Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety: Caterina Vigri and the Poor Clares in Early Modern Ferrara 9789048534999

Table of contents :
Contents
List of Plates and Figures
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Pious Women of Corpus Christi
2. Building a Public Image of Piety
3. The Sette Armi Spirituali and its Audience
4. Drawing for Devotion: Sister Caterina’s Breviary
5. Corpus Christi’s Later Religious and Civic Identity
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix I
Appendix II
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Visual and Material Culture, 1300–1700 A forum for innovative research on the role of images and objects in the late medieval and early modern periods, Visual and Material Culture, 1300–1700 publishes monographs and essay collections that combine rigorous investigation with critical inquiry to present new narratives on a wide range of topics, from traditional arts to seemingly ordinary things. Recognizing the fluidity of images, objects, and ideas, this series fosters cross-cultural as well as multi-disciplinary exploration. We consider proposals from across the spectrum of analytic approaches and methodologies. Series Editor Dr. Allison Levy, an art historian, has written and/or edited three scholarly books, and she has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association of University ­Women, the Getty Research Institute, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library of Harvard ­University, the Whiting Foundation and the Bogliasco Foundation, among others. www.allisonlevy.com.

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan ­Piety Caterina Vigri and the Poor Clares in Early Modern Ferrara

Kathleen G. Arthur

Amsterdam University Press

Cover illustration: Guglielmo Giraldi and Ferrarese nun-artist, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. W.342, 1466, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. (Photo: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Md). Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Newgen/Konvertus Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. isbn 978 94 6298 433 2 e-isbn 978 90 4853 499 9 doi 10.5117/9789462984332 nur 685 © K.G. Arthur / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2018 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher.

Contents List of Plates and Figures

7

Acknowledgments13 Abbreviations15 Introduction17 1. The Pious Women of Corpus Christi

23



Bernardina Sedazzari’s House in Via Praisolo

24



Leaders of the Community

26



The Inventory of 1426: Ecclesiastical Vestments

27



Relics, Devotional Objects and Art

30



From Urban Hermits to Cloistered Nuns

37

2. Building a Public Image of Piety

41



San Guglielmo as a Poor Clares ‘Anti-Model’ 

42



Building the First Church and Convent

46



The Poor Clares Form of Life53

The Entombment and Adoration of the Host Altarpieces

57

3. The Sette Armi Spirituali and its Audience

67



The Corpus Christi Community 1431–5668

Women’s Education in Ferrara, Mantua and Urbino

71

6



WOMEN, ART AND OBSERVANT FR ANCISCAN PIE T Y

Corpus Christi Library and Lectio Divina74

The Sette Armi Spirituali and Teaching Novices

76

4. Drawing for Devotion: Sister Caterina’s Breviary

87



Nuns’ Artwork: Aesthetic, Medium and Materials

89



The Kalendar and Psalter

94



Personalizing her Breviary: The Temporale and Hymnarium97



Poverty, Penitence and Franciscan Saints in the Sanctorale105

Vigri’s Man of Sorrows and the Gaude Virgo Mater Christi114 5. Corpus Christi’s Later Religious and Civic Identity

119

The Sette Armi Spirituali and Observant Reform

120



The Community and Casa Romei

132



The d’Este Duchesses as Patrons

139



Later Fifteenth-Century Art and Visual Culture

143



Corpus Christi as a Pantheon of d’Este Women

151

Conclusion153 Notes157 Appendix I

199

Appendix II

203

Bibliography211 Index237

List of Plates and Figures Colour Plates Plate I.

Simone dei Crocifissi, Dream of the Virgin, c.1350, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.) Plate II. Ferrarese/Paduan Master, Entombment of Christ, c.1450‒60. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Finsiel/Alinari/Art Resource, NY.) Plate III. Ferrarese/Paduan Master, Entombment of Christ, detail, Saints Clare, Mary Cleofa and Salome, c.1450‒60, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.) Plate IV. Caterina Vigri, Advent Frontispiece, fol. 10r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Plate V. Caterina Vigri, Christ with Adoring Nun, fol. 149v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Plate VI. Caterina Vigri, Saint Clare Lover of Poverty, fol. 378r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Plate VII. Caterina Vigri, Saint Francis and Brother Sun, fol. 443r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Plate VIII. Caterina Vigri, Man of Sorrows, fol. 105v, Ms. 35 no.4, Archivio Generale Arcivescovile, Bologna (Photo: Courtesy of Archivio Generale Arcivescovile, Bologna.)

Black & White Figures Fig. 1.1. Liturgical vestments, vessels and linens: 1) Amice; 2) Alb; 3) Cincture; 4) Stole; 5) Maniple; 6) Chasuble; 7) Deacon’s Stole; 8) Dalmatic; 9) Folded Dalmatic; 10) Broad Stole; 11) Purificator; 12) Pall; 13) Chalice Veil; 14) Burse; 15) Corporal. (Photo: after O’Brien, The Sacristan’s Manual for the Extraordinary Form.) Fig. 1.2. Naddo di Ceccarelli, Reliquary Tabernacle with Madonna and Child, c.1375. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD. (Photo: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.)

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Fig. 1.3. Simone dei Crocifissi, Dream of the Virgin, detail c.1350, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.) Fig. 1.4. Gesù Bambino, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 2.1. Church of San Guglielmo, plan, c.1770. (Photo: After Brisighella, Descrizione delle Pitture e Sculture della Città di Ferrara.) Fig. 2.2. Master of Verucchio (Francesco or Zantarino da Rimini), Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, mid-14th century, Museo di Casa Romei, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Polo Museale dell’Emilia-Romagna.) Fig. 2.3. Antonio di Recchis (‘Antonio da Ferrara’), Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, c.1400, Museo di Casa Romei, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Polo Museale dell’Emilia-Romagna.) Fig. 2.4. Gaetano Frizzi, Plan of the ‘Isola Clarissa’, detail, 1811 (Archivio Periti, Busta 297), Archivio di Stato, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Archivio di Stato, Ferrara.) Fig. 2.5. Courtyard beside Church and Campanile, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, c.1800. (Photo: After Calura, Corpus Domini, Casa Romei, 1934.) Fig. 2.6. Church façade, Via Campofranco, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, c.1770‒1909. (Photo: After Melchiorri, La Santa nella Storia, La Letteratura, e l’Arte.) Fig. 2.7. Church façade, Via Campofranco, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, 1910‒present. (Photo: Author.) Fig. 2.8. Arcade toward Via Praisolo, site of pinzochere houses, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 2.9. Courtyard and Garden, between pinzochere houses and church, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 2.10. Saints Francis and Clare, Document box, c.1450‒1500, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 2.11. Baldassare d’Este (Vicino da Ferrara), Entombment of Christ, detail, c.1475, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.) Fig. 2.12. Entombment of Christ, detail, face of Christ, c.1450‒60, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.) Fig. 2.13. Entombment of Christ, detail, Saints Anthony, Francis, John the Evangelist, c.1450‒60, Pinacateca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.) Fig. 2.14. Entombment of Christ, detail, Bernardino of Siena, c.1450‒60, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.)

