Mariotti in 1788. See Garibaldi in Dipinti, sculture e ceramiche, 228-229 and Lunghi in Un pittore e la sua
città, 168.
779
Ettore Palomba cites, in his appendices, a document of March 1443 in which a doctor of medicine «magister
Francischus Bartolomey de Nursia» is prior of the confraternity in 1443. I have been unable to trace back this
legal act. E. Palomba, La confraternita dell‟Annunziata a Perugia (Perugia: Università degli Studi, Facoltà di
lettere e filosofia, Dipartimento di Storia, tesi di laurea, 1966). A «dottor dominus Mariottus» from Porta San
777
283
receive such visual prominence over other confraternal members? These pious associations
professed an ideal of equal treatment and solidarity. Wearing a flagellant‘s uniform was a
way to promote this ideology both in the privacy of the confraternity premises and in the
public sphere of processions. Occasions for doctors to practice devotional and charitable
activities were scarce, apart from specific provisions for funerals of colleagues or relatives.
The doctors did not run a hospital (a shelter for the poor and pilgrims) unlike other
professional associations, such as the Mercanzia and the notaries‘ Consortium. This probably
explains their 1406 resolution (appendix 13) to march with the notaries on certain occasions,
an agreement that I comment on below. The statutory reform of 1451 stipulates the
participation of all legum doctores ‗collegialiter‘ in the Corpus Domini procession with lit
tapers but they may choose to march either with their own Collegium or with other clerics
(cum aliis clericis).780
Gradually, the Doctors of Law built the devotional aspects of their own collective
identity through mandatory participation in specific religious processions, ceremonially
dressed in their staple costume, as their printed statutes of 1576 record. 781 In their fifteenthand sixteenth-century corporate regulations, there is no mention of conflicting participation in
religious rituals with membership in a confraternity. Nevertheless, by giving doctors of law
so much visibility in this representation on the Gonfalone, the confraternity made the overt
statement that the Nunziata had the honor of welcoming these high-ranking citizens among
their own members. Consequently, the prestige of the confraternity could only be enhanced,
as this image testifies. The legum doctores‘ influence on the composition of the Gonfalone
Pietro is mentioned in 1503 and 1516 (Memoriale dei contratti, f. 35r, f. 53r) and may be identified with lawyer
Mariotto di Ser Giovanni who died in 1519, as the matricola of the law Collegio lists him, cf. Bini, Memorie
storiche, 417.
780
Document edited by Scalvanti 1905, Riformanze inedite, 127-129.
781
Costitutiones Doctorum 1576, Chapters 4 and 15.
284
can be felt in the inscription in Latin on the lower border (fig. 103) and the unusual depiction
of Mary herself as a scholar.
For the caption on the lower painted frame (see excursus no. 4), the painter has
avoided the Gothic majuscules favored in fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century art. Niccolò
has chosen instead Roman capitals and numerals and used shading effects in order to render
the illusion of ancient Roman lapidary epigraphy characterized by its V-cut depth. Possibly,
this epigraphic type was a request of the doctors or of erudite Servites, given that their
clothing interacts physically with the illusionistic three-dimensional letters. The patrons‘
appropriation of humanist knowledge is reinforced by the choice of Latin and of Roman
numerals, the language of legal matters and teaching, and canonical church practice. For the
manuscript book of hours on the Virgin‘s lectern, Niccolò used instead the ornate shapes of
the Gothic script, faithfully rendering the traditional appearance of such prayer manuals or of
many hand-written legal tracts (such as the agreement excerpted from the notaries‘ matricola
and transcribed in appendix 13). Here, this lettering fits the devotional ambience of the scene
offering a wordy illustration for it with excerpts from Saint Jerome‘s Vulgate. Niccolò is thus
demonstrating his ability and propensity to paint a modern and beautiful inscription.782
Mary as a scholar
The erudition and elevated social rank of the lawyers is further emphasized by the
unusual depiction of Mary herself as a scholar. Upon hearing Gabriel‘s message, the Virgin
has interrupted her reading to kneel and bow with lowered eyes and arms crossed on her
chest, assuming the attitude typical of humiliatio. This follows the iconography of many
Quattrocento Madonnas shown in the moment of their submission to the Word of God, such
782
The lettering is similar to his 1465 polyptych for the Franciscans of Cagli (Brera, Milan).
285
as most of Fra Angelico‘s Annunciate Virgins.783 However, the painter has placed Mary in an
extraordinary set of furnishings for such a scene. The Virgin is not shown next to a prie-dieu
but within a contemporary fitted desk unit of the type that carpenters made to measure for
those who studied at home. It usually comprised a bench and shelves on wood panelled walls
decorated with inlays. It could also include, as here, a platform base linking the seat to the
reading desk, a useful device to protect from cold draughts. 784 Owners of such studiolo
furnishings were not necessarily princes or patricians. Notaries, doctors, clerics, merchants,
bankers, scholars, and even craftsmen are documented as having a study space at home.
The presence of several books and the elaborate apparatus recall contemporary
depictions of the Evangelists or Fathers of the church. The iconographic tradition in Umbria
originates in thirteenth-century Assisi in the frescoed vault of the ―Doctors of the Church‖ in
the Upper Basilica of San Francesco. In late medieval and renaissance depictions, scholars at
work (fig. 107a-c) are usually shown with a slanted desk propping up the book to be read,
written, or glossed while a lectern, or a similar device, allows for another book to be
consulted simultaneously, calling for comparisons and alluding to the commentary tradition
of university learning. For example, Pietro Roccabonella, a doctor of medicine and lecturer at
the University of Padua, turned to this visual tradition for his sculpted tomb monument
(1491) in the local church of San Francesco (fig. 108). A built-in shelf inside the desk may
offer storage space, reminiscent of cupboards in medieval altar tables used for liturgical
books, but also the cupboards of scholars‘ desks as, for example, in Benozzo Gozzoli‘s fresco
of St. Augustine‟s Vision of St. Jerome in San Gimignano of 1465 (fig. 109).785 The door is
783
On the concept of humiliatio as the Virgin‘s submission and the corresponding gesture, see Baxandall,
Painting and Experience, 51-55 and illustrations 17 (Domenico Veneziano) and 24d (Fra Angelico).
784
Dora Thornton, The Scholar in his Study, Ownership and Experience in Renaissance Italy (New Haven &
London: Yale University Press, 1997), especially 56-57 for this set-up.
785
On this work, see Cole Ahl, Gozzoli, 121-155.
286
traditionally shown opened facing the viewers, but in Niccolò‘s gonfalone it also faces the
doctors, another reference to their own learnedness and piety.
Mary kneels before an intricate and fantastic combination of cathedra and throne
consisting of an inlaid canopy over a tall back lined with luxurious brocaded velvet that
forms a cloth of honor. Similar regal seats are a common component of Marian iconography
because they equate the Virgin with the Queen of Heaven and the symbol of the Church. On
the other hand, cathedras were the privileged seats of bishops but also of university
professors as images of teaching sessions clearly demonstrates. For example, in a woodcut
illustration of an incunabulum, Esopus is giving a lecture from a cathedra, dressed as a
university professor with a characteristic headdress and an ermine collar.786
Before Gabriel appeared, Mary had been reading from her slanted desk while another
opened book was lying on a tiny lectern slotted into the desk top. Situated exactly in the
center of the composition, the two pages of this tiny book display key passages from the New
Testament (Luke 1, 38 and 1, 46) that illustrate Mary‘s submission as God‘s servant and
vessel of His son.787 The short and carefully articulated metal rod on top of the lectern would
normally serve to support an oil lamp to direct light over a book as required, a feature well
visible in Niccolò Pizzico‘s 1448 fresco of St. Gregory the Great (fig. 110) in the Eremitani
Church of Padua. In this picture, destroyed in World War II, Gregory‘s desk has two
revolving lecterns, one of which is fitted with a long metal rod holding two oil-lamps.788 But
in this gonfalone, Niccolò di Liberatore has omitted a lamp or candle-holder, implying a
786
For representations in form of woodcuts from printed incunabula, see Ugo Rozzo, Lo studiolo nella
silografia italiana. 1479-1558 (Udine: Forum, 1998), 29 for Esopus. For sculptures of Law professors ‗in
cattedra‘ on Bolognese tombs, see Renzo Grandi, I monumenti dei Dottori e la sculptura a Bologna (1267-1348)
(Bologna: Istituto per la Storia di Bologna, 1982).
787
On the left-hand side «Ecce ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbuum tuum» (Luke 1, 38) are coupled
with, on the right-hand side «Magnificat anima mea Dominum [et] exultavit spiritus» (Luke 1, 46) ―Ecce
ancilla‖ corresponds to Mary‘s response to Gabriel‘s message and her submission is further asserted by the
folded arms on her chest. The ―Magnificat‖ excerpt follows closely the former statement in Jerome‘s translation.
During Mary‘s visitation to her cousin Elisabeth who is expected John the Baptist, the ―infants‖ born by these
women leap with joy in utero, as a confirmation of the Incarnation.
788
See Thornton, Scholar in his Study, 54.
287
theological statement. For Christians, God himself is the source of light. He is just at this
moment impregnating Mary with His son by sending the Holy Spirit, embodied by golden
rays, as a symbol of her incipient pregnancy, a phenomenon readily understood as the
Incarnation.789 The metal rod serves as a pointer to this divine operation and functions as the
manicula commonly used in the margins of books to indicate important passages.790
Niccolò‘s choices for this scene were novel. The throne demonstrates his debt to
Gentile da Fabriano‘s frescoes for the Palazzo Trinci in his home town Foligno. He followed
the general iconography of the cathedra-thrones for the personification of the Liberal Arts
(fig. 111).791 A monumental Virgin Annunciate sitting at a studiolo is shown in Carlo da
Camerino‘s altarpiece of ca. 1400 for his hometown in the Marche. However, in both cases,
Mary is not enthroned.792 Thus, Niccolò di Liberatore‘s combination of an imposing throne
with a scholarly Virgin is quite novel at this point in time in Central Italian art. The effect is
to identify the Virgin‘s piety and dignity closely with the learnedness of the doctores legum
while showing the latter‘s attraction for the humanist culture.
Canvassing unity despite heterogeneity
The members of this Societas Anuntiate were careful to identify themselves through a
corporate name (in the inscription) and to give a vivid image of an apparently unified group
despite the differences in clothing and their social heterogeneity. This neatly-gathered group
may be read as an image of an ideal unity, emphasizing the interaction of several social
classes. But to what extent was this realistic in the 1460s? To answer this question, I
789
For the iconography of the Annunciation with an imposing throne and the presence of the Holy Spirit, see
Schiller, Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, I: 44-63.
790
On the manicule (from manicula, ―little hand‖ in Latin), also called ―fist‖ or ―digit‖, see William H.
Shearman‘s work-in-progress presented at the Folger Shakespeare Library seminar ―Technologies of Writing‖
on 4th March 2005 in Washington, DC.
791
Cristina Galassi, ―Niccolò di Liberatore, il crocifisso ligneo del museo di S. Francesco a Montefalco e altre
opere giovanili. Considerazioni sulla formazione,‖ Storia dell‟arte 81 (1994): 194-206.
792
For Carlo da Camerino, see Alessandro Marchi‘s entry no. 30 in Paolo dal Poggetto, ed., Fioritura gotica
nelle Marche (Milan: Electa, 1998), 122-123.
288
scrutinize the assertive presence of the doctors of Law and I posit the discrepancy between
the depiction of women and the actuality of their poor integration in the Nunziata.
I believe that at the time this gonfalone was painted tensions existed between two
categories of highly-educated members of the Nunziata, the notaries and the doctors of
law.793 Notaries, whose indispensable work tied them to many aspects of Perugia‘s political,
social, and religious life, probably envied the ways in which the legum doctores managed to
display their authority in public ceremonies. Tensions between the two types of legal scholars
are well-documented for other Italian cities where notaries tried to maintain the prestige of
their corporation in competition with the powerful doctors of law. 794 The fact that from the
1460s, the Perugian notaries started to refer to their Consorzio as a Collegio, a more
scholarly-sounding term, shows that they aspired to a higher social status.795 In 1406, notaries
had managed to reach an agreement according to which doctors and judges from the Collegio
iudicum had to join them for processions such as the one for the Feast of the Annunciation
(appendix 13). These lawyers had to walk flanked by two notaries, while the chairmen of
both associations, in the front row, led the group. They marched from the city center to the
notaries‘ hospital (situated in Porta Sant‘Angelo) to which the members of the Collegio
iudicum had to donate their tapers. Other provisions stipulated a mutual attendance for
funerals of deceased members of each organization. This apparently cordial relationship must
793
In certain cities, notaries and lawyers belonged to the same professional organization. For the Florentine
situation, cf. Santi Calleri, L‟arte dei giuristi e notai di Firenze nell‟età comunale e nel suo Statuto del 1344
(Milano: 1966). For the differences of office between notaries, judges and law professors in Bologna, see Gina
Fasoli, ―Giuristi, giudici, e notai‖, in Guido Rossi, ed., Atti del convegno internazionale di studi accursiani.
Bologna, 21-26 ottobre 1963 (Bologna, 1968), 26-39.
794
Giorgio Costamagna, Il notaio a Genova tra prestigio e potere (Rome: Consiglio nazionale del notariato,
1970); Lauro Martines, Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1968), 31-38; R. Ferrara, ―‗Licentia exercendi‘ e esame di notariato medievale a Bologna nel secolo XII,‖ in
Notariato Bolognese (Rome: Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato, 1977). For Bologna, Modena, Padova,
Piacenza, Treviso, Verona and Vicenza, see Ulrich Meyer-Holz, Collegia iudicum, über die Form sozialer
Gruppenbildung durch die gelehreten Berufsjuristen im Oberitalien des späten Mittelalters, mit einem Vergleich
zu Collegia doctorum iuris (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989). For social hierarchy among legal
experts, see Antonio Padoa Schioppa, ―Sul ruolo dei giuristi nell‘età del diritto commune,‖ in Danilo Segoloni,
ed., Il diritto comune e la tradizione giuridica (Perugia: Libreria Universitaria Editrice, 1980), 159.
795
For example, in May 1463, the city officials cite the ―Collegio delli notarii,‖ transcription of the document in
Abbondanza, Notariato, 148.
289
not have lasted very long because the doctors‘ statutes (including their revisions) did not
include these provisions. By 1587 at the latest, the doctors of law marched together for the
Feast of the Annunciation. The Nunziata printed statutes of that year specify that members
inscribed in a ―collegio‖ (like the doctors or the notaries) were not obligated to follow the
Confraternity.796 In the Nunziata painting of 1466, I see the visual prominence of the
Perugian legum doctores as an expression of hierarchy in which a few of them successfully
asserted their superiority in regards to the «less glamourous figure» of the notarial
members.797
Apart from Servite tertiary on the right-hand side of the circle of faithful, the other
women, both young and veiled ones, who appear in the painting (nine heads can be
distinguished), may well represent the female members of the confraternity. To register with
the Nunziata, women made a textile donation such as a silk veil, a sheet, or a linen cloth, a
practice recorded for 1511 with, for example, a baker‘s and a cook‘s wives admitted into the
Confraternity. Women also participated in some processions such as Candlemas.798 Female
auxiliary or full-fledged membership was common in European confraternities but studies are
essentially monographic or topographic. Women in confraternities had little range of action
aside from devotional activities such as praying or observing the Christian sacraments and
making charitable donations.799 Since women are not mentioned at all in the printed statutes
796
Costitutiones Doctorum 1576, chapters 4 and 15 and Constitutioni et capitoli della venerabile Confraternita
dell'annuntiata di Perugia de P[orta] B[orgne]. Riformati dell'anno 1587 (Perugia: Andrea Bresciano, 1587).
chapter 4: De le processioni ordinarie.
797
The expression is drawn from Lauro Martines, Lawyers and Statecraft, 34.
798
For the textile donation, BDAnn., Libro dei Partiti 1505, f. 11rv (1511): «le venerande donne [che] ano fatta
la oferta per essere rechonosciute de la compania». On 20/1/1555, men voted for candles to be given to women
for the procession of Santa Maria della Candelora: BDAnn, Libro dei partiti: 1546-1560, ff. 61bisrv-62r.
799
For an overview of the scholarship on women in Italian confraternities, see M. Teresa Brolis, Giovanni
Brembilla, ―Mille e più donne in confraternita. Il consorcium Misericordiae di Bergamo nel Ducento,‖ in Il buon
fedele. Le confraternite tra medioevo e prima Terpstra età moderna (Verona: Cierre edizioni, 1998), 107-34. For
topographic studies, see Esposito, Roman Confraternities; Nicholas Terpstra, ―Women in the Brotherhood,
Gender, Class and Politics in Renaissance Bolognese Confraternities,‖ in Renaissance and Reformation 26 (31990): 193-212; G. De Sandre Gasparini, Statuti di confraternite religiose di Padova (Padua: Istituto per la
storia ecclesiastica di Padova, 1974). For the female condition in Florentine confraternities, see Ronald
Weissman, Ritual Brotherhood in Renaissance Florence (New York, Academic Press, 1982), 112-113.
290
of the Societas Anuntiate (1587), it is likely that they were not allowed to participate in any
meetings or to receive any office. Other sodalities, though, had a ‗prioressa,‘ such as the
Roman Confraternita del Gonfalone. Its 1490 statutes describe the election of a prioress and
the exact devotional activities that were expected from women, including participation to
processions and mass. In addition, some all-female companies also existed.800 Giovanna
Casagrande has noted that the Annunziata was the only flagellant confraternity in Perugia
that included women. She explains that the admission of female members was due to the need
to recruit honest women to care for the ―convertite‖ (former prostitutes), an activity which
took place beginning in 1558. But female members are documented as early as 1511 and they
were probably accepted much before that time. As Cyrilla Barr points out, there was often no
clear-cut distinction between associations of purely disciplinati and laudesi (devout groups
dedicated to chanting Marian lauds) members.801
In the wake of the Counter-Reformation, the presence of women was encouraged and
is well documented from the mid-sixteenth century on.802 This representation of a coherent
group thus conceals the fact that, at the time the painting was made, women were poorly
assimilated in confraternal practices, especially in the Nunziata.
800
See Anna Esposito, ―Le confraternite del Gonfalone. Secoli XIV-XV,‖ in Ricerche sulla storia religiosa di
Roma (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1984), 91-136. – For the Umbrian situation, see Giovanna
Casagrande, ―Confraternities and Lay Female Religiosity in Late Medieval and Renaissance Umbria,‖ in N.
Terpstra, ed., Ritual Kinship (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 48-66. For all-female
confraternities in Florence, see J. Henderson, Piety and Charity (Chicago & London: The University of Chicago
University Press, 1994), 110-111 and in Bergamo, see M. T. Brolis, G. Brembilla, Micaela Corato, La matricola
femminile della Misericordia di Bergamo, 1265-1339 (Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 2001).
801
Casagrande, ―Lay Female Religiosity,‖ 63. Cyrillla Barr, The Monophonic Lauda and the Lay Religious
Confraternities of Tuscany and Umbria in the Late Middle Ages (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications,
Western Michigan University, 1988). For a contrasting opinion, based on Florentine examples, see Weissman,
Ritual Brotherhood, 67-78.
802
Christopher Black, Italian Confraternities in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1989), 37-38 and for Umbria, Casagrande, Lay female religiosity.
291
The power of place: Santa Maria dei Servi and the Nunziata chapel
On 29th April 1466, during a formal meeting in the Servite monastery of the two
parties, the confratelli received the chapel as a perpetual concession, with all due rights,
provided that they would use it, maintain it and develop it (appendix 7). The friars had met
three times beforehand to discuss the confraternity‘s claim for this space. This was a current
practice in Mendicant churches, and other brotherhoods, such as the Lombard, the
Ultramontane (the German and French residents) since 1441, and that of San Giuliano met in
this church, having obtained a whole chapel or an altar.803 The members of these associations
were instrumental in the construction works that enlarged Santa Maria dei Servi over the
course of the fifteenth century.
Tentatively reconstructed, Santa Maria dei Servi was a single-nave church with four
side chapels on its Western side and at least two East. 804 The tomb of jurist Baldo Bartolini
was situated close to the first altar on the left, that of St. Jerome, to whom the students of the
Sapienza Nuova were dedicated. In 1466, the Nunziata chapel was situated to the left of the
high altar behind which the new monumental wood choir stalls (1456) stood. But in the late
1470s, the altar of the Annunciation was moved to make place for the chapel and sacristy of
the Lombard. The Church was the goal of the general procession for John the Baptist (24th
June) and for the Conception of Mary (8th December), allowing for hundreds of Perugians to
enter the lavishly furnished church and pay their respects to the Virgin Annunciate in the
Nunziata chapel.
803
Regni, ―Apporti documentari,‖ in Garibaldi, ed., Divin Pittore, 546. For the relationships that Servites kept
with confraternities in Medieval and Early Modern Italy, see Dal Pino, Spazi e figure, 126-144, including his
appended bibliography on this theme. For the confraternity of the Lombard, see Francesco Santi, ―I privilegi e la
cappella dei maestri lombardi in Perugia in un codice quattrocentesco,‖ in Edoardo Arslan (ed.), Arte e artisti
dei laghi lombardi. I: Architetti e scultori del quattrocento (Como: Tipografia editrice A. Noseda, 1959), 290307.
804
This reconstruction is based mainly on Regni, ibid. See also in the same volume, Fabio Palombaro, ―Per una
recostituzione di Santa Maria dei Servi,‖ 541-46.
292
A 1470 inventory of the Nunziata chapel (appendix 9) and the inventory of the entire
church drafted in 1492 (appendix 10) confirm that Santa Maria dei Servi benefited from the
patronage of the whole neighborhood. This thriving area included many university students,
lawyers, and craftsmen such as shoemakers, comb makers, cord makers, tailors, blacksmiths,
and painters.805 Quite significantly, Santa Maria dei Servi faced the dwellings of the Baglioni
whose burial church it was.806 By the early 1540s, the vaults of the Servite church were filled
with Baglioni flags. At the time this Virgin Annunciate was commissioned, the chairman of
the Confraternity was Francesco Baglioni, as the document on the concession of the Nunziata
Chapel records (appendix 7). He was a nephew to the head of the clan, Braccio who was a
patron of the arts and commander of the papal troops. As I mentioned in relation to
Malatesta‘s funeral, Braccio‘s viscera were placed in this church in 1479 and by the end of
the century, Santa Maria dei Servi had become the sepulture of the whole upper nobility. Not
only aristocratic families, but also a wide range of donors (friars, craftsmen, merchants)
furnished this church with luxurious liturgical implements such as heavy silver or gilded
chalices, velvet or silk vestments, and enamel and jewelled crosses.807
The agreement of April 1466 (appendix 7) documents not only the names of over two
thirds of the Perugian friars (plus quam duas partes) in the Servite convent but also records
that this chapel, dedicated to the Annunciation, had recently been rebuilt and ‗perfected‘ at
the expense of the confraternity hospital (sumptibus et expensis hospitalis dicte fraternitate
edificata et de novo constructa et perfecta). The chapel was endowed with a piece of land, the
proceeds of which were granted to the friars who had to celebrate a daily mass in this chapel.
The Servites were to keep all donations of food, wine, estate, and «mobile things» while the
805
For the topographical distribution of professional activities in this area, see Paola Monacchia, ―Per una
ricostruzione attraversi i catasti del quartiere di colle Landone com‘era prima del 1540,‖ in Rocca Paolina. Studi
e ricerche (Perugia: Electa, 1992), 69-100, especially the map on p. 81.
806
―Eronci molte bandiere de li Baglione morte [in 1543]‖ Fabretti, IV, Memorie di Giulio Costantino, 280.
807
See Regni, ―Apporti documentari,‖ in Garibaldi, ed., Divin Pittore, 555 for an identification of the patrons.
For the social composition of this urban area, see Paola Monacchia, ―Per una ricostruzione attraversi i catasti del
quartiere di colle Landone com‘era prima del 1540,‖ in Rocca Paolina. Studi e ricerche, 69-100.
293
Annunziata brothers could keep whatever other alms were deposited in the chapel as long as
they were used towards its care and maintenance. The brothers indeed took great care of their
chapel, regularly furnishing it with oil for the lamps.808 Proof of its popular success was the
proceeds from the numerous visitors who deposited coins in a special casket (―la cassetta de
la capella nostra de la Nunziata‖) and the presence of precious ex-votos in the form of jewels
that the inventories reveal.809 Only four years after the concession, these gifts thanking the
Madonna consisted of a ring, four pairs of silver earrings (quattro paie de archie d‟arieto)
and two necklaces, one made of coral (una filaiola de coraglie) then held as prophylactic
measures against evil (appendix 9).
The Chapel of the Annunciation, as described in the 1470 inventory, lists the
gonfalone coll‟Annunptiata and its elaborate tabernacolo (fig. 112) as the first items
(appendix 9). The third entry is an altarpiece followed by what must have stood on the altar:
two angels holding a candlestick recall the angelic pair in painted and gilded poplar wood
that once stood on the main altar of the church of the Franciscan Observants, or the pair kept
at the Diocesan Museum.810 There were two brass and two iron candlesticks, a consecrated
stone, and a dozen white or colored wool, linen, or velvet cloths. Two «new» tovaglie
uccellate refer to the expensive white linen and blue cotton altar covers that were a typical
product of the region and that are shown as a female donation in the Gonfalone of San
Bernardino (fig. 13a). The absence of a chalice and its paten means that these implements
were safely kept in the sacristy. A large number of towels of various sizes and decoration,
and liturgical vestments indicate that masses could be said with appropriate dignity. On the
Nunziata altar, there were a pair of angels, a large scarlet [velvet] embroidered case for
808
See the numerous records for oil expenses labeled ―uscita d‘olio‖ in BDAnn, Libro economico (1499-1511).
For example, f. 26; f. 39v (―Livere 8, denari 6 dato a visitatore de la capella per le lampene‖).
809
For example, four bolognini were found ―nel ceppo de la capella‖ and four florins were collected in 1507.
ibid., ―entrate de denaro,‖ f. 66r.
810
Santi, Galleria Nazionale dell‟Umbria, II: 239, entry 246. The pair of angels from the Museo Diocesano has
not been published.
294
corporals, and several palii of fine wool or linen tovaglie (altar cloths) (appendix 9, items
nos. 8-12). Indeed, everyday mass was said for the benefit of a Trecento donor and, once of
month, friars held a service for the deceased members of the Nunziata whose burial chapel it
was.
The confraternity‘s Gonfalone must have been executed shortly after the agreement
establishing a Nunziata chapel was passed. On 25th June 1466, the city Priors voted a 25florin subsidy for the ornamentation of the «capella e gonfalone» in care of the men of the
confraternity (appendix 8). Part of this money may have been used towards paying the artist
but no document about the commission has been found. It seems highly probable that the
choice of a respected Folignese painter (Niccolò di Liberatore) was made by the Servites
themselves and not by the confraternity, as two friars from the Perugian monastery came
from that city.811 The city‘s substantial allowance may also have been spent on
commissioning the elaborately carved and gilded tabernacolo del gonfalone (fig. 71b)
mentioned in the 1470 inventory (appendix 9, item no. 2).
The richly carved and glimmering tabernacolo (fig. 71b) that framed the painting
certainly attracted attention to the Nunziata Annunciation. It resembles a church or palace
portal modelled on antique architecture with its rich mouldings for a rectangular porch, an
entablature, and an arch. Supported by a predolla [sic] decorated with a frieze of curving
leaves, the painting was flanked by three-dimensional pilasters adorned with candelabras and
acanthus capitals. On their lateral sides and on the base of the architrave, rosette studded
coffers quote an ancient Roman vaulting motif. The fascie-decorated architrave is
surmounted by an arabesque frieze with winged putti heads on its ends and affronted griffons,
symbol of the city, in its center. The entablature concludes with a cornice made of rows of
inverted palmettes, classical dentils, and egg-and-dart moulding. A deep lunette also lined
811
Fra C[i]riacus Baptiste and Fra Stefanus Benedicti (appendix 7).
295
with coffers and rosettes tops this monumental frame. Its recess shows the half-figures of
Gabriel and the Virgin Annunciate. At some unknown point in time, and until 1861,
Domenico Alfani‘s 1522 Pietà (fig. 113) was inserted in this lunette although, supposedly, it
was not originally meant for it.812 However, the theme of Mary mourning her Son resonated
with the Confraternity‘s Easter devotional duty, i.e., the procession of their articulate statue
of the Dead Christ (discussed in section 2, see below).
This imposing frame promoted the new Renaissance style from Florence with its
numerous motifs inspired from antiquity. It corresponds to the all‟antica frame that the
contemporary Florentine artist Neri di Bicci described as consisting of a predella (basis),
columns with base and capitals, a recess for the painting, an architrave, a frieze, and a thick
cornice (chornicione).813 Although Neri does not mention a lunette (or is it the chornicione?),
the extant frames (made by Giuliano da Maiano) of his paintings have one. The ―tabernacolo‖
of the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata made the painting seem much wider and it doubled it in
height (fig. 112).
The arresting ornamentation of the Nunziata chapel may have been generated out of
visual rivalry among sodalities and religious orders. Another confraternity dedicated to the
Annunciation (the ‗Confraternita della Capella dell‘Annunziata‘) existed in the Dominican
church until at least the late fifteenth century before its discontinuation and rebirth under the
name of the Rosary in 1534. It had received in 1459 a monumental marble altar dedicated to
St. Lawrence.814 It seems that the wooden frame of the Nunziata gonfalone emulates some of
its features such as its impressive size, its trabeation, and its antique motifs. This
812
Baldassare Orsini noted its presence in 1784. Santi 1985, II, 169 asserts that Alfani‘s lunette came from a
―lost or never executed‖ altarpiece. See also Francesca Abbozzo and Jacqueline Laroche‘s entries in Dipinti,
sculture e ceramiche, 260. The criteria of all these authors for not attributing this painting to this tabernacolo are
unclear to me.
813
See Laura Teza, tavolette di San Bernardino, 258 and footnotes 80-81.
814
Francesco Santi links this work to the contemporary façade of the Oratory of San Bernardino while
attempting to reconstruct the original aspect of this altar. F. Santi; ―L‘altare di Agostino di Duccio in S.
Domenico di Perugia,‖ in Bollettino d‟arte (1-2, 1961): 162-73.
296
Confraternity based in San Domenico received municipal support on several occasions. The
Priori‘s deliberations show that it had a lavishly dressed statue of the Virgin (wearing a 10florin worth outfit) and that their chapel received an iron grille that cost 12 florins in 1467.
Enclosing a church chapel in a church with a metal gate was a costly but efficacious
remedy against thefts of ex-votos, a common crime in sacred spaces. The roster of the
Nunziata possessions kept in the chapel took place on Sunday 22nd April 1470, that is, on
Easter Day of that year. This means that the processions of Maundy Thursday and Holy
Friday were just over. Would the confraternity order such an inventory annually? Did they
fear thefts? As we have seen 25 florins were paid by the Commune to enclose the chapel of
the Virgin in the conventual Franciscan church with the revered Gonfalone of San Francesco
al Prato (fig. 51).815 In 1475, the Nunziata requested financial aid for an iron grate, and I
imagine that the Priori responded favourably, as they usually did in such cases (see below).
The importance of the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata in the Servite church is evident
from the 1470 inventory of the chapel (appendix 9). It lists this painting as the first item,
adding that it was covered with silk veils and a blue linen curtain. It seems to me that the two
sets of curtains are mentioned because the painting was visible, its hangings having been
pushed to the side for Easter. Normally, the Annunciation scene would have been either
divined through the gossamer silk veils or even excluded from view if the thicker linen
curtain was drawn. Hangings for paintings were a standard feature in the pre-Tridentine era.
Benozzo Gozzoli‘s 1452 fresco of a fictive polyptych set with its curtain drawn aside is a
local example of such settings (fig. 114).816 Another example is an illumination from an
Italian royal book of hour of ca. 1500 showing two angels parting the hangings of an
altarpiece and revealing the Deposition from the Cross (fig. 115).
815
For the Confraternity of the Annunciate in San Domenico, see ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, 102, f. 27r. This
decision took place on 16th March 1467. For the iron grille in San Domenico, see ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze,
103, f. 136v and in San Francesco, ibid., f. 50v.
816
For this chapel in the church of San Francesco, Montefalco, see Cole Ahl, Gozzoli, 61-71.
297
In their oratory, the Nunziata brothers kept a curtain in front of their altarpiece
(appendix 6c, item no. 67). A green or a blue curtain existed on the major altar while the
Nunziata ordinary banner was covered by a white cloth - when not processed, one
surmises.817 Uncovering images was symbolic of the Christian truth being revealed by the
unveiling process.818 This ritual, performed only at certain times of the year, added drama to
religious festivities and made the unveiled image even more spectacular. Viewing a splendid
image became part of a collective experience and an attraction for participants of processions.
With its vivid colors, its realistically depicted precious fabrics and Mary‘s imposing throne
and pulpit, it must have looked particularly stunning as it was unveiled upon special holy
days. The faithful at the bottom appeared at eye level, mirroring the awe of all who gazed at
it. Niccolò‘s painting benefited from an excellent location in the city and a rich visual
environment. This, together with the rituals around it, sufficed for it to act as a major
attraction and pictorial representation of the confraternity.
Between 1541 and 1543, the area called Colle Landone where Santa Maria dei Servi
rose was entirely razed upon command of Pope Paul III to make way for his fortress. 819 In
October 1543, a papal brief put an end to mass celebration in the Servite church and the friars
reluctantly transferred all their furnishings to Santa Maria Nuova that they had received in
817
«doe tende una verde per l‘altare grande una per il piccolo » (15/1/1553) ; « una tenda cilestia de l‘altare
grande » (6/9/1556) ; « una tenda bianchia dole france da coprire lo cofalone de gire in processione »
(3/9/1561); « la tenda del confalone » (1/9/1566). See BDAnn., Libro dei partiti: 1546-1560, respectively ff.
61r-62r; 48r-49v ; 63r-64v ; 78r-79v and appendix 6d.
818
See J. K. Eberlein, ―The Curtain in Raphael‘s Sistine Madonna,‖ in Art Bulletin 65 (1983): 61-77 and A.
Nova, ―Hangings, Curtains, and Shutters of Sixteenth-Century Lombard Altarpieces,‖ in E. Borsook, F. Superbi
Gioffredi, eds., Italian Altarpieces, 1250-1550 (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press,
1994), 177-200.
819
On the erasure of the entire area, see Daniela Bonella, Augusta Brunori, eds., La Rocca Paolina nella storia e
nella realtà contemporanea. Visita guidata (Perugia: Guerra, 1995) and P. Camerieri, Fabio Palombaro, La
„Rocca Paolina‟ un falso d‟autore (Perugia: Provincia di Perugia, 1988). The correct date for the demolition of
Santa Maria dei Servi is provided by 16 th- and 17th-century chroniclers. See Raffaele Sozi, Annali, memorie et
ricordi cominciando l‟anno MDVL (BAP, ms. 1221); Francesco Macinara, Memorie occorse ai tempi nostri
(BAP, ms. 1164); ―Memorie di Giulio Costantino dall‘anno 1517 a 1550,‖ in Ariodante Fabretti, ed., Cronache
della città di Perugia (Perugia, 1892).
298
exchange (appendix 16).820 On 4th November 1543, Santa Maria dei Servi was completely
demolished. The Gonfalone thus lost its prime location but it did not lose its potential for
visual attraction. In 1556, the friars asked permission from the confraternity to move the
tavola dell‟Annunziata to the high altar because it suffered from humidity. 821 It implies that
this painting was regarded as a worthy altarpiece, not as a mobile sign of identity. It is not
documented as part of outdoor rituals and was probably never carried in procession at all. In
the early seventeenth century, Cesare Crispolti described this tavola on the main altar of
Santa Maria Nuova as «di maniera antica» but «bellissima». 822 It gained enough fame and
recognition to be honored with the most important location inside the Servites‘ new church.
In 1918, the painting alone was transferred to the Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria but the
elaborate wooden tabernacolo (fig. 71b) remained in the church, framing a blank wall rather
than its pictorial counterpart, and sadly missing its very raison d‘être.
For the exceptionally lavish procession of Good Friday in 1576 (see next section), the
Prior of the Nunziata described in detail the processional images.823 They included a
‗stendardo‘ with a mourning Madonna clad in black on one side and a Veronica on the
opposite side, typical paschal themes. We will see that this banner was indeed used for
Easter. It appears in the 1602 inventory as una Santa Veronica dipinta da una parte e da
latera con Maria Vergine. Another painting of the Annunciate ―che si porta in processione‖
must refer to the banner made anew around 1557. The Nunziata inventories (see also Chapter
2.1) thus show that the confraternity already owned, at any time, at least one Marian banner.
All the recorded processional paraphernalia suggests that Niccolò‘s Gonfalone was not a
820
For a substantial study on Santa Maria Nuova as a Silvestrine church, i.e. before the Servites moved in, see
Annamaria Lucrezia Russi, Santa Maria Nuova a Perugia, dalle origini alla venuta dei Serviti, tesi di laurea
(Perugia: Università degli Studi, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Dipartimento di Storia dell‘arte, 2005).
821
BDAnn., Libro dei partiti: 1546-1560, f. 71v.
822
C. Crispolti, Perusia Augusta, 124-126.
823
Ibid., ff. 55v-56r.
299
moving picture and that it was kept in a fixed position throughout its devotional life.824 It was
preserved precisely because it was little handled, first hanging on a chapel wall in Santa
Maria dei Servi and later functioning as an altarpiece in Santa Maria Nuova. It was meant to
visually present and represent the confraternity to all visitors of Santa Maria dei Servi (and
from 1543, in Santa Maria Nuova), a prime location that gave the Nunziata great visibility.
2) Public life and Easter rituals
As the inventoried objects indicate, this confraternity participated in many general or
self-initiated processions. There are records for the Nunziata‘s public participation in the
festivities for the Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Visitation, the Birth of the Virgin, Saint John
the Baptist, for Saint Bartholomew. The 1587 printed statutes also mention the feasts of St.
Joseph and St. Mark.825 For the Feast of the Annunciation (25th March), there was no citywide cortège in Perugia but several processions of independent groups such as the notaries
who marched from their premises to their hospital on that day. The Nunziata called it festa
nostra for which each of the brothers contributed a small sum of money. For their banquet
(―colazione‖) at vespers, they bought bread, figs, and apples.826 On that day, they staged an
Annunciation play and went in procession to Santa Maria dei Servi, a visit that granted them
an indulgence as it did in Servite churches for that feast. 827 Foremost, the members of the
Nunziata strongly identified with their essential role during the paschal period when private
824
Sergio Fusetti and Paolo Virilli who restored this painting hold a different opinion. See their conservation
report in Un pittore e la sua città, 230.
825
See Vermiglioli, Memoria, respectively 20, 33, 20-21, 34, 27, 8, and the numerous entries in the
confraternity‘s account books (Entrate e uscite) which systematically mention processions for Candlemas, the
Annunciation, Easter, Saint John the Baptist, the Assumption, and the Conception of the Virgin. See also
Constitutioni dell‟Annuntiata 1587, chapter 4.
826
BDAnn, Libro economico (1499-1511), ―entrate e uscite‖, 25th March 1480, f. 26r. This is one example of
annual entries recording such expenses.
827
―festa nostra‖ is evoked in a 1370 book of Entrate e uscite that is no longer extant but that Vermiglioli
consulted; see his Memoria, 71. See appendix 6a, item no. 40 which describes a stage prop as a low lectern for
prayer when the Feast of the Annunciation takes place. A dove (palomba / palombetta), as a symbol of the Holy
Spirit, is also mentioned in several inventories.
300
and public rituals revolved around their extraordinary crucifix, from the fourteenth century
into the twentieth.
At the heart of the ecclesiastical year
The last four days Easter Week represented the climax of the religious calendar from
the commemoration of Christ‘ Last Supper and vigil in the Mount of Olives on Maundy
Thursday to Christ‘ crucifixion, death, and burial on Good Friday to his Resurrection on
Easter Sunday (Pascha Resurrectionis). All devotional groups from monks and friars to
canons, tertiaries, and confraternities celebrated these events in their own communities with
processions and special liturgical services. Important preachers visited cities attracting large
attentive mobs and the faithful attended masses for several consecutive days. Personal piety
took a dramatic turn as the faithful were able to confess and commune on Thursday and
Friday. The city government had specific requirements regarding law and order. During the
nights of Christmas, Carneval, and of Thursday-Saturday of the Easter week, the Podestà‘s
and Capitano‘s employees guarded the city, especially the main piazze. No wine was served
or sold during Good Friday and its precedent evening. Like for other general processions,
brawls and strife were forbidden but during the Holy Week, restrictions and punishment were
more intense. Offences called for the amputation of the right hand, and murders, irrevocable
decapitation.828
Throughout Christianity, the paschal custom for symbolizing mourning consisted of
modifying the interior environment of sacred locations.829 Thus, on Maundy Thursday, a few
chosen Nunziata brothers (five ―festaioli‖ in 1587) thus stripped the altars of their oratory,
828
Salem, Statuto 1342, De la guardia da fare en la nocte de la Natività del Segnore e de vienardì sancto e certe
altre nocte, IV, §106; Del vendente el vino en dí de veinardí sancto overo en la nocte d‘esso precedente, III, §49;
Deglie delinquente al tempo de le processione e en la stemana sancta, III, §68.
829
For the ceremonies of Holy Week in English churches, see Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars :
Traditional Religion in England, C.1400-C.1580 (2nd. ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), 22-40.
301
and covered crosses and crucifixes, and windows with black cloths. They placed a Madonna
dressed up in a black mantle on the altar and changed the altar curtain for a black one. They
also prepared the canopy and tended their venerated movable Cristo morto.830 In the
Gonfalone of San Valentino by Niccolò di Liberatore (fig. 116), a black curtain is placed
behind a crucifix, an iconographic feature that reflects the custom of draping the altar cross
on Easter Friday as a symbol for the death of Jesus.831
An extraordinary crucifix
The brothers‘ most precious possession was kept in the confraternity‘s premises. It
was an articulated statue of the Dead Christ that was taken out of its precious chest only once
a year at Easter time, and both items are documented as early as 1375.832 For Umbrian art
historian Elvio Lunghi, the extant statue (fig. 117) is the medieval one, going back to the
1360s, at least stylistically, and it is made of parchment.833 Christ‘ skin has the appearance of
tinted paper mâché but the ritual manipulation of the statue necessitated a stronger material.
Written in the mid seventeenth century, Ottavio Lancellotti‘s vivid account of the Easter
festival in Perugia (appendix 17) allows for a precise characterization of the flesh of the
830
―4 pieces of black linen cloth to cover crosses and crucifixes‖ (appendix 6a, item no. 107); ―a black curtain
for the altar‖(appendix 6b, item no. 56); ―doi tende nere a le invetriate‖ are recorded in the inventories of 1/5/
1558 and 3/09/1561; «una Madonna da mettere el venerdi santo su l‘altare con sua tenda nera» (6/9/1556), an
entry which is repeated in the inventories dated 1/5/1558, 3/9/1561, 22/1 and 1/5/1563. See BDAnn., Libro dei
partiti: 1546-1560, respectively ff. 48r-49v; 51r-52v; 63r-64v; 65rv, and appendix 6d. See also Chapter 11:
