Rinaldo Da Concorezzo, Archbishop of Ravenna, and the Trial of the Templars In
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© Copyrighted Material Chapter 21 Rinaldo da Concorezzo, Archbishop of Ravenna, and the Trial of the Templars in Northern Italy Elena Bellomo At the beginning of the fourteenth century northern Italy was going through a delicate political period marked by manifold conflicts and the rise of the first signorie. The military orders, which had a solid footing in the area thanks to a wide network of houses and significant connections with aristocracy and lay and ecclesiastical institutions, were also more or less affected by political upheavals. This situation would already make an analysis of the trial of the Templars in this area an interesting case for study. However, it was the role played in this inquiry by a leading contemporary figure, Rinaldo, archbishop of Ravenna, that most significantly marked the development of the trial in northern Italy and gave it its distinguishing features. This article aims to investigate Rinaldo’s action in the trial, taking into account his personal background and the complex political situation of northern Italy in this period. Pope Clement V entrusted the inquiry into the Temple to the inquisition and to ecclesiastical commissions whichashgate.com were given ashgate.com responsibility ashgate.com for investigating ashgate.com the order and its local dignitaries, covering wide areas. These commissions were appointed by the papal bull Faciens misericordiam in August 1308. In northern and part of central Italy the committee as designated by the pope included Rinaldo da Concorezzo, archbishop of Ravenna, Lotterio della Tosa, bishop of Florence, Giovanni, archbishop ofashgate.com Pisa, and Rainerio de Casoli, bishop of Cremona. At the same time the pope also charged episcopal commissions with examining the individual Templars of each diocese, who were to be ultimately judged in provincial councils.1 1 I would like to thank Renzo Caravita, who sent me his publications on Rinaldo da Concorezzo, for his kindness and interest in my work. Abbreviations: Caravita 1 = Renzo Caravita, Rinaldo da Concorrezzo, arcivescovo di Ravenna (1303–1321) al tempo di Dante (Florence, 1964). Caravita 2 = Renzo Caravita, ‘Rinaldo da Concorrezzo: Arcivescovo di Ravenna (1303–1321), canonico di Laon, non di Lodi’, Archivio Storico Lodigiano, 2nd series,ashgate.com 12 (1964), ashgate.com 27–48. Caravita 3 = Renzo Caravita, ‘Rinaldo da Concorezzo, l’arcivescovo di Ravenna (1303–1321) “che nel processo ai Templari fu giudice libero ed umano”’, in Tutti gli uomini del cardinale: Atti del convegno internazionale del 10 maggio 2003, Pozzuolo © Copyrighted Material 260 The Debate on the Trial of the Templars (1307–1314) © Copyrighted Material This article will outline the role played by Rinaldo da Concorezzo in the inquiry into the Temple in northern Italy, both in his capacity as papally appointed inquisitor contra singulares personas et ordinem militie Templi Jerosolimitani and as archbishop of Ravenna. His action during the trial resulted in the absolution of the Templars who were tried and in an important assumption that the use of torture was wrong, an assumption which diverged greatly from contemporary practice. Rinaldo’s favourable attitude toward the Templars resembled the positive inclination then current among some northern Italian lay and Church institutions toward the military order but, conversely, contradicted the resentment felt in some places which had probably resulted from the Templars’ involvement in local political struggles. Rinaldo’s actions will be examined here taking into account this complex background. Before the trial Before his appointment to the papal commission, Rinaldo had already had a long and brilliant career; his involvement in the trial of the Templars would be just one of its final episodes. Rinaldo da Concorezzo descended from a notable Milanese lineage which sided with the local Guelph faction led by the Torriani family.2 He studied law, probably in Bologna, between 1280 and 1286, when he is attested to as iuris peritus for the first time.3 This undertaking was in perfect accordance with the family tradition, since several members of the da Concorezzo had already been well-known jurisprudents and had acted for the commune of Milan as ambassadors and legal consultants.4 In 1286, in his capacity as iuris peritus, Rinaldo started teaching law in Lodi and later joined the entourage of Pietro Peregrosso (d.129), ashgate.com ashgate.com ashgate.com ashgate.com Martesana (Pozzuolo Martesana, 2004), pp. 81–119. Reg. Clem. V, vol. 3, docs 384–, pp. 363–6; Gerolamo Rossi, Historiarum Ravennatum libri decem (Venice, 190), vol. 6, p. 12; Carte in appendice ai monumenti ravennati del conte Marco Fantuzzi, ed. Antonio Tarlazzi, 2 vols (Ravenna, 187), vol. 1, part 2, doc. 31, p. 47; Caravita 1, appendix, doc. ashgate.com 35, pp. 266–9; Malcom Barber, The Trial of the Templars, 2nd edn (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 12–6, 217–8; Francesco Tommasi, ‘Interrogatorio dei Templari a Cesena (1310)’, in Acri 1291: La fine della presenza degli ordini militari in Terra Santa e i nuovi orientamenti del XIV secolo, ed. Francesco Tommasi (Perugia, 1996), pp. 276–9; Alan Forey, The Fall of the Templars in the Crown of Aragon (Aldershot, 2001), pp. 7–114. 