List of Plates and Figures

Fig. 2.15. Andrea Mantegna, Saints Anthony and Bernardino of Siena Adoring the Holy Name, 1452, Museo Antoniano, Padua. (Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.) Fig. 2.16. Domenico Mona, Saints Francis and Clare Adoring the Eucharist, c.1575, Santa Chiara, Carpi. (Photo: After Garuti, Il Monastero di Santa Chiara in Carpi, p. 57.) Fig. 3.1. Geographic Origins of Corpus Christi’s Novices, 1430‒1500. (Map/ Diagram: Author.) Fig. 3.2. Master delle Vele, Allegory of Obedience, detail, c.1320, Lower Church, Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi. (Photo: akg-images, London.) Fig. 3.3. Christ Tempted on the Mountain, fol. 13v, Speculum Humanae Salvationis, c.1400, Ms. Latin 511, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. (Photo: Permission of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.) Fig. 3.4. Baccio Baldini, Saint Anthony Abbot with Eleven Scenes of His Life, c.1460s‒85, Pavia. (Photo: After The Illustrated Bartsch, permission of the Musei Civici del Castello Visconteo, Pavia.) Fig. 3.5. Bolognese Illuminator, Poor Clare Nun before the Crucifix, fol. 51r, Sette Armi Spirituali, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 3.6. Lippo di Dalmasio Workshop, Madonna del Pomo, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 3.7. Madonna of the Confraternity of Santa Maria de’ Servi of San Biagio, from Serie di Varie Immagini di Maria Santissima Madre del Divin Redentore, 1771, fig. 106. (Photo: Author, permission of the Biblioteca Comunale Archiginnasio, Bologna.) Fig. 4.1. Needlepoint, Reticella and Drawnwork, Lace Panel, 16th century, Italy, linen, 9.6 x 11.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Gift of J. H. Wade 1920.1109. (Photo: The Cleveland Museum of Art.) Fig. 4.2. Caterina Vigri, Initial P, fol. 272v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.3. Caterina Vigri, Initial A, fol. 220r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.4. Psalter, text and foliate decoration, fol. 203r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

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Fig. 4.5. Caterina Vigri, Initial S, fol. 226r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.6. Caterina Vigri, Head of Christ, fol. 194r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.7. Caterina Vigri, Infant Christ Child, fol. 220r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.8. Caterina Vigri, Swaddled Christ Child, fol. 30v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.9. Caterina Vigri, Thomas Becket, fol. 38r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.10. Caterina Vigri, Apostle Paul, fol. 55v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.11. Caterina Vigri, Head of Christ, fol. 71v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig.4.12. Caterina Vigri, Caterina de Vigris soror semper indigna, fol. 172r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.13. Caterina Vigri, Anthony of Padua, fol. 327v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.14. Caterina Vigri, Mary Magdalen, fol. 362v, St. Catherine’s Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.15. Caterina Vigri, Christ Child with Adoring Nun, fol. 378v, Breviary, Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.16. Caterina Vigri, Jerome, fol. 424r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.17. Caterina Vigri, Francis, fol. 427r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.18. Caterina Vigri, Initial A, ‘Sanctus Franciscus pater meus’, fol. 427v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

List of Plates and Figures

Fig. 4.19. Caterina Vigri, Catherine of Alexandria, fol. 465r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.) Fig. 4.20. Anonymous, Christ as Man of Sorrows, single-leaf woodcut (Schr. 891), North German, c.1430, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. (Photo: Permission of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.) Fig. 5.1. Taddeo Crivelli/Guglielmo Giraldi Workshop, Christmas Eve Vision, fol. 1r, Ms. I.354, c.1465‒70, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.2. Taddeo Crivelli/Guglielmo Giraldi Workshop, detail, Christmas Eve Vision, fol. 1r, Ms. I.354, c.1465‒70, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.3. Ferrarese nun-artist, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. I.356, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.4. Ferrarese nun-artist, detail, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. I.356, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.5. Guglielmo Giraldi and Ferrarese nun-artist, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. W.342, 1466, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. (Photo: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.) Fig. 5.6. Guglielmo Giraldi, Beata Caterina Vigri, fol. 185v, Ms. Ludwig IX, 13, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA. (Photo: Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA.) Fig. 5.7. Ferrarese Nun-artist, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, fol. 6v, Franciscan Miscellany, c.1467, Convent Archives, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.8. Gentile da Fabriano, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, c.1420, Fondazione Magani Rocca. (Photo: Scala/Art Resources, NY.) Fig. 5.9. Ferrarese Nun-scribe, Saint Clare as Protector of Poor Clares, fol.7r, Franciscan Miscellany, c.1467, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.10. Ferrarese Nun-scribe, I Fioretti di Sant Francesco, fol. 26r, Ms. Gamma G.4.3, 1488, Biblioteca Estense Universitària, Modena. (Photo: Author, permission of the Biblioteca Estense Universitària, Modena.)

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Fig. 5.11. Gaetano Frizzi, Plan of ‘Isola Clarissa’, detail with addition of Casa Romei (Archivio Periti, Busta 297), Archivio di Stato, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Archivio di Stato di Ferrara.) Fig. 5.12. Second Grand Cloister, Casa Romei with the YHS monogram, c.1450. (Photo: Author, permission of Museo di Casa Romei/Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna.) Fig. 5.13. First Cloister, Casa Romei, c.1450. (Photo: Author, permission of Museo di Casa Romei/Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna.) Fig. 5.14. Chamber of the Sibyls, Casa Romei, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Museo di Casa Romei/Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna.) Fig. 5.15. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, c.1490‒99. Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.16. Saint Barbara, Malines/Mechlin Figurine, 1515‒20, Musée National de Moyen-Àge de Cluny, Paris. (Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY.) Fig. 5.17. Master of the Vienna Passion, ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’, Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy and Margaret and Letter from James of the Marches, c.1460‒70s, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.) Fig. 5.18. Master of the Vienna Passion, detail, Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy and Margaret, c.1460‒70s, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

Acknowledgments Undergraduate art history majors inspired my exploration of early Modern women artists, first with their questions, ‘But who were the women artists in the Renaissance?’ and later with their incredulous faces when I answered, ‘Women could not become artists at that time’. This prompted me to redirect my research from Florentine fourteenth-century art, the Black Death and the art of religious confraternities to broader issues of visual culture and art made by and for women in central and north Italian convents. This book could not have been written without the generous assistance of friends, colleagues and a great many institutions in Italy and the United States. I would like to thank the Poor Clare sisters at Corpus Domini, Ferrara, and Corpus ­Domini, B ­ ologna, who permitted access to their archives and convent structures, and ­facilitated ­photographic reproductions of documents and artworks which, from their ­perspective, are precious as devotional objects and holy relics of Saint ­Catherine of Bologna. I gratefully acknowledge the kindness of Poor Clares Paola Bentini and ­Mariafiamma Faberi, as well as other sisters in the communities. In the course of research, Poor Clare houses that helped in other ways include Santa Chiara (Carpi), Corpus D ­ omini (Urbino) and Monteluce (Perugia). I wish to thank the Franciscan Institute of Saint Bonaventure U ­ niversity and the network of Franciscan, Poor Clare and secular c­ olleagues in the group Women in the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition (WIFIT). A ­ lthough my research sometimes turns towards nuns in other religious orders, they remain in supportive contact. Any scholar working abroad owes an extraordinary debt to Italian colleagues, archivists and museum staff who generously share their knowledge of local collections. I would like to thank Don Enrico Peverada of the Archivio Storico Diocesano, Ferrara, for his accessibility and aid tracking down documents; Antonio Spaggiari and staff of the Archivio di Stato, Modena, for help with the d’Este archives; Mirna Bonazza, head of manuscript/rare books, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara; Andrea Sardo, director of the Museo di Casa Romei, and Mario Fanti, ex-director of the Archivio Generale Arcivescovile, Bologna. The Archivio di Stato and Archivio Storico Comunale, Ferrara, helped with documents regarding displacement of objects during the Napoleonic Suppressions; expert staff and technicians at the Archivio di Stato, Mantova; Archivio di Stato, Florence; the Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, Perugia; the Archivio di Stato, Verona; the Archivio di Stato, Milan; the Biblioteca dell’Università, Pavia; the Archivio Archivescovile, Firenzuola, all provided access to related nuns’ manuscripts. In addition, a debt of gratitude is owed to Assistant Curator of Books and Manuscripts, Lynley Anne Herbert, and The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD; Dagmar Korbacher, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen, Berlin; the Bodleian ­Library, Oxford; The British Library, London; the Biblioteca Berio, Genoa; Biblioteca