Dell‘Offitio delli festaioli, Costitutioni dell‟Annunziata, 1587.
831
This processional banner from Terni was used during Easter Week. See M. Santanicchia‘s entry in Corrado
Fratini, ed., Pinacoteca “Orneore Metelli” di Terni: Dipinti, sculture e arredi dell‟VIII al XIX secolo (Milan:
Electa, 2000), 49-51 and Fabio Marcelli, in E. Bairati, P. Dragoni, eds., Matteo di Gualdo. Rinascimento
eccentric tra Umbria e Marche (Milan: Electa, 2004), 143-144.
832
The earliest reference on the making and painting of this chest at a cost of 1.5 florins goes back to 1375. See
Vermiglioli, Memoria, 4. ―crocefisso / crocefixo‖ appears in all complete inventories of the premises (appendix
6a, item no. 122-123; appendix 6b, item no. 3; appendix 6c, item no. 58).
833
Lunghi, oral communication, December 2007 and ―Due croceffissi da deposizione a Perugia,‖ in M. G.
Lopez and R. Casciaro, eds., Riflessioni sul Rinascimento scolpito. Contributi, analisi e approfondimenti in
margine alla mostra di Camerino, 5 maggio-5 novembre 2006 (Polena: Tip. San Giuseppe, 2006), 74-82. Ann
Markham Schultz (oral communication) proposes the first half of the fifteenth-century. For a series of extant
paper-maché statues made during the 16-19th c. for a fixed position in a church near Mantova, see Lucia Corrain,
―The Theatre of Miracles,‖ FMR. International Edition 2 (August-September 2004): 44-56.
302
Nunziata Christ. It was made of ―camozza‖, the fell of the female chamois. Strips of
camozza, or another type of thin leather, placed at the neck, elbows, hands, knees, and ankles
conceal the inner hinges allowing for its striking life-like movements. In its modern chest
(late nineteenth century?), the statue that I examined wears with a wig and a beard, probably
made of natural hair; a metal comb lies next to the head; and the corpus is carefully wrapped
in chamois material. Written ex-votos of the 1930s attest to its continued use down to recent
times. The statue is kept today in the secrecy of a former sacristy, in the deconsecrated
Oratorio dell‘Annunziata. Today, this location that once belonged (from the seventeenth
century) to the Nunziata Confraternity occasionally opens for cultural events but very few
people in Perugia are aware of the presence of an exceptional statue in the back room
adjacent to the apse.834
A scientific examination of this forlorn statue is needed to assess its material, age, and
inner structure. If a future restoration corroborates Lunghi‘s chronological estimate, it would
make this ritual three-dimensional image one of the earliest of its kind. It derives from the
genre of wooden Christs with movable arms. More than one hundred such Christs are extant
in Europe, especially in South Germany, Tyrol, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy.835 The
articulation of the upper limbs was necessitated to re-enact more vividly the Descent from the
834
I would like to thank Dottore Gabriele De Veris, custodian of this building, for giving me access to this
statue.
835
Johannes Taubert‘s own count reaches 68, including seven articulate Christ sculptures from Florence. See his
updated ―Mittelalterliche Kruzifixe mit schwenkbaren Armen‖ in J. Taubert, ed., Farbige Skulpturen:
Bedeutung, Fassung, Restaurierung (Munich: Callwey, 1978), 38-50. A recent dissertation proposes a first
estimate of 100 for German-speaking countries. Tanya Jung, The Phenomenal Lives of Movable Christ
Sculptures (Ph.D. in art history, University of Maryland, 2006) available at the following URI:
http://hdl.handle.net/1903/3893. Four flexible Christs are recorded so far in Spain, and one articulate St. James
(Santiago). Maria José Martínez Martínez, "El Santo Cristo de Burgos. Contribuciòn al Estudio de los crucifijos
articulados españoles," Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología 69-70 (2003/4): 207-46. For
Italy, see John T. Paoletti, "Wooden Sculpture in Italy as Sacral Presence," Artibus et Historiae 12, no. 26
(1992): 85-100 and the various essays on Spanish, French, and Italian extant Deposition figures: Giovanna
Sapori and Bruno Toscano, eds., La Deposizione lignea in Europa. L'immagine, il culto, la forma (Perugia:
Electa. Editori Umbri Associati, 2004). This substantial publication is based on a 1999 exhibition held in
Montefalco, Umbria and includes only a few articulate statues.
303
Cross in the evening of Good Friday.836 While Deposition groups with Christ, the Virgin,
Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and John the Evangelist (fig. 119) first appeared in the
twelfth century, the oldest articulate Christs go back to the fourteenth century. 837 They
continued to be made until the Reformation, and beyond, in certain Catholic locations. A
Perugian example is the Crucifix once in the church of the conventual Franciscans made by
Agostino di Duccio in the 1460s and surrounded by four panels of angels holding the
instruments of the Passion (fig. 120).838 This genre of sculpture formed the centerpiece of
lauds performed as devotional plays by flagellant companies (especially in Italy) or they were
the focus of the liturgical Passion drama recited by the clergy in private or public rituals.
Most of the Deposition groups and movable Christs were kept in monastic or Mendicant
churches, unlike the situation in Perugia where the Nunziata‘s corpus was clearly the
possession of a confraternity.
The Nunziata Christ is exceptional in its material and its extreme flexibility. In
Deposition groups, one or more of the main figures may have had foldable arms with joints
for the shoulder, elbows, or hands. The wooden Florentine crucifix kept in Saint-Germaindes-Prés (Paris) crossed its arms while its mouth opened as it was lowered for the
Deposition.839 They are made of lindenwood, a lightweight and pliant material and covered
with paint to give them more veracity (figs. 119; 120). If John Paoletti characterizes wooden
polychromed sculpture in Italy as ―blurring the boundaries between representation and
836
The fundamental publication on the liturgical use is J. Taubert and Gesine Taubert, "Mittelalterliche
Kruzifixe mit schwenkbaren Armen. Ein Beitrag zur Verwendung von Bildweken in der Liturgie," Zeitschrift
des deutschen Verein für Kunstwissenschaft XXIII (1969): 79-121.
837
La Deposizione lignea, 81-84, presents a Mourning Mary from Roncione (Perugia, private collection) of
1236 that can bend shoulders and elbows. On this account, the chronology for articulate figures may have to be
revised, even though the modeling of this figure was modified in the 18 th century.
838
Paola Mercurelli, ed., La ricomposizione di un tabernacolo da San Francesco al prato a Perugia. Un
Crocifisso da San Crispolto di Bettona e otto Angeli di Benedetto Bonfigli (Perugia: Quattroemme, 2003). This
publication endorses and confirmed Elvio Lunghi‘s hypotheses on the provenance of the Bettona Christ in La
Passione degli Umbri. Croceffisi di legno in Valle Umbra tra Medioevo e Rinascimento (Spello, 2000), 133146.
839
A classic study for stylistic development and authorship of Italian wooden crucifixes, including articulate
ones, is: Margrit Lisner, Holzkruzifixe in Florenz und in der Toskana von der Zeit um 1300 bis zum frühen
Cinquecento (München: Bruckmann, 1970), especially 95-97 for movable arms.
304
actuality,‖ he would agree that the Nunziata Christ was perceived as a real human figure
because it can bend at all joints in a very smooth manner. What‘s more, it is not made of
wood. Its inner material is not known but it is covered by animal skin and its articulations are
dissimulated by strips of animal skin. Only four such simulacra are recorded for Spain and
three for Germany, spanning the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries.840 A significant difference
with the polychrome wooden corpuses is that the leather surface and its multiple articulations
imbues the assembled body with life, hence legends and miracles that were attached to them.
The most famous – and best documented - is the fourteenth-century Santo Cristo from
Burgos (Spain). It was believed to be made of human skin and to grow nails and hair. It has
been recently restored, and it is, to my knowledge, the only one of this type to have been
thoroughly examined by conservators. The basic, rough, shape is made of pinewood that has
been covered with a first layer of special glue made of pieces of bovine fell (―cola de retazos
de piel‖ says the conservation report). The further layers consist of this same glue mixed with
equal amounts of plaster. Some parts such as hands and feet are entirely made of leather
stuffed with wool fiber.841 These might be some of the components of the Nunziata‘s Christ.
Ritual trappings
The Crocefisso was kept in a painted wooden chest displayed next to the altar. 842 It
was replaced in 1416 for three lire and again in 1516 at the high cost of six florins for a
carpenter‘s work and for its hardware (―ferramenti‖) such as nails and chimes. Its four panels
painted and gilded in 1517 by a Nunziata member, master Giovanni di Giorgio are still extant
(fig. 118). Another chest was made in 1789 and kept until an ebony sepulchre with gilded
840
Paoletti, ―Wooden Sculpture,‖ 91. The leather-covered Christs are from Dobeln, Kempten, Schneidhaim
(Germany), and from Burgos, Orense, Finisterre, and Palencia (Spain). Martínez Martínez, "El Santo Cristo de
Burgos,‖ 237, n. 165, 239. A thorough research may well encounter or trace back a few more from other
countries.
841
Martínez Martínez, 239-240.
842
Lancellotti, Sagra Scorta: ―sul piano dell‘altare,‖ 543v.
305
carvings was financed by an aristocrat member in 1818. In the meantime, in 1804, the
sixteenth-century cassa was restored which shows that the Nunziata members were conscious
that their confraternal identity was rooted in the ritual use of such artistic artefacts and they
recognized it as an important part of their collective history. 843 But why was a wooden chest
so special?
Not a mere commodity, the brothers called this chest ―monumento‖ or ―sepolcro‖, as
the confraternity archives reveal, and regarded it as a replica of Jesus‘ sepulchre. The same
terms commonly designate the temporary or permanent structure ritually set up in Western
medieval churches to commemorate Christ‘s burial in Jerusalem on Good Friday and his
resurrection on Easter Sunday.844 Thus, in their oratory, the brothers were constantly
reminded of Christ‘s sacrifice and the hope for redemption. More so at Easter time, when this
chest revealed its content.
Each year, this stirring statue with its five bleeding wounds was the center-piece for a
visualization of Christ‘s Passion, both in private and in public. At dawn of Holy Thursday,
the white-robed fratelli opened the chest and lifted the statue onto a special bier. The
emotional impact of this indoor ritual is mirrored in the iconography of both long panels of
the chest with soldiers guarding the tomb (fig. 118). While the guard on the left of each
composition is still asleep, the soldier on the right has suddenly awoken and tumbles out of
astonishment. This theme is usual for Easter Sepulchres throughout Europe. But in the
privacy of their oratory, as the fratelli raised the life-sized statue out of its chest, the depicted
guards suddenly came to life as well as they bore witness of the Resurrected Christ out of the
843
Vermiglioli, Memoria, 125-126: ―18/3/1416: 6 fiorini per la fabbrica della cassa e per spesa del falegname:
spesi : lirene tre e soldi sette per il fornimento della cassa per segne e campanelle e agute e balecte.‖ For the
painted panels of 1517 and the 1804 restoration, see Santi, 1985, II, 217-218 and ill. 229. The inscription is
missing today. In his catalogue entry, Santi has mistaken the extant chest paintings for the panels of the
―cadaletto‖ which has disappeared. For the new chests made in 1789 and 1818, see Siepi, Annotazioni Storiche,
I: 119.
844
Pamela Scheingorn, The Easter Sepulcher on Great Britain (Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University,
1987).
306
Holy Sepulchre. To the brothers too, Christ had literally risen out of his chest, in anticipation
of the Resurrection.
Once out of its chest, the crocefisso was laid out on a special stretcher (―cadeletto,‖
see appendix 19) and made its way into the public sphere as the Nunziata flagellants exited
their premises, around 10pm, to bring the corpus to the cathedral. The Nunziata members led
the cortège made of the cathedral canons, other clerics, and numerous faithful. Accompanied
by musicians and singers, chimes, torches and candles, they carried the Savior on a beautiful
bier that was topped by a precious canopy. A confraternity record of 1538 mentions a
member‘s bequest of 22 florins to have velvet ―drappellones‖ made, each bearing ―IHV‖
(Jesus Victor?) and an image of the Mons Pietatis for the flaps of the baldachin.845 It was the
first of the two Easter processions that distinguished the Nunziata from all other
confraternities. In his presentation of devotional groups of the laity in Perugia, Cesare
Crispolti (1563-1608) singled out the Nunziata in these terms:
―La Confraterninita antichissima dell‘Annuntiata (…) fa due solennissime
processioni, alle quale concorre gran popolo per la divotione di un divotissimo
Christo, che in forma di pietà portasi il Giovedi santo da questa Confraternita al
Duomo, & di Croceffisso, e morto, che la sera seguente l‘istesso riportarsi al luogho
predetto.‖ 846
The painted bier was an important visual support identifying the confraternity and
advertising it in the public eye. Its panels are not extant but they are accurately described in
the contract established with painter Giovanni di Giorgio in 1505 (appendix 19).847 At
Christ‘s head, the Virgin Annunciate faced the angel depicted at Christ‘ feet. On the other
side of Gabriel, a painting of the crucifix flanked by two flagellants would have been well
845
"Confraternita dell'Annunziata: Memoriale dei contratti, 1333-1594‖(Perugia: Biblioteca Dominicini), 85-86.
The 1538 bequest allocated 22 florins for the lambrequin expense.
846
Crispolti, Perusia Augusta, 175.
847
This artist, a student of Perugino, enrolled in the painters‘ guild in 1506. For a biography of this master, see
Walter Bombe, Urkunden zur Geschichte der Peruginer Malerei (Leipzig: Klinkherdt & Bierman, 1929), 90-93.
He was paid in 1505 eleven florins to paint this bier. See ASP, ASCPg Notarile, Protocolli, 485, 1505, f. 304r
and appendix 19 which corrects Bombe‘s errors in his transcription of the contract (p. 91). Lancellotti believed
that the bier had been painted by Pietro Perugino.
307
visible by the pious crowd. Thus, the scene of the Annunciation, the traditional name of the
confraternity, framed the body of Christ in a theological synthesis linking the incarnation
with the ultimate sacrifice of Mary‘s son. The two depicted flagellants stood for the entire
fraternity in an image which condensed their redemptive scourging activity out of devotion
for Christ‘s suffering and his eventual death. The crocefisso‘s special status was highlighted
by the gilded bier, the surrounding torches, and the richly adorned baldachin. This procession
attracted so many people that it offered potential riot, thus occasioning its mere suppression
or the presence of high numbers of armed municipal militias.848
In the above quote from Crispolti, we learn that on the Thursday, the statue was
processed ―in forma di pietà,‖ a reference to the ―imago pietatis‖ or the half-length man of
Sorrows, a pictorial form that first appeared on Eastern icons before being appropriated by
Western artists. Accordingly, Christ‘s head was tilted to his right while his arms were folded
on his sternum, showing the stigmata of the hands and chest. The bier itself was painted on its
outer front panel with a ―imagine de la pieta‖ (appendix 19).‖849 Hans Belting has suggested
that this iconography, a close-up depiction of the suffering and death of Christ, supplanted in
the fourteenth century the wooden groups of the Deposition. The imago pietatis offered the
advantage of symbolizing a full range of meditation on the Passion because of its multiple
meanings. It could stand for the sacramental Body of Christ when placed on an altar or it
could express several moments of the Passion.850 The Nunziata‘s physical arrangement of
their Christ announced his imminent sacrifice and assimilated the statue with the Blessed
848
Fabretti, IV, Memorie di Giulio di Costantino, 263: ―‘Perché fu tralassato de non portare el Crucifisso in
santo Lorenzo el giovedì santo;‘ Fabretti, V, Memorie di cesare Rossi, 153-4:
―il giovedi santo, comparsero li Caporioni di Porta S. Susanna con 70 uomini incirca armati di
archibugi et arme in asta, et andarono a far compagnia al Crucifisso nella processione solita, che si suol
fare dalla Fraternita dell‘Annuntiata a S. Lorenzo, e questo acciò non nascesse tumult per la gente
assai, che va alla detta processione.‖
849
It is interesting to note that only another two articulate Christs can move their heads thanks to a joint in the
neck: those of Dobeln (Germany) and Grancia (Switzerland). Martínez Martínez, "El Santo Cristo de Burgos‖,
237.
850
Hans Belting, The Image and Its Public in the Middle Ages: Form and Function of Early Paintings of the
Passion (New Rochelle, N.Y.: A.D. Caratzas, 1990).
308
Sacrament. This mise-en-scène was a vivid example of the laity appropriating liturgical
observances performed by the clergy such as the processions of the Host topped by a canopy
and solemnly carried to the altar.
While early morning sermons took place in all churches of the city, the dimly-lit
cathedral interior, stripped of its adornments and dressed in black cloths, was packed because
of the presence of the Nunziata Christ. It was placed in front of the venerated fresco of the
Madonna del Verde. The Tenebrae service of Maundy Thursday commemorated Christ‘s
vigil in the Mount of Olives. It urged sincere feelings of penance among the faithful in
prescience of Christ‘s imminent death that they could visualize thanks to the Nunziata‘s
corpus, mysteriously wrapped in white and black silks.851 Afterwards, the faithful were able
to kiss the feet of this sacred ―image in relief‖ which explains the darkened areas on the
extant statue. I observed this devotional gesture in Assisi during the procession that took the
Duomo corpus to San Francesco on Maundy Thursday (fig. 121). A detailed record of the
Holy Week rituals of the Nunziata in 1827 suggests that the lying Christ was then taken to the
sacristy, placed in a chest that was sealed and guarded by a few Nunziata brothers until the
next morning.852
Easter Friday
The climax of ritual actions around the emaciated corpus was reached on Easter
Friday. There is no record of the exact manipulation of this articulate statue but the
documentation from other cities and countries can help to reconstruct the dramatic mise-enscène.853 In addition, a record of 1386 mentions the confratelli‘s banquet at the time of the
851
On the vitality and appeal of ―tradition religion‖, or the homogeneous character of the religious beliefs that
late medieval parishioners shared and inherited, see Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars.
852
BDAnn, Partito dei Signori Confrati della SS.ma Annunziata, 18/04/1827.
853
A substantial and synthetic contribution on articulate sculptures is Johannes Tripps, Das Handelnde
Bildwerke in der Gothik. Forschungen zu den Bedeutungsschichten und der Funktion des Kirchengebaüdes und
seiner Ausstattung in der Hoch- und Spätgothik (2nd, enlarged ed., Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 2000).
309
―scavigliazione‖ (un-nailing) which implies the crucifixion of the corpus first. Consequently,
it is safe to imagine the delicate nailing of the crocefisso with the ―chiuove‖ (nails) that were
kept in the chest (see appendix 6c, item no. 58). The four large holes in the Nunziata Christ‘s
hands and feet readily lent themselves to this practice. In the lengthy description of the
Nunziata rites of 1827, there is not the slightest hint of this ceremony. It must have been
discontinued because the crucifix was deemed too fragile to undergo heavy manipulation.
Typically, between the ninth hour (around 3pm) and vespers, the Adoratio Crucis rite,
according to the ordo romanus, entailed the chanting of hymns, readings, collective prayer,
and a procession of the veiled image inside the church. During the final canticle, the
congregation could go kiss the feet of the crucified, and communion followed. Afterwards,
movable Christs were un-nailed in order to be descended from the cross. The Depositio rite
followed with the corpus buried into a temporary or permanent structure built in simulation of
the Holy Sepulchre, as the oldest document for the use of an articulate Christ (the 1370 ordo
of Barking abbey, near London) indicates. Easter Sepulchre rites have been largely studied
for England but they took place throughout Christianity. There were various formulas for the
symbolic burial of Christ. Easter Sepulchres, in wood or stone, ranged from large recesses
with priests entering it to small niches, in which case, the deposed body of Christ was limited
to a consecrated Host. The tomb could also consists of a coffin placed near the altar. In many
paschal rituals, the corpus (or the Host) was secretly removed during Holy Friday night so
that the Easter Sepulchre could be shown empty to the faithful on the Sunday. A statue of the
triumphant Christ holding the Resurrection flag was placed on the altar unless it was simply
the Eucharist in a precious monstrance.
In the Perugian cathedral, however, the representation of Christ‘s Death and
Resurrection must have taken a different form. The corpus was probably lowered thanks to
310
the ―artfully connected ropes inside it,‖ but not hidden.854 From the nineteenth century (or
earlier), a few confratelli carried it from the sacristy, where it had spent the night, back to the
wooden stage in a procession with baldachin. Since it did not belong to the canons, it was
returned to the Nunziata oratory on its bier by its confraternal owners who were, this time,
dressed in their black robes in sign of their deep mourning. As Crispolti informs his readers
(see quote above), the corpus was now lying ―di Croceffisso, e morto,‖ meaning, I assume,
with arms down slightly away from the body. Like the Burgos Christ, the statue was covered
with a black cloth in a suggestive presentation that enhanced its human appearance, a practice
that continues to this day in paschal processions of a Dead Christ (fig. 121).855
The ritual of the Descent from the Cross is shown on a rare painting kept in the
Augustinian convent of Medina del Campo near Vallalodid (Spain) (fig. 122). In this Spanish
painting of 1722, the corpus is lowered with the help of linen but it does not look like a
statue. Only the clothing of the viewers and the architecture of the church indicate that it is a
contemporary Descent from the Cross and not an episode from the Passion cycle. Likewise,
the Nunziata crocefisso, with its head and all limbs articulated, lent itself to a much wider
variety of positions and readings. It allowed for a more vivid recreation of the ordeal of
Christ, from the nailing onto the cross to the Adoratio Crucis to the dramatic un-nailing and
burial of the crucifix. In some places, the articulate Christ was placed in the lap of a sculpted
Mary in the position of a Pietà. This would certainly have been possible with the Nunziata
Cristo morto. Its physiognomic accuracy and its kinetic qualities allowed for it to be
experienced as the actual occurrence of the Passion in a variety of episodes.
It would be interesting to compare the ritual handling of the articulate Christ with
sacred drama. A chronicle reports in details an Easter play that took place in front of the
854
S. Siepi, Descrizione topologica, ―umano tegumento riempiuto all‘interno di corde artificiosamente
connese,‖ 727.
855
Vermiglioli, Memoria, 126: ―19/5/ 1416: tegnere el panno nero per la coperta del sepolcro del crocefisso ,
cusone quatro‖
311
cathedral on Good Friday 1448, after the sermon of friar Roberto Caracciolo. The laudatory
account leaves no doubt as to the emotional success of this public performance that the
witness deemed the ―most beautiful and devout play ever in Perugia.‖ However, the audience
recognized the actors, especially the barber who acted as Christ, and it is quite clear that the
spectators were well aware of the staging. While six men converted to a monastic life after
that day, including the main actor, this religious engagement did not last for all. A few
months later, the barber ―returned to his guild,‖ married, and was even ―a worse ribald than
before.‖ Visualizing Christ‘ suffering through the ritual handling of a venerated semblance of
Christ, like the Nunziata Cristo, was probably a much different experience than watching a
sacred play with the knowledge of the actors‘ names and occupations. Possibly, the Nunziata
life-like articulate sculpture elicited a more genuine empathy with Christ‘ s salutory mission
because it had an aura that ordinary people enacting holy figures could not achieve.856
In Perugia, Christ‘ death and burial was thus represented by its removal from the
cathedral and a procession to the Confraternity premises, in a solemn event that paralleled the
Nunziata oratory with the Holy Sepulchre. What happened next is unknown until the
documented usage, from 1581, of exhibiting the Cristo Morto in that oratory for public view
until the next Tuesday. This was a deviance from liturgical practices since Christ was
supposed to have risen from the Dead.857 It did not seem to matter either that it was
realistically depicted as wounded and heavily bleeding and therefore, it could not represent
the Resurrected Christ. In any case, before 1581, the Nunziata had the exclusive privilege of
handling the venerated statue in the privacy of their oratory for the mystery of the
Redemption.
856
Diario del Graziani, 598-599. See also on Roberto Caracciolo‘s sermons, Lunghi, La Passione degli umbri,
136-9.
857
BDAnn, Partito dei Signori Confrati delle SS.ma Annunziata, 18/4/1827. Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, f. 545r:
―Alle due ore, o tre ore di notte la compagnia della Morte assai numerosa de‘ fratelli, di torcie, e di
musici vene a baciar i piedi al Salvatore dell‘Annuntiata. Intorno al 1581, dalle memorie della
confraternita, che si desse principio a questa divotione.‖
312
The rare display of the confraternity‘s Dead Christ and above all the elaborate
continued ritual around it turned into an important sacred object for centuries. In the
seventeenth century, a legend about the miraculous origin of the Nunziata ―devotissimo‖
Christ, as Crispolti qualifies it, circulated, an indication that its fame had not subsided since
the middle ages.858 For Perugian historian Serafino Siepi, it was, in the early nineteenth
century, a stunning sight because it seemed made of human flesh (tegumento), an effect that a
soft and tenuous leather such as chamois fell could very well achieve. Additionally, it had
miraculous curing properties, a quality which the Counter-Reformation bishop discovered as
he visited the oratory on 12th December 1564 and severely condemned with the threat of
excommunication.859 Each stigmata of the corpus was stuffed with an almond which
remained in contact with it for a whole year. These five almonds were crushed as the chest
was opened and particles were distributed to cure the crippled. The memory of this idolatrous
practice was suppressed as Lancellotti does not seem to be aware of it. But if it stopped with
the Tridentine reformations, a comparable tradition reappeared since pieces of silk were
inserted in the corpus‘ wounds at the latest in the early nineteenth century.860
Throughout this work, I have argued for banners to be an especially valid and
significant element for group identity but I have also shown that banners cannot be isolated
from their ritual use and other symbolic trappings. At Easter, the public visibility of the forty
men, or so, of the Nunziata Confraternity was essentially based on the staged exhibitions of
their crocefisso and its paraphernalia such as the canopy, the bier, the white and then black
robes worn by the brothers. What about banners? Their existence is recorded in inventories
and their use in a report on Easter Friday of 1576. That year, the pope granted Perugia the
authorization to hold a celebratation of the Jubilee that had been so successfully conducted in
858
For the legend, ibid., 544r.
Archivio diocesano di Perugia, Visitationes 1564-1568, f. 68rv.
860
See BDAnn, Partito dei Signori Confrati della SS.ma Annunziata, 18/04/1827.
859
313
Rome the previous year.861 The bishop of Perugia obtained papal permission to combine the
event with Holy Friday in a single city-wide procession for which the commune underwrote
the expenses. Instead of un-nailing their corpus in the evening of Easter Friday, the
Confraternity removed it in the morning, so that it could represent them and lead the entire
city in an expiating procession for which a plenary indulgence was granted. Thus, the
Nunziata members led the enormous cortège (―50,000 people‖) carrying their corpus
followed by two banners, situated right after the sumptuous canopy (appendix 20).862
This extraordinary procession unfolded from 11 am to 7pm throughout the city (see
map, fig. 123) in order to visit four major churches. It was a requirement that allowed the
participants to gain the plenary indulgence, just like pilgrims in Rome had done in 1575. The
city-wide procession concluded in front of the Nunziata oratory where the corpus was
displayed for people to kiss its feet. Interestingly, the Nunziata banners did not show the
Annunciation but a praying Madonna clothed in black, and a Veronica. In their twodimensional form, these mobile paintings still clearly represented the confratelli in their
association with Easter and visually confirmed that this was an intrinsic part of their identity.
The sacred corpus, even if seen for only two consecutive days per year, was indelibly
connected to the corporate consciousness of the brothers themselves. When, in 1475, they
asked the Commune for funding an iron grille to protect their chapel in Santa Maria dei Servi,
the City offered them 30 florins, instead of 25, provided that the brothers left their famous
crucifix in that chapel. They may have agreed since such a display would have given them
even more visibility and prestige than storage in their oratory. If so, the presence of the cristo
morto in that church did not last because chronicles of the sixteenth century mention the
861
For the Jubilee of 1575 in Rome, see B. Wisch, ―The Roman Christian Triumphant: Pilgrimage, Penance,
and Processions Celebrating the Holy Year,‖ in "All the World's a Stage..." Art and Pageantry in the
Renaissance and Baroque (The Pennsylvania State University, 1990), 83-118.
862
BDAnn, Libro dei partiti (1546-1560), f. 55r-56r.
314
oratory as the point of departure for the Maundy Thursday procession. 863 Perugian diaries are
mostly silent about Easter processions but they did record the exceptional absence of the
Nunziata crucifix, another evidence for the Christological identity of this confraternity.
3) The Assumption festival: multiple collective identities and civic consciousness
For the Assumption festivities, two processions (14th and 22nd August) were another
opportunity for the Nunziata to shine. The traditional rules of precedence for general
processions meant that craftsmen and merchants who were also confraternal members had to
march with their guild as all corporate statutes stipulated. Consequently, only a few male
members were actually able to proceed with their confraternity. However, the Nunziata
managed to overrule guild authority and asserted its confraternal identity as primordial. City
deliberations of 1384 specified that membership in this Confraternity superseded in
importance any membership in a guild, thereby allowing these men to participate in
processions as flagellants rather than as craftsmen or merchants.
864
The issue of dual
membership was resolved in favor of the Confraternity of the Annunciation versus the
various guilds because the Nunziata was associated, at the time of the Assumption octave,
with a venerated image called the ―Salvatore‖ (124a). Precedence had been negotiated in
order to accommodate the decorum due to this special processional painting, owned by the
cathedral clergy.
Adapting a Roman ritual
863
For the iron grille in 1475, see ASP, Riformanze, 111, f. 68r. For the procession departing from the oratory,
see Fabretti, Cronache, V: 153-4: ―[la] processione solita che si suol fare dalla Fraternita dell‘Annunziata a S.
Lorenzo‖ (1583).
864
Pier Lorenzo Meloni, "Per la storia delle confraternite disciplinate in Umbria nel secolo XIV," in Storia e
arte in Umbria nell'età comunale. Atti del VI convegno di studi umbri (1968), (Perugia, 1971), 533-607, here
575-576.
315
This splendid double-sided wooden panel showed on its oldest side (probably of the
thirteenth century) a replica of the famous namesake acheropita (made by a non-human
hand) icon of the Lateran that was revered in Rome from at least the eighth century. 865 The
date of the Perugian Salvatore is not documented. However, Ricci has convincingly argued
that the Assumption procession in Perugia imitated the Roman celebration, including its
processional image. Since the Perugian procession was instituted in the 1220s, the panel must
go back to that time. This artistic and devotional enterprise is well documented and it shows
that the veneration and processional use of the Perugian Salvatore was still very lively at that
time. Each August 14th, by night, the population followed the venerated icon of the
―Salvatore” from the cathedral to the Clares‘ church in Monteluce (see map, fig. 70) which
was dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin.866 As the cult of the Virgin developed, the
Assumption became one of the major feast days in most cities. It was lavishly celebrated in
cities dedicated to the Virgin, such as Siena or Venice (Diana Webb). In Perugia, it gave rise
to three processions, on the eve and on the feast-day itself and on the octave.867 On 22nd
August, after vespers, the fratelli of the Nunziata and the cathedral canons solemnly brought
the Salvatore from the Clares‘ church in Monteluce back to the Duomo.
In Rome, the Lateran Salvatore was carried to Santa Maria Maggiore where it
solemnly met a Marian icon believed to have been painted by Saint Luke. 868 Other cities,
such as Orte, Viterbo, Spoleto, and Tivoli set up a similar encounter of paintings for the
865
Giuseppe Wilpert, "L'acheropita del Sancta Sanctorum," L'arte X, no. 3-4 (1907): 161-77 & 247-62. The
author was able to dismount the Roman icon and examines each part in order to reconstruct the history of its
three major restorations and alterations.
866
This traditional procession by candlelight resumed in 1999 under the aegis of the bishop. Today, the
participants are parishioners, not members of confraternities anymore (fig. 125). On this panel, see Maria Grazia
Bernardini, Museo della Cattedrale di Perugia: dipinti, sculture e arredi dei secoli XIII-XIX (Rome: Istituto
poligrafico a Zecca dello Stato, 1991), 16-18.
867
This procession had been instituted in the 1220s and granted a plenary indulgence in 1235 by pope Gregory
IX. See Ettore Ricci, "Monteluce," Perusia II, no. 6 (1930): 140-66, 150 for a partial transcription of the papal
bull. See Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, f. 198r-v.
868
This Marian icon has been known as Salus Populi Romani from the 19th century. See H. Belting, Bild und
Kult. Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst (Munich: Beck, 1990), 79-87. For an in-depth
study of this Marian icon and literary sources about the procession, see Gerhardt Wolf, Salus Populi Romani.
Die Geschichte römischer Kultbilder im Mittelalter (Weinheim: VCH, 1990).
316
Assumption eve.869 In Perugia, however, there was no Marian icon or any replica or imitation
as in Spoleto, Viterbo, Tivoli, or Orte, until the mid-fifteenth century. But it took the form of
a relief sculpture on the reverse of the Salvatore showing the Virgin Enthroned with Christ
(fig. 124b).870 I believe that this iconography was chosen in direct imitation of Jacopo
Torriti‘s great mosaic apse of Santa Maria Maggiore (1295).871 The other cities in which
similar processions took place staged an encounter of two icons, in imitation of the Roman
rite.
The Perugian Salvatore is larger than its Roman prototype but very similar
iconographically with Christ standing against a gold ground and holding his right hand up
while both feet conspicuously peek out from underneath his purple tunic.872 The Perugian
Christ blesses with his right hand while holding a long cross in his left, while in the Roman
icon, he holds his right hand in front his chest in an act of speaking and rests his left hand on
a roll. These variations can be explained by the fact that the Roman icon was already
extremely deteriorated from ritual use by the early thirteenth century and copying the icon
could only be an approximate task.873 The Perugian icon encountered similar damage because
in 1297, after maybe only 70 years of existence, it too had to be renovated. A drastic
restoration took place as Battista di Baldassare Mattioli executed the second side of the panel
in 1453. An area of flat red and vivid colors as well as a drape of honor imitating brocaded
velvet enhancing the background of the lower half of the panel stand out as one looks closer.
869
See Gail Solberg, "The Madonna Avvocata Icon at Orte and Geography," in A. Ladis and S. Zuraw, eds.,
Visions of Holiness. Art and Devotion in Renaissance Italy (Athens: Georgia Museum of Art, 2001), 123-36.
870
The Roman sacred image had a cross painted on a canvas on its reverse from the 10 th century. Spoleto had a
replica, dated ca. 1100, of the now lost Haghiorisotissa icon in Constantinople while Orte commissioned a
Marian panel to a Sienese painter, Taddeo di Baldo, around 1420. Ibid, 129-130.
871
For the iconography and an interpretation of this mosaic, see Wolff, Salus Populi, 183-195.
872
The Roman icon originally showed an enthroned Christ but a second restoration, before 1200, turned him
into a standing figure.
873
A silver plaque was given by Innocent III who ruled from 1198 to his death in 1216. Incidentally, he died in
Perugia and was buried in the Duomo. The copying of the Roman icon meant that special papal permission had
been obtained. Ricci, ―Monteluce,‖ 154)
317
This deterioration of the Roman and Perugian ―Saviors‖ was caused by the ritual smearing of
ointment on Christ‘s feet and by the custom of kissing its head and touching it with hands.
The Salvatore was kept in the chapel of Sant‘Ercolano in the cathedral, the ―Sancta
Sanctorum‖ of Perugia.874 Therefore, it was in the custody of the cathedral canons who
always escorted it on its journeys between San Lorenzo to Santa Maria in Monteluce.
However, it was the forty or so brothers of the Nunziata who carried it, heading the march in
their white hooded robes and holding tapers while four of them held up a sumptuous
baldachin above the gilded ―confalone‖. This responsibility, and hence their precedence, goes
back to at least 1375.875 They were followed by the usual order for Perugian general
processions: the Perugian clergy, the bishop, the papal representative, city officials, and
guilds, each person carrying a lit taper (appendix 17). The leading role given to the
Confraternity of the Annunciation and its responsibility for the panel on this occasion was
clearly an extraordinary privilege. Such was the prestige of this panel and the reverence due
to it. But it was not the only group that drew attention.
A civic procession
The Assumption festival was of a more political nature than Easter. The Easter
processions which the Nunziata led were strongly associated with the clergy and foremost,
the cathedral canons who accompanied the corpus together with the confraternity brothers.
The Assumption procession was city-wide and thus followed the rules established by the
government. This civic appropriation of religious life was typical of the phenomenon of
―civic religion,‖ that I commented in the discussion of general processions (Chapter One).
While the Easter processions of the Nunziata crocefisso involved the ecclesiastics in charge
874
Suggested by Ricci, ―Monteluce,‖149, as a parallel to the Sancta Sanctorum of the Lateran church where the
icon was kept.
875
Vermiglioli, Memoria, 6. For the word ―gonfalone,‖ see introduction and Ricci, ―Monteluce,‖ 151, n. 4.
318
of the sacred space of the Duomo, the Assumption march ended in the church of the Poor
Clares who, as women, could not claim primary representation in the march. The communal
regime managed to recuperate the rites around the Salvatore in various ways. It claimed that,
without the proper unfolding of the mid-August celebrations, it would have suffered ―shame
and dishonor,‖ as almost happened in 1325. That year, in an attempt to demonstrate his own
power to the secular authorities, the bishop locked the chapel of Sant‘Ercolano, thereby
prohibiting access to the Salvatore. But the government ordered the doors to be knocked
down, and the procession took place as usual.876 An additional way to monitor civic life
within the rhythm of a religious feast was the eight-day long fair that took place in proximity
to the Clares‘ church spanning the time between the two processions with the cathedral
image. All regulations concerning this fair were issued by the City authorities.
Processional paraphernalia provides further examples for the responsibility of the city
authorities in securing adequate organization of the Assumption festival. They gave the
sumptuous canopy that topped the Salvatore (see below), and a large amount of candles and
tapers. Wax was distributed at the Commune‘s expenses to all officials and some devotional
groups such as the Nunziata that received 13 pounds of wax (or the equivalent of 78 candles).
But the care given to the Duomo panel vividly illustrates political authority over the
centerpiece of the main events. The relief added to the reverse of the Salvatore in 1453 was
entirely funded by the Commune, as well as the restoration of the older panel. Furthermore,
the execution of the Virgin Assumed in Heaven (fig. 124b) was closely supervised by the
Priori who had Baldassare Mattioli‘s relief assessed. The summoned experts deplored the
lack of delicate woodcarving and the use of stucco for the faces and hands, or the application
of linen bathed in gesso and glue for the drapery folds. However, they deemed the work
acceptable on account of its refined brushwork, colors, and its pictorial quality overall. This
876
Ricci, ―Monteluce,‖ 159. Diario del Graziani, 633.
319
ambiguous characterization shows that time pressed for the Priori. The panel had been
evaluated in July and money invested, and the prospect of having a new version made on
time was not acceptable. Consequently, this traditional festival was appropriated by
politicians for their own end in a process that aimed at demonstrating official authority within
a demonstration of civic unity. The Confraternita dell‘Annunziata also endorsed the official
sponsorship of this festival by carrying heraldic flags that bore the Perugian griffon. Their
1443 inventory mentions ―4 pennone cum grifone‖ that were stored next to the canopy
lambrequins ―of the Salvatore‖ (appendix 6b, item 24).
The leading role of the Nunziata
The Nunziata was responsible for requesting from the Commune a magnificent
canopy that dignified both the sacred panel and their own presence in these processions. The
deliberations of the city official representatives around the baldachin show that it was often
renewed and that it consisted of the most precious pallium given in sign of submission by the
Perugian territories on March 1st. It was adorned with lambrequins (―drapellones‖) which
hung from it.877 Four tall posts such as the pieces of red ―aste del Salvatore‖ listed among the
confraternity‘s possessions allowed four brothers to carry it.878 This processional item
enhanced the deference due to the panel of the Salvatore, as recorded in the city deliberations.
It magnified the ―honor‖, ―status‖, and‖ magnificence‖ of the Massari (superintendents in
bookkeeping) and of the entire population.879 In 1455, the political leaders decreed that this
pallium was to be embroidered with two or three griffons in honor of and for identification
877
In 1515, the Commune gave the confraternity the considerable amount of 25 florins to have a new baldachin
made. See Vermiglioli, Memoria, 87.
878
This practice of colored posts goes back to at least the Trecento. Vermiglioli, ibid., 6, found a mention of
« painted posts » for the year 1377. He also found a reference of 4 big and long posts for the pallium over the
Salvatore, in the years around 1390. Ibid., 3.
879
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1402, f. 154.
320
with the city.880 It must have looked similar to the baldachin of the Venetian confraternity of
San Giovanni that Gentile Bellini depicted in the foreground of his Procession in Piazza San
Marco (1496) (fig. 15).
This canopy was the property of the confraternity, and no controversy around its
porters arose, a rare phenomenon. In Bonfigli‘s fresco (fig. 1), in which a baldacchino is
conspicuously missing, one can distinguish among the privileged men carrying the holy
relics, a Prior, a canon in his alb holding an incense-burner, and a Dominican friar. This
shows that the competition for the honor of carrying the holy relic was resolved by involving
members from the three major groups leading the procession. In reality, similar arrangements
were made. In Pius II‘s entry, Priors, Chamberlains, and university professors took turns in
carrying the canopy, a way of avoiding any dispute.881
The return of the Salvatore from Monteluce to the cathedral on 22nd August
concluded the fair that took place near the convent. The bi-annual travelling of the Salvatore
panel thus brought attention to this isolated area of town where the Clares‘ monastery stood
(see map, fig. 70).882 First, it was the opportunity for the nuns to receive large amount of wax
since the guilds had to leave their tapers (―facole‖) there. This costly wax was used to ―honor
and illuminate the body of Christ‖ during mass.
883
This means that the elevation of the
Eucharist could not be properly conducted without lit candles on the altar. The festival
functioned as a fund-raiser in other ways as well. Monteluce was not located along the usual
processional routes. The crowds that visited the church on 14th and 15th August must have
been quite an event for the cloistered nuns who year round specialized in weaving.884
880
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1455, f. 83v.
Diario del Graziani, 633.
882
The monastery was built in the 1210s for the Friars Minor but given to the nuns in 1219. Ricci, ―Monteluce,‖
148, n. 1.
883
Staccini, Ciabattini, § 45, 42 (1312) and § 85, 64-65 (1314).
884
Few processions headed towards this monastery. They did in the case of funerals, for occasional crisis
processions such as in 1457 and 1476, Scalvanti, ―Cronaca inedita,‖ I: 337-8 and II: 102 (see Chapter One).
881
321
Monastic identity
The ―solemnity‖ of the Assumption was the major feast of the Pooor Clares who
resided at Santa Maria in Monteluce. Not only was their church dedicated to this Marian
event, but having the prestigious custody of the Salvatore for eight days spotlighted the
community and was a defining component of their collective identity. For the mass of 15th
