Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125–1325

by Augustine Thompson

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.

Genres: Italy, History, Medieval, Nonfiction, Medieval History, Religion

520 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

order of preachers

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book. Augustine Thompson addresses the fact that the Italian communes (Italian cities from about 1125-1325) are frequently depicted as solely political, as secular institutions separate from the ecclesiastical life of the city. Instead, Thompson points out that the communes were deeply, fundamentally religious and that is paints an incomplete picture to look at them any other way. In many ways, it's the Italian commune version of Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580, Second Edition: both take groups that are frequently viewed as secular and carefully examines their spiritual tendencies.

Overall, Thompson is very successful. The first half of his book is especially effective. He explores spaces in the cities, from the cathedral and piazzas down to the parish churches, and show that at many levels they were spiritual and political locales. The commune itself frequently defined itself by the support of patron saints and religious festivals often doubled as celebrations of communal solidarity.

The book has a similar problem to Duffy's, however: in seeking to prove that the communes were spiritual, Thompson occasionally overcorrects and perhaps exaggerates the piety of his subjects. Many of the sources are saints lives and prescriptive treatises. While such sources are certainly helpful, it's a bit risky to assume the degree to which they were reflected in actual lay practice. Similarly, while statements legislating against bad behavior in religious spaces suggests a concern for piety, it also suggests that there's a need to stop bad behavior within the community. Also, a degree of comparative work would have been helpful to see if Thompson's observations held true for cities outside the Italian peninsula.

Still, it's a fantastic book to read. It also doubles nicely as a primer for lay spirituality in the Middle Ages as a whole, especially Thompson's later chapters on the mass, the liturgical years (and its rituals), and individual prayer. Plus, the book ends with one of the most fascinating medieval anecdotes I've ever come across, a really gripping story that deals with the aftermath of a man from Bologna named Bompietro being accused of heresy and his neighbors' reaction to it.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an academic compilation, not bedtime reading. Still, I enjoyed my time with it. I certainly don't need to read it again for a while.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading Google Books ebook edition…