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Comunale Archiginnasio, Bologna; and most of all, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, which year after year welcomes foreign scholars. Among Italian and American colleagues who inspired my study of north ­Italian art, as well as visual culture, women artists and religious devotional literature, are Liana De Girolami Cheney, Mary Garrard, Frederika Jacobs, Lezlie Knox, Kate Lowe, Gary Radke, Charles Rosenberg, Catherine Turrill, Jeryldene Wood, Antonella ­degl’Innocenti, Gabriella Zarri and Gianna Pomata. Presenting at the conference ‘I Monasteri come Centri di Cultura Femminili’ in Bologna in 2000 ignited my interest in Corpus Domini, Ferrara. I gratefully acknowledge the grants and research support from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA. Special thanks are due to friends and colleagues Michael Allain, Joanne Charbonneau, Martha Dunkelman, Sarah M. James, Alessandro Gentili, Gianluca Lastraioli, Melissa Moreton, Thessy Schoenholzer, Sean Roberts and George Wead, who have read drafts of the text, related conference papers and articles, or contributed specialized knowledge of Renaissance music, embroidery and lace, nuns’ colophons and Latin terminology. In addition, I am grateful to Erika Gaffney, associate editor, Visual Studies Series, Amsterdam U ­ niversity Press, who wisely guided me through the publication process. Finally, I express my appreciation to my husband, Tom, for his e­ ncouragement, ­literary criticism and support during the long gestation of the book. Sons M ­ ichael, Adam, Ben and Rob each contributed in different ways, especially Ben and ­daughter-in-law Heidi, who shared a first research trip through the small towns in Emilia-­Romagna that were the political and cultural centers in Caterina Vigri’s world.

Abbreviations Baltimore, MD, USA The Walters Art Museum (WAMBa) Bologna Archivio di Stato (ASBo) Archivio Generale Arcivescovile, Archivio della beata Caterina (AGABo) Archivio del Convento di Corpus Domini (ACDBo) Biblioteca Comunale Archiginnasio (BCABo) Biblioteca Universitària (BUBo) Ferrara Archivio del Convento di Corpus Domini (ACDFe) Archivio di Stato (ASFe) Archivio Storico Comunale (ASCFe) Archivio Storico Diocesano (ASDFe) Bibliotecta Comunale Ariostea (BCAFe) Florence Biblioteca Riccardiana (BRFi) Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (BNCFi) London, The British Library (BLLo) Mantua, Archivio di Stato (ASMa) Milan Archivio di Stato (ASMi) Biblioteca Ambrosiana (BAMi) Modena Archivio di Stato (ASMo) Biblioteca Estense Universitària (BEUMo) Oxford, Bodleian Library (BLOx) Perugia, Biblioteca Comunale Augusta (BCAPe)

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA University of Pennsylvania Library (UPPh) Vigri/Vegri, Caterina, ed. Degl’Innocenti, Le Sette Armi Spirituali (SAS-Degl’Innocenti) Bembo, Illuminata, ed. Mostaccio, Specchio di Illuminazione (SdI-Mostaccio)

Introduction In the summer of 1455 Duke Borso d’Este received a letter from the Bishop of F­ errara, Francesco dal Legname, warning him that Ferrara might lose one of its most illustrious nuns. The bishop had heard from the abbess of the Poor Clares convent of Corpus Christi that their mistress of novices, Sister Caterina Vigri, had been selected as abbess of a new house in Bologna. Borso replied through his secretary, Ludovico Casella, reassuring him that something would be worked out so that Ferrara would not lose ‘that holy woman’.1 The woman in question had been Borso’s childhood com�� panion at the d’Este court and a lifelong friend of his sister Margherita d’Este. Neither the bishop nor the duke could prevent Vigri’s departure for Bologna with a dozen sisters on 22 July, 1456. Corpus Christi continued to flourish, but only later did Ferrara replace this holy woman who had benefited Ferrara’s reputation and helped maintain the wellness of the civic body. The incident is an extraordinary testament to the civic status of an enclosed nun. Now known as Corpus Domini but called ‘Corpus Christi’ in the fifteenth century (the name that will be used in this text), this convent was for 30 years home to the mystic, writer, teacher and nun-artist Caterina Vigri (1413‒63), who later became Saint Catherine of Bologna. This volume focuses on the formative period of her life, her writings and her artwork in the convent culture of the Poor Clares in Ferrara. The Observant Franciscan spirit is epitomized in her charismatic teaching as ‘Mistress of Novices’. Her large body of writings based on scriptural, Patristic and ­Franciscan sources suggest that she and her audience were mostly literate, well-educated women. Using her own ‘little book’, she taught poverty, humility, active prayer and obedience. Her reputation for holiness, fasting and prayer fueled the convent’s dynamic growth and patronage, and helped establish its pious reputation. Vigri’s Sette Armi Spirituali has been studied as a private spiritual treatise reflecting mystical visions of Christ, but it is also a practical didactic text for aspiring nuns. Sister Caterina vividly recounts her visions of Christ, and the machinations of the devil, who appears in the guise of the Virgin or even Christ himself. She employs visual metaphors that must have captured the attention of even the most bored and distracted novice. Besides the Sette Armi Spirituali, her mysticism is reflected in her copying and heavily illustrating a 500-page breviary. This codex, held as a holy relic, has lacked a modern study with description and analysis of relationships between the text, personal rubrics and saints’ drawings. Sister Caterina’s unique breviary is presented here as an expression of the mystical, meditative aspects of her Observant Franciscan devotion. This volume reaches beyond Caterina Vigri’s best-known works to examine her early roots in an Augustinian-inspired house of semi-religious women (called pinzochere or bizzoche) founded in c.1410. It reconstructs their independent, urban,

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Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

semi-religious lifestyle based on extant and lost artworks, relics and material objects listed in an inventory of 1426, all of which demonstrate their work as needlewomen producing and repairing ecclesiastical vestments. The inventory provides evidence of the furnishing of their house with altarpieces, relics and ritual objects associated with the Virgin Mary, the Eucharist and Gesù Bambino. The text investigates how they engaged with these artistic cult objects, and what occurred as they were drawn into a process of ‘conventualization’, in which the Church regularized the community through the collaboration of women from the d’Este, Malatesta and Pio da Carpi families and the Observant Franciscans. Besides exploring the pinzochere background, this book aims to uncover the women’s networks that fueled the growth of Corpus Christi, and to provide a welldocumented history of its development. Unlike many women’s convents, the extant archives and women’s own writings support a monographic-type study that provides evidence of women’s lives in a period about which scholars often have fragmentary knowledge and must rely on theories and hypotheses. Close attention is paid to the social character, literacy and interrelationships linking the nuns with the d’Este rulers and other regional courts. Individual nuns’ professions, lives in religion and social and educational status can be tracked for 135 women who passed through the convent c.1420‒c.1520. At first, the new Poor Clares were deeply concerned with building a public reputation for Observant piety that contrasted with the older Urbanist Poor Clares at San Guglielmo. The adoption of Clare’s Prima Regola (First Rule) after John of Capistrano’s 1447 clarification of its ‘modern’ usage, helped cement their reputation. Their architecture, art and visual culture demonstrate this goal as well. In the mid-fifteenth century the church received two new altarpieces, the Entombment of Christ and the Adoration of the Host, which perfectly encapsulated the dedication to ‘Corpus Christi’, or the Body of Christ, and represented a ‘Franciscanization’ of the entombment theme. After Sister Caterina Vigri departed in 1456 to establish Corpus Domini in B ­ ologna, the Ferrarese convent found fresh leadership and stronger connections with the ­d’Este family, and reinvented themselves with new civic, political and educational agendas. Vigri’s artistic legacy endured through production of Sette Armi ­Spirituali copies and other Franciscan texts. Although the first Observant reformers died by 1465, Corpus Christi continued their devotion to San Bernardino of Siena. But when the merchant/courtier Giovanni Romei bequeathed his elegant Renaissance palace to the Poor Clares in the 1480s, their humble environment was transformed. ­Tripled in size, the convent accommodated novices, nuns, students or educande and ducal visitors who retreated there for meditation and prayer. Duchesses Eleonora ­d’Aragona, Isabella d’Este, Bianca Maria d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia all supported the convent, and Corpus Christi became a d’Este commemorative site. Duke Alfonso I d’Este, who stabilized the convent’s financial resources, chose burial there with his mother Eleonora d’Aragona and wife Lucrezia Borgia. This history illuminates the