August, the church walls were adorned with special fabrics and the indulgence attached to
this feast was given then. It was a time when illustrious personages would visit. For example,
in 1509, the cardinal and bishop of Urbino personally participated in the torchlight procession
of the 14th August and, on the 15th, he had a grand mass celebrated with many sumptuous
vestments from his own collection. The nuns summoned the population by ringing the ninth
hour on both days.885 At the end of the fifteenth century, a time when the community was
thriving with up to seventy nuns (instead of forty in the mid-fifteenth century), they seem to
have been even more aware of their outreach to the population. In 1495, they added a second
door to their public cloister (―chiostro de fore‖) so that the crowds of mid-August could enter
and leave more easily. In the mid-fifteenth century, a few nuns started writing a chronicle of
the life at Monteluce, an enterprise that lasted until 1838 and that clearly shows an increased
awareness of their collective religious identity.886 In October 1514, the apostolic legate of the
Patrimony Province, governor of Perugia, further encouraged attendance of this ritual by
granting an indulgence of ten days to whoever would enter the church on Assumption Day in
addition to the plenary papal allowance.887
885
Documented in Ugolini, Memoriale de Monteluce for 1628, 361.
Ibid., introduction.
887
Ibid., 107.
886
322
The Assumption procession is part of the Perugians‘ Christian identity, and it was not
abolished at the time Pius V suppressed its counterpart in Rome in ca. 1566.888 It also
presents one more incentive for considering history in its longue durée. Chroniclers mention
the processions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as important collective rituals of
the year. The panel was still the focus of attention, and it was changed to a pointed form in
order to adapt it to a more modern, rococo, frame that was made of animal skins (pelli) and
paper maché (cartocci), and gilded.889 Although all processions had been officially abolished
in 1860, the bi-annual transfer of this painting continued until 1875. Thereafter and until
1924, no processions to Monteluce seem to have taken place. Records in the Archivio
Diocesano indicate that the voyage of the Salvatore resumed in 1924 with the participation of
the bishop in his grand cope (―cappa magna‖) on 14th and 22nd August.890 After the
Salvatore‘s restoration was completed, a simulacrum in the form of a life-sized photograph
replaced the double-sided century-old panel for the mid-August procession (fig. 125), a
measure deeply regretted by the parish priest of Monteluce. Once more the city authorities
exerted control over this devotional event.
I have sought to expose the ritual life of a single, well-documented, confraternity to
show the significance of their artistic, devotional, or ritual possessions for defining collective
identity. The only extant depiction of the Nunziata members in their Gonfalone
dell‟Annunziata shows a tightly-knit group, in perfect harmony while praying the Annunciate
Virgin under the protective intercession of their Servite patrons. In reality, a few members,
the Doctors of Law, sought primary representation and did not adopt the flagellants‘
egalitarian robe. However, the brothers‘ devotional activities in Perugian ritual life show that
they were indeed unified through their responsibility for certain images. The venerated Dead
888
Kirstin Noreen, ―The icon of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome: an image and its afterlife,‖ Renaissance Studies
19 (5-2005): 660–672.
889
Ricci, ―Monteluce,‖157, with no reference.
890
I owe this information to Isabella Farinelli, curator of the Archivio Diocesano, whom I deeply thank here.
323
Christ and Salvatore were exceptional artifacts only seen for a few days per year that
reinforced the confraternity‘s prestige. These two images may seem to have eclipsed the
primordial role of banners in representing collective identity, but they actually were only seen
in association with the ordinary banners of the Confraternity.
Although ephemeral and not as well documented, banners were nevertheless
indispensable to gather the brothers in processions and further their image of unity. Banners
should be seen as important movable pictures of an artistic and devotional nature but also as a
commodity that could be replaced. When I first started this project, I thought that the main
banner of the Nunziata brothers was the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata, given its name in
fifteenth-century records. By contextualizing this painting within the material culture of the
brotherhood, I now think that it was deemed too beautiful to suffer damage. Its elaborate
composition, its brilliant colors, and its iconography highlighting important members turned
it into a painting that had to be preserved. Visual and textual evidence reveal the numerous
social networks that were involved in the public exhibition of this work in a popular and
richly-decorated holy building. This stationary painting contributed to forming the
confraternity‘s reputation while the ritual motion of venerated images gave the Nunziata
members great visibility in the city all year round.
324
Excursus no. 4:
The scholarly inscription on the Gonfalone dell’Annunziata (figs. 71a and 103)
On the bottom edge of the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata, an inscription imitating ancient
epigraphy identifies the patrons of this painting and the year, 1466. Studying the style of this
inscription situates this painting within the Renaissance and also reveals the strategies of the
prominent sponsors of this work.
Perugia, a city that Niccolò di Liberatore had undoubtedly visited, offered excellent
examples of ancient epigraphy on its Etruscan gates. Additionally, the famous Roman
statement ―PERUSIA AUGUSTA‖ (that is, Perugia conquered by Emperor Augustus) was carved
by Agostino di Duccio on the recently completed façade (1462) of the Oratory of San
Bernardino in a beautiful classical majuscule lettering (fig. 13b). Niccolò‘ s adoption of
Roman capital letters for his pictorial inscription follows a trend that prevailed in Italian art
from the 1420s.891 This enthusiasm for imitating Roman epigraphy is especially visible in the
work of Florentine sculptors and painters such as Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia,
Bernardo Rosellino, Masaccio, Fra Angelico, and Benozzo Gozzoli.892
Like Alberti‘s
Rucellai sepulchre in San Pancrazio (Florence) of the late 1460s (fig. 103), this inscription
fills the space of the ledge; it also seems to support the floor above it. However, Niccolò‘s
lettering does not reach the spare elegance and restrained measure visible in Alberti‘s square
and wide letters distributed at equal intervals, admired by Vasari.893 Additionally, the
891
For examples and illustrations of the Gothic majuscules in painting, see Dario Covi, ―Lettering in Fifteenth
Century Florentine Painting,‖ in The Art Bulletin 45 (1-1963): 1-28, especially 2-3 and ill. 5 and 9. For an
equivalent study focusing on Renaissance sculpture, Millard Meiss, ―Toward a more comprehensive
Renaissance Paleography,‖ The Art Bulletin 42 (2-1960): 97-112.
892
See Covi, ibid., for examples and analysis of the lettering shapes. For a survey of how the rediscovery of
classical inscriptions affected Renaissance epigraphy including the Bolognese sepulchral monuments dedicated
to the university lecturers of law, see John Sparrow, Visible Words. A Study of Inscriptions in and as Books and
Works of Art (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969) and Grandi, I monumenti dei Dottori.
893
See Vasari‘s ―Life of Leon Battista Alberti‖ (1568 edition) in Gaetano Milanesi, ed., Le opere di Giorgio
Vasari con nuove annotazioni e commenti (Florence: G. C. Sansoni, 1973 [1906]), II: 543.
325
Umbrian artist has not centered his inscription, which reaches the right end of the ledge but
starts at a distance from the left rim.
In fact, Niccolò does not integrate the mid-century stylistic innovations introduced by
Mantegna and Donatello who perfected the lettere antiche by purging them of inconsistencies
and non-classical conventions. Closer examination of Niccolò‘s lettering reveals a lack of
geometric consistency and regularity in the shape of the tall and closely-set letters. For
example, their height is fairly consistent but their width varies slightly as well as their
spacing, and some words seem to stretch on the line because they are formed by wider units
(―HOC‖ / ―A.D.‖). At mid-caption, the hem of a doctor‘s cape interrupts the regular spelling of
the word ―FIERI‖ by separating further the first ―I‖ from the following ―E‖, an indication that
the inscription was painted after the figures. The rhomboids dividing each word, unlike
Roman phrasing, vary in size and the layout of the entire inscription does not rest on a
straight horizontal line. Even less imitative of ancient Roman inscriptions are the uncial Es,
borrowed from the Gothic majuscule alphabet. Only ―FECIT‖ has an appropriately square E.
Another non-classical feature is the compact ―I‖ of ―ANUNTIATE‖ which is
compressed under the capital T. These deviant graphic forms, to use Armando Petrucci‘s
expression, were a contemporary phenomenon, observable, for example, in Sano di Petro‘s
mixed script or in engravings. These anomalies disappeared in the 1490s at a time when
Florentine editors started to eliminate them from printed books. These deviances became then
typical of vernacular inscriptions of a more popular nature seen on ceramics or ex-votos.
Dario Covi notes that, before 1470, even progressive masters highly aware of geometric
shapes and antique lettering conventions did not avoid such departures from classical models.
326
For example, Piero della Francesca included an uncial E in the inscription of the double
portrait of the duke and duchess of Urbino.894
The inscription remains nevertheless highly legible and shapely, convincingly placed
at the approximate center of the ledge. Moreover, it is undisturbed by any scroll or text
accompanying Gabriel‘s announcement. The impression of classic monumentality is
preserved, lending authority and beauty to the identified confraternity and to the entire image,
according to the new humanistic interests. The preference for Roman capitals in titles (and
sometimes in chapter beginnings) is also apparent in manuscript and early printed books
beginning in the 1460s.895 Niccolò may have had contact with one of the earliest printers
present in Italy, the German Johann Neumeister who worked, probably as soon as 1463, as a
manuscript copyist in Niccolò‘s hometown, Foligno. Around 1470, he set up a printing shop
there and, in 1472, published the first printed version of Dante‘s Commedia Divina.896
894
Armando Petrucci, Public Lettering. Script, Power, and Culture (Chicago & London: The University of
Chicago Press, 1993 [1986]), chapter 9. For a comprehensive and well-illustrated presentation of this
phenomenon, see Covi, Lettering, 6-8.
895
For examples of Italian manuscripts adopting Latin epigraphy for capital letters, see almost all figures in the
Renaissance section of François Avril, Dix siècles d‟enluminure italienne, VIe-XVIe siècles (Paris : Bibliothèque
nationale, 1984), 109-179. For examples of Umbrian incunabula, see Andrea Capaccioni, Lineamenti di storia
dell‟editoria umbra, il Quattrocento e il Cinquecento (Perugia: Volumnia, 1996).
896
On Johann Neumeister (or Numeister), see Capaccioni, ibid., 19-24. On early typography and printing in
Foligno, see his bibliography in footnote 2, page 19.
327
CONCLUSION
In the De Sphaera illuminated page showing a public execution (fig. 39), we see a
ritual that unfolds in fictive city, embedded in a system of symbolic representations. It is
fiction because the coat of arms depicted on the city walls is invented (except that of the
patron of the manuscript). The heraldic colors of this urban community are repeated in the
city guards‘ civic livery, and in their shields and flags. The chief justice‘s legitimate power is
visible because from his mount, he raises a baton signaling his order, next to the billowing
standard of that city. Confraternity members specialized in the care of the condemned can be
recognized through their white habits, their tavoletta meant to convert the criminal, and their
banner behind which they huddle together. Thus, the urban world, social status, profession,
and devotional engagement are typified by symbolic representations.
This image sums up the undercurrent theme of my dissertation, collective identity,
and it shows that a wide array of symbolic artifacts represented this notion. Once examined in
ritual contexts, these identity markers reveal their role in fostering authority, corporate
awareness and consensus. I have focused on a special genre of paintings, banners and other
mobile paintings that also had a devotional function. I analyze the activities of confraternities
because they were, in general, in charge of these objects. However, I have also included other
social groups: guilds, neighborhood companies, aristocratic clans, and city officials in order
to get a more complete picture of the visual and material culture of late medieval and
renaissance Italy through the example of a representative city, Perugia. Thus, in agreement
with the visual environment of the confraternal banner depicted in the De Spherae scene, I
have not dissociated confraternity gonfaloni from a wide variety of flags, civic, professional,
religious, or heraldic ones because they had similar roles. In addition, I have also taken in my
328
purview mobile paintings on wood such as the tavolette of public executions or the YHS
tablets launched by Bernardino da Siena.
Archival records have left very little information on the use of ecclesiastical, guild,
neighborhood, and confraternity banners in ordinary processions, probably on account of
their ubiquity and predictability. Visual evidence is also scarce or must be taken with a grain
of salt. We have seen that in Bonfigli‘s Second Translation (fig. 1), the prevalence of
architectural symbols over processional paraphernalia is striking. Gentile Bellini similarly
downplayed the role of flags from his depiction of the Procession in Piazza San Marco (fig.
15). Guild and confraternity statutory provisions for processions are mainly concerned with
the members‘ mandatory equipment with tapers or candles of a precise weight according to
their status within the group, thus marking hierarchy within the group. A corporately-owned
flag, on the contrary, rallied the entire association.
What distinguished mobile paintings from other symbolic representations is their
double function as signs of identity and devotional, or even liturgical, artefacts. I have
situated gonfaloni as a hybrid genre with textile or wood supports, visually akin to the nature
of flags through their visibility, the clarity of their imagery, and their elevated position.
Studying gonfaloni as artistic objects worthy of museological display would be missing an
essential element in their raison d‘être, i.e. ritual performances. Gonfaloni worked like other
symbolic features of rituals, such as clothing, sculptures, and wax: they identified a group,
announced social status and authority, and represented group solidarity. Their use within
ritual contexts also explains the thaumaturgic qualities that some paintings acquired.
The dichotomy between ordinary and extraordinary gonfaloni that I propose is a
useful typology to understand the disappearance or survival of these objects, and a way to
refine the analysis of their functions. Extraordinary gonfaloni were essentially objects of cult.
They had the leading part in penitential processions that gathered the population and acted
329
then as visual magnets for public manifestations of penance and contrition. But as altarpieces,
prayers were addressed to them and mass was celebrated in front of them. In such contexts,
they were indispensable images to which the faithful turned to in expectation of miraculous
intercession. They brought prestige to the groups in charge of them (usually confraternities)
and promoted the religious order that had initiated their creation and accommodated them.
The elaborate care that they generated was expressed by the many candles around them, the
ex-votos that they attracted, and their lavish frames and altars. Like any sacred paintings, they
were protected by silk curtains that were lifted only in special occasions. It seems that in
Umbria, they visually competed with the display of relics and even substituted physical
remains of saints for major penitential processions. Umbria may be the region of Italy (or of
Europe?) most specialized in extraordinary banners but further research is necessary to assess
the situation.
Ordinary gonfaloni were used by groups such as guilds, neighborhood associations, or
confraternities and worked as commodities that could be easily replaced by copying the
previous paintings. Confraternity gonfaloni were of a devotional nature not only because they
showed Christ, Mary, or/and a patron saint taken as protectors of the association, but also
because they were the support for a range of pious activities that benefited their owners. They
also participated in the process of spiritual purification and thus their existence and care
benefited the whole urban community. Because of visual competition among confraternities,
the brothers made sure that professionals, and in many cases, masters of local or international
fame executed them. This aspect is what saved many from destruction. Praised as aesthetic
objects made by an important painter, many ordinary gonfaloni became altarpieces as a way
to preserve them from the wear and tear occasioned by processions.
Thus, an important aspect of the ritual function of gonfaloni was their immobility.
Exploring ―moving‖ pictures means therefore examining also their afterlife or their double
330
function as processional and stationary paintings. While a fixed position explains why many
banners have survived, the circumstances of this spatial shift differ in each case. While it
seems natural for extraordinary banners to be elevated to the status of altarpieces, it was not a
systematic procedure for ordinary banners. A thorough study on how brotherhoods dealt with
them, decades after their making, awaits its historian.
There may even be ―banners‖ that were not meant at all to be processed but acquired
the name gonfaloni because they were painted on textile in the vertical format typical of large
processional paintings. Similarly, in the catalogue of the Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria,
Francesco Santi qualifies several paintings on cloth as gonfaloni although they were likely
propagandistic paintings or devotional ones that cost less as their wooden counterpart (see
appendix no. 3). I have discussed mainly two paintings (figs. 13a and 71a) corresponding to
this name-less type. The Gonfalone of San Bernardino (fig. 13a) is poorly documented and its
actual use remains an open question. The Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata (fig. 71a) is, on the
contrary, documented as such as soon as it was made but no subsequent source records it
among the processional paraphernalia of the Nunziata confraternity. I think that it may have
been conceived as a gonfalone but not processed because of its stunning beauty, or it was
labeled gonfalone because of its textile support although it had from the start a representative
function. Only minute micro-histories for other ambivalent cases may produce a better
understanding for this special genre.
Social identity is the undercurrent theme of the entire dissertation and it binds all the
objects I discussed into a larger semiotic ensemble. My study of general processions leads me
to conclude that the images carried in them brought to the fore the distinctive identity of each
group while offering a stage for the prestige of city officials. While groups competed with
one another whatever the nature of their activities, solidarity between members of the same
party was expressed in different ways. A consistent collective behavior and sharing visual
331
symbols, such as clothing or a processional image, made members bond and elicited their
pride in their corporate identity. General processions were opportunities for groups to gain
public recognition. They did so by parading the flags, banners, paintings, or sculptures that
they collectively owned. In elite funerals, flags signified an individual‘s identity as a member
of a family clan, as a lord, or as a military commander, or all of the above. Participating in
mandatory processions and wearing a membership outfit while carrying tapers or candles
demonstrated obeisance both to the group‘s regulations and to the civic ones. Sounds, smells,
and food (in neighborhood‘s banquets, for example) were other sensory stimuli shared in
public. All these symbolic representations contributed to the internal solidarity of groups.
I have tried to show the mechanisms for asserting collective identity from corporatelyowned images. Flags and banners were major constituents of the symbolic system launched
in rituals. Without ritual practices though, symbols cannot deploy their power of persuasion
or stimulate cognition. Kertzer has argued that even if rituals could present a lack of
consensus, their cognitive effects of solidarity operated because of the general agreement of
the appropriateness of certain actions in certain circumstances. 897 I have highlighted the
devotional, propagandistic, and identifying functions of ―moving pictures.‖ Did these objects
allow the population to experience their urban identity (here, as Perugians)? In other words,
did Perugian citizens define themselves primarily as members of a specific group or was
there a Perugian identity that superseded one‘s local identity? The flags and banners that each
group followed must have given the impression of harmony with a single, long cortège of the
faithful marching at a slow pace and in neat rows. Whether the common feeling was that of a
tightly-knit communitas is questionable because not everyone was included in such events
and because conflict was always possible. But the spectacle offered by the ―moving‖ pictures
discussed in this dissertation was undoubtedly stunning and a source of shared emotions.
897
Kertzer, Ritual, Politics, 67-69.
332
APPENDICES
I have set in bold the passages commented on in this dissertation. For the transcription of texts in the vernacular,
I separated words and introduced diacritical signs according to current Italian editorial practice. See the glossary
for an explanation of a few vernacular terms.
| |
later additions or emendations in the margins or added at the end of a line.
()
uncertain resolution of abbreviations.
***
blank in the original text.
…
illegible word or set of words.
<>
crossed out or cancelled words.
[]
lacuna in the original text (mostly due to a paper damage) / editorial annotation / integration of
missing letters.
ASP= Archivio Storico di Perugia / ASCPg = Archivio Storico del Comune di Perugia
BAP = Biblioteca Augusta, Perugia
BDAnn = Biblioteca Dominicini, Perugia: fondo Confraternita dell‘Annunziata
1. Timeline: history of Perugia
2a. Description of the city flag, 1378
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze anno 1378, f. 206v: ―Declaratio donationis armorum civitatis
domino potestatis‖ (24th June)
2b. The civic flag is granted to the Podestà and the Capitano del popolo (1468)
ASP, ASCPg,, Riformanze, anno 1468, f. 112v : « provisio xxv florenorums pro insignis
domini potestatis »
3. The civic livery of the fifers
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze 1433 (15th September), f. 191v-192r
4a. Prescriptions for city-wide ordinary processions from the printed city statutes:
Primum volumen statutorum augustae Perusiae (Perusiae: in aedibus Hieronymi Francisci
Chartularii, 1526), f. 41rv
4b. Dispute for precedence between the cathdral canons and the Confraternity of the
Gonfalone
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze 1539, f. 231r (15th March)
5. Prescriptions addressed to priests about processions from:
Albertus Castellanus, Liber Sacerdotis (…) secundum ritum Sancte Romane & apotolice
ecclesie [Rituale Romanum] (Venice: Victor a Rabanis, 1537), 231v-232r
6. Inventory of the possessions of the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata
6a. 1388. BDAnn: Libro del camerlengo, 1385-1392, ff. 33r-35v.
6b. 1443-1472. BDAnn: Memoriale dei contratti, 89-92.
6c. 15th c. (non dated). Ibid., 95-96.
6d. Confraternal identity through sixteenth-century inventories
6e. 1602. BDAnn: Libro dei partiti 1505-1566
7. Perpetual concession by the Perugian Servites of the newly built Annunciation Chapel in
Santa Maria dei Servi to the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata. 29th April 1466.
BDAnn. Memoriale dei contratti,1333-1594, 79-81.
333
8. The city Priori allocate, by law, a 25-florin subsidy to the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata to
adorn their chapel in Santa Maria of the Servites. 25/6/ 1466.
ASPg, ASCPg, Consigli e riformanze, 102 (f. 70r and 72v)
9. Inventory of the Chapel of the Nunziata in Santa Maria dei Servi (Perugia), 22 Aprile
1470.
ASPg, ASCPg, Giudiziario antico, Iura diversa, IV
10. Inventory of the church of Santa Maria dei Servi, 1/8/1492.
ASPg, ASCPg, Giudiziario antico, Iura diversa 12, anno 1470 (loose sheet).
11. The Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo in its liturgical setting
ASP, ASCPg, Archivio di San Fiorenzo 26, f. 64r
12. De processione et luminaria annuatim facienda
Consortium of the notaries, 1403 statute, BAP, ms. 973, ff. 36v-37r; 40r.
13. Agreement between the ‗consorzio‘ of the notaries and the ‗collegio‘ of the doctors of law
on 15th October 1406
BAP, ms. 973, Matricola del Collegio dei notai, ff. 70r-71v
14. Malatesta Baglioni‘s funeral proceedings (January-February 1437) from ―Cronaca del
Graziani,‖ in Archivio Storico Italiano XVI (1850), 412-414.
15. Professional occupation of Nunziata members (1418-1546)
16. The Servites‘ transfer to Santa Maria Nuova
transcribed by Vermiglioli in 1802 from ―Memorie del convento e della chiesa di S. Maria
dei Servi di Perugia‖ by G.M. Bruni, 1753 (non extant manuscript). ASP, ASPg, Posizioni di
causa disposte per alfabeto 23, fasc. 38.
17. Easter and Assumption festival from Ottaviano Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, midseventeenth century, BAP, ms. 5
18. Good Friday and jubilee procession in Perugia, 20th April 1576
BDAnn: Libro dei Partiti, 1505-1566, f. 55r (Perugia: Biblioteca Dominicini)
19. Contract between painter Giovanni di Giorgio and the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata
ASP, ASCPg, Protocolli 485, f. 304r
20. Bequest of 26 florins to have lambrequins made for the baldacchino used during the
Easter processions of the Nunziata [1st May 1538]
BDAnn: Memoriale dei contratti, 86-87
21. Glossary
334
Appendix 1
Timeline: History of Perugia
The basic references are Pellini‟s Dell‘historia di Perugia (written in 1593) and Bonazzi, Storia di
Perugia (1860). Major contributions for medieval and renaissance times include J. Grundman for the
12th-14th centuries; A. Grohman for urbanism; Maire Vigueur for political institutions, and articles by
C. Black (see bibliography). A good summary in English is provided by J. Banker (1997). A
substantial bibliography up to 1992 is given by Mario Roncetti in Grundman‟s book (XXI-XXXIV).
However, a comprehensive history of Perugia remains to be written.
End of 8th c.
1256
May 1260
1266
1295
1315
1393-1398
1400-1402
1408-1414
1416
1416-1424
1424
1425
1437
1452
1457-61
1459
1462
1473
1480s
1487
1500
1540
1542
1553
1860
Perugia is part of the Papal States (until 1860)
Statuto del Comune: the earliest recollection of civic law
Fra Ranieri launches the disciplinati movement, officially sanctioned by the
Commune
foundation of the Studium [1362-68: Sapienza Vecchia for 6 students of
theology and six of jurisprudence; : Sapienza Nuova]; Fontana maggiore??
The collective ordinances of the guilds (ordinamenta artium) become the
supreme legislation of the Commune with 10 guildsmen elected as Priors with
short-term offices; The popolo minuto founds the office of the Camerarii
(Chamberlains)
The statutes of the Popolo and the statutes of the Commune merge:
establishment of a durable administrative structure based on all guilds in
theory (on the major oes in practice)
Biordo Michelotti, lord of Perugia (assassinated 1398)
Signoria of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan
Ladislaus of Naples, lord of Perugia
Patriciate gains right to belong to guilds
Braccio Fortebraccio, lord of Perugia; Malatesta Baglioni is granted fiefs by
the pope
Papal overlordship: restoration of papal authority (Martin V) represented by a
cardinal legate (―governor‖) but continuation of magistracy of the Priori.
First stay of preacher Bernardino da Siena (Chapter 4)
Malatesta Baglioni‘s funeral (Chapter 2)
Annual procession for San Bernardino established ―in perpetuity‖
Construction of Oratory of San Bernardino
Entry of Pius II (Chapter 2)
First Monte di Pietà founded
Holy Ring of the Virgin acquired by Priori; kept in Palazzo until 1486 (then
special chapel in the cathedral)
Open fighting between the Oddi and the Baglioni
The office of the Capitano del Popolo is suppressed.
Nozze rosse: bloody vendettas among the Baglioni
―Guerra del sale‖: Pope Paul III‘s troops invade the city; construction of the
Rocca Paolina and demolition of the Baglioni‘s residences (colle Landone)
The pope suppresses the Priorate.
Demolition of Santa Maria dei Servi (Chapter 5)
The Servites move with all their church and convent furnishings to Santa
Maria Nuova
Julius III restores the magistracy
The Perugians demolish the Rocca Paolina
335
Appendix 2a
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze anno 1378, f. 206v: Declaratio donationis armorum civitatis
domino potestatis (24th June)
At the end of the Podestà‟s term, the Perugian flag is conferred to him in an honorific sign of
his “well-deserved and loyal services” for the Commune (see 2b for other examples). This
official transcript of the Priori‟ s deliberations is a rare description of the civic flag (in bold
characters).
Offitiales Comunis Perusii dudum electi et deputatis per Magnificos Dominos presentes
Priores artium civitatis Perusii ad honorandum donis militaribus et armis nobile et strenium
militem dominum Herrichum Malaspine de oppiçis de Luccha, honorabilem potestatis Comunis
Perusii, propter sua benemerita et fideles operationes pro dicto comuni et populo perusino factis
secundum tenorem ordinamenti nuper hediti per dictos dominos Priores et Camerarios de quibus
ordinis et electis supra latius patet manu mei notarius infrascripti, in pallatio residentie
Dominorum Priorum collegialiter congregati pro dicto eorum offitio exercendo habito cum
pluribus discretis civibus prius consilio et anima advertentes diligentius gesta viriliter providere et
feliciter per ispum dominum Herrichum in honorem, statum Comuni Perusii constitutionem et
sterminium Bictoniensium [Bettona] emulorum et rebelliuum comunis Perusii et aliorum ipsi
comunis rebellium qui in dicta terrra Bictonii receptantur et morans trahunt et volentes secundum
eorum discretionem statu Comunis populi perusini et eius honore consideratur prefato domino
Herricho de militaribus donis et armis providere inter ipsos omnes presentes in concordia partito
diligenter posito et obtempto sollepniter secundum statutum comunis Perusii formam et
exigentiam dicti ordinamenti formam sequentes ex omni potestate et bailia eis concessis et
actributis per dictum ordinamentum et ex omni quam habent supra infrascriptis omnique modo
via iure quibus melius utilius et efficatius potuerunt, ordinaverunt, statuerunt, reformaverunt quod
expensis Comunis Perusii de avere et peccunia comunis Perusii ad manus massariorum ipsi
comunis pervecta dru pervenienda.
Ipsi massarii possint, teneantur, debeant emere et fieri facere unum stendardum de
serico rubeo cum uno griffone in medio eius coloris argenti sive albi, cum una corona de
auro in capitis ipsi griffonis et cum rostro aureo et etiam unguibus et cum uno scuto sive
clipeo pendenti cum collum super spatulis [sic] dicti griffonis quod clipeus listatum sit per
traversum cum listis sex, tribus coloris celestis sive aççuri et tribus albis sive argenteis, cum
una asta sive lancea supra qua dictum stendardum ponatur et similiter unum scutum sive targeam
cum similibus armis et ornatis cum frangiis de sericho, bullis et aliis consuetis; et quod dicti
massarii possint eisque liceat iure eorum discretionem illud expendere de dicta peccunia comunis
Perusii quod eis visum fuerit et insupra etiam statuerunt quod finito tempore sindicatis ipsi
336
domini Herrici potestatis, Domini Priores artium pro tempore existentes ispsum stendardum,
scutum sive targecta vice, nomine Comunis Perusii ipsi domino Herricho in remuneratione
benegestorum per eum publice ante portam pallatii Dominorum Priorum artium civitatis Perusii
donare, tradere possint, non ante.
337
Appendix 2b
ASP, ASCPg,, Riformanze, anno 1468, f. 112v : « provisio xxv florenorums pro insignis domini
potestatis »
Exactly at the end of a six-month term, on 4th December 1468, the Council of the
Chamberlains (camerarii) agreed to grant the city coat of arms and insignia to the Podestà
Johannes Baptista de Arengheriis from Siena.898 Tthe ballot was renewed the next day to
include the Priori who consented on behalf of the podestà‟s love and efficiency for public
service. A flag bearing the arms of Perugia is thus commissioned at a cost of 25 florins in
recognition and acknowledgement (in signum et testimonium) of Arengheris‟s good deeds.
This honor was not systematic but numerous other examples can be found in the municipal
deliberations.
―Item cum pro parte magnifici et generosi equitis domini Johannis Baptisti de Arengheriis de Senis,
honorabilis potestatis civitatis ex (sic) comitatus Perusii, humiliter fuerit supplicatum prelibatis
Magnificis Dominis Prioribus et camerariis ut de benigna gratia placeat eidem concedere arma et
insignia huius magnifice civitatis, ideo volentes prelibati Magnifici Domini Priores et camerarii
ipsum dominum potestatem benemeritum de suis bonis operibus remunerari ut ipsi semper ubique de
sua integra fide et legalitate possit gloriari et eidem dicta insignia largiri tunc propter virtutes suas
cum etiam cum summa diligentia, integra fide et amore, erga rem publicam perusinam pertinentia ad
eius offitum exercuit, puniendo malos et premiando bonos, igitur hac re preposita inter dictos
Magnificos Dominos Priores videlicet die precedenti factis prepositis et misso partito ad bussulam et
fabas albas et nigras secundum formam statutorum et sollepniter obtentis per omnes decem mittentes
et restituentes eorum fabas albas, et hodie inter dictos Magnificos Dominos Priores et camerarios
factis, prepositis et missis partitis ad bussulam et fabas albas et nigras secundum formam statutorum
sollepniter obtentis per xxxviiii camerarios mittentes et restituentes eorum fabas albas quinque nigris
in contrarium repertis non obstantibus vigore decreti prelibati reverendissimi domini gubernatoris quo
cavetur quod prelibati Magnifici Domini Priori et camerarii impune possint mitti ad partitum
predictam. Ex omnibus arbitriis, auctoritatibus, potestatibus ex baliis eisdem Magnificis Dominis
Prioribus et camerariis coniuctim vel divisim concessis et attributis per summam quorumcumque
statutorum et ordinamentorum comunis Perusii et omni meliori modo, via, iure et forma quibus magis
et melius potuerunt, statuerunt et reformaverunt et ordinaverunt quod in signum et testimonium bene
gestorum eidem domino potestati concedantur insignia et arma comunis et civitatis Perusii et
expendantur pro vexillo fiendo cum dictis armis de pecuniis comunis Perusii floreni
vigintiquinque ad rationem 36 bolognini pro floreno pro ut alii consueverunt non obstantibus
quibuscumque mandantes ex nunc depositario comunis Perusii quatenus ad bollectinum
Magnificorum Dominorum Priorum det et solvat dicto domino potestati dictos xxv florenos ad dictam
rationem de quibuscumque pecuniis comunis Perusii causa solvendi pro dicto vexillo non obstantibus
quibuscumque‖. (…)
898
The standard work on the offices of the podestà and the capitano is Vittorio Giorgetti, Podestà, Capitani del
popolo e loro ufficiali a Perugia (1195-1500) (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 1993). For
this podestà, see 272-3.
338
Confirmation of the expense on 7th December 1468 (ASP, ASCP, Riformanze, anno 1468, f. 115r
(7th December)
―Item mandamus vobis Francescus et Galiotto Oddi depositariis prefatis quatenus viso presenti nostro
bolleteno, detis et solvatis magnifico et preclaro equiti domino Johanni Baptiste de Arengheriis
potestatis nostre civitatis florenos vigintiquinque ad rationem 36 bologneni per florenum pro insignis
et vexillo per ipsum (sic) fiendo cum armis comunis Perusii in remuneratione et testificatione suarum
virtutum et suorum bene meritorum sibi debitos vigore legis edite in consilio camerariorum sub 1468
et de iiii mensis decembris manu Ser Simonis Johannes cum sit obtentum inter nos ad bussulam et
fabas albas et nigras secundum formam statutorum per omnes X mittentes et restituentes eorum fabas
albas nulla nigra in contrarium reperta ex palatio die vii decembris‖.
The same year, the Capitano del Popolo is granted the city flag with an almost identical
juridical formula but this standard costs 5 florins less.
ASP, ASCP, Riformanze, anno 1468, f. 120v-121r
―In primis quod cum pro parte magnifici equitis domini Petri de Falconeriis de Esculo honorabilis
Capitanei popoli civitatis Perusii humiliter fuerit supplicatum prelibatis Magnificis Dominis
Prioribus et camerariis ut de benigna gratia placeat concedetur eidem arma et insignia huius magnifice
comitatis, ideo volentes prelibati Magnifici Domini Priores et camerarii ipsum dominum potestatem
capitaneum et suis bonis operibus remunerari ut ipsi semper de sua integra fide et legalitate ubique
possit gloriari et eidem dicta insignia elargiri tunc propter virtutes suas tunc etiam cum summa
diligentia, integratate et amore erga rem publicam perusinam pertinentia ad eis offitium exercuiret, i
gitur hac re preposita inter dictos Magnificos Dominos Priores videlicet die precedenti factis
prepositis et misso partito ad bussolam et fabas albas et nigras secundum formam statutorum et
sollepniter obtentis per omnes decem mittentes et restituentes eorum fabas albas nulla in contrarium
reperta, et hodie inter dictos dominos camerarios factis prepositis et missis partitis ad bussulam et
fabas albas et nigras secundum formam statutorum et sollepniter obtentis vigore decreti prelibati
reverendissimi domini gubernatoris per triginta duos camerarios mittentes et restituentis eorum fabas
albas del sic duodecim nigris in contrarium repertis non obstantibus. Ex omnibus arbitriis,
auctoritatibus, potestatibus ex baliis eisdem Magnificis Dominis Prioribus et camerariis concessis et
attributis per formam quorumcumque statutorum et ordinamentorum comunis Perusii et omni meliori
modo, via, iure et forma quibus magis et melius fieri potest, statuerunt, ordinaverunt et reformaverunt
quod in signum et testimonium bene gestorum eidem domino capitaneo contedantur insignia et
arma comunis Perusii viginti florenos ad rationem 36 bolognini pro floreno non obstantibus
quibuscumque mandantes ex nunc depositario comunis Perusii quatenus ad bolletinum Magnificorum
Dominorum Priorum det et solvat dicto domino capitaneo dictos xx florenos ad dictam rationem et
quibuscumque pecuniis causa solvatis pro dicto vexillo non obstantibus quibuscumque. »899
899
For this Capitano, ibid., 452-3.
339
Appendix 3
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze, anno 1433 (15th September), f. 191v-192r
The civic livery of the fifers
This law establishes that the two city fifers must wear the same outfit as the other city
employees working in the service of the Priori. At the city’s expense (five florins each),
their clothing will be renewed every year during the calends of January. Ten years later,
this sum for a livery made of red and blue cloth was doubled (see Riformanze of 20 th
January 1443: “Bulletinum pifarorum vestuantis”).
―Quod piffari habeant fl. V pro quolibet pro indumentis,
Item cum Stefanus et Antonius de Malgliano ... pifera conducti ad servitia palatii
M[agnificorum] D[ominorum] Priorum vigore eorum conducte non habeant vestimenta de
divisa a comuni Perusii quem ad modum habent domicelli et tubatores et alli de dicto
palatio et pro honore dicti palatii et M. D. Priorum qui pro tempore exunt equum
arbitretur dictos piferos assotiare debere M. D. Priores indutos cum vestimentis equalibus et
conformibus aliis vestimentis aliorum de dicto palatio indutorum et de eorum salario indui
nequeant pro parte paupertatem et paucitates salari aliqualiter per M.D.Priores et camerarios
misericordis et aliquali suffragio pro indeatur ad hoc ut possint se indui de divisa qui M. D.
Priores omnis decem presented in concordia exeuntes collegialiter et congregati in dicta
eorum capella (…) ordinaverunt, deliberaverunt, decreverunt et reformaverunt quod dicti
piferi habeant et habere debeant a comuni Perusii pro presenti anno incepto in kalendis
mensis Januari et ut sequentis servientur pro parte eorum indumentorum de divisa et
ad hoc ut habilius se possint indui ultra salarium eis deputatum quique florenos ad solidos
lxxxx pro quolibet floreno. Et quod dicti piferi tenantur et debeant se indui hoc anno
indumentis de divisa et ea continue portare pro ut faciunt domicelli et alii de dicti domo
(…).‖
340
Appendix 4a: Prescriptions for city-wide ordinary processions from the printed city statutes:
Primum volumen statutorum augustae Perusiae (Perusiae: in aedibus Hieronymi Francisci
Chartularii, 1526), f. 41rv
(The city statutes of 1342 correspond to the beginning of §92 of the 1520s statutes. Trevor
Dean offers a partial translation of the 1342 text but he mixed up the order of the guilds. See
Dean, The Towns of Italy, 127-8.)
§92 : Quod ordine artes et artifices accedant tempore processionum cum luminariis
Ad evitandas rissas et contemptiones que cotidie erant inter artes et artifices artium quando
accedebant cum lumine in vigilia beatissime Virginis Marie de mense augustii et in vigilia
beati Herculani ad processiones et in aliis processionibus per statuta comunis Perusie et ut
rumor vel discordia inter dictos artifices non sit in futurum :
Statuimus et ordinamus quod artes et artifices ipsarum artium infrascripto modo debeant cum
lumine ad ipsas ecclesias accedere et ordinare ut inferius declaratur est que vadunt similiter
cum lumine ad ecclesiam beati Costantii et ad ecclesiam beati Dominici de mense Augusti et
in aliis processionibus predictis et sic accedere debeat et non aliter ullo modo; et
quecumquam ars modum infrascriptum et ordinem fregerit, vel non post artem inferius
ordinatatur accederet, puniatur ars et camerarius ipsius artis in C libris denariorum. Et de
predictis potestas et capitaneus contra artem vel artes et contra camerarios inquirere teneantur
et repertos culpabiles punire et condennare in dicta pena : quod si negligentes fuerint in libris
denariorum debeant per eorum sindicatorem condemnari.
Et potestas et capitaneus et priores artium pena ccccc librae denariorum duobus diebus
antequem dicte processiones fieri debeat banniri facere teneantur in scalis palatii in medio
platee et etiam in diebus vigiliarum seu processionum dictarum et nominare singulas artes et
quamlibet per se, videlicet talis sit prima et talis secunda et talis tertia et quarta ut inferius
continetur et de hoc expresse sindicentur et teneantur reddere rationem.
Ordo quarum artium inferius est expressus, videlicet quod in processionibus et luminariis
supradictis post processionem religiosorum et fratrum et clericorum accedant domines
rector scolarium et universatis et doctores Studii perusini cum universitate scolariorum
dicti Studii et post modum domini potestas et capitaneus et domini priores artium et
postmodum
Prima ars accedens sit ars Mercantie et eius artifices
Secunda ars sit ars Cambii et eius artifices
Tertia ars sit ars Calzolarie et eius artifices
Quarta ars sit ars Sutorum et eius artifices
Quinta ars sit ars Lane et eius artifices
Sexta ars magistorum lignaminis et lapidum
Septima arts Macellatorum et eius artifices
Octava ars fabrorum et omnes artifices
Nona ars Albergatorum et Tabernariorum et panis coculorum et eius artifices
Decima ars pannorum veterum et ars ferrariorum et ars scutellariorum et eorum artifices
Undecima ars Pizicarellorum
Duodecima ars Piscium
Decimatertia procacciantium
Decimaquarta ars Barberiorum
Decimaquinta Tegulariorum
Decimasexta Bovateriorum
341
Decimaseptima ars Speciarie
Et postmodum subsequenter alie artes ordinate procedant sicut ipse alie artes et eo ordine quo
scripte sunt supra in LXXXVII capitulo quod incipit nulla ars aliquo capitulo vel
reformatione modo aliquo non obstante. Hoc tamen addito quod in qualibet lumenaria et
processione, ad minus quatuor ex prioribus artium remanere debeant in palatio eorum
residentie si eis videbit esse opportunum et mittere faculas pro eorum familiares: pena ipsis
dominis prioribus predicta non observantibus et dictis artibus et camerariis ipsarum artium
contrafacientibus in non servando predicta omnia et singula pro vice qualibet C libras
denariorum quam penam ipso facto incurrant. Et ab eis de facto exigatur per dominos
potestatem et capitaneum vel alterorum eorum ex officio ipsorum vel ad petitionem
cuiuscumquem petentis. Et de predictis expresse debeant sindicari. Et quod qualibet ars et
camerarius cuiuslibet artis cum illis artificibus eorum artis quos comode habere poterunt.
Ita tamen quod quolibet camerarius artis grosse ducat ad minus quindecim artifices. Et
quolibet camerarius artis parve quinquem artifices teneantur et debeant accedere ad
luminarias que fuerint in festo sancti Constantii et in festo sancti Herculani et in festo
Absumptionis beate Virginis Marie de mense augusti et tempore indulgentie loci fratrum
predicatorum que est secunda et tertia diebus de mense augusti et in aliis luminariis per
formam statutorum specificatis pena arti et camerario cuilibet contrafacienti s (?) arti grosse
xxv librae denariorum et arti parve X librae denariorum eisdem de facto auferenda per
maiorem sindicum comunis Perusie cuius pene medietas sit communis et alia medietas sit
officialis facientis executionem.
Item dicimus statuentes quod in vigilia beati Herculani artifices non debeant laborare nec
operari artem eorum nec ipso die festi et duobus diebus sequentibus ipsum festum et
quicunque contrafecerit solvat pro vice quodlibet qua fuerit operatus aliquod X libras
denariorum. Et de predictis quolibet possit esse accusator et habeat medietatem banni et
nihilominus de predictis potestas et capitaneus et eorum iudices inquirere teneantur.
Volumus etiam ac ordinamus quod omnes artifices qui debent accedere cum eorum artibus
cum luminariis ad ecclesiam beati Herculani accedant in vigilia dicte festivitatis et
societates accedant et accedere debeant cum dictis luminariis in die festivitatis ipsius de
sero.
Et quia irrefrenata voluntas viventium semper desiderat in festivitatibus residere in grave
dannum et preiudicium ipsorum et reipublice perusine et ad obviandum et parcendum
immoderatis sumptibus et expensis : statuimus et ordinamus quod decetero nulla societas vel
aliquis alius possit vel debeat tripudiare seu festum facere pro festivitate sancti Herculani
