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

We know much about the Italian city states--the "communes"--of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But historians have focused on their political accomplishments to the exclusion of their religious life, going so far as to call them "purely secular contrivances." When religion is considered, the subjects are usually saints, heretics, theologians, and religious leaders, thereby ignoring the vast majority of those who lived in the communes. In Cities of God, Augustine Thompson gives a voice to the forgotten majority--orthodox lay people and those who ministered to them. Thompson positions the Italian republics in sacred space and time. He maps their religious geography as it was expressed through political and voluntary associations, ecclesiastical and civil structures, common ritual life, lay saints, and miracle-working shrines. He takes the reader through the rituals and celebrations of the communal year, the people's corporate and private experience of God, and the "liturgy" of death and remembrance. In the process he challenges a host of stereotypes about "orthodox" medieval religion, the Italian city-states, and the role of new religious movements in the world of Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante. Cities of God is bold, revisionist history in the tradition of Eamon Duffy's Stripping of the Altars. Drawing on a wide repertoire of ecclesiastical and secular sources, from city statutes and chronicles to saints' lives and architecture, Thompson recaptures the religious origins and texture of the Italian republics and allows their inhabitants a spiritual voice that we have never heard before. We know much about the Italian city-states-the "communes"-of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. But historians have focused on their political accomplishments to the exclusion of their religious life, going so far as to call them "purely secular contrivances." When religion is considered, the subjects are usually saints, heretics, theologians, and religious leaders, thereby ignoring the vast majority of those who lived in the communes. In Cities of God Augustine Thompson gives a voice to the forgotten majority-orthodox lay people and those who ministered to them.Thompson positions the Italian republics in sacred space and time. He maps their religious geography as it was expressed through political and voluntary associations, ecclesiastical and civil structures, common ritual life, lay saints, and miracle-working shrines. He takes the reader through the rituals and celebrations of the communal year, the people's corporate and private experience of God, and the "liturgy" of death and remembrance. In the process he challenges a host of stereotypes about "orthodox" medieval religion, the Italian city-states, and the role of new religious movements in the world of Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, and Dante.Cities of God is bold, revisionist history in the tradition of Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars. Drawing on a wide repertoire of ecclesiastical and secular sources, from city statutes and chronicles to saints' lives and architecture, Thompson recaptures the religious origins and texture of the Italian republics and allows their inhabitants a spiritual voice that we have never heard before. Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Abbreviations......Page 8 Note on Style......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 PART I. LA CITADE SANCTA: SACRED GEOGRAPHY......Page 28 1 The Mother Church......Page 30 2 From Conversion to Community......Page 84 3 The Holy City......Page 118 4 Ordering Families, Neighborhoods, and Cities......Page 156 5 Holy Persons and Holy Places......Page 194 PART II.BUONI CATTOLICI: RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE......Page 248 6 The City Worships......Page 250 7 Feasting, Fasting, and Doing Penance......Page 288 8 Resurrection and Renewal......Page 324 9 Good Catholics at Prayer......Page 358 10 World Without End. Amen.......Page 396 Epilogue: Communal Piety and the Mendicant......Page 434 Bibliography......Page 472 Index......Page 494 The Mother Church -- From Conversion To Community -- The Holy City -- Ordering Families, Neighborhoods, And Cities -- Holy Persons And Holy Places -- The City Worships -- Feasting, Fasting, And Doing Penance -- Resurrection And Renewal -- Good Catholics At Prayer -- World Without End, Amen. Augustine Thompson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [457]-478) And Index. When religion is considered, the subjects are usually saints, heretics, theologians, and religious leaders, thereby ignoring the vast majority of those who lived in the communes. Drawing on many ecclesiastical and secular sources, this book aims to give a voice to the majority - orthodox lay people and those who ministered to them