Introduction

19

tensions in the revival of Francis and Clare’s original ideals of poverty and humility in the later fifteenth century. Born in Ferrara, Savonarola’s influence was felt in the growth of Dominican Observance. In the later fifteenth and early sixteenth century, the Poor Clares’ original mission adapted to new realities, the realpolitik of convent identity in the public civic space of Ferrara. This volume espouses the foundational principle of visual culture: that art history should not be a history of ‘the creation of masterpieces’, nor just public, religious, or, in this case, north Italian court art with its underlying or overt expression of political power and status.2 Further, it must encompass the art of women artists, even when their materials, media and imagery differ from professional standards and Renaissance court taste. Their inventive, idiosyncratic iconography and intuitive visual meanings, as Hamburger delineates them in the artwork of German nuns, are essentially creative, expressive, and revealing of their devotional experience.3 The impor��tance of considering the historical and religious context, the way the nuns engaged with their religious images, and their potential meanings in a cloistered women’s world is fundamental to the social and cultural history of art. While art, architecture and illuminated manuscripts at the d’Este court have garnered strong interest from scholars, such as Gundersheimer, Rosenberg, Boskovits, Campbell, Manca, Canova, Toniolo, Tuohy, Barstow and others, the art of Ferrarese convents has attracted less attention.4 Apart from archival research by religious historians, including Samaritani, Franceschini, Lombardi, Peverada and Superbi, few published studies exist on convents that housed a large number of women in the later fifteenth-century.5 There is no Ferrarese equivalent to ­Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, and local h ­ istorical fonts from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries offer only sketchy accounts of artworks within enclosure.6 Coupled with the fact that Ferrara was strongly affected by the Napoleonic suppression of the monasteries, research prospects might look dim if it were not for the enormous data on donations and art patronage in the d’Este court records in the Archivio di Stato, Modena.7 As in other women’s convents, chronicles and necrologies provide essential internal records, while references to lost altarpieces can be found in d’Este court records and Corpus Christi archives. These materials, along with Lombardi’s essential work, I Francescani a Ferrara, lay a basis for rediscovering the convent’s social history, art, architecture and visual culture. The impact of gender studies has created an explosion in research on sixteenthcentury women artists, female convent culture, religious and laywomen’s art and architectural patronage, portraiture and manuscripts, but researching fifteenthcentury Italian nun artists has been more difficult due to problems identifying the personalities and their artworks.8 In 1996 Jeryldene Wood discussed Vigri’s paintings as expressions of Poor Clare spirituality, but subsequently scholars have removed most works from Caterina’s œuvre, so that only her personal breviary now

20 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

is considered autograph work.9 Fortunati and Leonardi adopted a thematic approach in their publication of Vigri’s breviary in 2004 that obscured the integrative creative process by which the nun copied, extensively annotated, and illuminated the ‘Divine Word’. The characterization of her drawing as ‘naïve and childlike’ does not enhance respect for and understanding of her artistic achievement.10 Despite theoretical models developed in Hamburger’s studies of German Nonnenarbeit, such careful, ­multidisciplinary approaches generally have not been deployed for fifteenth-century ­Italian nun artists. This is not true for early modern Italian women writers, devotional literature and convent education. Much progress has been made analyzing the writings of ­Franciscan saints and beate such as Clare of Assisi, Caterina Vigri, Camilla Battista ­Varano and Angela of Foligno (to name a few). New critical editions of Vigri’s w ­ ritings, including the Sette Armi Spirituali, the Rosarium Metricum, the Dodici Giardini, the Sermoni, the Laudi, Trattati e Lettere, as well as her sermons or lessons found in Casanova’s copies, have opened a rich vein of research, along with the critical edition of Illuminata Bembo’s Specchio di Illuminazione that provides material about Vigri’s life and intentions as a writer and artist.11 Scholars of late medieval Franciscan and Poor Clares history and literature, such as Delarun, Knox, Roest and Mooney, have led the way in examining the spread of the Observant Reform among Poor Clares, the Pre-Tridentine educational texts and convent practices, as well as the development of cults of Franciscan women leaders. As with the recent discovery a new life of Saint Francis, new texts may yet come to light. This religious research supports a multidisciplinary approach in art history and visual culture. A final note concerning the process of reconstructing the convent and its ­visual culture: the Napoleonic suppressions of 1797‒1814 complicate the history of all ­Ferrarese ecclesiastical institutions. When the Cisalpine Republic was declared in July 1797, the Ferrarese nobleman Giambattista Costabili (1756‒1841) was part of the ruling directorate. He already had inherited a library and art collection from his father, and when ecclesiastical property sales began, he acquired most ­Trecento and Quattrocento paintings from Corpus Christi, now known as Corpus Domini. In 1838‒41 his collection was meticulously catalogued by Camillo Laderchi, i­ncluding notations of provenance for 591 artworks.12 Along with French inventories and the nuns’ own documents, these sources form a reasonably accurate picture of the fifteenth-century convent. Given the arc of time, it is difficult to discern the artworks’ specific locations, but we can infer which ones constituted a public statement in the external church in contrast to artworks intended for the female religious audience in the nuns’ choir or internal convent. We cannot assume that all fourteenth- and fifteenth-century artworks from the convent were present in the 1400s; they may have been acquired when Santo Spirito was destroyed in 1512 and possessions were stored at Corpus Christi, or when the nuns from San Bernardino returned to Corpus Christi in 1798. With the decisive shift in artistic taste in Ferrara in the early sixteenth century

Introduction

21

due to the Raphaelesque style of Garofalo, fifteenth-century ­artworks were stored away and forgotten. The inventory of 1426 creates a firm boundary for describing their possessions at that time. Preserved fifteenth-century works from the ­Costabili Collection and works documented in inventories contribute to reconstructing the visual and material culture that was in more than one sense created by the ­Franciscan Observant Reform.

1. The Pious Women of Corpus Christi The Poor Clares convent of Corpus Christi began as a house of semi-religious women or Beguines (termed pinzochere or bizzoche in Italian) founded by a Ferrarese merchant’s daughter Bernardina da Giorgio Sedazzari between December 1406 and June 1407. This reflected a widespread late medieval movement towards women’s communities or ‘open monasteries’ influenced by the Devotio Moderna.1 The eighteenthcentury Ferrarese historian Baruffaldi called Corpus Christi an ‘informal female hermitical group’.2 In modern times, Sensi describes pinzochere as ‘hermits of the city’ who practiced a semi-religious life with moderate enclosure—visiting churches during the day, begging door to door, comforting the sick, even traveling long distances on pilgrimages.3 Gill and Herlihy portray them as ‘un-cloistered religious middle-class women who often worked in the fields of midwifery and medicine’.4 In Ferrara five or six such houses were established c.1400–1450 near the Augustinian Hermit convent of Sant’Andrea.5 Bernardina’s community, as well as another house founded by her sister Giovanna, formed part of this circle. The ‘hospital or oratory of Corpo di Christo’, as it was first called, had no relationship with San Guglielmo, the Poor Clares convent that had been founded c.1255. Sedazzari’s residence seems to have been a refuge for widows, poor women and orphans, a parallel to Franciscan tertiary communities founded by Angelina of Montegiove in Foligno, except that it was sanctioned by the local bishop and secular d’Este rulers, and not endowed with Papal recognition.6 As Lombardi notes, the women’s independent and open lifestyle is a fundamental point of departure for their history.7 Corpus Christi was studied first by Italian religious historians Samaritani and Lombardi, who viewed it as ‘a revealing case of the conventualization’ of north ­Italian pinzochere, and then by American scholars who saw its history in more sociological, anthropological and feminist terms. Samaritani presents the reform as a collaborative process between laywomen and bourgeois professional notaries who helped one resident, Ailisia de Baldo, establish a second Augustinian convent.8 Foletti, while investigating Caterina Vigri’s early life, finds religious strife within the community after its founder’s death.9 Peverada pursues a similar direction, examin�� ing the earliest bequests to the pinzochere for evidence of religious connections and social dynamics among three residents—Bernardina Sedazari, Lucia Mascheroni and Caterina Vigri.10 In contrast, McLaughlin, followed by others like King, formulates the pinzochere story as the tale of a middle-class laywoman, Verde Pio da Carpi, displaying unusual independence through her patronage and politically savvy actions.11 McLauglin’s characterization of the first twenty years of Bernardina’s house as full of ‘growing pains’, betrayed vows, dramatic conflicts between independent-minded Ferrarese noblewomen, the intermittent intervention of Marchese Niccolò d’Este III, and the Church’s influence through the Ferrarese bishop Pietro Boiardi (1401–31), is

24 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

still valid. But the question of why these women traded their independent lifestyles for subordination and claustration as Observant Poor Clares is unresolved. Genealogical and archival research reveals Franciscan and papal politics at work: Verde di Pio da Carpi was not the ordinary Ferrarese laywoman that scholars have believed, and Bernardina Sedazzari’s independence was not as unusual as it appeared.