ante vel post nisi dumtaxat in festo cathedre sancti Petri et in festo sancti Mathie et in
vigilia sancti Herculani et eius festo et die sequenti. Et quod in diebus predictis vel aliquo
predictorum non possit aliquid proiici in platea vel alio loco civitatis Perusie exceptis
melaranciis. Nec etiam dicte societates nec aliquod alii possint de sero ire ad lumen seu
luminaria nec torcias prohiicere sub pena pro predictis et quolibet predictorum pro qualibet
vice et pro quolibet contrafaciente XXV lib. den[arorium].
Et quod potestas et capitaneus et quolibet alius officialis iuridictionem habens in civitate
Perusie teneantur de predictis et quolibet predictorum inquirere et repertum culpabilem
punire pena CCCCC librae denariorum sibi auferenda tempore sui sindicatus.
342
Appendix 4b:
Dispute for precedence: Controversy between the cathedral canons and the Confraternity of
the Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato
ASP, ASCPg, Riformanze 1539, f. 231r (15th March)
Decreta supra controversia inter canonicos ed Fraternitate Confalonis Sancti Franscici
Cum sit quod retroactis temporibus actabit controversia inter reverendum capitulum
canonicorum maioris et catedralis ecclesie Perusine ex una, et confratris fraternitatis
Confalonis existentis in ecclesia SF et conventu ex altera, in associando dicti confaloni
tempore processionum et perfectim supra precedentia et assistentia iuxta dictum confalonum
quod videtur ad modum absurdum de modo rationabile; et presentis MDP omnes X presentes
et in concordia semper intenti ad honorem Dei et decorem civitatis volentes quod huius modi
in eius virtutiis occurrere, providere et obviare scandalis quo quotidie ex oriri possunt ac rixas
et controversias tollere et penitus resolvere auditis partibus et super promissis confraternis
considerandis matura deliberatione pro habita ex omnibus arbitriis potestatis et baliis ipsis
MDP per formam quorumcumque statuti civitatis Perusie, datis, cassis et salubriter de omni
meliori modo, deliberaverunt, statueverunt, decreverunt, ordinaverunt et declaraverunt quod
de cetero pro parte futuris temporibus in processionibus et luminaribus que fuerint cum dicto
confalone modo d‘ordine infrascripto pro Francisci debeatur videlicet cioè le fraternite et le
altre religione debiano andare in ante commo sonno solite et dopo loro: inante al altre
confalone debiano andare li reverendi signori canonici de San Lorenzo: et intraloro de dicto
confalone li cantori et doi chierici de San Lorenzo ed li candeletii et lumi denante al altro
confalone et niuna altra persona et, a la dextra ed a la sinistra del dicto confalone, et dericto al
dicto confalone, debiano andare li fraternitate [sic] de dicta fraternita vestite ed non vestite a
loro beneplacito. In omnes li detti reverendi signori canonici siano tenute de andare insieme
con el magistrato a far compagnia al confalone a San Francesco et ancora che in evento el
magistrato per alcuno legitimo impedimento non potesse andare a racompagnare dicto
confalone sieno tenuti li prefati canonici andare loro senza el magistrato. Et ita dixerunt,
pronumptiaverunt, decreverunt, statuerunt, ordinaverunt, declaraverunt et fieri ac
observari mandaverunt omni meliori modo etc.
Presente reverendi Troilo Balione, canonico et priore claustrali et cum presentia et consensu
fratris Angeli Castulti et domini Percristofori de Crispoltis pariter canonicus, nomine totius
capituli canonicorum dicte ecclesia Sancti Laurentii pro quo quidem capitulo, etiam quali
opus sit de rato promissit dictam pronumptiam et declarationem in omnibus et per omniam
343
acceptante de gratias referente. (231v) Presente Ser Mariotto Iohannis dicto dala Calcina,
unius de dicta fraternita, et nomine totius dicte fraternitate predicta omnia acceptante de
gratias
referente.
344
Appendix 5
Albertus Castellanus, Liber Sacerdotis (…) secundum ritum Sancte Romane & apotolice
ecclesie [Rituale Romanum] (Venice: Victor a Rabanis, 1537), 231v-232r
Albertus Castellanus was a Dominican friar from Venice who edited several religious works
and authored a Chronicle of the Dominican order in 1516.900 Castellanus‘s Sacerdotale, first
published in 1523, is one of the numerous predecessors to the official Rituale Romanum (first
published in 1614) containing the priest‘s offices according to the Roman Rite. In the chapter
on processions from which the following passage is excerpted, Castellanus cites William
Durandus‘ Rationale divinorum officiorum of 1286, published for the first time in 1459 and
frequently reprinted.
This prescriptive handbook for priests specifies the purifying function of the procession
through the sprinkling of blessed water along the itinerary (1). It describes the necessary
processional trappings with accuracy: Flags, if any, precede the cortège (2); two or four
tapers follow the cross, also at the head of the procession (3) and participants should hold lit
candles throughout the march (8); the ecclesiastics wear appropriate vestments (4) and (5);
relics may be replaced by an image of Mary or Christ (4); a canopy must top the sacred image
or the relics (4). This passage shows that women were supposed to march last (7).
§4 De ritu et modo processionum faciendarum
In omnibus processionibus, prius incipienda sunt eaque in eis cantanda sunt in ecclesia
secundum quod in singulis processionibus notatum est. Et dum egreditur processio secundum
Dominum Gullelmum predictum:
- primo, clericus cum aqua benedicta quam aspergat per viam qua processio transitura
est hinc et inde et super omnes obviantes; (1)
- postea sequuntur vexilla si portanda sunt, deinde portent serpentes et dracones super
perticam et maxime in rogationibus; (2)
- de hinc acoliti cum cereis duobus vel quattuor postea crux; (3)
- deinde clerici minoribus precedentibus inter quos sint aliqui apparati sacris vestibus cum
reliquiis et vasis sacris ; (4)
- ultimo aliqua imago domini Iesu Cristi vel Virginis vel alicuius sancti reliquia et super
dicta figura vel reliquia vel sacramento portandum est baldachinum a quattuor de
principalioribus illius terre ; (4)
- deinde sequitur principalis sacerdos apparatus cum pluviali medius inter diaconum et
subdiaconum ; (5)
- postea sequantur viri dignoribus precedentibus; (6)
- deinde mulieres eodem ordine. (7)
Qui omnes tam clerici quam laici in dictis processionibus mature et devota oculis que ad
terram demissis procedere debent ; cogitantes quoniam misericordiam Dei requirunt ; que
humiliter est petenda sicut dicit psalmus: humiliatus sum et liberavit me. (...)
Et omnes qui possunt debent habere candellam accesam (8) in manibus per totam
processionem. Et dum fiunt processiones, pulsande sunt campane omnes loci vel terre illus ad
devotionem excitandam; in processionibus autem cantentur ea que in singulis processionibus
assignabuntur.
900
See J. Quétif and J. Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum (Paris, 1721), II: 48-49. For Castellanus‘s
critical edition of the Vulgate in 1511, see H. J. de Jonge, «A propos des premiers apparatus critiques dans la
bible latine imprimée,» in Nederlans Archief von Kerkgeschiedenis 57 (1977): 145-147.
345
Solent etiam fieri altaria per vias unde transit processio et ibidem cantandam sunt aliqua
devota omnibus coram altari genuflexis. Completa processione cum omnes redierint ad
ecclesiam. Expectent sacerdotem nec aliquis recedat ante eius adventum.
346
Appendix 6a
(f. 33v)
MCCCLXXXVIII
Al tempo che·sso‘ne Cino de Luccio priore e Nicolò de Vangne sopriore e Vicho de
Vegniatolo chamorlengho, per tempo de quatro mese chomo fuorono marzo, aprile, maggio,
giungnio assengniarono per anventario l‘enfrascritte chose e massarie e arnese de la frateneta
de gli uomene de la Nunçiata, le quale cose e arnese e massarie stanno e·ssonno e‘·lla
sagresstia de desciplinate de Serve de la Nuntia[ta] de Sancta Maria, le quale sonno state
assengniate e recomandate per tempo de uno anno a: Vicho de Vegniatolo. E ancho
escriveremo qui e en quisto livero tutte le chose e arnese e massarie de la detta frateneta e
d‘uomene d‘essa. In prima:
1)
2)
3)
Una altare grande murata
I altare viareccio, sopra d‘essa picchola portareccia
I tavola de leno grande penta con più figure de sante sopra la ditta altare, giù la
fraternita
4)
I crocie de leno picchola penta sopre la detta tavola
5)
I crociefisso piccholo entagliato sopre la dicta altare e tavola
6)
I crocie grande de leno cioène uno arbore e la traversa penta de cholore verde
con una tavoletta penta e scritta - e‘·lla crocie fu da chapo de cholore roscio
7)
I altro pieie d‘arbore non tanto grande per una croce senza traversa de cholore
***
8)
I pietra forata per mettere el decto leno, è grossa e tonda
9)
I tavola grande portareccia, da una parte ci è penta la Nonçiata coll‘agniolo e
da l‘atro el nostro singnore Eddio leghato a la cholonda <grande>
10)
II peççe de leno da mettere en cierte ferre che·ssono confitte e‘·lla dicta tavola
quando se portasse deintorno
11)
I cierchio de·fferro tondo a tre girone atto a·ttenere cierte corneciella de vetrio
da tenere olio, en meço d‘esso I lampana grande e I fune che ‘l tiene el quale
stane denanze a l‘altare
12)
I lampana grande cholla fune en meçço de la fraterneta
13)
I cierchio de ferro piccholo tondo con II cierchie
14)
I chassetta confichata con tre serature e senza chiave
15)
I armario da tenere l‘ampolle
16)
I predola de l‘altare de legname
17)
II ampolle; III bossole da osstie e ‘ncienso
A lato del muro quando s‘entra e‘·lla casa de dicta fraterneta cie sonno per lo lungho a
mano ritta:
18)
19)
II banchora da·ssedere
IIII banchora per lo traverso
tra‘ quale ci è uno bancho vecchio chiuso da una
parte
Da l‘altro lato de la dicta chasa e frateneta verso el muro de la cità cie sonno per lo
lungho:
20)
III banchora
strenie [sic] e largue al traverso strenie [sic] e chative
347
21)
VI banchora
esenza pieie
E‘ l‘altare sonno queste chose:
22)
ei corporale, I tovalglia con quattro tesste de seta
23)
II tovalglie con tre capeta de bordia
24)
I choperta de cuoio biancho
25)
I dossale d‘una bandiera cholore endecho con tre teste de lione e schalandrone
gielge
26)
Una testa de palio a gilglie orate e con più arme per fregio
27)
II chandaliere picchoglie de ottone essmaltate
28)
I chandeliere de metallo picolo
29)
I chandeliere de ferro picholo
30)
II chandeliere de leno orate
31)
I angniolo piccholo
32)
II angnioglie all‘ale grande
33)
I tavoletta da dare la pacie du‘è el volto del Salvadore
34)
II aneme de leno da mettere e‘·ll‘aste de torchie encierate
35)
I bancho chiuso da scrivere
36)
II sedie da·ssedere
37)
I chassetta da tenere chandele
38)
IIII banchette tonde e ghuadre
39)
I legio alto due se leggie
40)
I legio basso de la devotione quando se fa la fessta de la N.
41)
I peçço de bancho sença pieie
42)
I esschala grande a pie‘
43)
I esschala picchola a pie‘
44)
IIII asste grosse e lunghe per lo palio sopre al Salvadore
45)
IIII asste grosse e lunghe |so … tre|
E‘·lla dicta fratenneta cie sonno stanghe sengniate per alfabeto nera, verde, gialla,
rosscia, bigia e biancha, due sonno le vesste de discip(linati)
46)
47)
48)
49)
50)
51)
52)
53)
54)
55)
56)
A la stangha nera, vesste 1
A la·sstangha rosscia, veste 1
A la stang[h]a biancha, veste 1
A la stangha gialla, vesste 1
A la·sstangha bigia, vesste 1
A la·ssta[n]ga verde, veste 1
II chalondelgle emgiessate, stanno su da l‘altare
I chonchola de acqua sancta
III chanpanello de metallo
II <pippiuole> da tenere acqua e vino
III bossola da osstie, I da l‘incienso.
Ella sagrestia sonno in prima:
57)
58)
59)
Una cassa de leno grande entag(liata)
I pallio dicto dossale roscio de·sseta el campo chollo lavorio appampane el
quale è segnato per « I »
I dossale che uno palio el champo rosscio e aççuro de seta con figure d‘oro
avorio che·sstie segnato per vero « II »
348
60)
72)
73)
74)
75)
76)
77)
palio de·sseta lavorato con più figure e verghato con figure agniove [sic]
segnato per « III »
I palio de seta lavorata ad aquile segnato per « IIII »
I palio de·sseta lavorato a paone e campo, è·ssbiadato. e·sstente segniato per «
V»
I palio de·sseta el campo aççuro e·sscarlattino con verghe bianche e altre
animale segnato per « VI »
I palio de·sseta lavorato con·ffigure de sancte segnato per « VII »
I palio de·sseta con pampane verde a rocche bianche e rosscie segniato per
« VIII »
I palio de·sseta lavorato a vipare bianche e aççure [repeated e aççure] e verde
esstento sengniato per « VIIII »
I palio de·sseta rotto e arso e·sstracciato lavorato a lune segnato per « X »
I palio rotto e·sstracciato segnato per « XI »
I palio ch‘è una bandiera choll‘arme stesa del nostro chomuno con uno
griffone segniato per « XII »
I palio de çendado roscio [repeated rosscio] de tre peççe con più arme e da
chapo con lettere bianche segniato per « XIII »
I palio de tre pennone coll‘arme del nostro chomuno de trombe segniato per
« XIIII »
I palio de panno de lino tento nero da ponere denante la †
I palio de panno tento nero rotto per l‘altare, male tento, è mantello
I peçço de panno de lino nero e aççuro per lo crociefisso
I çendado rosscio bende de palie da bracchia v
II teste de çendado ensieme |braccia IIII|
I testiera de çendado fatta cum gilglie
78)
79)
80)
81)
82)
83)
84)
85)
86)
87)
88)
89)
90)
91)
92)
93)
94)
95)
96)
97)
98)
99)
100)
Item uno bello messale
I challecie d‘ariento cho la patena orate d‘oro cholla cas[s]a sença choperchio
I pianeta messa ad oro e lavorata a ucielglie …
I chamiscio chole finbie
I amitto con le finbie al capo
I manipolo vergato
I stola rosscia; I ciengolo
I pianeta biancha de çendado foderata de panno de lino b ***
I chamiscio con le finbie
I amitto <de palio> <bianche>
I estola de palio
I manipolo de palio
I cientolo
I chamiscio grande da preite solo
II chamisciette picchoglie da rede
I fregio d‘uno peçço da palio
VIII tovalgliette de·sseta atte ad altare picchole
II tovalglie de panno de lino picchole
I tovalglia d‘altare rotta e repeççata
I tovalglia per choprire l‘altare de la Nunçiata
Una coltra de·ssetta per glie morte foderata de panno de lino vermelglio
II ghianciaglie verghate de çendado rosscio, aggiono II sciucatoie per choperta
II tesste de çendado rosscio cho·llettere bianche
61)
62)
63)
64)
65)
66)
67)
68)
69)
70)
71)
I
(f. 34r)
349
101)
102)
103)
104)
105)
106)
107)
108)
109)
110)
111)
112)
113)
114)
115)
116)
117)
118)
119)
120)
121)
122)
123)
124)
125)
126)
127)
128)
129)
130)
131)
132)
133)
134)
135)
136)
137)
138)
139)
140)
141)
142)
143)
144)
145)
146)
147)
I tessta de çendado violato cho·llettere bianche
I tesstiera de çendado con più arme. è·ssquarciata
e rotta
piu peççe [ms. pecce] de tesstiere emsieme avolta
II bende de·sseta con verghette d‘oro
VI velette de·sseta tra picchoglie e grande
V veloçelglie nere
IIII peççuoglie de panno de lino nere per choprire le crucie e crociefisse
II banderuççe: l‘una cho·llo scorpione, l‘[altra] chon uno croc[iefisso]
Una borscia de sagrestia, en essa stonno: II breveleggie e I lettera de
endulgentia che ci acatarono ei frate de Santa Maria de Serve
II sogielglie datone [sic: d‘otone?]: l‘uno entagliato e‘l crociefisso e l‘altro è
cho·lla Nuntiata
I mappa verde de[·sseta] con bottone verde
I matrichola antiqua
I matrichola nuova
II choffanette picchoglie
II fune da tende: l‘una stane alto, l‘altra basso
i
III |una| bossoglie per glie mag…i [ms. mag , meaning Magi? magistri?
magistrati?]
I bossola da uncienso
I benda de·sseta biancha
I benduccia nere per l‘altare
II peççe de paliotto per ponere all‘altare della Nuntiata de·ffuore
Item pecciuoglie de çendado vermelglie ensieme atte
Uno sepolcro [due] se repone el [crocie]fisso
I crociefi[sso….]
I crociefisso …
I chassa de […]
I esschorpica […ca]cioppola ch[… ] velo nero de […: probably ―la Morte‖]
I peççe de pa[….] nero en esso […]
I antiffanario noturnale
I altare viareccio de marmo co·llettere greche, rotto da uno chanto
I livero de devoçione ghuassta da l‘acqua
I ferro da mettere en‘aste
II giesuninne de leno picchoglie
[…] de leno·ssenta […]
[II b]astone da la crocie: l‘uno nuovo e bello, l‘altro vecchio e usato
I tirabele de ramo colla neviella [sic] dentro
I palomba biancha
I corbo nero
II paia d‘ale verde grande cholle choregie
I paio d‘ale rosscio cholle choreggie e·fferre
VI cresste de carta da agnolie
III chorone de chuoio orate antiche
II chorone de ramo usate
VII chappellature de più cholore
VI |4| barbe de più cholore e più ***
una chorona dessughatolo [sic] antiqua
I cievorio de la·ffonte collo condutto de le canne forrate
II veste de panno de lino emcarnate
350
148)
149)
150)
151)
152)
153)
154)
155)
156)
157)
158)
159)
160)
161)
|4| piumacciuoglie da portare el Salvadore
peççe de carta emcollata per lo cievrio [sic] de la chamora en‘ella de [la
N]unçiata
I giglio de carta biancha pechorina e l‘asste verde
I cholonda de leno
II asste nere da portare a morte cholla nenia, dentro da esse asste e torchie
VIII asste bianche cholla crocie vermelglie per glie torchie da sancteficare
IIII asste da torchie roscie
III asste verde e torte
I armario de leno due stane la tavola due sonno scritte gli uomine de la ditta
frateneta
I pie[i]e de leno da uno chandeliere d‘altare
I lanterna de·fferro picola
I chorona messa ad oro, stane e‘ una scatola
I stella orata grande
I sepulcro piccholo, è guassto e rotto
VI
VI
De·ssopre e‘·llo terrato:
162)
163)
164)
165)
166)
167)
168)
169)
170)
171)
172)
173)
174)
175)
176)
177)
178)
179)
180)
181)
(f. 34v)
182)
183)
184)
185)
186)
I armario·ssopre de la schala
I armario cholle scanciarie e·sserrature
una bonbardetta de leno chollo ferro en essa.
II trespede de leno
II brocchole de terra
I chassetta nuova
I chassetta vecchia
I padeletta de rano
I paio de chattenelle
I gratichola con cinque verghette de·fferro
I caldaiuolo de ramo piccholo
I paio de molglie
I falcino da rompere le lena, usato
I coltello da tavola
I coltello meçço da battere el lardo
I lettiera antiqua con doie essponde e chon una asse da chapo e una da pieie
I banchetto da scrivere
I gratta chascia pi[…]
I candeliere de leno
I scura vecchia
una choltrecie rosscia con penna dentro picchola e anticha e molto usata
I scudelaio piccholo
V scudelle; II scudelette
II tagliere grande, II picoglie
I pigniatella de ramo picchola
E·lla chasa due sta el frate e ‘l guardiano de la fraternita. Em·prima,
187)
188)
189)
tegole: XXV, tomboglie: 25
I mattaraçço piccholo de bordo usato con borra
I chappeççale de federa con penna, chattivo
351
190)
191)
192)
193)
194)
195)
196)
197)
198)
199)
I chassetta
picchola vechia con ***, tagliere, e scudelle *** butilglie
lavandaiuole […]
I lucerna de ramo […], chattiva, picchola
I asse a lato el fuocho picola
I vessta nera del Nemicho
I targiotto de leno
I banchetto lungho
I brocholetta da olio
I banchetto de leno
1 paio de chatenelle
Tutte quiste cose esscrite ch‘erano e‘·llo detto terrato si fuorono date e assengniate per lo
detto amventario a domino Beltramo de Chola da Chamerino, nostro preite, che·sse n‘è
appattovito de·sstare con noie e‘·lla dicta fraterneta per tempo de ***
A dì *** del mese de *** MCCCLXXXVIII
[added in 1394; same handwriting as the concluding sentences]
200) uno paio de forbecette da tondire l‘osstie
201) uno paio d‘angnioglie [g]rande, vecchie, uno sen[z]a ale
202) <XLIIII> vesste XL[…]
203) uno crocefisso sopre l‘usscio del orto
204) uno paio d‘angnioglie non grande
1394: asengniamo a dì VI de gienaio a Gioliano de Biencieviene, chamorlengho de la
fraterneta per tempo d‘uno anno chomençando a ditto millesemo de sopra e a dí VI del ditto
mese.
Truovanse veste en tuto quarantaquattro: XLIIII
352
Appendix 6b
Inventory of the possessions of the Confraternita dell‟Annunziata, 1443-1472. Perugia,
Biblioteca Dominicini, Confraternita dell'Annunziata: Memoriale dei contratti, pp. 89-92. 6c.
(p. 89)
+ Al nome de Dio. A dì XII de maggio 1443
Questo è lo inventario de le cose de la fratterneta nuovemente detto dì assegniato per
Angniolo de Tomasso camerlengo de la fratterneta al tempo de maestro Francesco priore et
Giapocho suo (com)pagno a Giorgio de Lucha sequente camerlengho. In prima, sequendo de
lo inventario vechio:
1)
Uno messale cum la coperta roscia
2)
Uno callece con la patena de ariento dorato |cum doi sciuchatoi|
3)
Uno crocefixo cum la cassa sua
4)
Uno palio de drappo cileste foderato cum cane messe d‘oro
5)
Uno palio roscio e verde cum oche sopra esso de drappo
6)
Uno palio de drappo cum foder de taffeto verde del Salvatore, el fodero d‘esso
è posto al palio nuovo
7)
Uno palio de guarnello roscio cum fighure de mezza animale e mezzo persone
8)
Uno palio de drappo cremato
9)
Uno palio <biancho> listato verde, roscio et biancho, e giallo de scatarzo [sic]
cum lione <aquile> de guarnello
10)
<Uno palio de guarnello fighurato biancho, giallo, verde et roscio cum aquile
in esso> |n‘è fatto el piovale|
11)
Uno palio de guarnello listato biancho, cilestro e verde
12)
Uno palio de guarnello nella cassa del crocifixo
13)
Uno palio de guarnello nero cum doi disciplinate croce bianche
14)
Uno palio de guarnello cilestro e roscio cum vipere
15)
<Uno palio de seta biancho cum lo lione roscio a bandere> |casso perché è
tutto stracciato e rotto|
16)
<Un palio de seta roscie cum uno grifone biancho a bandere> |frusto e
stracciato - casse perché sonno guaste|
17)
Una coltre de seta listata <verde> gialla e cilestra de morte
18)
Una pianeta de drappo figurata verde roscio e messa ad oro cum lo fornemento
|foderata de roscio|
19)
Una pianeta de guarnello biancha fornita de tutto ponto fodera de panno de
lino biancho
20)
Una pianeta <giallo> verde e roscia trista fornita |è consumata|
21)
Una pianeta de guarnello nere fornite
22)
Uno piovale de guarnello fighurato verde e roscetto foderato de cilestro |fo
guasto| [added between lines |el fodero suo azuro fo messo al piovale nuovo|]
23)
|in una sachetta stracciata| Uno pezzo de seta roscie cum roche et targie et
lettere in esso |straccie - et furono facte le veste de li camesciette|
24)
Vintaquattro |20| bende dal Salvadore conte in essa 4 pennone cum grifone
25)
Uno fregio d‘altare cum seta roscia listato roscio et giallo <et biancho> fornito
cum lo sciugatoio
26)
Uno fregio de guarnello nero cum lo sciugatoio
27)
Uno fregio roscio cum francie gilglato |è consumato|
28)
Doi guanciagle de seta roscie
353
29)
30)
31)
32)
Uno guanciale de seta biancha |è lugrato, è guasto|
Cuattro guanciagle <de seta> bianche de panno de lino |se ne truovano tre|
Una tovalglia d‘altare grande
Tre tovalgle d‘altare mezzane
(p. 90)
33)
doi croce: una da morte, l‘altra da processione cum le bende; una nera, l‘altra
che sta cum la Nuntiata
34)
uno scorpiccio da morte cum la caciopola e mantello
35)
doi paia de torchie: uno da morte, l‘altro da la messa
36)
una concola de bronzo
37)
uno turabele
38)
uno armario de le inpolle |è guasto|
39)
doi guarda[n]appe da comunichare cum teste roscia, l‘altra nere de borde |uno
ce n‘è buono con le teste de bordie - et uno fo posto a uno fregio cilestro con liste
bianche et nere; et uno sta sopra l‘altare d‘angelo de la Donia et l‘altro non se truova|
40)
sette sciuchatoie cum teste de bordie nere de più ragione
41)
cinque sciuchatoi cum teste roscie bordie de l‘altare |uno straciato|
42)
<doi> uno guluppo seta trista rosscia e l‘altro tristo; è in la cassa grande tutte
rotte
43)
uno guluppo de vegle de seta trista
44)
doi paie de agnoli d‘altare: uno paio picholi, uno a S. Maria |un paio sono su in
Sancta Maria|
45)
sei |cinque| paie de ale da agniogle pichole, grande e mezane
46)
sette |cinque| camiscie mezzane et pichogle et cinque amitte cum finbrie roscie
e senza cioè quattro mezzane e tre pichole
47)
una coltre vechia da morte stracciata
48)
uno solfario da cantare messe cum coperta biancha de cuoio |tavolato|
49)
uno libro da le istorie de le devotione bollettato
50)
uno libro da lo inventario delgle bene de l‘ospedale |questo cessò|
51)
una matricola cum tavolette cum gli ordine de la fratterneta vechie et nuove
52)
doi tavole d‘altare: una bella a l‘altare grande cum la Nuntiata, l‘altra cum più
fegure
53)
una altra tavola vechia cum la Nuntiata grande |portareccia|
54)
uno leggio de l‘ofitio
55)
uno candeleto da morte novastro
56)
doi tende de l‘altare: una nera buona, l‘altra vechia cilestra cum la crocie
biancha |fu posta a un palio che lassò la Francesca de Meio de Panicale|
57)
doi sedie dua se seghono e‘ priore de la fratenita e de l‘ospedale
58)
diece banche novastre foderate da sedere
59)
una cassa de noce dei paramenta cum serrame
60)
doi cassone: uno de abeto mezzane, l‘altro pichole de noce da la cera
61)
una cassa de abeto cum lo scorpiccio
62)
doi cassette d‘altare mezzane e pichole
63)
XVI |XII| corone da più refigurate cum la Nuntiata e senza |sonno XI|
64)
cinque bossole
65)
uno bancho da scrivere cum l‘armario intro
66)
doi lampanari cum lampane chuole lampanelle e fune |uno è in Sancta Maria|
67)
doi crocifisse pichole |vecchi et guasti|
68)
una lucerna
69)
<uno buove, uno lione> |foro prestate a San Francesco et mai sonno reauti|
354
(p. 91)
70)
otto candeliere de ferro et de legname
71)
doi lingnie da croce
72)
doi campanelle, e una altra pichola
73)
sei pezze d‘aste roscie del Salvadore
74)
doi tavole da la Nuntiata e l‘agniolo
75)
una tavola grande doppia da mangiare
76)
una inpozzatoia
77)
<doi pezze de scale: uno grande, l‘altro picholo> |sono rotte|
78)
nuove |sette - IIII| veste nere |tutte rotte et straciate|
79)
doi banderette: una cum la croce, l‘altra cum la stella |è guaste - stonno in una
saccola cum l‘altre cose straciate, sono consumate|
80)
una altra banderetta cum lo scorpione giallo |consumata|
81)
doi banbovine in lo altare
82)
uno pezzo de tovalglia a l‘a[l]tare de la Nuntiata
83)
trantasette |42| veste bianche |a dì 3 de giugno 1463: sono trovati quelle
remaste XVIII che sono arportate et perdute e sotrate - 1472: sono nella fraternita veste
45|
84)
uno capello de pello de pecho biancho foderato de celestro |non c‘è|
85)
uno tabernacolo da portare e‘ crocefisso
86)
una palombetta
87)
otto pezze de torchie de cera arsiccie |lograte|
88)
una palla de leno cum la bachetta orata
89)
una tavola cum la Nuntiata dua sono scritte gl‘uomene de la fraterneta
90)
doi bottolglie d‘ornamentare e torchie
91)
una immagine de latrone [sic] relevato |non c‘è|
92)
uno cassone dua sono le fatture de lo spedale
93)
una forcella de la tenda
94)
doi paie de molgliette |uno| de stamocciare [or scamocciare] fachole a l‘altare,
logorato |perduto|
95)
una vesta incarnata |fo prestata a Pietro de Lunano in Sancto Pietro Martire,
non fo riauta - perduta|
96)
<più ferrame vechie>
97)
<più legniame grosse et menute e tavole de più rag(ione) …> |legna arsa|
98)
uno guanciale d‘altare roscio e nero
Io Giorgio de Lucha ò recieuto el sopraditto inventario da Angniolo camorlengo passato a dì
12 de maggio 1443.
Io Pietro de Menecho, camorlengo passato, ò assegniato a Bartolomeio de Mariotto el
sopraditto inventario a dì otto de maggio 1446.
A dì 12 de giugno 1463 fo reveduto questo inventario da me Agniolo de Tomasso e Paolo et
fo segnato uno ponto le cose che c‘erano, consegnamo da Agniolo de Pavolino a Mariano de
Bartolomeo, nostro cam(orlengo), con l‘altre cose agionte in questa carta da l‘altro lato.
355
Appendix 6c
Inventory of the possessions of the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata, 15th c. (non dated).
Perugia, Biblioteca Dominicini, Confraternita dell'Annunziata: Memoriale dei contratti, pp.
95-96.7.
In nomine Domini, amen. Questo è lo inventario de le massarie et cose le quale se retruovano
nella fratenita de la Numptiata de Perugia et sua sacrestia de la dicta fraternita e paramente e
altre arnese.
1)
In prima uno palio de drappo roscio ad oro foderato de verde cum XVIIII bende
|sonno su lo palazo de‘ priore|
|Item uno palio de drappo roscio folglato verde con fiorecte bianche et cilestre|
2)
Item uno palio celestro de seta facto a cane d‘oro
3)
Item uno palio de seta verde e roscio
4)
Item uno palio de seta f[i]gurato açuro e roscio
5)
Item uno palio de guarnello listato de verde e altre colore |sta all‘altare della
capella nuova|
6)
Item uno palio de seta figurato meço cane e meço persone
7)
Item uno palio vermeglio meço grifone de drappo |tristo, straciato|
8)
Item uno palio de seta figurato cum vipere bianche et pampane
9)
Item uno palio biancho cum lioni grande roscio de sindado |tristo, stracciato|
10)
Item uno palio de seta roscia lograto |è consumato - non ce n‘è più|
11)
Item uno palio de sindado roscio cum lectere de Castello de la Pieve |è
consumato - non c‘è più|
12)
Item uno palio de seta listato de verde biancho roscio et giallo |n‘è fatto el
piovale|
13)
Item uno palio de seta lograto giallo et figurato
14)
Item una coltre da morte de seta listata gialla et cilestra cum croce rosc[i]a
foderata de panno de lino roscio cum croce roscie
15)
Item una coltre da morte cum uno palio in meço guarnita d‘acanto de roscio |è
trista|
16)
Item una pianeta de drappo foderata de roscio figurata de verde fornita a dire
messa
17)
Item una pianeta nera cum uno fregio d‘oro fornita a dire messa
18)
Item una pianeta de guarnello cum uno fregio per meço d‘oro fornita a dir
messa
19)
Item uno piovale de seta <nere> <verde> |de più colore| foderato de panno
cilestro
20)
Item tre |doie| camisce cum quatro |doie| amicte et <cincaglie> |uno fo perduto
in Santa Maria Serve|
21)
Item doi guancaglie de seta <verde et> roscia |listate, vechie|
|Item uno camescio grande con l‘amitto
Item una cotta vechia de banbagio con l‘amitto
Item II camescette vechie con l‘amitte
Item IIII camescette nuove con gl‘amitte|
22)
Item quatro tovaglie <…> lograte et no |doi all‘altare|
23)
Item quatro peçe de drappo: doi bianche et doi cilestre |non è covelle|
24)
Item una tovaglietta da comunicare
25)
Item uno guardanappo da altare
26)
Item una thovaglia de altare
356
27)
Item tre |doi| pennoncelli de seta roscie coli grifone
28)
Item una bandiera cum onde d‘oro
29)
Item uno scuccatoio cum capeta de seta
30)
Item uno frego de drappo roscio listato roscio; una toviagluola de panno de
lino
31)
Item doie veglie bianche de seta
32)
Item quatro tovaglie bianche et roscie
33)
Item uno geluppo de seta lograta |è adoperata|
34)
Item tre peçe de saia sciava nera
35)
Item uno peço de panno giallo de lino |è adoperato - non c‘è più|
36)
Item doie peçe de panno lograto |è adoperato - non c‘è più|
37)
Item uno frego lograto d‘altare |sta a l‘a[l]tare - picolo e triste|
38)
Item uno libro dua stonno le rag[i]one de la fraternita |cioè de che è rogato …|
39)
Item uno paio de tenaglie
40)
Item uno martellino |non c‘è - fo perduto|
41)
Item una croce messa ad oro
42)
Item uno sciuccatoiuolo de panno de lino
43)
Item doie cogine de panno de lino per l‘altare
(p. 96) [ms. 94]
44)
Item quattro tovaglie per l‘altare
45)
Item una coperta de cuoio |non c‘è più|
46)
Item una tavolecta co la Numptiata messa a d‘oro
47)
Item uno calice orato
48)
Item uno calice segnato de prezo fl. VI, s. VI |co la patena|
49)
Item uno messale
50)
Item uno libro da devotione
51)
Item VI bossole e uno cassecto ad ostie
52)
Item doie bamboine
53)
Item uno paio d‘agnoli piccoli |a la chapella|
54)
Item uno paio d‘angnolieti grande |stonno alla chapella|
55)
Item uno scorpicco da morte co la cacoppola colo mantello e un altro panno
nero
56)
Item uno crocefixo conficto nella croce sopra l‘altare
57)
Item uno crocefixo piccolo sopra l‘usc[i]o <delolt> de l‘orto |è guasto|
58)
Item una imagine de crocefixo nello monumento co li chiuove
59)
Item una tavola de la Numptiata
60)
Item uno tirabele
61)
Item quattro torchie in aste
62)
Item tre candeliere grande per l‘altare de legniame
63)
Item VI candeliere de ferro
64)
Item una concola da acqua santa de ramo
65)
Item uno telaio col l‘aste per lo palio
66)
Item una croce messa ad orpello
67)
Item una tavola penta sopra l‘altare cum uno panno denante
68)
Item doi |uno| lampanaie: uno cole lampane e l‘altro non |l‘altro è posto alla
capella nuova|
69)
Item una cassa de noce dua stonno le paramente
70)
Item tre intra capxone e cassecte de abeto
71)
Item una lucerna
72)
Item tre campanelle cioè una piccola
357
73)
74)
75)
76)
77)
78)
79)
80)
81)
82)
83)
84)
85)
86)
87)
88)
89)
0)
91)
92)
Item uno bastone per la croce
Item uno sciuccatuiolo cum capeta de bordia
Item VI lb de candele grosse
Item VI lb de candele
Item VIIII corone
Item XXXVIII |XXXI| veste
Item uno bancho da scrivere per lo camorlemgo
Item tre sciuccatioe |uno n‘è sopra la Nuntiata nella capella nuova|
Item XII banchora |da sedere, chiuse|
Item uno bancho dua sta el sepolcro
Item tre paia d‘angeli |ale grande|
Item uno sole e una luna
Item una palombetta
Item uno corbo |non c‘è|
Item uno armariuolo da empolle
Item doi croce grande da devotione
Item doi cofanecte piccole
Item quatro scalone |non è covelle|
Item uno frego gigliato per l‘altare |è lograto - non c‘è|
Uno guanciale de seta roscia |vechio, con la vesta bianca|
358
Appendix 6d
Confraternita dell‘Annunziata, Libro dei partiti 1505-1566, Biblioteca Dominicini, Perugia
Confraternal identity through sixteenth-century inventories
Frequence of extant inventories, 1535-1576
Inventories are drafted at the beginning of the year in January, just before the Nativity of the
Virgin (8th September), May 1st or 2nd, or at Easter. Intervals go from 5 months to a year and
a half, to ten years, but some inventories must be missing.
2nd May 1535 (70rv)
22nd January 1542, (68rv)
27th April 1546, (74v-75r): Tuesday after Easter Sunday
15th January 1553 and checked on 7th May 1553, (61rv-62r; 75v-76v)
30th January (47rv) and 6th September 1556, (48rv-49rv): 2 days before the Nativity of the
Virgin
1st January and 1st May 1558, (51rv-52rv)
3rd September 1561 and checked on 7th September 1562, (63rv-64v)
1st May 1563, (65rv)
1st May 1564, (66v-67r)
1st January 1565, (67v)
1st September 1566, (78v-79r)
The mobile possessions of the Nunziata (“robbe mobile”) are kept in the sacristy of its
oratory and in the hospital of the Confraternity. I am only citing the most important items
grouped according to their function.
Paraphernalia for mass
Most of the Nunziata possessions revolve around the proper conduct of mass and the
ornamentation of their two altars (the main one called „grande‟ or just „l‟altare‟ and the
small one mentioned as the „altare piccolo‟). The main altar has a velvet baldachin with eight
lambrequins. Most inventories start with the chalice and its patena, and the missal. After
1553 they usually start with the well prized baldachino and its 16 lambrequins.
- « doj calice cum pomette doro uno guasto et latro bono » (2nd February / 2nd May 1535)
- ―un calice et una patena‖ (15th January 1553)
- ―doi calici / doi messali‖ (30th January 1556)
- « doi messale uno in carta pecora e laltro in carta bobacina » (2nd February / 2nd May 1535)
- « uno messalle con do cuginetti » (6th September 1556)
- « un messale da dire la messa » / « un messale de carta pecora » (1st May 1558)
- « doj pianete fornite / una pianeta doi camisce et tre amite » (2nd February 2nd May 1535)
- « uno corporale de velluto cremosi » (2nd February 2nd May 1535)
- « tre corporali un de velluto cremosi un de raso cremesi et uno de brocatello » (15th January
1553)
- « doi altri manipolo » / « una stola » (2nd February 2nd May 1535)
359
- ―un piviale de seta figurato‖ / « un pianeta de guarnello biancho con li suoi fornimenti » /
« un pianeta de guarnello negro con li suoi fornimenti» / « un pianeta verde de setino
figurato con li suoi fornienti»
- « tre tovaglia uccellate usate » / « sette [undici] sciucattoi » / doi corporali [4 : (6th
September 1556 )] / (1st January 1556)
- « doi [tre] sciucatoi sopra il christo » (30th January 1556)
- « uno velo de seta tesuto a quadretti bianchi sopra il cristo » (6th September 1556)
- « 10 sciuchatoi de piu sorte doe su l‘altare doe sul crocefisso, doe su l‘altare piccolo et 4
nela cassa » (15th January 1553)
- «doe tende una verde per l‘altare grande una per il piccolo » (15th January 1553)
- « 2 fregi di seta un verde e uno azzurro da laltare » (1st May 1558)
- « una tenda cilestia de l‘altare grande » (6th September 1556)
- « otto drapellone per il baldachino de laltare de rasone » (15th January 1553)
- « una croce de legno da porre su l‘altare » (1st May 1563)
- « la tendetta da la Madonna » (30th January 1556)
- « una tenda biancha con francia per la Nunziata » (6th September 1556)
- « una tenda bianca con le france e retecelle da coprire la nuntiata piccola » (1558)
- « 5 candeliere » (30th January 1556) / « 4 candeliere de ottone, doe in casa, e doe a le
convertite » (1st May 1558)
- « una lampena de octone » (30th January 1556)
- « una lampana d‘ottone nanze [davanti] all‘altare » (6th September 1556)
- « doi candeliere de ferro da tenere candele sull‘altare » (6th September 1556)
- « un gulupetto con piu cose et max 4 manipoli et una stola et altre cose » (15th January
1553)
- « doi angioli che stanno sull‘altare piccolo » (6th September 1556)
- « doe ambolette per la messa » (1st May 1558)
- « uno tubele dall‘incenso » (6th September 1556 ) idem (1st May 1558)
- « un bacino d‘ottone » (15th January 1553)
- « una pieta [piata] da dar la pace » (15th January 1553) / « una pace » (6th September 1556)
/ (1st May 1558) / « una piata da dare la pace » (3rd September 1561)
Processional paraphernalia
The baldacchino is often listed first, together or apart from its lambrequins (“drappelones”)
- « dodici drappelone de raso » (2nd May 1535) / « otto drapellone per il baldachino de laltare
de rasone » (15th January 1553)
- ―in prima 16 drapelloni de taffeta negro li quali si portano il giovedi santo sul baldacchino
a San Lorenzo con il crucifisso » ; item una cassetta per tenere detti drapelloni » (15th January
1553)
- « una cassetta da tenener li drappelloni » (6th September 1556)/ « [idem (3rd September
1561) ―et coli soi bastoni‖] idem (1st May 1563) / (1st May 1564)
- ―in prima baldacchino con sui fornimenti e drappeloni‖ (30th January 1556)
360
- « in prima un baldacchino con 16 drappelloni figurati con la passione sollito a portare la
semana santa » (6th September 1556)
- « 16 drapelloni con la passione si porta il giovedi santo » / « el telaro del ditto baldacchino
con tela nera » / « 6 aste da portare ditto baldacchino » (1st May 1558)
A large wooden cross is destined to processional use. It is adorned with a colored piece of
fabric, a black one or a blue one. It is carried on a green staff.
- « una croce cum aste » (2nd May 1535 ) / « una croce da portare in processione » (30th
January 1556)/ idem (6th September 1556 )/ « un palietto da portar al croce » (30th January
1556 )
- « una croce di legno dipinta in orata da portare ala processione » (1st May 1558)
- « un palietto de taffeta negro da portar ala croce » (30th January 1556)
- ―doj paliecte da la croce uno nero et laltro cilestro de piu colori‖ (2nd May 1535)
- « tre palie da portare in su la croce doe nere e uno griglilato » (1st May 1563)
- « un aste verde da mettere la croce grande quando si va in processione » (1st May 1558)
- « uno pallio giallo con francie gialle da portare a processione » (6th September 1556 )
- ―una Annuntiata da portare in processione‖ (6th September 1556)
- ―2 Annunciate da portare in processione una nuova una vecchia‖ (1st May 1558)
- « doi/e aste da tenere li torci/ torchie » (27th April 1546) / (15th January 1553)
- « un crocefisso piccolo in croce da portare ale 40 ore con sua tenda » (6th September 1556
) / « un crocefisso piccolo in croce da portare a horatione de le 40 hore finito con suo
tabernacolo, e tenda nera con france» (1st May 1558) / « un crocifisso picolo con velo atorno
e un tabernacolo e tenda/tela nera » (3rd September 1561) / idem (1st May 1563)
The ordinary banner is processed with a colored stave (“aste”); it is covered or wrapped up
(?) by a veil (“tenda”) to protect it. The old banner is also recorded.
- « un gonfalone da portare in processione » (27/4/1546)
- « doi gofalone co immagine de la Nuntiata un novo e latro vechio» (22/1/1563) /idem (1st
May 1563) / « doie cofalone de la Nutiata » (1/5/ 1564) / « {un paro de angoli con quattro candeliere et
la croce con} il confalone da gire in processione {et una pace} » (1st September 1566)
- « una tenda bianchia dole france da coprire lo cofalone de gire in processione » (3rd
September 1561) /« la tenda del confalone » (1st September 1566)
- « doie oste [sic] verde uno da portare lo cofalone e latro da andare in processione » (3rd
September 1561)
- ―una aste da portare el cofalone (1st May 1563) / una aste da portare il gonfalone‖ (1st
January 1565)
- « una tenda biancha con francie per la nunziata » (6th September 1556)
CHRISTO MORTO
The articulate Dead Christ is called a crucifix although it is not attached to a cross. Its chest
is called a „monument‟ but its decorated panels are not described. It is covered by a veil with
golden stripes and a white one. It is not visible because confined in its chest.
- ―un crocefisso solito portar la settimana santa a san Lorenzo » (15th January 1553) / ―un
crocefisso grande da portare il giovedi santo‖ (6th September 1556 ) idem(3rd September
1561) / (1st May 1563)
361
- « un monumento grande del crocifisso con sua coperta » (1st May 1558) / « uno
monimento grande da crocifisso con la sua coperta » (3rd September 1561)/ idem (1st May
1563)
- « (...) doe sciuchatoi (...)sul crocefisso » (15th January 1553)
- « un velo rigato doro da porre nel crocifisso » (30th January 1556) [« intorno al crocefisso »
6th September 1556 ]
- « doie veli uno rigato doro che sta atorno a corcifisso [sic] enno rigato biancho per de
sopra » (3rd September 1561)
- ―un palio figurato de seta roscia sopra ... per sotto al crocifisso‖ (1st May 1558)
- « uno guanciale con sue veglie del crocifisso » (2nd May 1535)
VESTE are kept in a box but most of the black ones seem to be kept at home.
- « veste vintatre » (27/4/1546)
- « 34 [39crossed] veste la maiur parte senza cordone cio e veste 40 » (15th January 1553)
- « 40 veste bianche infra grande e piccole » (30th January 1556 )
- « 34 veste bianche fra grande e piccole » (1st May 1558)
- « 20[24] veste bianche » (3rd September 1561)
- «16 veste bianche per andare in processione » (22/1/1563)/ idem (1st May 1563)
- « cinque veste negre » (30th January 1556 )
- « 16 veste nere » / « 39 veste con quella de Ser Ranaldo e de Nicolo Gratiano » (6th
September 1556 )
- « 17 veste negre » (1st May 1558)
- « veste nere seddecie [14] » (3rd September 1561)
- « una cassetta da tenere il sacco de li fratelli » (1st May 1558)
Rituals inside the oratory
- ―una Madonna da mettere [-si in l’ altare (1st May 1558)] el venerdi santo sulaltare con
sua tenda nera‖ (6th September 1556 ) / idem (1st May 1563) / « una tenda negra per coprire
la madonna » (3rd September 1561)
- ―una campana denante alatare‖ (15th January 1553)
- ―un campanaro mess a oro con 4 campani‖ (1st May 1558)
- « una cassetta solita tenere le pallotte de li offitii » (15th January 1553) / ―una cassetta da
tenere li ofiti‖ (6th September 1556 )
- « doe bossole da cogliere il partito et una cassetta da tenere/dare le fave» (15th January
1553) / idem (1st May 1563 : « cassetta , bossole, bacino »)
Brothers share six books of prayers for the office of the Virgin. They have consigned their
regulations in a “matricola” in one copy. A second copy is written around 1550. They own
one book of the gospels and one Bible and a book for the Deads‟ office. They practice
collective chanting.
- « doi libricioli de la madonna » (2/5/2nd May 1535) / « sei offitiole de la donna con molte
oratione » (15th January 1553) / « sei libricioli de la donna » (6th September 1556 ) : idem
(1st May 1558) / « sette ofetioli de la madonna » (3rd September 1561) / « cinque ufitioglie
de la madonna » (1st May 1563) / idem (1st May 1564)
- « un libro de la matricola et uno de li morti » (2nd May 1535) / « una matricola »
(27/4/1546) / « un libro chiamato la matricola » / « un libro chiamato la matricola vechia »
362
(15th January 1553)/« doi matricole una vecchia e una nova » (6th September 1556 ) / idem
(1st May 1558) / idem (3rd September 1561)
- « un libro legendario de li sancti e laltro de li vangeli » (2nd May 1535) / « un libro deli
vangeli » (27/4/1546) / idem (1st May 1558)
- ―un libro dei testamenti antico‖ (1st May 1558)
- ―un libro da cantare la solpha [solfeggio]‖ (27th April 1546)
Paraphernalia for funerals
- «tre palii da la croce doj morti et uno da la processione » (15th January 1553) /« un palio
nero per la croce quando se va al morto» (6th September 1556 )
- « tre palii da croce doie da morto e uno de andare in processione » (3rd September 1561)
- « doie palii da morte uno negro laltro tane [=colore lione] »
- « un palio nero da morti » (1st September 1566)
- « otto palii de piu colori cio e quattro dai morti et quattro da dir messe de piu colori » (15th
January 1553)
- ―un libretto dal offitio deli morti‖ (30th January 1556 )
- « uno libro de li morti » (27/4/1546) / (6th September 1556 ) / « un libro da dire l‘offitio dei
morti de carta pecora » (1st May 1558)
- « una bara » (1561)
- « un palio giallo et turchino con fodera roscia solito a portar per morti su la bara » (15th
January 1553) / « un palio de seta gialla e torchina con fodera roscia solito a portare in su la
bara » (3rd September 1561)
- ―doe torchie de legno da portare ai morti dipinti‖ (1st May 1558) / idem (3rd September
1561 / 1st May 1563 / 1st September 1566)/ « doi doppiere de legno » (1st January 1565)
- « uno candeliere de ferro grande da morti » (1st September 1566)
« doe bandinelle da a la processione una nera per i morti, e una ...sua visata» (1st May 1558)
/ « un altra bandinella nera » (1st May 1558)
- « una coperta da morti » (27/4/1546) /―una coltruccia de seta da morto‖ / (30th January
1556 )
Paraphernalia for sacred drama
―Quattro paie de ale et quattro zazzeri‖ (2nd May 1535) / (27/4/1546)
« quattordece veste da rede « (2nd May 1535)
―doe capigliare da angioli‖ (15th January 1553)
―una scala‖ (30th January 1556 )
« doi torchie » (30th January 1556 )
« una collona de legno coperta di tela » (1st May 1558)
« una croce grande con la sua spognia con la lancetta et con la colonna con soe fruste
frustra » (15th January 1553) / idem 30th January 1556 ; idem but : « croce piccola » (3rd
September 1561)
« una coronna de spine » (6th September 1556 )
« una colonda » (6th September 1556 ) = colonna
« doe pezze di fune » (1st May 1558)
Oratory decoration
« 10 banche 4 chiuse et sei no » (15th January 1553)
«un panno negro a mettere nella cassa deli segni » (30th January 1556 )
363
« un quadro dipinto con una nostra donna con suo telaro/sedaro(?) de noce » / « un
quadro dove è dipinto San Sebastiano » (1st May 1558)
«2 tende nere a le invetriate [finestre] » (1st May 1558) / idem (3rd September 1561)
« un palio de damasco bianco con doe arme » (1st May 1558)
« 2 banbini con suoi veste » (6th September 1556 ) /« un paio de banbine con le loro
veste » (3rd September 1561) / « 2 banbine con suoi vestimenti » (1st May 1558)
364
Appendix 6e
Confraternita dell'Annunziata: Entrate e uscite 1600-1602, Biblioteca Dominicini, Perugia, f. 92
Ad primo de Genaro 1602
Laventario de le cose de la sagrestia de la confraternita de la Nuntiata consegniate a
Francesco Vermiglioli al presente sagrestano de m. Pietro Giapeco et m. Jusepe Massii priore
per ordine et sotto il detto consegniatoli le infrascrite robe da Giovanni Battista Gultarotti et
Lorenzo Barnabey. E in prima
1)
3)
5)
6)
6)
8)
9)
10)
11)
un crocifisso che si porta in processione con sue bendoni di damasco bianco
2)
uno stendardo dipinto con Maria Vergine Anuntiata che si porta in
processione
una tavola dipinta con Maria Vergine Anuntiata che si porta in processione
4)
uno santo Jovanne de relievo/aretino con sua cassa de legname dolce che
si porta in processione
una santa Veronica dipinta da una parte e da latera con Maria Vergine
doi angeli dorati per servitio de l‘altare grande
sei candeliere de legno dorati per servitio de l‘altare
una croce de lengio con il suo piede dorara
una tavola sagra con ...
quattro candeliere vecchie de legno orati
doi candeliere grandi avanti allo altare dorati
Paramenti de la altare