2 Caravita 1, pp. 3–10; Paolo Grillo, Milano in età comunale (1183–1276): Istituzioni, società, economia (Spoleto, 2001), pp. 0–3, 16–6, 412–13. 3 Caravita 1, pp. 11–12; Mauro Sarti and Mauro Fattorini, De claris archigymnasii Bononiensium professoribus, a saec. XI usque ad saec XIV, 2 vols (Bologna, 1888–96), vol. 2, p. 67. In 129, Rinaldo is attested to as master of law: Carte, vol. 1, part 2, doc. 273, p. 41.ashgate.com ashgate.com 4 See above, note 2. See above, note 3, and Caravita 2, pp. 28–9. © Copyrighted Material Elena Bellomo 261 © Copyrighted Material cardinal deacon of San Giorgio al Velabro.6 Rinaldo followed Pietro to Rome and on his missions to France, where Rinaldo also became a canon regular of the church of Laon.7 After Pietro’s death, Rinaldo entered the service of Cardinal Benedetto Caetani, nephew of pope Boniface VIII. In September 129 the pope granted Rinaldo the revenues of some churches in the diocese of Laon and archdiocese of Milan. In this document he is also referred to as subdeacon and papal chaplain, domesticus commensalis of the apostolic see and chaplain of Cardinal Caetani.8 The following year Boniface VIII asked some Milanese prelates to grant the first available benefice to Giovanni da Concorezzo, a relative of Rinaldo, who had been examined de literatura by a papally appointed commission also including Rinaldo himself.9 These deeds show that, thanks to the patronage of Boniface’s nephew and the pope himself, Rinaldo had attained a good position in papal circles. In 1296, Boniface appointed Rinaldo bishop of Vicenza. Here his nomination led to a dispute, due to the fact that the cathedral chapter, probably under the influence of the local commune, had already elected another bishop, Giacomo de’ Bissari. In the end the latter gave up his office and Rinaldo was consecrated bishop in 1298. Unfortunately we do not know if he ever took possession of this see in person. In fact, after the confirmation of his appointment, Rinaldo remained in Rome in order to deal with a quarrel between the church of Vicenza and the local commune, which had to be examined at the papal curia.10 Still in 1298, probably by virtue of his previous experience beyond the Alps with Cardinal Peregrosso, Rinaldo was appointed as papal nuncio in France by 6 For Cardinal Peregrosso, see Claudio M. Tartari, ‘Profilo biografico di Pietro Peregrosso’, in Il cardinale Pietro Peregrosso e la fondazione francescana di Pozzuolo Martesana: 1295–1995 (Pozzuolo Martesana, 1996), pp. 41–60. Rinaldo is mentioned in Peregrosso’s last will: Enzo Pini, ‘Il testamentoashgate.com “disperso” ashgate.com di Pietro ashgate.com Peregrosso’, ashgate.com ibid., pp. 61–72; ‘Edizione del testamento di Pietro Peregrosso’, ed. Enzo Pini, ibid., pp. 173–20 (the mention of Rinaldo is on p. 182. See also pp. 200, 204); Caravita 3, pp. 87–8; Agostino Paravicini Bagliani, I testamenti dei cardinali del Duecento (Rome, 1980), pp. 6–8, 271– . 7 For the period spentashgate.com by Concorezzo in Peregrosso’s entourage, see Caravita 3, pp. 87–8, 9–6. Concorezzo’s appointment in Laon has been often misunderstood, and it has been erroneously stated that he had been canon regular in Lodi. Caravita 2, pp. 34–40. 8 Carte, vol. 1, part 2, doc. 273, pp. 41–16. For Benedetto Caetani, cardinal deacon of Santi Cosma e Damiano, see Daniel Waley, ‘Caetani, Benedetto’, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 16 (Rome, 1973), pp. 12–6. 9 Caravita 1, appendix, doc. 1, p. 207; Caravita 2, pp. 42–4. 10 Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab anno p. Ch. n. 1198 ad annum 1304, ed. August Potthast, 2 vols (Berlin, 1874–), vol. 2, nos 24408, 24410, 2409, 24697, 2011; Les registres de Boniface VIII, ed. Georges Digard et al., 4 vols (Paris, 1884–1939), vol. 1, doc. 1382, col. 02; doc. 1387, col. 03; doc. 1412, cols 11–12; doc. 184, col. 702; doc. 2066,ashgate.com col. 795; vol. ashgate.com 2, doc. 2611, col. 145–6; vol. 3, docs 3934–5, col. 9; Giovanni Mantese, Memorie storiche della Chiesa vicentina, vols (Vicenza, 192–82), vol. 2, Dal Mille al Milletrecento, pp. 316–2; Caravita 1, pp. 23–; Caravita 3, p. 92. © Copyrighted Material 262 The Debate on the Trial of the Templars (1307–1314) © Copyrighted Material Boniface VIII. Rinaldo’s task was both financial and political. He was in charge of an extraordinary collection of funds from the French clergy and the request for a loan from the king of France. He was also instructed to have the papal arbitration of the dispute between the kings of France and England over Gascony approved by both sovereigns and to publish it.