Bernardina Sedazzari’s House in Via Praisolo Bernardina Sedazzari (c.1370–1425) personifies the life choices open to early fifteenthcentury women and represents the archetypal ‘independent woman’ of this time.12 She was the daughter of a Ferrarese gentleman, Gregorio Sedazzari, and the ­Venetian Lucia Zumignani de Tamisaris, whose surname suggests her father was involved in textile production.13 Bernardina’s mother probably died when she was a child because she was placed in the Benedictine Convent of San Silvestro, Ferrara, with a dowry of 100 ducats provided by her mother’s sister, Catarina de Tamisaris. This convent, an ancient foundation dating back to 1024, possessed a rich real estate patrimony that was under the exclusive control of the abbess.14 Bernardina left there at the age of eigh�� teen (c.1388), retaining her 100-ducat religious dowry, to live with her aunt in ­Venice. The decade of the 1390s in Venice may have affected her religious vocation. Lombardi suggests that Giovanni Dominici, reformer of the Dominican Corpus Domini in Venice, as well as Bartolomeo da Roma, who encouraged lay religious associations, inspired Bernardina’s ideas of semi-religious life. She apparently married in Venice, but returned in 1398 to San Silvestro, Ferrara, as a widow and received 50 ­ducats from a certain ‘Agnese, wife of Nicolo Abuletis’.15 By the age of 32, Sedazzari had accumu�� lated financial means of 200 ducats from female friends and r­ elatives.16 This chain of female inheritance and financial independence is more t­ ypical of ­Venice, where laws permitted women to invest independently in business and dispose of their own dowries in their wills.17 The formation of Corpus Christi resembles in some respects the early history of Corpus Domini, Venice, built by the nun Lucia Tiepolo on remote land owned by a widowed Venetian noblewoman.18 Bernardina’s mother’s Venetian background and her own experiences there must have been factors in her choice of a semi-religious women’s retreat. The early legal and religious character of Corpus Christi is definitely ambiguous. In a letter of 1 June, 1407 Bishop Pietro Boiardi described it as ‘a new monastery near the church of San Nicolo dedicated to Corpus Christi and the Visitation’.19 According to a notarial act of 13 July, 1407, Bernardina purchased ‘two houses enclosed by a wall that were suitable for four persons’, with the total measurements of 11.5 meters wide and 26.4 meters deep.20 The small scale means the residents were, in modern terms, a ‘micro-group’. It was unusual that Sedazzari purchased it during her lifetime instead of bequeathing property or possessions ‘to good and honest poor women who did

The Pious Women of Corpus Christi

25

not wish to live in convents’.21 The residential character fueled later debate over the precise ecclesiastical status of this community. Documents from 1425–26 call it an oratory or hospital ‘dicto oratorio’ or ‘oratorio hospitalis’, confirming it was not yet a convent.22 Even though the bishop called it a ‘monasterio’, its legal status as secular private property is confirmed by the fact that Nicolo III d’Este ruled on a petition from its occupants, which he would not have done if it had been under ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The pinzochere house was located in the northeastern part of the old city near San Silvestro, where Bernardina had once lived. The area was called ‘il praisolo’ because ducal pastureland had been enclosed by new city walls.23 It was in the general vicinity of Sant’Andrea, San Nicolo and Santa Maria del Vado, as well as the two Franciscan churches, San Francesco on Via Savonarola (begun 1221), and further east outside the city walls, Santo Spirito on Borgo della Pioppa (begun 1306), which in 1407 was being rebuilt under the patronage of Niccolò III’s administrative secretary Bartolomeo ­della Mella.24 The pinzochere lived near the hospital of the Battuti Bianchi (built in 1399), and the church of Sant’Antonio Abate on Via Saraceno founded by the brothers of Sant’Antonio di Vienne c.1410 with the patronage of Niccolò III.25 In this period the presence of pinzochere houses, churches and hospitals was considered beneficial to residential development. Niccolò III supported the women’s independence when the Church wished to incorporate them into the regular religious orders. He attempted to maintain secular control over Bernardina Sedazzari’s house, rather than ceding it to the Church. This zone was being transformed into a residential area for wealthy Ferrarese families like the Strozzi, Boini, Romei, Boccamaggiore and Savonarola.26 The building of new pious institutions made it all the more attractive. Bernardina may have intended to endow an Augustinian monastery or simply to follow the Augustinian rule, which was common for urban penitential groups.27 After Bernardina’s death on 2 April, 1425, during the settlement of the estate Alisia de ­Baldo testified that neither she nor Lucia Mascheroni ‘had ever been professed in any religious orders’.28 A document of 1431 states that the women followed a self-imposed Augustinian rule.29 Bernardina’s intentions seem ambiguous, interpreted as a mon�� astery by those like Bishop Boiardi who preferred a formal rule, enclosure and subjugation to ecclesiastical authority, or as house of pinzochere by independent-minded women seeking an informal, autonomous association. The promise that they intended to become regular professed nuns reassured the bishop and helped preserve their independence. The house was supported by both Bishop Pietro Boiardi and Marchese Niccolò III d’Este.30 The bishop issued indulgences and special permission to receive donations and charity for living expenses. In 1413 Niccolò III gave them the rights to buy property and make contracts up to 500 marchesane in Ferrara and its territories.31 They began to expand the dwelling in 1415, with Niccolò III laying the foundation stone.32 Construction was interrupted by the plague of 1417–18, when several residents probably died.33 In 1419 Pope Martin V authorized Niccolò Albergati,

26 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Bishop of Bologna, to transform the community into a convent of Augustinian nuns, but nothing occurred for more than a decade.34 It is significant that initial attempts to regularize the Augustinian pinzochere community date prior to Bernardina’s death.

Leaders of the Community Although the first document of 1407 refers to a house ‘large enough for four residents’, we can deduce that later there were six residents because in Caterina Vigri’s Sette Armi Spirituali she refers to ‘returning to the house with five companions’ in 1431.35 Several Ferrarese or Venetian women may have become pinzochere before they p ­ rofessed as Poor Clares. Three women were particularly important: Lucia ­Mascheroni (c.1404–77) who was the leader of the community from 1426 to 1431, Caterina Vigri (1413–63) who first appeared in 1426, taking refuge from the d’Este court where she had been lady-in-waiting to Niccolò III’s second wife, Parisina d’Este, who he executed for ­infidelity, and Ailisia di Baldo (c.1390–1461), who entered c.1425 and then left to establish the Augustinian convent of Sant’Agostino.36 Lucia Mascheroni (spelled variously Mascaroni, Mascherini, or Mascaruni) was described in Bernardina’s testament of 1426 as having lived at Corpus Christi for eighteen years and thus must have entered as a toddler in 1407 or 1408. She was the daughter of notary Giovanni Mascaroni, probably widowed in 1407, and had a brother Bartolomeo who lived next door. To explain why the house foundered after Bernardina’s death, Samaritani characterized Lucia as a less decisive leader than ­Bernardina, but this is speculation.37 He questions why Lucia went from opposing the moderate Augustinian rule to accepting the more ascetic rule of the Poor Clares.38 We now know that Lucia remained at Corpus Christi as a non-professed resident conversa or boarder, called a convitricia. Samaritani discovered she was alive in 1469, and Peverada found further documents showing her living both inside and outside Corpus Christi in the 1470s.39 Sometimes she was titled ‘Suor’ (sister) and other times as ‘Domina’ (lady). Her continuing convent connection is further confirmed by a fifteenth-century copy of the Sette Armi Spirituali (British Library, London) that is said to have belonged to ‘Sister Lucia di Mascherini’.40 Caterina Vigri, aged thirteen in 1426, was a young lady-in-waiting at the d’­Este court, although there had been no marchioness there since Parisina d’Este was beheaded for adultery in May 1425. After living through the drama of Parisina’s affair with her stepson (in which the donzelle were directly involved), Caterina turned to the security of a women’s community. Arriving in 1426, Caterina knew Bernardina by reputation, but her strong relationship with Lucia acquainted her with the ideals of the original group. An autobiographical reference in the Sette Armi Spirituali sheds light on this earliest period of her religious life. She refers to Lucia Mascheroni as the ‘first mother who welcomed her into the house and taught her the ways to serve