uno paramento de velutto incarnato de guarnitione doro

uno paramento di armesino bianco con francie giale e bianche

uno de armosino bianco con guarnitione doro

uno di damasco bianco con guarnitione di setta rossa

uno di drappo pavonazzo con guarnitione de setta et oro con tre francie

uno di armosino verde con guarnitione rossa et bianca

uno di raso verde con fregio rosso

uno damasco nero con fregio di brocato

uno brocattello rosso e giallo

uno di brocato doro et rosso

uno di... orato

uno damasco rosso tristo

uno di... orato con la Nuntiata

uno de pano ... con croce in mezzo
Pianete nella credezza

una pianeta di brocato doro figurata con rosso con sua stola et manipolo

una di raso raciatto ... con sua stola et manipolo

una di armosino verde con guarnitione di piu colore con stolla et manipolo

una di drapo verde e rossa figurata vechia et stola et manipolo

una di brocato giallo et rosso et una stola e manipolo

uno di armosino nero con guarnitione doro manipolo et stola

una di drapo figurato paonazzo con guarnitione di setta et oro con suo manipolo et
stola
365









uan di armonsino bianco con guarnitione di piu colore et stolla e manipolo
quattro drapelone de veluto giallo con fondo de argento
quatro manice et coperoli ... bracie de laltare di S° Giovane
una pianeta de velutto bianco con fregio per mezzo all‘antica
doi fregi de armosino guarnito bianco et lateri giallo
dici borgie de drapo e vellutto di piu colore
una croce de lengno oratta e penta metere sopera allo altare
una insengnia di tafetta nera con morte serve per andare alli morti
quatro liberi doi grandi e doi picoli da scrivere a mano
Robe nella credezza

