PIETY AND POOR RELIEF: CONFRATERNITlES IN MEDIEVAL CREMONA, C. 1334-1 499 Barbara Anna Sella Centre for Medieval Studies A Thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Toronto 'copyright by Barbara Anna Sella, 1996 National Library Bibliotheque nationale m*m of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON KIA ON4 OttawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive Licence allowing the exclusive pernettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prster, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique . The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent &re imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on confraternal piety and poor relief in the northern Italian city of Cremona between the mid-fourteenth century and the end of the fifteenth century. It draws upon previously unedited archival documents (Latin and Italian statutes, contracts, letters, and account books) housed in Cremona's Archivio di Stato. The records of the Consortium of the Donna (f. 1334) and the Consortium of St. Omobono (f. 1357) were examined to show the origin, character, and activities of these two confraternities. One result of this research concerns the reasons for and the methods by which the cult of the Virgin's conception spread throughout northern Italy in the mid-fourteenth century. The cult spread both because Franciscan friars sponsored lay confraternities in honor of the Virgin's conception, and because the feast so closely resembled other well-established Marian feasts. More importantly, although these new confraternities were founded a generation after Duns Scotus had presented his defense for the Virgin's "immaculaten conception, confraternal statutes suggest that the Franciscans were not openly publicizing the irnmaculist position of their Order. A second conclusion is that the Consortium of St. Omobono was founded not just to promote charity and combat heresy, but also to restore some of the civic pride of a city that in 1334 had been conquered and incorporated into the Duchy of Milan. The establishment of a confraternity in honor of Cremona's patron saint gave the Cremonese a renewed sense of their own unique identity. Furthermore, it gave the confraternity's administrators a sense of purpose and autonomy in relation to the Milanese authorities. A third result pertains to the transformation and rationalization of confraternal charity in northern Italy. Here the work of the Cremonese confraternities is compared with that of charities in neighboring Milan (particularly the Scuola delle Cluattro Marie). Innovations included the adoption of city-wide distributions, double entry accounts, and identifying tokens. These innovations permitted the confraternities to assist the poor on a larger scale than previously recognized. iii I am indebted to Professor Andre Vauchez who first suggested I work on Cremonese confraternities and to Dr. Maria Luisa Corsi, director of the Archivio di Stato in Cremona, for greatly facilitating my research. My teachers-Joe Goering, John Munro, George Rigg, Giulio Silano, and Andrew Watson--encouraged and expertly guided me. Their invaluable suggestions saved ne from many an error. I especially wish to thank my advisor. Brian Stock, for all his kindness, wise advice, and constant support. am also very grateful to my colleagues in the University of Richmond Department of History for their many words of encouragement, especially John Gordon and Fran Underhill. A special word of thanks to Debbie Govoruhk for painstakingly typing all the tables and for helping me in innumerable other ways. Anna Kim graciously read several chapters and made many useful suggestions. To Peter Casarella I am deeply beholden not only for reading and commenting on the entire dissertation, but also for providing me with inspiration and hope. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my parents to whom I dedicate this dissertation. Without their faith and love none of this would have been possible. CONTENTS A ckno wledgmen ts iv List of Tables vii Introduction 1 The History of Cremona to 1499 2 The Consorzio della Donna 3 The Consorzio di S. Omobono 4 Medieval Poverty and Poor Relief 5 Confraternal Charity in Milan and Cremona Conclusion Appendix 1 : Document Descriptions and Editorial Practices Appendix 2: Statutes of the Consorzio della Donna Appendix 3: Letter of Ugolino Ardengherio, Bishop of Crernona, Establishing a Confraternity in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Omobono Appendix 4: English Translation of Bishop Ugolino's 1357 Letter Appendix 5: Weights and Measures in MedievaI Milan and Cremona Appendix 6: Explanatory Note to Table 3 Bibliograph y 1 Average price of one stab of wheat bread in Milan, 1447-1451 (in denari im~eriali) 2 Income and charitable expenses of Milan's Scuola delle Quattro Marie, 1447-145 1 (in lire imoeriali) 3 Approximate annual distribution of food and clothing to the poor by Milan's Scuola delle Quattro Marie, 1447-1451 4 Approximate number of persons receiving 500 grams of bread daily from Milan's Scuola delle Quattro Marie, 1447-1451 5 Approximate annual distribution of grain to the poor by Cremona's Consorzio della Donna, 1477-1 48 1 6 Missing and surplus bread of Cremona's Consorzio della Donna, 1477-1481 (in kg.) 7 Approximate number of persons receiving 500 grams of flour or bread weekly from Cremona's Consorzio della Donna, 1477-1481 vii introduction The last twenty years have seen a growing interest in the subject of medieval and early modern lay confraternities.' New interdisciplinary approaches in this area have extended the limits of historical inquiry and challenged older conceptions of medieval society. Giles Meersseman's Ordo fraternitatis, for example, is an important collection of confraternal statutes and letters of indulgence. Meersseman uses these to trace the history of In addition to the works cited below, some of the most important recent monographs include Ida Magli, Gli uornini della oenitenza (1967; with new introd., Milan: Garzanti, 1977); Giancarlo Angelozzi, Le confraternite laicali. Un' esnerienza cristiana tra medioevo e eta modern3 (Brescia: Queriniana, 1978); Ronald Weissman, Ritual Brotherhood in Renaissance Florence (New York: Academic Press, 1982); Luciano Orioli, Le confraternite medievali e il problema della ~overtZI.Lo statuto delta Com~aaniadi Santa Maria Veraine e di San Zenobio di Firenze nel secolo XIV (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1984); James R. Banker, Death in the Community: Memorialization and Confraternities in an Italian Commune in the Late Middle Aae~(Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 1988); Christopher Black, Italian Confraternities in the Sixteenth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989); Maureen Flynn, Sacred Charitv: Confraternities and Social Welfare in Soain. 1400-1700 (Ithaca. N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1989); John Henderson, Pietv and Charitv in Late Medieval Florence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994); Nicholas Terpstra, #a (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995). Announcements, reviews, and short articles are published in Confraternitas: The Newsletter of the Societv for Confraternitv Studies, vol. 1 (1990). medieval lay piety and to disprove the old sectarian view that the medieval Church largely ignored the spiritual life of the laity.? Brian Pullan, in his excellent book, Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice, examines statutes, membership lists, and financial records to describe the transformation of the Scuole Grandi from devotional confraternities into philanthropic institutions and to explain their social and political roles.3 By the fifteenth century, the Scuole Grandi had become both major providers of poor relief and important instruments of state policy. The Venetian government, for example, obliged the Scuole to pay their poor members to serve in the navy's galleys. The government also used the magnificent processions of the Scuole Grandi in civic ceremonies as political propaganda intended to impress foreign dignitaries. Pullan's analysis of the members' social backgrounds questions the assumption that confraternities fostered social egalitarianism. The Venetian Scuole Grandi may have been founded on principles of spiritual and social equality, but they soon divided into distinct orders of rich and poor, in which the rich brothers financed and controlled all the important operations while the poor brothers received alms for performing less dignified tasks. Pullan's study also refutes the established view that Catholic charity, in contrast to Protestant poor relief, Ordo fraternitatis. Confraternite e ~ietsdei laici nel medioevq, 3 vols. (Rome: Herder, 1977). 3& 3& State. to 1620 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 19711. was indiscriminate and demoralizing. The Scuole normally dispensed their charity not to hordes of professional