The Pious Women of Corpus Christi

27

God with charity and maternal affection’. Speaking to the novices, Vigri urges them to remember all Lucia’s work for them and the ways she preserved ‘this place which had been her humble residence with a good reputation [‘bona fama’], holy peace and honest life’.41 Vigri is the only one of the three women to achieve pious fame in both religious and secular worlds. In contrast to Lucia and Caterina, Ailisia de Baldo followed the original plan to join the Augustinian order. As Samaritani and McLaughlin surmise, Bernardina’s testament started a power struggle between Lucia, who vowed to maintain Corpus Christi’s lay status, and Ailisia de Baldo, who wanted to take Augustinian vows immediately.42 Bishop Boiardi took Ailisia’s side, and Lucia was expelled from the residence.43 Lucia and her brother Bartolomeo, who lived next door in a house that belonged to the oratory, appealed to Niccolò III d’Este for help, and the Marchese ruled in favor of Lucia.44 She returned to Corpus Christi in May 1426, but Ailisia purchased a­ nother house on 29 July, 1426, and moved out to establish the convent of Sant’Agostino. ­Lombardi and McLaughlin believe her departure left the future of Corpus C ­ hristi at the mercy of conflicting forces, and perhaps at risk of closure.45 Ecclesiastical ­authorities were anxious to have the remaining women become professed nuns in order to regulate their lifestyle, while Niccolò III was supportive of their independent lay status. Beyond the women’s desire for self-determination, a battle between ecclesiastical and lay authorities had developed.

The Inventory of 1426: Ecclesiastical Vestments In her testament of 2 April, 1425, Bernardina left all her possessions and property, described as ‘the place that is monastery, built and constructed by the testator’, to Lucia and her brother Bartolomeo di Giovanni Mascheroni.46 An inventory of pos��sessions was made on 6 July, 1426, which demonstrates the material wealth of the pinzochere house.47 Samaritani briefly notes that the items ‘give the impression of being produced by the community’.48 With half a dozen women and only a small chapel with two altars, these luxurious ecclesiastical and liturgical items were unlikely to have been made for their own use. A second look at Bernardina’s will further supports this interpretation: four out of eight witnesses were men involved in cloth production and trade: ‘Ser Anthonius sartor …, magister Urbanus lanarolus …, Nicolaus merzarius …, Nicolaus de Placentia lanarolus’.49 Bernardina’s closest associates were commercial tailors and cloth merchants. The large quantity of liturgical objects, vestments and altar cloths is surprising for a small, semi-religious house. More than 50 items of liturgical furnishing, artworks and vestments are listed.50 For their own religious observances, there were the chalices and patens, censers, two crosses, one pair of candelabra, two ‘old wooden altarpieces’, an ‘ancona with relics’ and a ‘wooden infant Christ child dressed in

28 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

multi-colour satin’. Three complete matching sets of vestments included ‘a chasuble of silk, also lined with silk, with a red cross, which had gold fringe, with a stole and maniple to match, with a tunic padded with red satin, amice and a liturgical ­corporal’.51 They had no less than nine silk and satin liturgical burse (fabric pouches used to ­contain the corporal or chalice veil for the mass) in white, red, green, turquoise and black; as well as cloth of gold, pink and brown brocade ‘ad intalios’, one with birds embroidered in mandalas (medallion shapes) and another decorated with crosses and flowers. Finally, they had 32 altar linens of various types, including corporals and chalice veils, as seen in this diagram of standard liturgical vestments and objects (Fig. 1.1).52 The ­valuable ecclesiastical garments may explain why, according to the 1426 document, ‘men came and broke down the door to take inventory’ upon ­Bernardina’s death.53 This inventory suggests that the pinzochere executed needlework similar to the Florentine pinzochere and nuns studied by Herlihy and Strocchia.54 Strocchia has documented the significant role played by the nuns at San Domenico nel Maglio and the Brigittine convent of Paradiso in producing gold thread and sewing ecclesiastical vestments for the growing silk industry.55 In Ferrara the semi-religious women seem to have specialized in stitching, embroidering, and, since there are several references to veteram fractum or older (antique) manufacture, repairing vestments and linens. The large number of linen altar-cloths bordered with silk or cotton oxellate (embroidered with birds) suggests this was one of their specialties.56 Similar artisan labor is recorded earlier among the Poor Clares of San Guglielmo: some nuns and nonprofessed women (converse) stitched luxury leather goods and even shoes.57 ­Whether on fabric or leather and executed by nuns or pinzochere, needlework provided ­additional income to supplement charitable donations, alms and bequests, as well as keeping the nuns occupied with honest work. The Corpus Christi inventory can be contextualized by cross-referencing items with church inventories written for Bishop Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano during pastoral visits in Ferrara and the Comacchio in the years 1432–45.58 This is a large databank of information on the artworks, liturgical objects, church furnishings, and manuscripts that has not been utilized as much as it could be for the study of material and visual culture. The bishop’s visits were intended to monitor the decoration of the altars, where the Holy Eucharist was kept, the condition of choral books, and how the rituals were being celebrated. In the process his secretaries listed everything they saw. They recorded vestments made of brocade (brocato), damask (damasco), satin (raso) and velvet (velluto), and even those made of canvas smelling of mold.59 The Venetian silks and satins used in priests’ vestments at Corpus Christi included ‘cloth with gold and green background’ (panno auri cum campo viridi), ‘red and brown cutwork cloth’ (panni rosati et morelli ad intaglios), or the ‘red taffeta with crosses and white flowers in the middle’ (zendali rubeo cum cruce et fioretis albis in medio). Along with these high-end products, the set of ecclesiastical vestments in white valessio

The Pious Women of Corpus Christi

29

Fig. 1.1. Liturgical vestments, vessels and linens: 1) Amice; 2) Alb; 3) Cincture; 4) Stole; 5) Maniple; 6) Chasuble; 7) Deacon’s Stole; 8) Dalmatic; 9) Folded Dalmatic; 10) Broad Stole; 11) Purificator; 12) Pall; 13) Chalice Veil; 14) Burse; 15) Corporal. (Photo: after O’Brien, The Sacristan’s Manual for the Extraordinary Form.)

30 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

silk, lined with valessio, complemented by a matching stole, maniple, tunic, amice and belt was one of the most elegant pieces.60 But even these are not as spectacular as some chasubles and altar cloths embroidered with patrons’ coats of arms, flowers, trees, lions, eagles, griffons, parrots and birds seen by the Bishop Tavelli in parish churches.