quatro guanciale de armosino bianco con guarnitione

doi guanciale de armosino verde con guarnitione de oro e setta

doi di drapo figurato pavonazzo con guarnitione di oro e setta

doi de tafetta verde dofrio ed guarnitione doro

doi guanciale de brocatto da una banda et laltera di tafetta rosso

doi guanciali di rosso raciatto (?) con sue guarnitione bianche

doi guanciali da una parte Bianca et latera rosso di drappo
366
Appendix 7.
Perugia, Biblioteca Dominicini,
contratti,1333-1594, pp. 79-81.
Confraternita
dell'Annunziata:
Memoriale
dei
Perpetual concession by the Perugian Servites of the newly built Annunciation chapel in
Santa Maria dei Servi to the Confraternita dell‘Annunziata. 29th April 1466
This important document gives the names and origins of the Servite friars in Perugia. Above
all, it reveals that the Nunziata brothers had built at their own expense the chapel of the
Annunciation in Santa Maria dei Servi and were then permanently conceded it with all its
due rights. It also documents the obligations between friars and the brothers in terms of
donations and maintenance of the chapel. A Baglioni is named as prior of the confraternity.
In nomine Domini, amen. Anno Domini millesimo CCCCLXVI indictione XIIII tempore domini
Pauli divini providentia pape secundi et die penultime mensis aprilis.
Actum Perusii in sacrestia ecclesia (sic) Sancte Marie Servorum de Perusia presentibus
Iohanne Rigutii de Perusio porte Heburnee et parochie Sancti Angeli et Nicolao Stefani olim
de Castro Montisabbatis et cive perusino porte Sancti Angeli et parochie Sancte Marie de
Viridario et Francesco Bartucciolo Antonii de Perusio porte Sancte Subxanne et parochie
Sancti Luce et Alberto Angelelli de Perusio porte Heburnee habitante in porta Sancti Angeli
testibus ad infrascripta vocatis, habitis et rogatis.
Comvocato, congregato et coadunato publico et generali capitulo fratrum capituli et
conventus Servorum Sancte Marie de Perusio in supradicto loco ad sonum campanelle more
solito de Perusia, consensu, licentia et voluntate reverendi patris magistri Sebastiani Tomassi
de Burgo Sancti Sepulcri sacre pagine professoris nec non provincialis provincie Patrimonii
et etiam magistri Andree Angeli de Perusio sacre pagine professoris ad presens dignissimi
prioris dicti loci. In quo quidem capitulo interfuerunt infrascripti fratres videlicet :
Magister Sebastianus provincialis
Frater Criacus Baptiste di Fulgineo
Magister Andreas prior Frater Stefanus Benedecti di Fulgineo
Magister Antonius Bernabutii de Sant‘Angelo in Vado Frater Polus Iohannes de Francia
Frater Christoforus Angeli de Perusio
Frater Bartolomeus Gregorii de Castelatio
Frater Johannes Baptista Mateoli de Perusio
Frater Leonardus Andree de Burgo S.
Sepulcri
Frater Martinus Mathei de Perusio
Frater Lucas Alberti de Montepolinano
Frater Nicolaus Christofori
Frater Damianus Pauli di Sanct‘ Angelo in
Vado
Frater Petrus Angeli de Perusio
Frater Simoni Jacobi de Sancto Marino
que sunt plus quam due partes in dicto conventu et loco ad presens existentes et commorantes
ut asserunt representantes publicum et generale capitulum in loco predicto. Quibus quidem
fratribus per prefatum magistrum Andream priorem predictum in dicto capitulo fuerit
expositum et narratum qualiter pro parte hominum disciplinatorum fraternitatis Annumptiate
Gloriosissime Matris Virginis Marie di Perusio porte Heburnee fuerit et sit in dicta ecclesia
Sancte Marie Servorum sumptibus et expensis hospitalis dicte fraternitatis edificata et
de novo constructa et perfecta quedam capella ad honorem altissimi Dei et ad gloriam,
laudem et reverentiam prelibate Annumptiate Gloriosissime matris Virginis Marie et
propter dictam constructionem et perfectionem dicte capelle, prefati homines et disciplinati
dicte fraternitatis desiderantes ac cupientes quod per prefatos fratres, capitulum et conventum
prefatis hominibus et disciplinitatis dari et concedi dictam capellam, situm, solum aut locum
367
ubi constructa et perfecta est sita in dicta ecclesia cum omnibus iuribus ad dictam capellam,
situm, solum aut locum pertinentibus et spectantibus quoquo modo. Qui reverendus pater
prior una cum dictis fratribus et dicti fratres una cum dicto reverendo patre et visis et
intellectis supradictis omnibus et supra predictis habitis consiliis et colloquiis ac tribus
tractatibus factis inter ipsos super huismodi ut dixerunt et asserunt et considerantes petita et
narrata ut supra pro parte dictorum hominum et disciplinatorum fore et esse iusta et equa et
volentes predictis petitionibus et narrationibus dictorum hominum et disciplinatorum se
inclinare et eisdem petitionibus et narrationibus effectualiter satisfacere ac executioni
mandare, ordinaverunt et deliberaverunt quod predicta omnia dent et effectum roboris
firmitatem habeant. Idcirco reverendus prior prefatus una cum prenominatis fratribus et
prenominati fratres una cum prefato reverendo patre, neminis eorum discordantibus et viva
voce, per eos eorum subcessores obligando res et bona dicte ecclesie et fratrum capituli et
conventus eiusdem presentia et futura pro observatione omnium et singulorum supra et
infrascriptorum dederunt, tradiderunt, cesserunt et concesserunt discretis viris civibus
perusinis Francisco domini Iohannis de Ballionibus porte Heburnee, unus ex prioribus
ad presens dicte fraternitatis, Iuliano Bartholomei et Petro Meneci dicte porte ad presens
prioribus hospitalis dicte fraternitatis et Petro domini Martii et Angelo Tome dicte porte ut
sindicis et procuratoribus dicte fraternitatis hominum et disciplinatorum ac hospitalis eiusdem
et mihi Tebaldo Pauli de Perusio notario tamquam publice persone stipulantibus et
recipientibus pro dicta fraternitate ac hominibus et disciplinatis et hospitali eiusdem
supradictam capellam, situm, solum aut locum de quibus supra sit mentio cum omnibus
eorum iuribus et pertinentis et ad ipsam capellam, situm, solum aut locum
pertenentibus sive spectantibus quoquo modo ad habendum, tenendum, possidendum,
utendum, regendum, manutendum, gubernandum, custodiendum, augendum et
augmentandum ad honorem omnipotentis Dei et Gloriosissime Annumptiate beate
Marie Virginis sub cuis nomine et vocabulo dicta capella fuerit et sit constructa cum his
tantum pactis et capitulis initis infrascriptas partes videlicet :
In prima che el convento predicto concede al priore et homine de la dicta fraternita la nuova
capella facta ad honore et laude de la Numptiata et che glie frate et convento predicto sieno
tenute et deggano omni di celebrare una messa nell’altare della dicta capella per merito
de l’anime de quelle che si faranno alcuna elimosina et per li homine de la dicta
fraternita et per l’anima de Ser Benedecto de Ser Pietro.
Item che priore et homine de la dicta fraternita danno et concedono pleno iure al dicto
convento e la dicta capella per dota et limosina de essa tre pezze de terra poste nel
destretto de la villa de Monte Decreno nel vocabolo la stradella fra le loro confine quale el
dicto convento se degga fructare a suo uso et volunta como sua cosa propria quale pezze de
terra già fuorono de Ser Benedetto de Ser Pietro per dicto siche le dicte tre pezze de terra
sieno et intendasse essere perperpetuamente dota della capella.
Item che omne lemosina che se facesse a la dicta capella o vero all’altare di essa pane,
vino, grano, carne et altre cose da mangiare sia del dicto convento.
Item che omne lassata che fosse facta di cose stabile et mobile o vero denaro per la quale i
frate et convento fossero obligate a dire messe o fare altre offitie a satisfactione de tale legato
con cosa lassate che sia del dicto convento.
[manicula] Item che omne altra lemosina data et lassata a la dicta capella et posta
nell’altare d’essa, o no, sia liberame( ?) de li homene de la dicta fraternita et de lo
368
spedale d’essa e possalo et degalo spendere, convertere et mantenere a ornamento de la
dicta capella como a loro et chi per loro cie serà deputato parrà et piacerà. Et vogliono et
sonno d‘acordo che el priore che sera al tempo del dicto convento de Sancta Maria de anno in
anno glie sia licito et possa et degga revedere et fare revedere la ragione a qualunche sera
deputato al governo et cura de la dicta capella per glie homine de la dicta fraternita et vedere
che le lassate che seronno lassate a la dicta capella sieno utelmente spese giusta la volunta de
chi avesse lassato e offerito ad essa capella.
(81r) Et quilli tali che avessero auta la cura e el governo de la dicta capella recusasse che la
ragione non li fosse reveduta e essa ragione non volendola assignare che priore de la dicta
fraternita quali seronno per li tempi possano et deggano fare stregniere de facto, assegnare et
revedere la dicta ragione et intendase essere casso de la dicta fraternita e de la dicta sua
commissione.
Item che nella dicta capella non cie se possa pegnire ne fare pegnire niuna figura senza
deliberatione del priore de Sancta Maria et del priore de la fraternita et de li soprastante de
essa capella li quali seronno per li tempi.
Ponentes dicti fratres capitulus et conventus dictos homines et disciplinatos dicte fraternitatis
et etiam dicti hospitalis in locum eorum et eos procuratores ut in rebus eorum constituti ita ut
ad modo et deinceps in iudicio et extra nominibus eorum in iudicio itaque possint agere,
petere, causari, excipere, replicare, finire, refutare experiri se seque ... et omnia alia et
singula facere, gerere et extra potest et quod dicti cedentes et concedentes dictis nominibus
facere poteant ante presentem contractum. Quam quidem dationem, cessionem et
concessionem fecerunt dicti cedentes et concendentes quibus supra nominibus *** hominibus
et disciplinatis dicte fraternitatis et dicti hospitali ex causis predictis et etiam quia fuerunt
confessi et contenti dictam capellam fuisset et esse factam et conpletam sumptibus et
expensis dicti hospitalis et pro eo etiam quia sic voluerunt et sic eis placuit et etiam quia
prefati priores tam dicte fraternitatis quam dicti hospitalis et etiam dicti sindici et
procuratores habentes ad predicta et infrascripta omnia plenum et sufficiens mandatum ab
hominibus dicte fraternitatis sub presenti millesimo et *** mensis ianuari proxime preteri ut
asserunt obligandi res et bona dicte fraternitatis et hospitalis eiusdem presentia et futura pro
observatione omnium et singulorum supra et infrascriptorum, promisserunt dictis fratribus,
capitulo et conventi presentibus, stipulantibus et recipientibus dictam capellam in perpetum
tenere, custodire, manutenere, augere et agumentare ad honorem omnipotentis Dei et sub
nomine et vocabulo Annumptiate gloriosissime intemerate matris Virginis Marie pro
hominibus et disciplinatis dicte fraternitatis, qui sunt vel qui pro tempore fuerint et pro ***
perpetuis duraturis et etiam pro dicto hospitali. Et possessionem dicte capelle prenominati
priores tam dicte fraternitis quam dicti hospitalis etiam dicti sindici et procuratores quibus
supra nominibus fuerunt confessi et contenti habuisse et recipisse et in possessione fuisse et
esse, promictentes dicti cedentes et concedentes quibus supra nominibus quod de predictis ut
supra per eos concessis nemini ius alii *** aliquod est datum nec dabitur nec concedetur in
futuro pro hominibus et disciplinatis dicte fraternitatis et hospitali eiusdem in aliquo nocere
vel obesse possit. Quod si appareret, promiserunt ipsum ius predictis hominibus et
disciplinatis eiusdem et dicto hospitali et eorum res et bona ius indempnes et indempnis
conservare ; promictentes insuper dicti cedentes et concedentes quibus supra nominibus
prioribus tam dicte fraternitatis quam dicti hospitali et etiam dictis sindicis et procuratoribus
ut supra stipulantibus et recipientibus de predictis litem aliquam non movere nec moventi
facere aut moventi conservare aliquo modo causa vel ingenio sed potius defendere quam
omnem personam omnibus dictorum cedentium et concedentium quibus supra nominibus
369
sumptibus et expensis et in se iudicum et causa subscipere et statim lite mote et se liti et
questionibus offere ad finem producere dicte intelligatur lis mota per unicam citationem
tantum ius denumptiandi eisdem exparte remictentis (82) ; renumptiantes inter se ad invicem
dicte partes singula singulis referendis exceptione non factis dictis dationis cessis et concessis
et dictorum capitulorum et pactorum ac promissionum et obligationum habeant inde non
factum rei sic non geste vel aliter geste et non celebrati presens contractus et omni alii legum
et iuribus in auxilio consuetudini et statutorum et quod non opponet nec opponeri facient
contra predicte vel aliquod predictorum et hec omnia et singula supra infrascripta promiserunt
et convenuerunt ac etiam iuraverunt dicte partes in ... constituentes eorum videlicet dicti
cedentes et concedentes ponendis manus eorum super pectus eorum et dicti priores tam dictis
fraternitatis quam dicti hospitali et etiam dicti sindici procuratores in
constituendi,
iuraverunt ad sancta Dei evangelia corporaliter manu tactis scripturis predicta omnia et
singula vera esse et fuisse et ea tenere, actendere inviolabiliter observare et contra ea non
facere vel venire sub obligatione omnium et singulorum bonorum dictorum partium
cuiuslibet presentia in futuro earum et pena ducentorum florenorum auri aplicanda parti
observanti et observare volenti quam penam cum refectio dampnorum expensis et interesse
litis et extra totiens quotiens contrafecerit uni pars alteri et altera alteri dare et solvere
solempni stipulanti promisit. Qua pena soluta vel non habere omnia de predictis omnique et
tenendis, attendenditis et firmiter observandis et adimplendis et de pena solvenda si
commissa singulis fuerint promisserunt facere confessionem coram iudice comunis Perusii
ecclesiastico et seculari et coram quolibet alio iudice competente pro eis petentibus et
petitionem et ... .
370
Appendix 8
ASPg, ASCPg, Riformanze 102 (f. 70r and 72v)
The city priori allocate, by law, a 25-florin subsidy to the confraternity to adorn their chapel
in Santa Maria of the Servites. 25/6/ 1466
(f. 70r)
Item cum pro parte priorum fraternitatis Anumptiate de Perusio porte Eburnee habentetium
curam et regimen capelle Anumptiate existentis in ecclesia Sancte Marie Servorum de
Perusio dicte porte Eburnee fuerit prefatis Magnificis Dominis Prioribus et camerariis
humiliter supplicatum de aliqua quantitate pecuniarum pro ornamentis ipsius Capelle
eisdem, amore Dei, subveniri ob reverentiam sue gloriosissime matris virginis Marie. Et
igitur reproposita et narrata inter prefatos Magnificos Dominos Priores die videlicet
precedenti exibitisque consiliis et facto posito ac misso partito ad bussolam et fabas albas et
nigras secundum formam statutorum et ordinamentorum comunis Perusii et solempniter
obtentis per novem ex eis mictentibus et restituentibus eorum fabas albas del sic una faba
nigra in contrarium reperta non obstante. Et hodie inter dictos camerarios factis prepositis
exibitisque consigliis et facto proposito ac misso partito ad bussolam et fabas albas et nigras
secundum formam statutorum et ordinamentorum comunis Perusii et solempniter obtentis per
XXXVIII ex eis mictentibus et restituentibus eorum fabas albas del sic septem fabis nigris in
contrarium repertis non obstantibus, ex omnibus arbitriis auctoritatibus, potestatibus et bailiis
eisdem Magnificis Dominis Prioribus et camerariis coniuctim vel divisim quomodolibet
concessis ac atributis per formam quorumcumque statutorum et ordinamentum, et omni
meliori modo, via, iure et forma quibus magis et melius potuerunt, statuerunt, ordinaverunt et
reformaverunt ac deliberaverunt quod pro ornamentis et fulcimentis dicte capelle
Anumptiate existitentis in dicta ecclesia Servorum Sancte Marie sub regimine et
gubernatione hominum dicte fraternitatis Anumptiate, dicti priores dicte fraternitatis
habeant et habere debeant a depositario pecuniarum dicti comunis Perusii de
quibuscumque pecuniis dicti comunis Perusii ad bolletinum Magnificorum Dominorum
Priorum florenos vigintiquinque ad rationem XXXVI bologninorum pro quolibet floreni. Et
ita mandaverunt depositario predicto. Quibuscumque in contrarium facientibus non
obstantibus.
(f. 72v)
Bolletinum priorum fraternitatis Anumptiate de florenis XXV
Item mandamus tibi Nicholao magistri Antonii depositario predicto quatenus viso presenti
nostro bolletino de quibuscumque pecuniis dicti nostri comunis ad tuas manus pervenctis seu
quomodolibet perveniendis, des et solvas prioribus fraternitatis Anumptiate habentibus
curam, regimen, et gubernationem capelle et gonfalonis Anumptiate existentium in
ecclesia Servorum Sancte Marie de Perusio porte Eburnee florenos vigintiquinque ad
rationem XXXVI bologninorum pro quolibet floreno pro ornamentis dicte capelle vigore legis
edite in consilio camerariorum pro ut supra constat manu mei notarii infrascripti
camerariorum ita sit inter nos obtemptum ad bussolam et falbas albas et nigras secundum
formam statutorum. Datum ut supra, dictis millesimo die et indictione
… ……………………………………………………………………………f. XXV
371
Appendix 9
ASPg, ASCPg, Giudiziario antico, Iura diversa IV, anno 1470 (loose sheet).
Inventory of the Chapel of the Nunziata in Santa Maria dei Servi (Perugia), 22 Aprile 1470.
(f. 1)
Die XXII aprilis 1470
|1470 - 22 aprile|
In nomine Domini, amen. Anno Domini millesimo CCCCLXX, indictione tertia, tempore
sanctissimi in Christo patris et domini domini Pauli divina providentia pape secundi et die
XXII aprilis. Actum in ecclesia Sancte Marie Servorum in capella Anumptiate, presentibus
Amicho Nicholai Pauli et Astore Perantoni Mathei Petri de Gratianis porte Sancti Petri,
testibus ad infrascripta habitis, vocatis et rogatis.
Infrascriptum est inventarium rerum et massaritiarum capelle fraternitatis Annunptiate site in
ecclesia Sancte Marie Servorum civitatis Perusie, porte Eburnee:
1)
In prima, uno gonfalone co la Numptiata con la coperta de velii de seta et co la
cortina de panno de lino celestra
2)
Item uno tabernachiolo dal gonfalone con la predola del tabernacolo
3)
Item una tavola penta, sta in su l‘altare
4)
Item doi angeli con candeliere in mano
5)
Item doi candeliere d‘ottone
6)
Item doi candeliere de ferro
7)
Item una pietra consagrata
8)
Doi palie de panno de lino inborrate
9)
Item doi tovaglie ucellate nuove
10)
Una tovaglia cremonese grande nuova con banbagio biancho foderate
11)
Item uno palio de pano de lana intrecciato
12)
Item uno palio de pano de lana scaciato con più colore foderate de pano de
***
13)
Item uno fregio damaschino biancho messo ad oro colo schucatoio overo …
co oro attacato
14)
Item uno fregio de velluto scacchato colo sciuccatio ed una croce in mezzo
15)
Item un paio de corporaglie co la casa de cremosi con uno YHU de oro
16)
Item un fregio de pano de lana rosato et verde con frappe colo scuiccatoio
attaccato con una testa in mezzo
17)
Item una icona d‘ariento orato de la nostra Dopna con uno mecchino lavorato
con seta et con oro
18)
Item una crocetta de alume biancha invollta e doi velecte, uno de seta et l‘altro
de banbagio
19)
Item una filaiola de coraglie e parrie [sic] picchola
20)
Item una filaiola de paternostre nere
21)
Item una scatola
(f. 2)
22)
23)
24)
25)
26)
Item quattro paia de archie d‘ariento
Item uno anello
Item doi tovaglie vecchie
Item uno sciuccatioio largo con una testa per canto et una in mezzo
Item uno sciuccatoio
372
27)
Item uno sciuccatoio largo con una testa per canto et una in mezzo con
crocette
28)
Item uno sciuccatoio largo con tre teste per canto e una in mezzo con crocette
29)
Item uno sciuccatoio largo con tre teste con guangiole
30)
Item uno sciuccatoio largo con una testa per canto et con guardiole roscie
crocette
31)
Item uno sciuccatoio mezzano con tre teste per uno con guardiole
32)
Item uno sciuccatoio mezzano con tre teste, usato
33)
Item uno sciuccatoio cole vergelle bianche
34)
Item uno guardanappo ucellato, usato
35)
Item uno sciuccatoio lungo ed doi vergelle una per canto et una croce in
mezzo e crocette, uno poco arso
36)
Item uno velo de lino con lectere messe in mezzo
37)
Item uno sciuccatoio grande, rotto
38)
Item uno sciuccatoiolo con una verga per canto, ruina
39)
Item uno guardanappo piccholo, vecchio
40)
Item una palla lavorata di seta roscia
41)
Item una v[el]etta de lino, nuova
42)
Item uno capezzo de panno de lino sotile
43)
Item uno camoscio collo amicto et cordone cole fembrie de velluto cremosi
44)
Item doi amicte cole fembrie de velluto cremosi et uno cordone de seta con
mappa
45)
Item doi stregnietoi de banbagio con tre teste bordie
46)
Item doi velecte de seta, vecchie
47)
Item uno pennone de tromba colo grifone
48)
Item tovaglia stracciata cremonese
49)
Item una cassa de noce biancha con la chiave
50)
Item una predola d‘altare
51)
Item doi paia d‘aste da torchie
52)
Item uno candeliere grande de ferro
53)
Item uno lucero e un luceriolo
54)
Item uno sciuccatoio, tristo
55)
Item uno lampanaio de ferro
56)
Item doi martelline piccholi et uno paio de tovaglie
(f. 3)
Luca assigniavit inter omnes monetas bolognini diciannove cum picciolis.
373
Appendix 10
Inventory of the church of Santa Maria dei Servi, 1/8/1492.
1r
In nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi eiusque genetricis et advocate Sancte Marie. Hoc est
inventarium argenterie, paramentorum, librorum et ornamentorum sacristie atque aliarum rerum et
bonorum ecclesie et conventus Perusii ordinis Servorum factum et celebratum sub anno domini
millesimo CCCCLXXXXII et die prima augusti, de presentia, commissione et mandato reverendi in
Christo patris et sacre teologie profexoris magistri Iohannis Dominici de Urbe Veteri, provincie
Patrimonii dignissimi provincialis. In presentia venerabilis religiosi fratris Hieronimi de Balionibus de
Perusio, prioris dicti conventus, et reverendorum magistrorum magistri Andree de Perusio et magistri
Sebastiani de Burgho, fratris Luce et fratris Benedicti de Perusio et aliorum fratrum conventus
predicti.
In primis, inventarium argentarie:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Una croce grande d‘argento con quatro figure d‘argento et uno crucefisso con uno angelo de
sopra d‘argento et dal lato denanze et dal lato de rieto con cinque figure smaltate colla sua
palla de rame inorate con bottoni de argento vintanuove fiori, tre grande et doi piccoli
d‘argento. Pesa ***
Item una crocetta de crestallo ligata cum el crocefisso d‘argento et doi figure da piedi de
relievo; manchali el pezzo de socto de detto crestallo
Item uno piedi di crestallo con certi angelioti de relievo; manchava uno d‘esse
Item una crocetta d‘argento con el suo piede de argento con certi reliquII di S. Giovani
Baptisti col l‘arme de madonna Isabetta de messer Nofrio con certi perli intorno se
Item una crocetta d‘argento con el suo piede de rame inorato, la quale dette la Giovanina de
Iacomo de messer Francesco
1v
Calices
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
2r
In primis uno calice grande tutto d‘argento cum esmalti belli et degni per tutto facto per le
mano de m° *** da Siena cum la sua patena tutta d‘argento con sei smalti piccoli intorno et in
mezo uno smalto grande colla Passione del nostro Signore Iesu Cristo tutto d‘argento inorato.
Pesano per tutto libre VI
Item uno calice mezzano con la sua patena tutta d‘argento inorato et nella patena uno smalto
colla figura de Iesu Cristo quando resuscita. Facte fare per le bone memorie de fra Marino et
fra Guglielmino. Pesa libre V et once 6. |l‘à Alexandro orfo el calice et la patena - è qui in
sacrestia|
Item uno calicetto tutto d‘argento et nel piede refoderato de rame cum la sua patena d‘argento
et in essa uno crucifixo smaltato. Fece fare donna Giovanna de Mariano como in dicto calice
è scripto.
Item uno calice tutto d‘argento; nel pomo ismaltato … sotto et sopra con certi ucelli. Pesa ***
Item calicietto piccolo tutto d‘argento cum la sua patena d‘argento, tutti inorati nel piede
d‘esso l‘arme de madonna Isabetta de messer Nofrio
Item uno calice de ramo colla coppa d‘argento et sua patena de ramo inorati. Fece fare messer
Crispolto, como in esso calice è descripto
Item uno calice de ramo colla coppa d‘argento et con la patena de ramo inorati. Fece fare
Magio de Angelo bidello de lo studio como nel predicto calice appare.
Item calice de rame con la <patena> coppa d‘argento et con la patena de rame inorati nel oni
piede è una arme de ser Cola, cioè uno giglio biancho
Item uno calice de rame con la coppa d‘argento inorato et colla sua patena de rame inorati
facto fare de la compagnia de gli Otramontane con S. Croce et S. Barbara
374
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
Item uno calice de rame colla coppa d‘argento inorato et nel pomo desso smalti quattro cioè
doi piare [sic] et doi croce bianche. Fece fare la buona memoria de fra Marino de li beni de
donna Marina |sta a Panicali a la Madonna|
Item uno calice de rame colla coppa d‘argento et cum la sua patena de rame cum el su piede
repezzato de rame
Item uno calice de rame colla coppa d‘argento colla sua patena de rame in esso tre smalti,
cioè nel suo piede fo de buona memoria de fra Pacifico da Perosia
Item uno calice de ramo colla coppa d‘argento collo pomo smaltato in esso scripto per Maria
de Agnesina colla patena
Item uno calice de rame colla coppa d‘argento et col suo piede facto a fogliame. Fece fare
donna Margarita
Item uno calice de rame colla sua coppa d‘argento et nel suo pomo el segnio et nome de
Pietro Pavolo da Antonio de Masso. Fece fare Magister Andrea nostro colla sua patena
inorata |l‘à el priore frater Girolamo|
Item uno calice de ramo colla coppa d‘argento inorata con certe arme. Fece fare meser Pier
Tomasso per la memoria de dona Bartolomea de meser Mariotto como è descripto nel piede
de esso de lectere de millesimo, facto al tempo de frate Luca
Item uno calice de ramo colla coppa d‘argento colla sua patena de ramo inorata et tra li suoi
smalti uno paio de mano et fece venire m° Andrea nostro |l‘à el priore frate Girolamo|
Item uno calice de rame colla coppa d‘argento inorato colla coppa d‘argento inorato et cum la
sua patena de ramo con certi YHS smaltati de rame consignate a la sacrestia per el servitio de
la chiesa de San Pavolo.
Argentarie
1)
2v
2)
3)
4)
In primis uno turibulo d‘argento piccolecto de peso de livere tre o circa colli suoi anelletti,
cioè uno grande et uno piccolo
Item uno turibulo d‘argento grande et bello con tutti li suoi fornimente de peso de libre
quattro once 10 qualie fecero fare m° Andrea et fratre Luca da Peroscia delli denare de la
buona memoria de fra Martino de Matteo da Peroscia, loro patrone nel 1490 |la empegniò el
Grasello per ducati 6|
Item una navicella d‘argento con suoi fogliame dentorno inorati et uno fioro d‘argento inorato
sopra a una bassetta d‘argento cum el suo piede e quattro bottoni d‘argento in essa. Fece fare
mastro Andrea de elimosine et altri denare del convento. Pesa libre ***
Item uno paio d‘ampolle d‘argento cum doi nostri domini nelle sui coperchi, una inorata et
l‘altra non. Fece fare la bona memoria de fra Marino.
Ornamente de rame
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
In primis, una coppa de rame acta a dar l‘acqua sancta tutta inorata cum el suo spargolo de
rame inorati. Fece fare fra Marino.
Item uno tabernacolo de rame inorato con doi occhi de crestallo et in esso reliquie de San
Faustino
Item doi tabernacoli de rame inorato, uno grandecello et l‘altro piccolo, fatte per portar el
Corpus Domini
Item uno tabernacolo de quatro pezze de ramo inorato con certi bosse tonde d‘avorio. Donò la
buona memoria de fra Marino
Item uno tabernacolo grande de rame inorato con propheti d‘argento ed uno vetrio grande
quale fece fare la buona memoria de fra Martino per reporvi infrascripto braccio de Innocenti.
Smalti
1)
2)
In primis, uno smalto cioè uno crestallo grande ligato in rame inorato per li piovali
Item uno smalto de rame inorato cum una Anuntiata in esso pro su piovali
375
3)
Item uno crestallo piccolo ligato in rame inorato per li piovali. Donò Mastro Andrea da
Peroscia
3r
Pacie
1)
2)
Una pace d‘avorio intorno d‘essa certi lavorii de bosso de la quale lavorio donò m° Andrea et
el lavorio dentorno paghò frate Mario
Item un altra pace in modo de una reliquiecte piccola cum più reliquII e de sopra coperta de
vetrio
Reliquii et Reliquiecte
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
Una reliquia grande de legniame inorata cum più et diverse reliquii de sancti
Una anchonetta d‘avorio con quatro figure et una nostra Donna in mezo cum li suoi sportelli
Uno cofanello d‘avorio da octo faccie cum la storia de Marcchabrune et cum l‘arme de
Baglione et de meser Nicola di meser Dionigii venuto al tempo de m° Andrea et deputati per
la capella de la Nuntiata
Una anconetta piccola cum mezza Madona d‘alabaustro
Una Madonna d‘avorio cum uno bambinello in gremio cum uno tabernaculetto cum una croce
de crestallo
Item doi cofanelletti piccoli da reporre reliquII depinti
Uno bambinello nudo quale donò donna Rosata da Montone
Item uno braccio de Innocenti quali fece venire la buona memoria de fra Martino da Peroscia
Item uno cofanello longhetto depinto a oro per reporvi reliquii
Item uno bossolo grandecello de tre pezzi con certi reliquii dentro
Item una Anuntiata depinta in panno lino quale suoli cumunamente stare nell‘altare magiore
Octonii et rame
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
In primis, uno caldaiolo de ottoni deputato per l‘acqua sancta
Item uno caldaiolo de rame già per l‘acqua sancta et oggie se usa per accattare olio
Item uno tureboletto de octone da morte
Item uno turebolo de ramo da morte |è a Panicale|
Item una navicella de rame assai trista
Item una bacinella de octone deputata per quando se da la cenere benedecta
3v
Candeliere
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
In primis, uno paio de candelieri de ramo inorato smaltati al tempo de m° Andrea et de fra
Luca suo compagnio.
Uno paio de candeliere de octone a 3 boctoni quale donò la buona memoria de Giovagnie da
Orvieto per l‘altare de la Nuntiata cioè li Mavuncelli [sic]
Item uno paio de candeliere de octoni minori de 3 boctoni quali donò la buona memoria de
Alberto de ser Cola per l‘altare del Parto.
Item uno paio de ceroforarii inorati longhi. Fece fare m° Andrea.
Item uno paio de candeliere grande de legname ingiessati per l‘altare maiure. Fece fare m°
Andrea.
Angeli
1)
2)
3)
4)
In primis, uno paio de angeli quali stanno ingionichiovi alquanti guasti depinti
Item uno paio d‘angeli ricti cum li candeliere in mano facte reinorate per m° Andrea nostro
Item uno paio d‘angelecti deputati per l‘altare de San Giuliano
Item uno paio d‘angeletti cum l‘ali de ferro stagnato deputati per l‘altare de la Numptiata
376
Veste de corporali
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
In primis, una veste da corporali de seta cremosi figurata cum uno Agnus Dei raccamato in
mezzo cum certi razzi intorno. Donò m° Andrea da Peroscia.
Item una veste de velluto verde raccamato a fogliame. Donò m° Andrea.
Item una veste de velluto cremosi con france cilestri de seta
Item una veste de velluto cremosi cum figure verde et bianche et france verde
Item una veste grandecella de cremosi cum uno YHS raccamato et in mezzo deputati per
l‘altare de la Numptiata
Item una corona d‘argento orato de la Madonna
Paramente festivi
1)
4r
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
In primis, uno paio de paramente de velluto cremosi broccato d‘oro cioè pianeta dalmathica et
tunicella bustati [sic] cum certi rachami in campo negro et la pianeta cum uno fregio
raccamato a oro fino bello. Fece fare la buona memoria de fra Marino da Peroscia.
Item uno paio de paramenti ordenati de velluto russo figurati a fiori bianchi et verdi cum li
loro fregie. Fece fare la buona memoria de fra Guglielmino.
Item uno paio de paramenti damaschino figurato biancho quali fece refare m° Andrea in loco
de uno altro paio dicti de purporra biancha nel inventario vecchio ch‘erano tutti con sancti.
Ella pianeta d‘essi cum uno fregio tessuto cum angeli d‘oro in campo verde
Item uno paio de paramenti damaschino biancho apicciolato quali fece fare m° Andrea de li
denari de donna Gabriella d‘Alisandro spitiali cum suoi fregi et mappe
Item uno paro de paramenti, cioè dalmatica et tunicella de velluto a la piana quasi consunti,
cremosi
Item una pianeta de velluto cremosi figurati cum el fregio quale era de la pianeta biancha de
purpure facta fare per fra Damiano da S. Angelo de li denari de donna Pisani da Castel
Rigone deputata per li dicti paramenti
Item uno paro de paramenti de velluto celestro cum li fimbrie de damaschino bianco. Fece
fare m° Andrea de li denari de donna Mea de Conte
Item uno paio de paramenti bianchi de baldachino luschesi quali fece venire da Lucca la
buona memoria de fra Martino che gli avea lassati la buona memoria de meser Giovampiero
da Luccha
Pianete festive
1)
2)
3)
4)
In primis, una pianeta de damaschino vermeglio brocchato a oro fino cum uno fregio
raccamato cum la storia de la Passione cum la sua veste de panno quali diede, per l‘amor de
Dio, Francescho Cambiozzi da Fiorenze, mercatanti al tempo de la bona memoria de fra
Iuseph.
Item una pianeta de damaschino verde cum fregio d‘oro facto ad angeli in campo rosso
Item una pianeta de velluto verde broccato d‘oro fino cum el fregio raccamato a oro et da piei
uno YHS a oro acquistati per opera et cagione de m° Andrea
Item una pianeta de velluto cremosi figurata cum el fregio raccamato facta de li denari de m°
Iannes, merciaro cum l‘arme de la capella de gli Oltramontane et cum el segno del dicto
Iannes per sollicitudine de m° Andrea
4v
Paramenti feriali usati
1)
2)
3)
4)
Item una pianeta d‘oro lucchese in campo rosso cum doi scudi bianchi a le spalle
Item una pianeta de damaschino biancho cum el suo fregio ad angeli. Fece fare Pavolo de
Tancio, quasi consumpta
Item una altra pianeta de damaschino biancho cum fregio Anuntiate, quasi consumpta
Item una pianeta de tafetta rosso cum fregi facte a mandoli et a YHS, facta de paramenti già
rossi et tutti consunti
377
5)
6)
Item una pianeta de taffeta emdicha et in essa uno signali de m° Antonio da Viterbo
Item una pianeta de seta cremosi reforzata cum el fregio facto Anuntiati in campo verde.
Donò donna Leonarda, donna gia de Ollivier dei Baglioni
Pianeti
1)
Item pianeti diece de diverse sorti de seta de diverse colori et de valesso negro bianco et giallo
a uso cothidiano
Palii festive
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
5r
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
Item uno palio cremoso broccato d‘oro quali recò m° Andrea da Firenze in nome de Antonio
Braccha et de poi è stato consegnato a glie heredi de Matheo de Pietro de Gratiani
Item uno palio de velluto cremosi broccato d‘argento quali donò la buona memoria de
Braccio al tempo de m° Andrea et messo l‘arme del dicto Braccio raccamato d‘argento
Item uno palio de velluto verde broccato d‘argento. Donò la buona memoria de Braccio al
tempo de m° Andrea.
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo verde cum l‘arme de Antonio de Lippo da Lemine
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo azuro cum l‘arme et segno d‘Antonio de Masso, eredi da Siena
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo rosso quali lassò Minico furnaro detto Brozzanti cum le suo
