Redressing Images: Conflict in Context at Abbess Humbrina's Scriptorium in Pontetetto (Lucca)1 Loretta Vandi Like So Much of L

Home , Abbess, Lucca, Rector (ecclesiastical)

chapter twenty

Redressing Images: Conflict in Context at Abbess Humbrina’s Scriptorium in Pontetetto (Lucca)1

Loretta Vandi

Dedicated to Mirella Biondi Nieri Like so much of Lucca in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, the female Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria at Pontetetto was caught up in the politics of reform. Moral integrity was the main concern of the monastic-reform movement, with chastity, obedience, and poverty as its basic tenets. Poverty, however, found few adherents in Lucca, so here we may speak only of “partial reform.”2 Written documents record some of the ways in which Pontetetto’s remarkable abbess, Humbrina (in office between ca. 1089 and 1124), tackled the challenges of that particular climate in order to campaign for the independence of her monastery from the powerful chapter of regular canons at the Cathedral of St. Martino.3 To do so, she played off the canons, who opposed the Gregorian reform, against the reforming bishops of Lucca and their allies, the popes. Humbrina stepped into a long-lived struggle between the bishops and the canons. The turn-over of bishops during Humbrina’s lifetime was high; between 1073 and 1128, six men held the see.4 Anselm I, Bishop of Lucca

1 Abbreviations: AAL = Archivio arcivescovile Lucca; ASL = Archivio statale Lucca; BSL = Biblioteca statale Lucca. I would like to offer my gratitude to Elaine Beretz and Therese Martin for their editorial assistance with this article, and to Pavlos Jerenis, whose com- ments were as helpful as ever. 2 Hans-Martin Schwarzmaier, “Riforma monastica e movimenti religiosi a Lucca alla fine del secolo XI,” in Lucca, il Volto Santo e la civiltà medievale (Lucca, 1984), pp. 71–94. 3 For Humbrina’s career, see Almerico Guerra, Compendio di storia ecclesiastica lucchese dalle origini a tutto il secolo XII (Lucca, 1924), p. 172; Roberto Savigni, Episcopato e società cittadina a Lucca da Anselmo II (d. 1086) a Roberto (d. 1225) (Lucca, 1996), pp. 166–67; in the ASL: documents with the signatures Fondo San Giovanni (14 November 1095), Fondo San Nicolao (25 November 1112), and Fondo Francesco Maria Fiorentini (19 June 1122); in the AAL: document E 31 (23 March 1111), and ms. 93, fol. 108v (“IIII Nonas martis obiit Humbrina”). 4 (1) Anselm II (1073–1086), who was in office when Humbrina and other nuns lived in the old Carolingian monastery built at Pontetetto by Bishop Jacopus in 802. See AAL DD 44. (2) Petrus, a schismatic (1081–ca. 1091), who was bishop when the church of St. Maria at 784 loretta vandi

(1056–1061), who became Pope Alexander II (1061–1073), had earlier tried to reform the practices of the canons, especially by enforcing celibacy and limiting private property.5 He expressed his agenda vehemently and pub- licly before the canons, the rest of the clergy, and the laity at the conse- cration of the restored Cathedral of St. Martino in 1070.6 But the struggle to reform the canons continued under Anselm’s successors, his nephew Anselm II (1073–1086), and Rangerius (1096–1112). In 1080 Bishop Anselm II, assailed from all sides on account of his zeal for reform, was obliged to flee Lucca. For the six years until his death, Anselm served as the spiri- tual advisor for Matilda of Canossa and the vicar for Pope Gregory VII in northern Italy.7 During those years, the so-called schismatic bishop Petrus served in Lucca, under the aegis of the antipope Wibertus of Ravenna and the German emperor Henry IV.8 When Rangerius took office in 1096, he attempted to reaffirm episcopal power by promoting the cult of Anselm II, who was already considered a saint.9 Even so, the anti-Gregorian climate in Lucca continued unchecked, especially among the cathedral canons of St. Martino. It was during Rangerius’ tenure that Humbrina took advan- tage of the struggle to redress what she saw as an improper interference of the canons in the life of her foundation. Eventually she also would turn

Pontetetto was built. According to the Edili Missal (Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, 111), fol. 164v, the church was consecrated on 14 May: “scte Marie ad martires, dedicatio huius ecclesie.” (3) Gottifredus (1091–ca. 1095), who was faithful to Matilda and under whom the rebuilt monastery, which dates from before 1095, was begun. (4) Rangerius (ca. 1096–1112), during whose tenure the Xenodochion was built. The Xenodochion was complete by 1112, since a document (ASL, Fondo San Nicolao, 31 July 1112) reports that the rector of the hos- pital was “Rusticus presbiter ecclesie et ospitii predicte sancte mariae.” (5) Rodulfus (1112– 1 December 1118). (6) Benedictus I (1 December 1118–1128). 5 Cinzio Violante, “Alessandro II,” in Dizionario biografico degli italiani (Rome, 1961), vol. 3, pp. 176–83. 6 Romano Silva, “La ricostruzione della cattedrale di Lucca (1060–1070): un esem- pio precoce di architettura della Riforma Gregoriana,” in Sant’Anselmo vescovo di Lucca (1073–1086) nel quadro delle trasformazioni sociali e della riforma ecclesiastica, ed. Cinzio Violante (Rome, 1992), pp. 297–309. 7 On Anselm II’s flight: see Cinzio Violante, “Anselmo da Baggio,” in Dizionario biografico degli italiani (Rome, 1961), vol. 3, pp. 399–407, esp. 401–402 (with rich bibliography). See also Sant’Anselmo, Mantova e la lotta per le investiture, ed. Paolo Golinelli (Bologna, 1987). 8 Roberto Savigni, “L’episcopato lucchese di Rangerio (1096 ca.–1112) tra riforma ‘gregoriana’ e nuova coscienza cittadina,” Ricerche Storiche, 27 (1997), pp. 5–37, esp. 20–23. 9 Gabriella Severino, “La Vita metrica di Anselmo da Lucca scritta da Rangerio. Ideo- logia e genere letterario,” in Sant’Anselmo vescovo di Lucca, pp. 223–71; Edith Pásztor, “La ‘Vita’ anonima di Anselmo di Lucca. Una rilettura,” in Sant’Anselmo vescovo di Lucca, pp. 207–22.