Relics, Devotional Objects and Art The religious objects comprised chalices and patens, censers, two crucifixes (one with relics), a pair of candelabra for the altar (ab altari), two old wooden altarpieces, an altarpiece (ancona) with saints’ relics, and a wooden infant Christ child dressed in multicolour taffeta. The presence of two crucifixes and three altarpieces suggests that by 1426 Corpus Christi had several altars, although the chapel must have been small, given the dimensions of the two houses and no mention of a separate church. They possessed all the requisite equipment for celebrating the Mass: a stand with a marble cup for holy water, censers, a box to contain the Blessed Sacrament, and a ‘crystal to display the Body of Christ, like a viaticum with a crystal cover’, as well as large and small bells. As Peverada points out, the monstrance or ‘ostensorio’ was used to display the Blessed Host not only for the Mass but also at other times. It may indicate an incipient Eucharistic cult of the body of Christ even before they became Poor Clares. Of primary importance is the altarpiece with saints’ relics (anchonam cum reliquis santorum) that belongs to a special category of panels with gilt frames with inset crystal or glazed glass compartments displaying saints’ relics.61 The panel-type with a central image framed with relics originated in Byzantium and became common in twelfth- or thirteenth-century Tuscany, while reliquary tabernacles often came from fourteenth-century Siena.62 Most tabernacles carried Marian imagery, as in Naddo di Ceccarelli’s reliquary tabernacle (The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD) (Fig. 1.2).63 Small transparent glass compartments held fragments wrapped in parchment with inscriptions identifying the objects. Relics were mainly saints’ bones, but in the Ceccarelli tabernacle they included saints’ clothing, pieces of tunics allegedly belonging to saints Francis and Agnes, lapidary relics, such as fragments of the table from the Last Supper and the column of the flagellation, and stones from the hill of Calvary or the Holy Sepulchre.64 Relics and metalwork reliquaries were common in northern Italy, especially in Venetian churches. A French pilgrim, stopping on his way to the Holy Land in 1425, was amazed at the relics he saw in Venice: the arms of saints George and Lucy, the heads of Cosmas and Damian, Saint Nicholas’s staff and molars, ashes from Saint Lawrence’s roasted flesh and other items.65 In Ferrara, among the most important relics were the arm of the city’s patron saint George,

The Pious Women of Corpus Christi

31

Fig. 1.2. Naddo di Ceccarelli, Reliquary Tabernacle with Madonna and Child, c.1375. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD. (Photo: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.)

bones of Bishop Maurelius that had been ‘rediscovered’ and reburied at San Giorgio in 1419, and droplets of Christ’s blood which appeared during Mass in 1171 at Santa Maria del Vado.66 Strangely enough, comparable reliquary panels with saints’ bones or clothing are not recorded in Tavelli’s inventories of parish churches.67 The prove��nance of Corpus Christi’s reliquary panel could be explained in several ways. Bernardina Sedazzari may have purchased it as a private devotional image during her years

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Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

in Venice.68 Alternatively, Niccolò III or one of his courtiers could have acquired it during an Easter pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1413. According to the journal of the voyage written by Luchino Dal Campo, Niccolò III’s visit to Jerusalem holy sites and the knighthood ceremony at the Holy Sepulcher were brief, but the men stopped for several days at Rhodes where they visited the castle, feasted, and viewed many relics that impressed them greatly.69 Niccolò III’s pilgrimage, as well as easy trading contacts between Ferrara and Venice, may account for the relics at Corpus Christi. The reliquary panel, the Crucifix ‘pictam de rubeo cum reliquis’, and the crystal for displaying the host were the most venerated objects, and we should consider what they meant to the pinzochere women. In Bynum’s study on Christian materiality, the collecting of relics and the audience response to their physical matter are investigated. She notes that in the fifteenth-century, people wanted objects—not words—and they hoped for not just seeing, but physically tasting the bread and the wine in the Eucharist. Materiality was not something to be marginalized under the rubric of ‘popular devotion’, which presumes a gulf between religious experience of ‘educated clergy’ and laypersons; by this time, she states, pious laywomen might be better informed about devotion than their confessors. In the 1400s in Europe, numerous instances of visions and miracles from bodily or contact relics show that they had the power to embody Christ or the saints, whether they were mimetic or not. In a related phenomenon, Saint Bernardino of Siena’s tablets of the Holy Name might trigger devotion through their physical presence, but also provide a resting place for the numinous presence.70 The relic in the ‘red Crucifix’ invested this object with the material presence of Christ’s body and blood, especially important in a house dedicated to Corpus Christi. These perceptions of the power of material objects must have been shared by the semi-religious women and the Poor Clares. The subjects and age of two other altarpieces (duas anchonas veteres ab altari) can be imagined by considering the house’s dedication to ‘Corpus Christi and the Visitation’ and looking at paintings that passed to the Poor Clares in 1431 and ultimately to the Costabili Collection. The Crucifixion, Man of Sorrows or Pietà, and patron saints of churches were the most common themes in Ferrarese churches in the 1430s–40s.71 In Bishop Tavelli’s inventories there is a systematic terminology for age and type: vetere (old), antiqua (ancient), and antiquissima (very ancient), and size range anchona magna (large altarpiece), anchona (altarpiece), and anchoneta pro altare (small altarpiece). In the case of the Corpus Christi panel, the use of the term vetere argues against a Byzantine or Venetian origin, since antiqua or antiquissina would be used to refer to the oldest Italo-Byzantine style. Judging by these language criteria, the pinzochere altarpieces were mid-sized and older, but not ancient, therefore most likely fourteenth-century works. As Longhi and others note, in this period Ferrara lacked local masters and imported many artworks and artists from nearby towns, such as Serafino dei Serafini from Modena (active 1349–93) and

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Cristoforo da Bologna (active 1360–1415).72 This general trend was probably true for Corpus Christi’s artworks. The Crucified Christ with the Dream of the Virgin or Radix Sancta (Colour plate I) has a clear provenance from the Costabili Collection back to Corpus Christi, and ­possibly to the pinzochere.73 The small panel (75 x 52 cm.) has a complex iconography uniting the Crucifixion with the theme of the sleeping Virgin attended by a woman reading. Varese classifies the type of panel as a finial, which he associated with a dismembered polyptych of the Madonna of Humility (Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino) and a predella with the life of the Virgin (National Gallery, Bologna).74 It is almost identical to a slightly larger second version originally in the Museum des Antiquaries, London.75 Analysis of the gold stamp patterns by Lodi confirms that it came from the bottega of Simone dei Crocifissi, master of Cristoforo da Bologna.76 While this could have been a finial design in Simone dei Crocifissi’s workshop, this does not preclude the possibility that it became a popular independent image or was re-purposed as a devotional panel. The subject Radix Sancta has raised iconographic questions that are still unresolved. Lacking obvious Biblical or textual parallels, critics have dwelled on the mystical nature of the image, its ‘bizarre fantasy with beautiful details’.77 Sgarbi pro��poses that the panel, which he states ‘was constantly before Caterina Vigri’s eyes’, inspired several lines in her poem the Rosarium Metricum.78 Varese re-examines tex��tual sources and focuses on the young woman reading at the left-hand side (Fig. 1.3). He suggests that she was a devotional figure, the reader who experiences a vision from the book she is holding.79 This would correspond to the practice of reading aloud and oral learning in convents and beguinages. In fact, since the woman is not clothed in a nun’s habit, she must represent a secular or semi-enclosed woman. In this sense, the iconography is especially appropriate for pinzochere women. The interpretation of the subject as a ‘dream theme’ relates it to prophecies in the Old and New Testaments and prayers to the Virgin, especially those recalling the Virgin as the New Eve and her role in defeating evil. Varese identifies the two miniature cities, so carefully disposed on either side of a valley filled by the Crucifix, as symbols of church and synagogue.80 Viewing it from the perspective of semi-religious women inspired by the Augustinian rule, the cities also may have been understood as earthly and heavenly spheres. While there are good reasons for placing this panel in an Augustinian semireligious environment, the subject may have been read differently after it passed to the Poor Clares convent. The nuns would have associated it with Clare’s vision of the Tree of the Cross rising from the Virgin Mary’s body described in chapters XXVI–VII of The Versified Legend of the Virgin Clare (1255), which discusses her love of the cross.81 In ‘A Certain Memorial of the Lord’s Passion’, Clare sleeps, but her spirit is reliving the suffering of Christ. A servant watches over her to remind her to eat. In Chapter XXVIII, ‘The Miracles performed by the Cross’, verse 1030 states ‘From these