arme
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo roscio quali donò Pavolo de Tancio cum le su arme
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo rosso fatto anuntiati [sic] quali donò madonna Thalanta donna
già de Nello de Pandolfo
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo rosso quali donò ser Cola cum le sue arme et segno del fondico
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo roscio quali donò Nicolò da Tode cum le soi arme
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo rosso quali donò la buona memoria de madonna Iacoma de
Malatesta cum le suo arme
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo rosso quali dette la buona memoria de Matheo de Perigli per la
capella de S. Girolamo
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo rosso quali dette la buona memoria de Sinnibaldo de
Alexandro spitiali per l‟altare dei Magi cum el segnio del fondico cum la thela gialla per
fodero
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo bianco quali dette la buona memoria del Brunello de
Cherubino cum le sue arme
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo verde cum fioroni d‘oro cum l‘arme de la capella degli
Ultramontani fatto per la capella loro
Item uno palio d‘oro in campo azuro quali venne sopra el cardanale [sic]. Comperò el
convento de li suoi proprii denari. È vechio et usato assai
Damaschini et velluti
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
In primis, uno palio damaschino biancho brocchati a oro fino venne sopra la bara de la buona
memoria de meser lo veschovo de Peroscia, nostro frate
Item uno palio de velluto biancho figurato cum l‘arme dei Peruzzi et Manuelli de Fiorenze
quali cie lassò l‘Heremo
Item uno palio de velluto biancho figurato quale donò la buona memoria de madonna Isabetta
de meser Nofrio cum l‘arme de casa sua raccamati per soleccitudine de la buona memoria de
fra Martino
Item uno paliotto de damaschino biancho apicciolato quale fece fare m° Andrea de li denari
de dona Gabriella d‘Alesandro per l‟altare dei Magi
Item uno palio de damaschino biancho figurato. Fece fare fra Marthino de li bene de Renzo
calzalaio per la sua capella
Item uno palio de velluto verde a la piana con le teste de velluto apiciolato
378
7)
5v
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
Item doi palie de velluto paonazo a la piana. Donò donna Eulista de Francesco da Monte
Melino per l‘altare de la Numptiata et del Crocefisso
Item uno palio de velluto apicciolato cum le teste de velluto verde figurato
Item uno palio de velluto cremosi figurato col segnio de Giovagnie da Orvieto dato per
l‟altare de la Numptiata
Item uno palio de velluto cremosi figurato per l‟altare de la Numptiatia. Fece fare m°
Giovanni Schiano
Item uno palio de velluto negro a la piana. Fece fare meser Giovann Petruccio
Item uno palio de velluto nero cum l‘arme de Braccio Baglioni
Item uno palio de velluto nero a la piana. Donò meser Angelo Perigli
Item uno palio de çetani negro. Donò la communità per l‘amore del veschovo de Casciano
Item uno palio de velluto negro figurato per l‟altare dei Magi donò Sinibaldo d‘Alisandro
Item uno palio de damaschino negro figurato per l‟altare de San Giovanni. Donò el Brunello
de Cherubino
379
Appendix 11
ASP, ASCPg, Archivio di San Fiorenzo 26, f. 64r
The Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo in its liturgical setting
In this papal authorization, we learn that the chapel of the Virgin Mary in the church of San
Fiorenzo was endowed by Vico Herculanus de Lomazzo with a weekly mass each Saturday
and on Marian feast days. The title implies that the Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo (fig. 63a) was
placed in that chapel and functioned as an altarpiece in front of which mass was celebrated.
« Dispensa di poter anticipare la messa del Confalone le feste solemne » (1477)
Sixtus Quartus servus servorum Dei dilectis filiis priori et fratribus domus sancti Florentii
Perusii Servorum Beate Marie ordinis sancti Augustini, salutem et apostolicam
benedictionem devotionis augmentum vobis Deo propitio provenire confidimus si vestris ***
capitis nos benegnos et favorabiles habeatis. Hinc est quod nos volentes vos qui ut asseritis
iuxta tenorem donationis facte a quodam Vico Herculani de Lomaza, cive perusino, capelle
Beate Marie sita in ecclesia domus vestre de certis possessionibus tunc expressis quolibet die
sabati et singulorum festivitatum eiusdem Beate Marie missam solemniter super altare
eiusdem capelle sub certa pena tunc expressa celebrare debetis, favore prosequi gratiose
veteris in hac parte supplicationibus inclinati ut de cetero perpetuis futuris temporibus
quotie[n]s contingerit quod Sanctis Florentii vel aliud maeius festum die sabati ex ordinatione
ecclesie debeat celebrari, liceat vobis ea die sabati celebrationem solemnis messe huius modi
super altare dicte capelle impure omnictere ex pro maiori decore ex devotione populique ad
ecclesiam ipsam ut etiam asseritis tunc confluunt in numero copioso illam in altari maiori
dicte ecclesie celebrare dummodo ante ipsam diem sabati alio die eiusdem ebdomade de quo
vobis videbitur in prefata cappella solemniter celebrare veretis (?) alius iusta ordinationem
predictam premissis quibus quo ad hoc specialiter et expresse derogamus ac constitutionibus
et ordinationibus apostolicis ceterisque contrariis neque quam obtantibus auctoritate
apostolicem tenore presentium indulgemus nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam
nostre derogationis et concesionis infringere vel ei auso temerario contrarie. Autem hoc
tentare presumpserit indignationem omnipotentes Dei ac beatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum
eius se noverit in cursurum.
Datum Rome apud Sanctum Petrum anno incarnationis dominice MCCCCLXXVII nono
kalendis martii, Pontificatus nostri anno septimo. (R. de Treliceris)
380
Appendix 12
Consortium of the notaries, 1403 statute, BAP, ms. 973, ff. 36v-37r; 40r.
―§1 De processione et luminaria annuatim facienda
(…) Priores consortii notariorum civitatis et comitatus Perusii et omnes et singuli notarii qui
scripti reperiuntur in presenti matricola habitantes civitatis Perusii vinculo iuramenti et etiam
(…) quod ad penam viginti soldorum denariorum pro quolibet notario, annuatim ire
tenantur et debeant ire ad processionem in vigilia festivitatis Anuptiationis domine
Virginis gloriose, quod est de mense martii, cum luminaribus ad hospitale notariorum. Et
quolibet notarius teneatur et debeat portare faculam suam accensam unius libre ad minus
cum scriptura sui nominis applicata dicte facule et se congregare debeant ubi dictis
prioribus placuerit ; et ipsos priores assotiare cum ipsis faculis accensis a loco ubi se
congregabunt usque ad locum ad quem ipsa luminaria accedet, pena non venientibus et non
habentibus legitimam excusationem viginti soldorum denari computata facula. Non venientes
vero et legitimam excusationem habentes solvant loco facule quindecim soldos denari pro
quolibet que quantites infra octo dies post dictum festum inmediate sequentes per non
venientes solvi debeant. Alias solvant ultra dictam penam et quantitatem duodecim denari pro
quolibet eorum et quolibet die quo post octo dies fuerit imora usque in perfectam quantitatem
triginta soldorum denari omnibus computatis.
Et notarii vero comitates solvant et solvere teneantur et debeant dicto consortio per dictam
luminariam pro quolibet eorum anno quolibet infra quindecim dies post dictum festum viginti
soldos denari et si dicti notarii essent negligentes in solvendo dictam quantitatem infra dictum
terminum solvant nominee pene alios viginti soldos denari. Et quod priores dicti consortii et
eorum consultor quando fiet dicta luminaria habeant et habere debeant faculas expese
consortii ponderis quatuor librarum cere pro quolibet eorum ; et notarius consortii et prior
hospitalis si prior esset habeant faculas trium librarum cere pro quolibet expense dicti
consortii. Numptii vero dicti consortii habeant unam facula ponderis unius libre cere pro
quolibet eorum; et similiter dari et erogari debeant religiosis accedentibus ad dictam
luminariam usque in quantitatem sex librarum cere; et etiam ecclesie sancti Laurentii et
ecclesie sancta Marie de Mercato unam libram candelarum pro quilibet dictorum locorum si
et in quantum in ecclesia Sancti Laurentii pulsetur campane tempore processionis more
solito.
Teneantur etiam et debeat quilibet notarius vinculo iuramenti et ad penam quadraginta
soldorum denari pro quolibet dimictere faculam suam quam tunc temporis apportaverit et
quod nullus faculam suam minuat vel mutilet nec incidatur vel minirit et quoquo modo
nisi comburendo et depondetur stetur iuramento apportantis.
Et si tantum aliqui notarii pauperes reperirentur in habitantes (?) ad predicta declarandi per
dictos priores consortii qui pro tempore fuerint usque in numerum decem ad predicta non
teneantur nec agantur. Possint etiam expendere dicti priores pro tubatoribus et naccarino
venientibus ad dictam luminariam usque in quantitatem quinque libras denari.
(f. 40r)
―In vigilia Anunptiationis intemerate gloriose Virignis Marie de mense martii quilibet
notarius annuatim cum una facula ponderis ad minus unius libre cum prioribus dicti consortii
est ascessurus; et qui non adcesserit si legitiamam excusationem non haverit vigiti soldos
denariorum solvere tenetur. Et si legitimam excusationem quidecim soldos denariorum. Et
381
quilibet notarius tenetur dimictere faculam sine aliqua diminutionem pena xl b[ologninorum]
denariorum‖.
382
Appendix 13
BAP, ms. 973, Matricola del Collegio dei notai, ff. 70r-71v
Agreement between the ‗consorzio‘ of the notaries and the ‗collegio‘ of the doctors of law on
15th October 1406
Doctors & judges are represented by a « venerable college » whereas the notaries form a
« honorable consortium »; in the next sentence the two doctors (sindicus & procurator) are
qualified as famous and distinguished. In addition, their representatives receive the epithet
“dominus”; they are dressed with their “spetiale mantum.” The six priors of the notaries are
“prudentes” and “circumspect.”
(f70r)
―In nomine domini amen
Ad honorem Laudem et reverentiam omnipotentis dey et beate marie et matris virginis
gloriose de etiam Beati Luce et evangeliste. Et totuis curie paradisi. Et ad gloriam
exaltationem honorem et manutentionem venerabilis Collegii doctorum et Iudicum Civitatis
perusii Et honorabilis Consortii notariorum Civitatis et Comitatis perusie et utruisque eorum
ad infrascriptum contractum unionis presentialiter venientium‖.
All law doctors and judges of the Collegium must join the notaries‟ procession to the
notaries‟ hospital on 24th March with lit up torches weighing 2 pounds each as is described
in the doctors‟ matricula; they must leave these torches in the hospital except the Prior of the
College and the Prior of the judges unless they wish to do so. Is this is the origin of the
devotion to the Annunciate on the part of the doctors of Law?
Cum sit valde bonum et iocundum habitare fratres in unum Eximio prophetarum Salmista
testante. Id circho convenientes in unum in infrascripta audentia famosi et egregii legum
doctores dominus Sacchus dominii Contis et dominus Matheus Felitianii de Perusia tamquam
sindici et procurator de etiam in hoc Conmissarii Collegii doctorum et Iudicum Civitatis
perusiae habentes ad infrascripta ab ipsis doctoribus et Iudicibus et eorum Collegio
plenissimus sufficiens et speciale mantum aventem et potestatem prout Litissime constat
manu mei notarii infrascripti obligando dictos doctores et iudices et collegium ipsorum de
etiam bona omnia et singula eorumdem ex una parte Et prudentes ac circumspectii Viri ser
Lucas, ser Nicole, ser Benedictus, ser Petri et ser Polutuis, ser Iohannis Cives perusini priores
Consortii notariorum Civitatis et comitatus perusie homines ad infrascripta auctoritatem
mandatum ac potestatem plenariam a notariis et ab adunantia generale dicti Consortii de
quibus plenissime apparet manu mei Nicolay notarii infrascripti et nunc notarius Consortii
prelibati obligando eorum et dicti Consortii singula bona ex parte altera univerunt ad invicem
dicti duo videlicet Collegium dictorum iudicum et Consortium prefatorum notariorum et ad
unionem infrascriptam pervenerunt.
Cum tunc pactis capitulis et conventionibus inferius declaratis que capitula et conventiones
voluerunt inter eos et dicta collegium et Consortium inviolabiter observari prout et
quemadmodum inferius particulariter denotitur.
In primis que omnes doctores ac iudices Collegii doctorum iudicum et quolibet eorum
teneantur et debeant accedere cum prioribus et notariis dicti Consortii ad hospitale
ipsorum notariorum tempore luminaria (70v) fiende obverendentiam Beate Marie
Virginis de mense martii cum eorum faculis accensis pondeus duarum libri cere pro
quolibet descripto in matricula ipsius Collegii iudicum et ipsas faculas dimictere in ipso
383
hospitali et pro eodem hospitalum prout dimietunt alii notarii illuc accedentes excepta facula
prioris Collegii dictorum iudicum qui pro tempore fuit quam faculam ipse prior iudicum
dimitere non teneatur nisi de sui processerit voluntate.‖
Whoever among the Collegium members does not attend the March procession must pay
through a notarized act the Consortium of the notaries 2 pounds of wax or the notary‟s
estimate, within 20 days.
―Item quod quicumque ex collegio dictorum iudicum et in eorum matricula descriptus non
accederet ad dictam luminariam cum dictis prioribus notarius solvat et solvere teneatur et
debeat Consortio ipsorum notariorum infra xx dies duas libras cere vel extimationem ipsius
Et possit et debeat cogi et conpelli ad predicta per notarium dicti Consortii et per priores
ipsius Consortii et eorum nunptios pro qua executione facienda prior dicti Collegii Iudicum
teneatur et debeat prebere auxilium et favorem opportunum Et predicta non intelligantur a
Civitate et Comitatu perusii. (absentibus)‖.
The prior of the Collegium must walk between two priors of the Consortium followed by
Dominus Marcus, the consultant of this Consortium in the middle of the other Prior of the
Consortium and the Prior of the College; finally, the other doctors & judges must walk
between two notaries.
―Item quod tempore dicte luminarie prior Collegii Iudicum accedere debeat in medio duorum
ex prioribus dicti Consortii notariorum et subsequentus dominus Marcus Consultor dicti
Consortii in medio inter alium priores ipsius Consortii et priorem doctorum et demum alii
doctores et iudices de gradu in gradum in medio duorum notariorum subcessive.‖
If a member of the Collegium dies, the two Priors of the Consortium must go with notaries
and their torches; if the defunct is a doctor, 4 torches are necessary, if not 2 torches. If one of
the Priors of the notaries dies, the Collegium must assemble with the other doctors and
judges in the premises of the notaries and go with the notaries to the funeral; the notaries‟
Priors together with the notaries must go to the funeral of a judge‟s relative in the same way
as they have to go to that of a notary‟s relative, according to the rules of the matricula of the
Consortium.
―Item quod tempore mortis alicuius ex collegio predictorum iudicum priores dicti Consortii
notariorum accedere cum notariis et cum eorum tortitiis videlicet si talis defunctus fuisset
doctor cum quatuor tortitiis Et si non fuisset doctor cum duobus tortitiis tamen Et etiam
tempore mortis alicuius notarii, prior dicti Collegii iudicum teneatur et debeat una cum aliis
doctoribus et iudicibus se congregare ad audientiam dictorum notariorum et accedere cum
dictis prioribus et notarioribus ad tale funus Et etiam debeant dicti priores notariorum cum
eorum notariis cum duobus tortitiis tamen accedere tempore mortis consanguineorum
ipsorum iudicum prout tenentur accedere ad consanguineos notariorum secundum formam
ordinamentorum matricule ipsius Consortii et non aliis nec alter ullo modo‖.
The heralds of the Consortium must obey the Priors of the Collegium when it is decided that
judges meet and these judges may/must have the convenience of the premises of the notaries
for such meetings.
384
« Item quod nuptii~ dicti Consortii notariorum debeant obedire priori Collegii dictorum
iudicum quando vellet ipsos iudices congregare et quod dictis iudices possint et debant
habere commoditatem audientie notariorum‖.
(71r)
If a doctor, judge, or a lawyer hold a communal office (description of such offices follows),
he must pay the Consortium 20 soldi per office.
―Item quod quolibet doctor, iudex vel advocatus qui haberet aliquod offitium ex infrascriptis
offitiis comunis perusie teneatur et debeat solvere dicto Consortio viginti soldos pro quolibem
infrascriptorum offitiorum infine dicti offitii videlicet:
Iudices supra comuni dividundo pro quolibem eorum in tempore semestrali
Consultor Offitiorum Armarii
Consultor Massariorum
Consultor Conservatorum Monete
Consultor directorum
Members of the Collegium must bequest money to the hospital of the notaries: at least 10
pounds for doctors and 5 pounds if non-doctors. In case of non-compliance, heirs are obliged
to contribute to helping the poor who live in the notaries‟ hospital. The notaries keep full
control of the administration of the hospital.
―Item quod quilibet de Collegio dictorum Iudicum in eorum matricula descriptus teneatur et
debeat relinquere hospitali dictorum notariorum tempore mortis sue videlicet doctoratus ad
minus decem librem denariorum vel ultra et non doctoratus quinque libras denariorum. Et
inquantum non relinquerit heredes et bona talis doctoris et iudicis defuncti Intellingantur et
sint ex nunc obligati ad dictam quantitatem solvendam Consortio predicto et cogi possint de
facto prout notarius dicti Consortii per priores ipsius Consortii que quantitates dicta de causa
solvende converti debeant per priorem hospitalis predicti in lectis pro pauperibus in dicto
hospitali hospitantibus. Item quod prior Collegii ipsorum Iudicum vel ipsi Iudices non possint
nec eis liceat se in aliquo intromictem in et de negotiis factis hospitalis notariorum et
bonorum ipsius‖. (…)
Doctors and notaries pledge to help each other in professional matters.
―Item quod omnes et singuli doctores iudices et advocata et omnes de matricula dicti Collegii
Iudicu ac etiam dicti notarii Et priores ipsorum teneantur et debeant se gerere ad auxilium
consilium et favores utriusque in quibuscumque negotiis et inter se ad invicem prestare
auxilia consiglia et favores in honorem et conmodum (71v) doctorum Collegii et Consortii et
utriumque ipsorum de etiam in eorum matriculis descriptorum.
Acta gesta conventa et promissa fuerunt omnia et singula suprascripta per dictas partes
nominibus quibus super in audentia Consortii dictorum notariorum sita in Capite platee
comunis perusie contigua maiori Ecclesie perusine Sub Annis domini Millesimo cento iiii vi
Indictione xiiii tempore sanctissimi in Cristo pris et domini domini Innocentii divina
providentia pape vii die veneris xv mensis octobri presentibus Menecutio Mercatuti porta
solis et parocchia sancti Simonis Angelo Francisci de dictis porta et parocchia et Santutio
Iohannes alias Schinche de porta Sancti Petri et parocchia sancte Marie de Colle de Perusia
testibus rogatis‖.
385
Appendix 14: Malatesta Baglioni‘s funeral, 1537
―Cronaca del Graziani,‖ in Archivio Storico Italiano XVI (1850), 412-414
Adì 26 di genaio, in sabbato alle 22 ore, fo arecato in Peroscia el corpo de Malatesta
preditto, e fuor serrati tutti lo fondechi e botighe in piazza, e molti signori e
gentilomini e gentildonne se fiero incontra piangendo, et altre donne assai tutte
scapigliate, et scontraro el corpo fra le doi porte, dove ce era Nello dei Baglione e
Mariotto e tutto el resto dei Baglioni, et erace madonna Giapeca moglie del ditto
Malatesta, e li figlioli e famigli, e Spellane e quelli da Canaia e quelli da la Bastya,
homini e donne, facendo grandissimo corotto; et posero el ditto corpo in San
Domenico, e lì lo lassaro, e li signori e li gentilomini tornaro a casa de Malatesta, e li
altri a casa loro. La sera sequente fo portato el ditto corpo in San Francesco del
convento, et lì fo sepelito in uno pilo.
(…)
Adì 2 de febraio, in sabbato, per voler fare la representazione della morte de
Malatesta, venne in Peroscia el figliolo del signor de Fuligne, lo qulae era marito della
figliola de Malatesta preditto, con molti Fulignate; et più ce vennero molti Spellani,
fra li quali ce ne erano 30 vestite de negro e alcuni de azurino: ce vennero anco da la
Bastya e da Canaia molta gente, e per viaggio ne ebbero a pericolare assai per la neve.
E perché la domenica, cioè el dì sequente, se devè fare la dicta representazione, per
questo se sgomborò la neve della piazza, et anco per la strada de San Francesco, per
podere andarci col corrorro. Adì 3 de febraio non se podde fare la ditta
representazione, perché la domenica a mane comenzò a nenguire terribilmente (…)
Anco per la morte della buona memoria de Malatesta fu ordinato che la lume de San
Gostanzo da piè de la piazza perfina alle scale de Santo Ercolano, che non se
sonassero trombe.
Adì 5 de febraio, in martedì dopo mangiare, fo fatto el ditto corrotto et
representazione de la morte de Malatesta. Et in prima in S. Sydero fo ordinata una
cassa alta più de cinque piey coperta de uno palio tutto figurato d‘oro nel campo
azzurro e li bendoni con l‘arme loro, escepto denante alla bara nelli bendoni, cioè
drapeloni, nelli quali ce era penta la Nunziata, da piey San Francesco, da canto San
Giapeco, da l‘altro Santo Antonio, et el resto tutti con l‘arme loro; cioè con la
Bagliona. Dipoi, quella medesima mane, nella ditta chiesa de San Sydero lì in piey de
la piazza ce fo cantata la messa grande, con alcune altre messe delli morti, et sempre
da capo e da piey alla ditta cassa stetteno 4 torchie accesi perfina che fo fornito lo
ditto offizio.
Doppo pranzo fo posta la ditta cassa in piey della piazza denante alla ditta chiesa de S.
Sydero. Dipoi venne lì tutte li famigli della casa loro a cavallo, cioè prima uno a
cavallo tutto vestito de nero, e ‘l cavallo coperto de roscio con l‘ochio, et uno
stendardo in mano pure con l‘ochio; et questo era del comuno de Spello. Doppo
questo, similmente un altro vestito de negro a cavallo con lo stendardo del comuno de
Canaia, col campo roscio, con uno griffone bianco, con una canna frondata in fra le
branche. Dipoi el terzo armato si era uno famiglio del ditto Malatesta, tutto armato de
arme bianca, et tutti li altri famigli tutti con cavali coperti con l‘arme loro e con
bandiere, tutti vestiti de negro, et andavano per la cità e borghi piangendo e stridendo
sempre. Poi fu el corrotto dei contadini: prima quelli de Colle e dal ponte San
386
Giagnie; poi quelli da la Bastia e quelli da Canaia, e puoi quelli da Spello, che erano
più de 30, vestiti de negro et azurino. Da puoi le donne contadine, e puoi le donne
citadine, e gli homini citadini quasi tutti, e puoi li signori Priori e lo Vescovo et altri
Prelati; e fuoro serrate tutte le botighe; e inante alla cassa erano 30 paia de torchie
grosse, et altri 30 paia de torchie picoli in mano a certi mammoli, et fo posata la ditta
cassa tre volte in piazza, con grandissimi stridi e pianti de gentilomini e donne per
tutta la piazza; e fuor vestite de casa propria loro 130 persone, e fuorci tutti li religiosi
della cità.
Dipoi, el dì sequente, fu fatto lo obsequio per ditto Malatesta, e vestirse de negro
citadini assai; fra li quali ce era el figliolo de Paulo e de Mateo de Pietro de Graziani,
e doi figli del signor de Fuligne suoi parente, et certi altri che stavano qui a studiare.
Adí 6 de febraio, in mercoledí, fo fatto un altro obsequio per l‘anima del ditto
Malatesta, al quale ce fo molta gente, et tutti li famigli de casa tutti vestite similmente
de negro, e chi azurino; dipoi Nello e li figlioli de Malatesta e del signor de Fulignie,
e molti altri citadini fuoro vestiti, et anco molta gente de Canarese, e molti de P. S.
Pietro, et anche de altra gente assai.
387
Appendix 15: Professional occupation of Nunziata members (1418-1546)
Notaries
- Ser Benedetto di ser Pietro (Memoriale dei contratti, 1418: donation of his house and 1425:
testament)
- Ser Giapecho di Baptista (ibid., 1429: buys a vineyard for the Confraternity)
- Ser Paulus, Prior of the Confraternity in 1454 (Libro del Camerlengho, 3rd Nov. 1454, f. 139v)
- Ser Girolamo de Giovangne = bishop‘s notary (Memoriale, 1487 : wrote a contract of land
purchase for the Confraternity)
- Ser Hieronimus Bartholomei, Prior of the hospital (1505), then Prior of the Confraternity (1516)
(Libro dei Partiti, f. 8v; 14r)
- Ser Bernardino di ser Angelo (ibbid., 1515: f. 19r; 25th June 1527: f. 27v)
Doctor: ―Egregius medicine magister Francischus Bartolomey de Nursia,‖ Perugian citizen, Prior
of the Confraternity
(Riformanze, 13th March 1443 [erroneous reference from Palomba in his appendices])
Furrier (―pellicciarius‖): Paulus Petri, Prior of the hospital (ibid.)
Spice and wax merchant (―aromatarius‖): Angelo di Tommaso of Porta Eburnea: furnished wax
for the government (Memoriale, 1466 and Bastardello, 1467); Prior of the Confraternity (cited in
Vermiglioli, Memoria, 104); provided candles for Candlemas in February 1455.
Nobles
- Francesco Giovanni Baglioni (Memoriale, 1466, f. 90r)
- Battista de Buontempo and Guido de Fiumagiuolo ask to be admitted into the Confraternity in
1439 (Vermiglioli, Memoria, 35)
- Antonmaria Baglioni: Prior of the hospital, 25th January 1529 (Libro dei Partiti 1505-1566, f.
31r)
- Mario Cesaro de Fiumagioli: sindico and procurator of the Povere monastery in 1546
(Vermiglioli, Memoria, 39)
Painters
- Luigi di Francesco: admitted in 1385; painted a crucifix for the hospital; camerlengho in 1386
for 4 months; painted rebels on exterior wall of S. Lorenzo in 1388. (Vermiglioli, Memoria, 18)
- Fiorenzo di Bernabeo di Magio (d. 1462): enrolled in the painters‘ guild in 1440; paid 2.5
florins (membership fee?) to the Nunziata in 1446 (Gnoli, Pittori e miniaturi, 111)
- Maestro Giorgio who painted the cassa (fig. 118 ) for the Dead Christ in 1517; student of
Perugino. Painted the bier (non extant) in 1505 cf transcriptions. (ibid., 156-7; Vermiglioli,
Memoria, 37-38)
Buckle-maker (―fibbiajo‖): Bartolomeo de Giovagne deceased with his brother, 1389
(Vermiglioli, Memoria, 30)
Tailor (―sutor‖): ―Petrus Angelus admitted on 13th September 1546 (Vermiglioli, Memoria, 44)
Barber (―barbiere‖): Pietro admitted on 15th April 1538 (Libro dei Partiti 1505-1566, f. 28r)
Linen weaver (―tessitore de panno lini‖): Magister Bernardinus admitted on 15th April 1538,
(ibid., f. 28r)
Wife of a baker admitted in 1511: ―donna Mariotta, dona de Ceco fornaio,‖ and
wife of a cook: ―Dona Giapeca de mastro Pietro Franco, cuoco de la Sapientia Vecchia‖ (ibid., f.
11v)
388
Appendix 16
ASP, ASPg, Posizioni di causa disposte per alfabeto 23, fasc. 38.
The Servites’ transfer to Santa Maria Nuova transcribed by Vermiglioli in 1802 from a
today disappeared manuscript, “Memorie del convento e della chiesa di S. Maria dei Servi di
Perugia” by G.M. Bruni. It also confirms the date of October 1543 (Sozi / Macinara) for the
transfer rather than September 1542 (Giani / Lupatelli).
―Per i padri di Santa Maria Nuova
(...) che i detti padri serviti poi in occasione della fabbrica della fortezza paolina fossero
obbligati lasciare la loro chiesa, ed il loro convento in Porta Borgne, da dove, si puo dire, che
ne fossero cacciati, è indubitato, ed ecco la veridica storia della loro emigrazione, come si
trova in un libro di memorie nell‘archivio di S. Maria Nuova compilato da un tal Padre
Giuseppe Maria Bruni da dove si è ricavato quanto era occorente pag. 7to.
Sotto il di 11 giugno 1543, il cardinale Perisani legato si portò a S. Maria de‘ Servi in Porta
Borgne, e notificò a quei frati la necessità in cui si trovava di fare demolire la loro chiesa, ed
il loro convento dei Silvestrini per la fabbrica della fortezza, ed insinuò loro di riflettere, se
fosse stato di loro piacere la chiesa e il convento di S. Maria Nuova in Porta Santa Susanna.
Tornò il 22 detto per la risposta, e ne tenne un più fondato discorso col Padre Niccolò Alfani,
il quale rispose al cardinale, che l‘aria di S. Maria Nuova essendo malsena, e spiacendo
troppo a religiosi il dover partire da Porta Borgne, avrebbe stimato meglio, che si fabbricasse
per essi una nuova chiesa, nel fianco destro del convento.
Il cardinale non approvò questo pensiero per la troppo vicinanza alla fortezza nuova ; in
segioto di che il di 9 Lugli di dett‘anno 1543 il medesimo Padre Alfani andò dal cardinale e
lo pregio a voler dunque ottener dal papa per i suoi religiosi il monastero, e la chiesa sudetta
di S. Maria Nuova. Il di 30 Luglio giuse poi il papa in Perugia, ed il giorno seguente si
fece recare al convento di S. Maria de’ Servi in Porta Borgne. Il Padre Alfani priore pregò
il papa accio liberasse quel convento delle continue molestie che ricevava dei soldati ivi
quartierati ed il pontefice gli diede assai buona speranza. Infatti con una bolla del di 6
ottobre dello stess’anno 1543, che comincia motu proprio, e che lasù nell’Archivio di S.
Maria Nuova, il papa concedet a Serviti il monistero, e chiesa di S. Maria Nuova dei
monaci Silvestrini. La loro chiesa, poi, e convento situato in Porta Borgne. Si cominciò a
demolire con la massima sollecitudine. Di questo loro passaggio ne scrivo ancora in
particolare in alcuni suoi ricordi il rammentato Padre Alfani, ed il Gianio nella sua opera dai
Padri Serviti‖.
389
Appendix 17
Ottaviano Lancellotti, Scorta Sagra, mid-seventeenth century, BAP, ms. 5.
In [] are modifications from the seventeenth-century copy (pp. 271-2) owned by the Galleria
Nazionale dell‘Umbria (Biblioteca della Sopr‘intendenza), Perugia.
Easter
(543r)
―Giovedi santo.
La solennità di questo giorno per l‘istituzione del [Santissimo] Sagramento era anticamente
cosi grande che si dispensava coi fedeli il digiuno, al quale perciò si dava principio il lunedi
doppo la Quinquagesima. {Gavanti, Comm. in Rubric. parte 4 tit. I §9 [tit: 5: 96:9]}
Celebra in Duomo il vescovo pontificalmente; benedice gli olii sagri [santi], ripone per il
giorno seguente il Venerabile nel sepolcro, e nella Cappella di S. Stefano lava i piedi a dodici
poveretti [p. 470] vestiti a spese della camera pontificia all‘apostolica. Otto (543v) di questi
vengono eletti dal Governatore e quattro dal Tesoriere apostolico di Perugia, e dell‘Umbria.
Soleva già il vescovo sontuosamente banchettarli. Il banchetto però si è oggi cangiato nel
donativo d‘una piastra per ciascheduno.
(…)
Doppo compietta si recita il secondo matutino, il quale spedito in Duomo, il Capitolo, et il
clero vanno processionalmente a pigliar la bellissima e divotissima imagine di rilievo di
Christo Redentore appassionato alla chiesa della Confraternita dell‘Annuntiata. Di là i
fratelli vestiti di sacchi bianchi sotto il baldacchino lo portano con gran quantità di torcie
attorno accompagnata dalla maggior parte della città. E fatta al naturale di camozza, e con
tanta maestria, che tutto si piega, e per ogni parte si rende a maraviglia trattabile. Si conserva
tutto l‘anno dentro ad una bella cassa sul piano dell‘altare della detta confraternita. La (544r)
vista di così santa [statua] imagine si gode solamente il Giovedì, e il Venerdì Santo. Mi
ricordo però che il vescovo Napolione Comitoli, felice memoria, nella publica e solenne
ribenedizione della città, della quale al 24 di giugno, nel 1614 aprendosi doppo la processione
generale fatta per le due piazze la porta maggiore del Duomo la fece vedere posta in croce a
tutta la piazza piena di un numerossimo popolo, il quale a spettacolo tanto impensato
stillando dagli occhi vive lacrime di cordiale pentimento alzò al Cielo voci supplichevoli di
Pietà, e di Misericordia, et humilmente abbracciando l‘amoroso Pastore i piedi del Salvatore
Crocefisso intonò piangente il Salmo Miserere Mei Deus. Ho usato ogni possibile diligenza
per ritrovare in che maniera s‘havesse opera cosi nobile, nella quale la bellezza con la
divotione gareggia. Non ho potuto finalmente altro risaperne, se non che quanto qui sotto
scrivo. Esercitavasi anticamente nelle case della confraternita la caritatevole ospitalità a
poveri passaggeri. Capitovvi un giorno un [povero] pelegrino, il quale goduta la carità il
tempo debito, fu dallo spedaliere licentiato. Volse tuttavia qualche giorno restarvi. Alla fine
sforzato a trovarsi un nuovo hospitio partì all‘improviso e lasciò l‘imagine involta in un
panno assai ben rozzo. S’hebbe per cosa miracolosa, e per tale è stata sempre stimata e
riverita, crescendone ogni giorno la stima, e la riverenza. Giunta in Duomo l‘imagine si pone
avanti l‘altare della Madonna del Verde, e con ogni humiltà gle sono da ogniuno baciato
divotamente i piedi”.
(544v)
―Venerdì Santo.
In tutte le chiese, dove cotidianamente la Quaresima sopra de pulpiti si discorre, questa
mattina sul levar del sole si fa da predicatori il solito discorso del vero sole eclissato per
salvezza nostra dalla tenebrosa oppositione della miscredente Sinagoga. Questo
390
particolarmente s’osserva in Duomo, dove è il concorso maggiore per riverire nella
peroratione il Salvatore dell’Annuntiata inchiodato prima, e poi alzato in croce con
straordinario movimento di quanti presenti vi si truovano. Con le solite cerimonie in ogni
chiesa fassi la devota adorazione della Santissima Croce. Si conseguisce hoggi il ricco tesoro
dell‘indulgenza plenaria col visitare qualsisia chiesa dei religiosi mendicanti.
Cantasi doppo compietta il terzo matutino, il quale terminato in Duomo, il capitolo et il clero
con i fratelli dell’Annuntiata [della Nunziata] vestiti [a] di sacco nero dalla chiesa
catedrale (545r) si portanno la bella imagine del Redentore, como morto, sopra d‘un
cataletto fatto aposta, e dipinto dalla divina mano del nostro Pietro ((Perugino)). Alla chiesa
della medesima confraternita, che con varie inventioni s‘abbellisce riempiendosi
principalmente d‘una gran quantità di lumi, che la rendono tutta piena di divotione, e
maravaglia. Non tacerò che, nel 1639, 22 d‘Aprile non molto prima, che giungesse la
Processione all‘oratorio la rottura d‘un lampadino la cui fiamma fu avvolorata da una
gagliarda tramontana, che quel giorno soffiava, ridusse in cenere tutto l‘abbellimento, nel
quale havevano fatto gran spesa i festaroli di quell‘anno il cavaliere di Malta Giacomo
Vincioli, Alesandro Crispolti, Alberto Baglioni, Vicenzo Fumagioli, et Oratio Anastagi. Per
tale accidente terminò la processione non a S. Isidoro, non a S. Stefano, e S. Biagio, non a S.
Angelo P.B., come vi fu qualche pensiero, ma a S. Maria Maddalena delle Convertite, luogo
governato dai fratelli dell‘Annuntiata.
Sul tardi i fratelli del Confalone di S. Simone, S. Benedetto, S. Antonio ne‘ loro oratori si
radunano, e fanno l‘oratione mentale insieme con la disciplina. Alle due ore, o tre ore di notte
la compagnia della Morte assai numerosa de‘ fratelli, di torcie, e di musici se ne và a baciar i
[sacri] piedi al Salvatore dell‘Annuntiata. Intorno al 1581, dalle memorie della compagnia,
raccolgo che si desse principio a questa divotione‖.
Assumption festival
(198rv)
―14. Agosto
Cantato il vespero dalla catedrale per la celebrazione del quarto lume, i mendicanti Regolari
col clero, e capitolo processionalmente si portano a Santa Maria di Monteluce, chiesa
dedicata all‘Assunzione, che domani solennizzano della Beatissima Vergine. Fra la famiglia
amovibile e perpetua dei canonici, si porta un picciolo et antico confalone, che si lascia in
detta chiesa per otto giorni continui. Vengono doppo il Capitolo, il vescovo, il
governatore, el magistrato de’ Signori e tutti i collegi con i torchi accesi secondo il solito.
Questa processione fu da Innocentio IV nel 1252 o istituita, o più tosto confermata con la
concessione dell‘Indulgenza plenaria ch‘ancora oggi vi si conseguisce. La frequenza del
popolo che vi concorre è cagione che per la strada che conducce alla detta chiesa s‘aprono
varie botteghe di diverse mercerie per gli otto giorni che vi continua la visita per il
conseguimento del perdono‖.
“22 Agosto
Ottava dell‘Assunzione
Dal capitolo di San Lorenzo è riportata dopo vespro insieme con la confraternita
dell‘Annunziata là al Duomo il piccolo confalone che al 14 vi si portò‖.
391
Appendix 18
Confraternita dell‘Annunziata, Libro dei Partiti, 1505-1566, f. 55r (Perugia: Biblioteca
Dominicini)
Good Friday and jubilee procession in Perugia, 20th April 1576
This report was written in the evening of April 20th 1576, right after the extraordinary
procession of the Jubilee in Perugia. Its author, the Prior of the Confraternity of the
Nunziata, recounts the preliminary measures and the circumstances of this city-wide event.
On Saturday 14th April, Pope Gregory XIII granted that the celebration of the Jubilee be held
in Perugia. His letter arrived on Monday 16th and “for three days, orders were given so that
the procession go well.” Since this major procession was planned for Good Friday (20th
April), the officials of the Nunziata requested – successfully - the authorization to carry their
Dead Christ to the four appointed churches.
Whoever participated in that Jubilee procession, “accompanying the Confraternity‟s sacred
Crucifix,” gained, in one single day, the same plenary indulgence as those who visited the
four appointed churches during the two weeks allotted for this. This document describes the
itinerary of the eight-hour long procession that departed from the cathedral to the Dominican
church, looped back proceeding to the Augustinian church, then to the Franciscan convent,
and finally to the confraternity premises.
Apart from documenting processional routes in Perugia (see map, fig. 123), this report
reveals the iconography of the ordinary banner that the Nunziata used for Easter and it also
indicates the order of the processional trappings with the gonfalone immediately preceding
the canopy under which the revered articulate Christ lay. The Easter gonfalone of the
Nunziata does not depict the Annunciation but a praying mourning Madonna dressed in
black while the recto showed Veronica displaying the icon of Christ‟ features.
―Al tempo di Bevingniate de la Mandolina e Desiderio de Giovanni Antonio priori del
seggio, e messer Lorenzo Monti Milini e Angniolo di Battisti, priore de lo spedale, e messer
Pietro Paulo sopra intendete camerlengo Paulo Marino Raneri et Giulio Braca, e perché la
santita di papa Gregorio terzo decimo concessi il santo giubileio a Perusia per tutta la
quadragesima senon al otava di Pasqua e perché li sopra detti priori e il sopra intendeti si
risolsoro di scrivere a Monsignore illustrissimo et reverendissimo Fulvio Cardinale de la
Cornia che ricercasi da sua santita de otenere un gibileio [sic] per in giorno acompagnando il
santo Crocefisso de la Nunziata. Cosi parvi a sua santita farci tal donio et venero le letere de
tal tenere a Monsignore illustrissimo governatore, (55v) et ancor a Monsinior vescovo di
Perusia e al magnifico magistrato e al vicario e suo arciprete messer Giulio de la Cornia e ali
detti priori, tenore e forma, contento de concedere alla vostra fraternita de la Nunciata e a
tutti quelli de l’uno e l’altro sesso che verrano insieme con essa fraternita
acompangniando il vostro crocefisso et passando per le quattro chiese deputati per una
392
sol volta cioè el venerdi santo la medesima indulgentia che si concederette a chi per li xv
giorni visitasaro li quattro altari di ciscuna e oservasero le cercustantie ordinati per il giubileo
universale et altri laccesi preso altre volte come intendeveti piu a pieno da monsignore
vescovo a di 14 aprile 1576. Gregorio XIII
Et venuta la resulitione demmo prencipio a la processione de la quali c‘era di tempo tre giorni
inperoché le letere venero il lunedi santo et in quelli tre giorni fu fatto gli ordini acio la
processione andassi bene. E dato prencipio la matina del venerdi santo, subito detto l‘oficio,
partendosi da San Lorenzo venne al Rastello, ugi [past tense of ―uscire,‖ to exit] per quella al
for de le mura a Santa Maria di Angeli anrentro per li doe porte e venne a S. Domenico per la
porta di S. Costanzo, una de le prime chiese deputati, et se ne venne alla volta de la piazza a
San Lorenzo per la strada nova a Santa [sic] Agostiano.
Per la seconda chiesa deputato, partendosi da Santo Agostino de sopra il portone de S.
Cristoforo a S. Maria Novelle, gesi [past tense of ―gire,‖ to walk around] la piagia e si venne
a la volta di Pastine a la piazza Grimana divisa la piazza con travati (56r) acio il populo non
si dessi fastidio nel incontrarsi. E si ne venassi a la strada vechia a la volta de Pastine a San
Valentino a la piazzetta incontro a S. Luca a la volta di S. Francesco, terza chiesa deputata.
Partendosi da San Francesco intorno a S. Luca se ne venni per la diretta strada di porte S.
S[usanna]. & volto al Calzo a la volta de la Cupa & venimo a la nostra confraternita e fu
lasato il Cristo nella piazzetta di essa fraternita.
Et cominciando da li sopriori, tutto il populo bagiando e piedi al ditto cristo con belisimo
ordini, il quali fu in quella modo che oni porta andasi da se, senza mescolanza de altre porte,
e le parochi de le porti cum una stessa separata da li altri ; aci una parochia non si mescolasi
con le altre con il parochiano avanti al sua parochia, parato con camigio e stola, e doi omini
de la fraternita con vesti e bordoni e in mezzo, il soditto parochiano e uno altro de li fratelli
uscito con suo bordoni, il quali teneva cura solo di una parochia ; cosi tutti le parochie givino
benissimo senza mescolanza di persona alcuna & i contadini restasino in dirietto pilgliandeni
la cura molti gentilomine ; e fu cominciata la detta processione la matina ali sedici ore e
finissi ale venti quattro & fu fatto fermo giuditio da persone giuditiose che fusi numero di
quaranta cinque overo cinquanta milia persone ; e fu portato il ditto Cristo sotto il
baldacchino con gran numero di torci acesi, e dopo il ditto baldacchino, vi era portato uno
stendardo grandi che v’era dipinto una madonna del piatto vestita tutta di negro con le
393
mano gionti, e dopo questa una Veronica e nele mano teneva il velo con la immagine de
Cristo cosa tanto bene ordinati che desti a maravegliare a omnia. Et io, Desiderio, al presente
priore, [h]o fatto i detti recordi che fu ali 20 di Aprile 1576‖.
394
Appendix 19
ASP, ASCPg, Protocolli 485, f. 304r
Contract between painter Giovanni di Giorgio and the Confraternity of the Nunziata, 1st
December 1505 (written by notary Mariotto Calcine)
―Iulianus Gasparis de Boncambis de Perusio porte Heburnee et Vincentius Ioannis de Perusio
porte Heburnee et parochie S. Nicholai homines electi ab adunantia disciplinatorum
fraternitatis Annunziate de Perusii porte Heburnee agentes infra cum .... et voluntate Nicholai
Ioannis de Perusie prioris fraternitatis predicte dederunt ad coptumum Ioanni magisteri
Georgi de Perusio porte Sancte Sussanna presenti et acceptanti ad pingendum captalettum
hoc modo et sub infrascriptis capitulis.
Cadalecte nuovamente facto per lo loco de l‘Anunziata per tempo sino a messo Gennaro 1506
nel quale cadeletto e la parte danvante sia obligato de dipengere la imagine o figura de la
Nunziata ciò dentro a capo dove el morto tene la testa e da piede dove terra le piede l‘angelo
e da l‘altro lato dirietro al angelo la imagine overo figura de crocefixo in croce cum doi
imagine o figure de frustati overo disciplinati e da l‘altra parte de fuora de esso cadeletto
devante la imagine de la pietà et excepte tanti quanto piglieronno dette figure sia tenuto
mettere ad oro fino ben brunito cum le quattro palle inorate ad uso de buon maestro e
loquale ec per lo quale si promettono dece fiorini x/ ad xl bolognini per fiorino (...)‖.
395
Appendix 20
« Memoriale dei contratti », Confraternita dell‘Annunziata (Biblioteca Dominicini, Perugia),
86-87
Bequest of 26 florins to have lambrequins made for the baldacchino topping the Dead Christ
during the Easter processions of the Nunziata.
[1st May 1538]
―Item iudicavit et reliquit dicte fraternitate amore Dei florenos vigenti duos ad xl rationem
soldi xviii ex precio unius petieterre per dictum testatorem empte a Mattheo Christofori
Augustini de villa Pretole manu mei notarii infrascripti et florenos quattuor exigendos a
Gaspare Antonii Angeli olim de dicta villa cive perusino, de quibus soldi xxii dicti
fraternitatis disciplinati faciant fieri et teneantur facere drapelones rasi cum nomine IHV in
quolibet drapelone et subtus nomen ihv figuram montonis coloris quem deputabit
Johannes Paulus Baptiste Matthei portandos cum baldachino supra crucifixum in
hebdomada sancta et quantus alius necesse congruum videbitur dictis fraternitatis
disciplinatis, cum conditione dicti drapelones non possint mutuari nec mutuentur a eius ullo
tempore quod si sicus fiat deteniant ad domum ecclesiam Sancte Marie Servorum. Qui
drapelones fiant (p. 87) fieri debeant per dictos disciplinatos per tempus unius anni post
mortem dicti testatoris cui onere quod dicti fraternitatis disciplinati faciant sui duo exequia in
ecclesia dicte fraternitatis et in semel congregati ad Sanctam Mariam Angelorum de Assisio
pro anima dicti testatoris (...).
infrascriptus: Serafinus Antonii Simonis de Perusia porte Eburnee et parocchie Sancti
Bartholomei‖.
396
Appendix 21
GLOSSARY
I have used the following studies but also common sense especially for the terms in vernacular:
F. Agostini, F. ―Il libro di memorie della confraternita di S. Agostino di Perugia.‖ Studi Linguistici
Italiani VII (1967-1970): 99-155.
_________. ―Il volgare perugino negli ―Statuti del 1342,‖ in Studi di Filologia Italiana XXVI (1968):
91-199
Barr, C. The Monophonic Lauda and the Lay Religious Confraternities of Tuscany and Umbria in the
Late Middle Ages. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications - Western Michigan University, 1988.
Bianchi, E. Dizionario internazionale dei tessuti. Como: Tessile di Como, 1997; published in CD
form in 2001.
Bisogni, F. ―Le testimonianze sui tessili nella documentazione degli Oratori delle Contrade di Siena‖
Paramenti e arredi sacri nelle contrade di Siena;Florence: La casa Usher, 1986. 75-86.
Navarro Salazar, M.T., ―Un glossario latino-eugubino del Trecento.‖ Studi di lessicografia italiana
VII (1985): 20-155.
Santucci, F. ―Gli statuti in volgare trecentesco della confraternita dei Disciplinati di San Lorenzo in
Assisi. Bolletino di Deputazione di Storia Patria per l'Umbria LXIX (1972): 155-97.
__________. ―‗Lauda della scavigliazione‘ della fraternita dei disciplinati di S. Stefano di Assisi (sec.
XIV).‖ Atti dell‟Accademia Properziana del Subasio, serie IV, no. 22 (1994): 243-63.
Sella, P. Glossario latino italiano. Stato della Chiesa - Veneto - Abruzzi, Città del Vaticano,
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944.
Staccini, R. ed. Le Arti perugine de la bambagia e della seta. Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'alto
Medioevo, 1994.
Trabalza, C. Una laude e un libro de prestanze, Roma: Tipografia del Senato, 1901.
Ugolini, F.A. ―Annali e Cronaca di Perugia in volgare dal 1191 al 1336.‖ Annali della facoltà di
lettere e filosofia dell‟Università degli studi di Perugia I (1963-1964): 141-336.
Veneroni, G. Dictionaire françois, et italien. Dittionario francese, e italiano. Venezia: Antonio
Bortoli, 1724.
chativo / triste: worn
covelle: nothing (Ugolini, 1964)
dua /due = dove : where (Ugolini, 1964)
ella = nella: in the …
TEXTILE TERMS
benda / banderetta : strip of cloth; little flag
borscia = borsa: purse, bag (Agostini, 1968)
chorregia : leather belt
ciengolo/cincaglie = cintura/e : belt
cogine : cuscini
endecho/ emdicho = indigo
esbiadato = sbiadito: which has lost its hue
finbrie/fimbrie = fibbia : clasp (covered by cloth) (Sella)
fregio / frego : ornamental upholstery (Staccini)
guarnello: mixed weave made of linen or hemp with cotton (Staccini)
gielge = giallo: yellow
guluppo/geluppo: bundle (Veneroni)
397
nenia: a funeral chant, but here, a funeral garment
raso : smooth silk fabric (Staccini)
roscio: red (Agostini, 1968)
saia : light and thin woolen cloth (Bisogni)
sciucattoio / sciuchatoi / sciuccatoio/ sciuccatoiuolo : towel(s)
sindado / cendado : silk (Sella)
taffetà : gossamer silk cloth
vergato : striped (Sella)
OBJECTS AND THINGS
aneme de leno : wooden core (here: of staff)
arbore: tree
armario: set of shelves (Salazar)
banbovine / bamboine: children (here: statues of baby Jesus)
banchora: bench(es) (Santucci, 1972)
bossole: recipient, pixis (here for the host) (Santucci, 1972)
breveleggie: papal briefs granting privileges (Ugolini, 1964)
cacopola/ cacoppola: clepsydra [held by Death in sacred drama] (Trabalza)
cevorio = ciborio : ciborium
candeletto = cataletto: bier (Agostini, 1968)
chamorra : bedroom (Agostini, 1968)
chiuove = chiodi: nails (Sella/(Agostini, 1968)
concola : cup (Sella)
conlonda: column
eschorpica: see scorpiccio
ghuadre = quadre: square
impozzatoia : ustensil to draw water from a well (Agostini, 1967)
inpolle / empolle / ampolle : vases
lingnie da croce: wooden shafts (?)
monumento: sepulcher (here: chest for statue) (Santucci, 1994)
piei: feet (Santucci, 1994)
scanciarie: shelves
solfario : book of solfeggio
scorpiccio /eschorpica: scythe [held by Death in sacred drama] (Trabalza)
stamocciare (or: scamocciare): to snuff
tondire: to cut
tortitia: grossi ceri (Staccini)
turabele / tirabele = turibolo: incense holder
ucielglie = uccelli: birds
vesta incarnata / emcarnata: flesh-colored (leather) garment to simulate Jesus‘ nudity in
sacred drama (Barr)
PERSONS
Donia / Dopna = Madonna (Virgin Mary)
Thalanta donna [here : daughter of] già de Nello de Pandolfo =Atalanta Baglioni
Marcabrune: 12th c. troubadour
N. / Numptiata / Nunziata = l‘Annunziata : the Annunciate but it is a common expression in
15th century Italian used to refer to the scene of the Annunciation
Nemicho : the enemy (the devil)
398
orfo = orafo : goldsmith (Agostini, 1968)
preite = prete: priest (Agostini, 1968)
rede : children (Ugolini)
399
The Unifying Power of Moving Pictures in Late Medieval and Renaissance Umbria
ILLUSTRATIONS
BAP = Biblioteca Augusta, Perugia
B.M. = Bibliothèque municipale
Bnf = Bibliothèque Nationale de France
GNU = Galleria Nazionale dell‘Umbria
When no mentioned otherwise, all gonfaloni are painted with tempera on canvas [linen].
Chapter 1: City identity and processional rhythms
Fig. 1: Benedetto Bonfigli, Second Translation of Sant‟Ercolano, 1460s, Chapel of the Palazzo
dei Priori, GNU, Perugia and detail: portal with lunette (fig. 1b) and painted arms of Sixtus IV
Fig. 1b: Original marble statues of side portal: San Lorenzo (124 cm), Sant‘Ercolano (133 cm),
San Costanzo (128 cm), ca. 1350, GNU, Perugia.
Fig. 2: Seals in red wax with the Griffon and Sant‟Ercolano hanging from a 1284 document,
ASP, ASCPg, Diplomatico, no. 1780
Fig. 3: Heraldic griffon; miniature from the Statutes of the Arte della bambagia (cotton guild),
1392, BAP, ms. 968, f. 7r
Fig. 4: Matteo di ser Cambio, miniature from the Statutes of the Cambio, 1377, Archivio del
Collegio del Cambio, ms. I, f. 3r
Fig. 5: Façade of the notaries‘ premises, carved emblem, 1440s, Perugia
Fig. 6: Sant‘Ercolano in communal registers:
6a/ 1493, ASP, ASCPg, Consigli e Riformanze, 122, f. 31r
6b/ 1501, ASP, ASCPg, Sussidio focolare 242, f. 1r
Fig. 7: Bartolomeo di Pietro and Mariotto di Nardo, Sant‟Ercolano, stained-glass window, 1411,
San Domenico, Perugia
Fig. 8: Dono Doni, Julius III returns the magistracy to Perugia, 1572, fresco, Palazzo dei Priori,
sala rossa, Perugia
Fig. 9: Sant‟Ansano, fresco, early 15th c., Santa Pudenziana, (Narni)
Fig. 10: Hans Holbein, Our Lady of Solothurn, 1522, Kunstmuseum, Solothurn, Switzerland
(140.5 x 102 cm)
Fig. 11a: Come le gente della Chieza sconfisse i Perugini, watercolor and ink on parchment, ca.
1400, from Le Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi lucchese, §557, Archivio di Stato, Lucca (15 cm)
Fig. 11b: The Perugians conquer Assisi, Chronicle of Giovanni Villani, 1340s, Codex Chigiano,
f. 226r, Vatican Library
Fig. 12: Statutes of the consortium of the notaries, 1403-1801; BAP, ms. 973, ff. 1v-2r
12a: Vanni di Baldolo, Procession of the notaries, 1340s
12b: _____________, Annunciation, 1340s
Fig. 13a: Bonfigli, Gonfalone of San Bernardino, 1465, GNU, Perugia (349 x 221 cm)
Fig. 13b: Agostino di Duccio, Oratory of San Bernardino of Siena, Perugia, 1457-1461.
Fig. 14a: Masaccio, Birth Scene, desco da parto (birth tray), ca. 1430, Staatliche Museen, Berlin
(56 cm diameter)
Fig. 14b-d: Scenes of capital punishment:
400
b/ Cosme Tura, Martyrdom of San Maurelio, Pinacoteca nazionale, Ferrara
c/ ―How some men from Mostesigradi were beheaded for having attempted to sell Lucca to the
Florentines in 1372‖ from the Chronicle of Giovanni Sercambi, § CCXLI
d/ ―How someone from Soragio was beheaded‖ from the Chronicle of Giovanni Sercambi, §
CCCXXXVI
Fig. 15: Gentile Bellini‘s Procession in Piazza San Marco, 1496, Accademia; Venice (745 x 365
cm)
Chapter 2: The Formation of group identity through the use of symbolic representations
Fig. 16: Pellegrino di Giovanni, Virgin and Child, 1428, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
(150 x 61 cm)
Fig. 17: List of the names of the priors and their notary with emblems of their rioni, their coats of
arms, and their professional devices, ASP, ASPg, Riformanze, 1568, f..
Fig. 18: Casket for the election of the Priori, poplar wood gilded and painted with tempera,
second half of 15th c., GNU, Perugia (55 x 70 x 45 cm)
Fig. 19: Emblem of the Mercanzia from their matricola, 1403, A CM, ms. II, f. 66r.
Fig. 20: Full illuminated page with Sant‟Ercolano and Saint Luke (above) and Five Notaries at
Work (below), 1525, ASP, ASPC, Sussidio focolare, 357, f. 2r
Fig. 21: Benedetto Bonfigli, The Annunciation with St. Luke, early 1460s, GNU, Perugia
Fig. 22: Matteo di Gualdo, Gonfalone of the Confraternity of the Santissima Trinità, early 16th c.,
Pinacoteca comunale, Gualdo Tadino
Fig. 23: Gonfalone of the Confraternity of San Francesco (recto), late 1300s, Museo comunale,
Assisi (144 x 101 cm)
Fig. 24: Perugino, Altarpiece of Santa Maria Novella, 1496, GNU, Perugia (146 x 104 cm)
Fig. 25: Pinturrichio, Gonfalone of Sant‟Agostino, 1501, tempera on silk, GNU, Perugia (115 x
83 cm)
Fig. 26: Sinibaldo Ibi, Gonfalone di San Antonio Abbate, 1512, GNU, Perugia (123 x 81.5 cm)
Fig. 27: Portal of the oratory of the Confraternity of San Francesco with emblem of column
flanked by two scourges, Perugia
Fig. 28: Francesco Melanzio, Madonna del Soccorso, ca. 1500, Pinacoteca Comunale,
Montefalco (213 x 161 cm)
Fig. 29: Lattanzio di Niccolo, Madonna del Soccorso, 1509, Castel Ritaldi (190 x 144 cm)
Fig. 30: Gonfalone of San Pietro Martire, oil on silk, GNU, Perugia (107 x 68 cm)
Fig. 31: Gonfalone of San Vincenzo Ferrer, oil on linen, GNU, Perugia (140 x 75 cm)
Fig. 32: Jacopo Bedi (doc. 1432-1475), San Vicenzo Ferrer, San Domenico, Gubbio
Fig. 33: Gonfalone of Sant‟Ercolano, 1575-1600, oil in linen, GNU, Perugia (145 x 82 cm)
Fig. 34: Gonfalone of the Madonna del Rosario, 1575, oil on silk, GNU, Perugia (98.5 x 64 cm)
Fig. 35: Perugino, Gonfalone of San Giacomo della Marca, 1517, tempera on linen, GNU,
Perugia (152 x 81.5 cm)
401
Fig. 36: Bartolomeo Caporali, Altarpiece of the Confraternity of Sant‟Andrea della Giustizia,
1475, GNU, Perugia
Fig. 37: Unknown master, The Execution of Savonarola, ca. 1500, Museo di San Marco, Florence
Fig. 38a-b: Perugian School, Tavolette of the Confraternity of Sant‘Andrea della Giustizia, GNU,
Perugia:
38a: Crucifixion
38b: Way to the Calvary, first half of 16th c.; with original frame (35.5 x 35 cm)
Fig. 39: Full page illustration from De Sphaera, ca. 1470, Biblioteca Estense, Modena, ms. Lat.
209, f. 6r (245 x 270mm)
Fig. 40: Perugino, ―Gonfalone della Giustizia‖ [banner of the Confraternity of San Bernardino],
1496, GNU, Perugia
Fig; 41: Bernardino di Mariotto, Deposition, Pinacoteca Comunale, Sanseverino (210 x 80 cm)
Fig. 42a-b: Funeral vigil, miniatures from the Office of the Dead in books of Hours (from A
réveiller les morts, D. Alexandre-Bidon, ed., fig. VI-VIIa):
42a: Flemish Hours, 16th c., ms. 5999, f. 119v, Bibliothèque municipale, Lyon
42b: Très belles heures de Notre-Dame, 15th c., ms. Nal 3093, f. 104, Bnf, Paris
Fig. 43a: ―Come messer Bernabò è morto e portato a sopellire,‖ Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi,
I, §CCXCVII, watercolor and ink on parchment, ca. 1400, Archivio di Stato, Lucca (10 cm)
Idem, woodcut from Salvatore Bongi, ed., Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi (1892), I: 335
Fig. 43b: ―Come lo conte Ranieri moriò,‖ Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi, I, §CXXXI,
watercolor and ink on parchment, ca. 1400, Archivio di Stato, Lucca (13 cm)
Idem, woodcut from Bongi, ibid., I: 93
Fig. 43c : ―Come li stendardi del duga funno stracinati per Vinegia‖, Croniche di Giovanni
Sercambi, §CCCCXCVI (12 cm) and woodcut from Bongi, ibid., I: 38-39.
Fig. 44: ―Vigil on the tomb of Alexander the Great‖, Quintus Curtius, Historiae Alexandri Magni,
ms. Français 711, f. 41v., Bnf, Paris
Fig. 45: Funeral pall of Henry Fayrey, 1516, Dunstable Priory, England (from Julian Litten, The
English Way of Death, fig. 1)
Fig. 46: ―Chome messer Bernabò moriò‖ Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi, I, §CCCCIII,
watercolor and ink on parchment, ca. 1400, Archivio di Stato, Lucca (15 cm)
Fig. 47: Sixtus IV‟s Procession to the Lateran, c. 1472, fresco, Hospital of San Sisto, Rome
Fig. 48: Pope Martin V consecrates the church of San Egidio in Florence, miniature from Missale
Romanum, ms. 67, f. 285, Museo Nazionale, Florence
Chapter 3: Extraordinary banners “per placare l’ira di Dio”
Fig. 49: Giovanni di Paolo, Procession of St. Gregory, c. 1465-70, Musée du Louvre, Paris (40 x
42 cm)
Fig. 50: Limburg brothers, ―Procession of St. Gregory‖, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
1413, f. 71v-72r, Musée Condé, Chantilly
Fig. 51: Benedetto Bonfigli, Gonfalone of San Francesco al Prato, 1464, Oratorio of San
Bernardino, Perugia (290 x 180 cm)
Fig. 52: Villani, Nuova Cronica, 1350-1400, Vatican, Apostolic Library, Cod. L. VIII. 296, f.
197v.
402
Fig. 53: Benedetto Bonfigli (attr.), Gonfalone of Civitella Benazzone, 1470-80?, Civitella
Benazzone, Church of Sant‘Andrea (200 x 145 cm)
Fig. 54: Procession of the Relics, colored woodcut, Nürnberg, 1491
Fig. 55: Benedetto Bonfigli (attr.), Gonfalone of Corciano, c. 1464-1480, cathedral, Corciano
(240 x 132 cm)
Fig. 56: Benedetto Bonfigli? /Fiorenzo di Lorenzo?/Maestro della Pietà di S. Costanzo?,
Gonfalone of Paciano, 1464 (?) or 1470-80, Church of San Giuseppe, Paciano (225 x 140 cm)
Fig. 57a: Bartolomeo Caporali, Gonfalone of Montone, 1482, Museo di San Francesco, Montone
(236 x 164 cm)
Fig. 57b: ―mostra‖ (altar and frame) for the Gonfalone of Montone, c. 1474-82, Museo di San
Francesco, Montone
Fig. 58: Maestro di Eggi (attr.), Virgin of Mercy, ca. 1350 or 1420s, private collection, Florence
Fig. 59: Anonymous painter, Madonna of Mercy, ca. 1400-1450, Church of Santi Pietro e Paolo,
Narni
Fig. 60: Girolamo di Giovanni, Gonfalone of Tedico, 1463, Pinacoteca civica, Camerino (206 x
125 cm)
Fig. 61: Mariano d‘Antonio / Benedetto Bonfigli?, Virgin of Mercy, c. 1455, Church of Santa
Croce, Perugia
Fig. 62a: Benedetto Bonfigli (attr.), Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova, 1471, Church of Santa
Maria Nuova, Perugia (330 x 171 cm)
Fig. 62b: altar of the Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova, 1646, gilded wood, Church of Santa
Maria Nuova, Perugia
Fig. 63a: Benedetto Bonfigli (attr.), Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo, 1476, Church of San Fiorenzo,
Perugia (310 x 183 cm)
Fig. 63b: altar of the Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo, late 18th c., Church of San Fiorenzo, Perugia
Fig. 64a: Bonfigli (attr.), Gonfalone of San Simone, 1470?, Church of San Simone, Perugia (169
x 114 cm)
Fig. 64b: Apse of the church of San Simone with the Gonfalone of San Simone, wall decoration,
c. 1840, Perugia
Fig. 65a: Gianicola di Paolo or Ludovico d‘Angelo Mattioli (attr.), Gonfalone of San Domenico
also called Gonfalone of Beata Colomba, 1494, Church of San Domenico, Perugia (240 x 196
cm)
Fig. 65b: Altar of Gonfalone of San Domenico, ca. 1711, Church of San Domenico, Perugia
Fig. 66: Berto di Giovanni, Gonfalone of the Duomo, 1526, Cathedral of San Lorenzo, Perugia
(250 x 140 cm)
Fig. 67: Paolo da Visso (attr.), Gonfalone of Terni with the Virgin of Mercy, c. 1450-1475,
Pinacotea comunale, Terni (134 x 117 cm)
Fig. 68: Niccolò di Liberatore, Gonfalone of Assisi, ca. 1468-70, Priesterhaus, Kevelaer, Germany
(180 x 130 cm)
Fig. 69: Sinnibaldo Ibi, Gonfalone of Gubbio, 1503, Museo comunale, Gubbio (198 x 169 cm):
69a: recto: Sant‟Ubaldo
69b: verso: Virgin of Mercy
Fig. 70: Map of Perugia with the major churches / Diagram with major itineraries for processions
403
Fig.71a: Niccolò di Liberatore, Gonfalone of the Annunciation, 1466, GNU, Perugia (341 x 172
cm)
Fig. 71b: “Tabernacolo” of the Gonfalone of the Annunciation, 1466-70?, Church of Santa Maria
Nuova, Perugia
Fig. 72: Giovanni di Pier Matteo (Boccati), Madonna dell‟orchestra, post-1448, GNU, Perugia
Fig. 73: School of Perugino, Gonfalone of Sant‟Anna, Pinacoteca comunale, Betttona (173 x 124
cm)
Fig. 74: Piero della Francesca, Sigismondo Malatesta before Saint Sigismund, 1450s, fresco,
Templo Malastetiano, Rimini
Fig. 75: Andrea Mantegna, Camera picta, frescoes, 1465-74, Ducal palace, Mantua
Fig. 76: Parade of the pallio of the joust to be run on Saint John‟s day at the gates of Pisa,
Chronicle of Giovanni Villani, ms. Chigiano L VIII 296, Biblioteca Vaticana, Rome, f. 152r
(From: Il Villani Illustrato, C. Frugoni, ed., 2005, p. 184)
Fig. 77: Giovanni Toscani, Submission of the palii, cassone (wedding chest), 1425-9, Museo
Nazionale del bargello, Florence (40 x 200 cm) [detail]
Fig. 78: Dalmatic of Bishop Vanzi, end of 15th c., red velvet and gold brocade, Museo del
Duomo, Orvieto
Fig. 79: Antependium, early 16th c., red velvet and gold brocade, Museo dell‘Opera del Duomo,
Siena
Fig. 80: Engravings of Gonfalone of Santa Maria Nuova, Gonfalone of San Francesco,
Gonfalone of San Fiorenzo, 18th c., ASPi, Perugia
Fig. 81: Pierantonio Mezzastris, Saint Sebastian and donor, ca. 1477, Church of San Sebastiano,
Foligno (230 x 110 cm)
Fig. 82: Pierantonio Mezzastris, San Rocco [Saint Roch], ca. 1481, Church of San Giacomo,
Foligno (235 x 118.5 cm)
Fig. 83: Bernardino di Mariotto, Gonfalone of Ponte Felcino, 1523, Church of San Feliccissimo,
Ponte Felcino [Perugia] (176 x 120 cm)
Fig. 84: Lo Spagna, Gonfalone of Bazzano, ca. 1503-1510, Collection of Lord Aberconway,
Bodnant, North Wales, England (217 x 148 cm)
Fig. 85: B. Caporali, Virgin of Mercy, ca. 1480, fresco, Church of Sant‘Antonio, Deruta
Chapter 4: The unifying power of Bernardinian images
Fig. 86a: Tavoletta with the YHS trigram, 1420-50 (?), GNU, Perugia (illustration from Pacetti,
1981, fig. 716; work not extant in the GNU as of July 2007)
Fig. 86b: Tavoletta with the YHS trigram, Museo Comunale, Montefalco (166 x 84 cm, with
frame and pedestal)
Fig. 87a: Tavoletta with the YHS trigram and its lunette with Holy Spirit (recto) / verso with fake
curtain, Pinacoteca Comunale, Deruta (69 x 60 cm; lunette: 49 x 65 cm)
Fig. 87b: Tavoletta with the YHS trigram, Pinacoteca Comunale, Deruta (62 x 51 cm)
Fig. 88a-b: Tavoletta with the YHS trigram and its predella with the Stigmatization of Saint
Francis (recto) and the Annunciation (verso), Tesoro, Sacro Convento, Assisi (170 x 66.5 cm;
tablet itself: 66.5 x 53 cm)
404
Fig. 88c: Engraving with relics from Treasury, 17-18th c., Biblioteca, Sacro Convento, Assisi
Fig. 89: Tavoletta with the YHS trigram, 1425?, Convento dell‘Osservanza, Siena
Fig. 90a-b: Pietro Mazzaforte (attr.), Gonfalone with the YHS trigram (90a) and Virgin of
Mercy (90b), ca. 1450-55, Pinacoteca Comunale, Trevi (107 x 64 cm)
Fig. 91: Sano di Pietro, San Bernardino preaching on the Campo in Siena, c. 1445, Pinacoteca
comunale, Siena
Fig. 92: Francesco di Giorgio, San Bernardino preaching, predella (detail), c. 1458-60, tempera
on wood, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
Fig. 93: Giovanni da Capistrano exorcises a possessed woman, from a polyptych in L‘Aquila
(Kaftal, Iconography of the Saints in Central and South Italian Schools of Painting, entry 205,
col. 640-1, fig. 747)
Fig. 94: Maestro di San Verecondo, double-sided gonfalone with Saint Francis and tavoletta with
the YHS trigram, Museo Piersanti, Matelica (60 x 48 cm)
Fig. 95: Well with incised trigram and carved Perugian griffon, 1452, limestone, Perugia
Fig. 96: Agostino di Duccio, San Bernardino holding the trigram tablet, 1457-61, relief (detail of
facade of the Oratory of San Bernardino, Perugia)
Fig. 97: Agostino di Duccio, San Bernardino holding a pennon with the trigram, 1457-61, relief
(detail of facade of the Oratory of San Bernardino, Perugia)
Fig. 98: A. di Duccio (attr.), Statue of San Bernardino da Siena, Museo di San Francesco,
Corciano [Perugia] (146 cm)
Fig. 99: Hypothetical reconstitution of the niche for the Gonfalone of San Bernardino proposed
by Bertini Calosso in 1945 (today rejected)
Fig. 100: Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, painted niche of San Francesco al Prato, 1487 (tempera on wood)
and same artist, statue of Saint Francis, painted wood, (125cm without the pedestal)
Fig. 101: Giovanni da Capistrano on the battlefield in Belgrade (from Kaftal, Central Italy, entry
205, col. 639, fig. 746)
Fig. 102: Bartolomeo Vivarini, San Giovanni da Capistrano, 1459, Louvre (198 x 99 cm)
Chapter 5: the prestige of mobile and immobile images
Fig. 103: Niccolò di Liberatore, Gonfalone of the Annunciation, detail of fig. 71a: patrons of the
Nunziata Confraternity and inscription, GNU, Perugia
Fig. 104: Bolognese notaries, illuminations from Liber Iurium et Privilegiorum Notariorum, ca.
1482, ms. 644, f. 3r, 4v, Museo Civico Medievale, Bologna (335 x 240mm)
104a: Notary between the coats of arms of Bologna and of the Università dei dei notai
104b: Notaries kneeling in adoration of the Virgin and Child
Fig. 105: Famous doctors of Law from Pontani palace, 1530s, fresco, GNU, Perugia (79 x 79 cm)
[inv. 459; 464; 463; 461]
Fig. 106: Leonbattista Alberti, Rucellai sepulchre, 1460s, San Pancrazio, Florence
Fig. 107: Scholars at their desks
107a: ―St. Jerome translating the Bible‖, woodcut, from Biblia cum concordantiis Veteris et Novi
Testamen (Venice, L. de Giunta, 1511)
107b: Lorenzo Attavante, Initial G from Berlinghieri‘s Italian translation of Ptolemy‘s
Geography, manuscript illumination, ca. 1480, ms. AC XIX 44, Biblioteca Braidense, Milan
107c:
405
Fig. 108: Tomb of Venetian Doctor of medicine Pietro Roccabonella (d. 1491), San Francesco,
Padua
Fig. 109: Benozzo Gozzoli, St. Augustine‟s Vision of St. Jerome, 1465, fresco, Church of
Sant‘Agostino, San Gimignano
Fig. 110: Niccolò Pizzolo, St. Gregory the Great in his Study, c. 1448, fresco, Ovetari Chapel,
church of the Eremitani, Padua (destroyed in WWII)
Fig. 111: Gentile da Fabriano, Allegory of Music, c.1411, fresco, detail of the Liberal Arts Hall,
Palazzo Trinci, Museo comunale, Foligno
Fig. 112: Digital reconstruction of the Gonfalone dell‟Annunziata (GNU, Perugia) in its frame
(Santa Maria Nuova, Perugia)
Fig. 113: Domenico Alfani, Pietà, 1522, GNU, Perugia (124 x 240 cm)
Fig. 114: Benozzo Gozzoli, Mock polyptych, 1452, fresco, detail of St. Jerome chapel, ex-church
of San Francesco, Museo comunale, Montefalco
Fig. 115: Jean Bourdichon, Angels revealing the Deposition altarpiece, from Book of Hours of
Frederic III of Aragon, ca. 1500, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, ms. Lat. 10532, f. 198
(245 x 115 mm)
Fig. 116: Niccolò di Liberatore, Gonfalone of San Valentino (Crucifixion with Saint Francis and
San Bernardino da Siena), 1497, Terni, pinacoteca comunale, tempera on linen (225 x 165 cm)
Fig. 117: Statue of the Dead Christ, chamois leather, 1360s?, ex- Oratorio dell‘Annunziata,
Perugia
Fig. 118: Giovanni di Giorgio, Panels for the chest of the Dead Christ: Guards in front of the
Holy Sepulchre / side panel, 1517, GNU, Perugia (59x178 cm)
Fig. 119: Deposition, painted beech, 1228, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Volterra
Fig. 120: Reconstruction of the (partially extant) tabernacolo for the articulate Christ of San
Francesco al Prato:
Agostino di Duccio, Crucifix, 1460s, Church of San Crispolto, Bettona and
Benedetto Bonfigli, Angels of the Passion (4 panels), GNU, Perugia [inv 160-163]
Fig. 121: Procession of the Duomo crucifix to San Francesco carried by confraternity members,
14th April 2006, Assisi
Fig. 122: Representation of the Desenclavo (un-nailing), 1722, Medina del Campo (Valladolid,
Spain)
Fig. 123: Map of Perugia with itinerary of Easter Friday and Jubilee procession on 20/04/1576.
Fig. 124: Processional panel of the cathedral, Museo Diocesano, Perugia (200 x 109 cm):
124a: recto: Salvatore, tempera on wood, 13th c.
124b: verso: Battista di Baldassare Mattioli, Christ and the Virgin Enthroned, relief, carved
wood, stucco, and gessoed fabric, 1453
Fig. 125: Night Procession for the Assumption Feast, 14th August, 2003: leaving the Perugian
Duomo and reaching Monteluce carrying a photo of the doubled-sided Salvatore panel (fig. 124ab)
Fig. 126: Luca di Paolo Matelica, Double-sided ―stendardo‖ with the Annunciation and Virgin
Enthroned, unknown provenance, GNU, Perugia (93 x 54 cm) [inv. 879]
Fig. 127: Corpus Christi procession, May 2005, Orvieto
406
Fig. 128: Julius banners from Obwalden, Luzern, and Zurich, 1512, Damask silk, embroidery,
pearls
407
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abbreviations
AFH
BAP
BDSPU
ASP
ASCPg
BDAnn
Archivum Franciscanum Historicum
Biblioteca Augusta, Perugia
Bollettino della Deputazione di Storia Patria per l‘Umbria
Archivio di Stato, Perugia
Archivio di Stato del Comune di Perugia
Biblioteca Dominicini, fondo Confraternita dell‘Annunziata, Perugia
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ASPg, ASCPg, Giudiziario antico, Iura diversa 12
ASPg, ASCPg, Giudiziario antico, Iura diversa, IV
ASP, ASCPg, Massari, ―Statuto dei Massari‖
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