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Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Fig. 1.3. Simone dei Crocifissi, Dream of the Virgin, detail c.1355–60, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.)

events it is clear that the cross was rooted in this Virgin’s breast’. Thus the imagery was appropriate for both the pinzochere and the Poor Clares. It remains one of the most compelling artworks from the early years at Corpus Christi. Another cult object was ‘a wooden infant doll dressed in pieced multicoloured taffetta’.82 This was almost certainly a Gesù Bambino doll that was either a threedimensional sculpture for the Christmas crèche or a two-dimensional thaumaturgic holy doll. The infant Christ sculptures functioned as public ritual objects primarily for the creche, while the flat, cut-out bambini holy dolls were common private cult objects for secular and religious women.83 The first type appears in Bishop Tavelli’s inventory in 1435 in the chapel of Santa Maria Bianca in the cathedral, described as ‘a small wooden child holding a red apple intended as an image of Jesus’. Tuscan infant Jesus sculptures grow more common after 1450; Desiderio da Settignano carved a standing blessing Christ child/Infant Jesus for a tabernacle in San Lorenzo, Florence, which was widely copied.84 Also around 1450, a famous Santo Bambino reputedly carved from olive wood in the Holy Land by a Franciscan monk was brought to Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, where it began performing miracles in the later fifteenth century.85 In 1486 the Benedictine female convent of Sant’Ambrogio della ­Massima, Rome, recorded ‘eight little infant Christs dressed in velvet and adorned

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Fig. 1.4. Gesù Bambino, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

with pearls’.86 Such a large group suggests they were used by novices and possibly carried to laypersons as thaumaturgic icons. A two-dimensional Gesù Bambino preserved in the Cappella della Santa, Corpus Domini, Bologna, is believed to have belonged to Caterina Vigri (Fig. 1.4).87 Although it was at one time attributed to the saint, Biancani convincingly denies Vigri’s authorship, tracing the development of the legend of her artworks to the seventeenthcentury canonization process.88 The flat board is cut out in the form of a swaddled child and covered with paper on which has been drawn a face with wide-open eyes, a rosebud mouth, holes for earrings, and a double-strand coral necklace painted around his neck. Framing the face are short, wispy curls, which have been repeatedly refreshed over the centuries. The Corpus Domini, Bologna, bambino is difficult to date, but stylistically the rustic drawing recalls fifteenth-century northern woodcuts of the infant Christ.89 Popular devotional bambini were produced in Italy by professional artists such as Neri di Bicci, whose workshop fulfilled an order for several twoor three-dimensional wooden versions of the subject.90 Finding this object in the pinzochere inventory of 1426, which dates earlier than most references to Italian fifteenth-century bambini, broadens our understanding of its function and significance beyond secular dowries, weddings, or monastic training.

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Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Klapsich-Zuber and Goldthwaite found frequent references to bambini in invento­ ries of Tuscan fifteenth-century families and convents. Girls, who often entered the convent around the ages of ten to thirteen, brought painted figures with them and were urged to practice swaddling the Christ child as a kind of prayer exercise, a way of ‘identifying’ with the Virgin. The dolls were the means ‘to open up the way to God to women and children by exciting their imaginations’.91 The process of swaddling the Christ child, not usually represented in Nativity cycles, was acted out in real life by novices, and as Corpus Christi demonstrates, Italian Beguines. This conforms to religious practices of northern European Beguines as witnessed by a fifteenthcentury cradle from the Beguinage of Louvain (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY). Other devotional functions associated with the Gesù Bambino can be extrapolated from recorded experiences of the Italian semi-religious woman Francesca Bussa Ponziani (1384–1440) and the English mystic Margery Kempe (c.1373–1438). Francesca was a widowed Roman matron dedicated to charity and founding and working in hospitals to help the poor. Like the pinzochere in Ferrara, she was semi-religious, not a professed nun. She was known as a miraculous healer who, by touching or making the sign of the cross over the injured or diseased limb, cured illness.92 In 1425 she founded a company of Olivetan Oblates and established the community at Tor de’ Specchi near the Roman Forum, where her visions and healing miracles were depicted in two fifteenth-century painting cycles. Stories of her life, recorded by her confessor Gianni Mattioti, recall her owning a Gesù Bambinio that she talked to, kissed and dressed. One reported miracle was him moving his feet when she said, ‘Stretch out your feet Little One, so that I may put on your little socks and shoes’.93 Another contemporary description is found in the journal of Margery Kempe, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1413–15, visiting Venice, Assisi and Rome. She describes meeting a fellow pilgrim in Assisi who had just returned from Jerusalem: ‘The woman traveled with a box with an image of our Lord. When they arrived in fine cities the woman took the doll out of the chest and laid it in the laps of respectable wives. And they would dress it in shirts and kiss it as if it were God himself … she thanked God because she saw each of these creatures have as great faith in what she saw with her bodily eye as she had before with her inward eye.’94 This text shows that Christ child dolls could be religious objects and pilgrimage souvenirs owned by laywomen, and that the experience of seeing and handling was spiritually transformative. The Corpus Christi infant Christ doll helped create an intimate experience of Christ through the women’s physical senses of sight and touch. The informal, personal contact with the infant Jesus brought them closer to God in a way that an altarpiece fixed in the holy space of the altar could not. The act of individually handling and dressing the image in various costumes must have been important in a community where textiles and sewing were their main economic occupation, and provided an outlet for the maternal instincts of the pinzochere some of whom were widows and mothers. Finally, the pinzochere and early Poor Clares may have used this object

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37

as part of their medical work in the community. As un-cloistered women, they had the freedom to circulate and visit the sick with the bambino. Vigri’s Gesù Bambino relic is documented by c.1650 as being carried to the sick,95 but the healing powers of other bambini can be traced through the fifteenth-century relic at the church of the Aracoeli in Rome to late fourteenth-century Mantua, where Francesco Gonzaga asked the Franciscans to take over a chapel with a miraculous Gesù Bambino.96 In Bembo’s biography of Caterina, she does not state whether Vigri healed laypersons, but describes her as a nurse and healer in the convent: ‘All the other sisters went to her. She had a little box with her medicines and almost every day she treated someone: the hands of one person, the feet of another, someone’s ears, someone’s mouth, who had one thing someone else another, and she never made herself big; instead with greatest charity and angelic face she supported it all.’97 This narrative offers some proof that the pinzochere Gesù Bambino has an early history as a thaumaturgic object.

From Urban Hermits to Cloistered Nuns Two critical events had to occur for Corpus Christi’s legal situation to be resolved after Sedazzari’s death. Since it had been adjudged private property by Niccolò III, Lucia and Bartolomeo Mascharoni had to renounce their inheritance as well as their vow to Bernardina to maintain its lay penitential character.98 Further, the archbishop and the pope needed to give their permission to establish a new monastery adhering to a prescribed rule. Sometime during 1426–31 a woman named Verde di Pio da Carpi undertook responsibility to write for papal approval of the new convent and must have applied to Pope Martin V.99 McLaughlin characterizes Verde as ‘a pious well-born, wealthy matron … grande dame of Ferrarese society … who saw it as an attractive investment opportunity and captured the community’ after Ailisia de Baldo’s departure in 1426.100 Both Lombardi and McLaughlin emphasize Verde’s role as patron (almost a second founder), but neither correctly understood her relationship with Taddea di Pio and the Pio da Carpi, Alidosi of Imola and d’Este families. Verde di Pio was not simply a pious Ferrarese noblewoman but the wife of the deposed Papal vicar of Imola, Ludovico (also known as Luigi) Alidosi, who became an Observant Franciscan friar in Ferrara in c.1426. The familial relationships can be untangled in the following way: The colophon of the Sette Armi Spirituali states it was written at the time of ‘sore Tadia, sorela che foe de messer Marco dii Pii’, meaning ‘Sister Taddea, carnal sister of the deceased Marco di Pio’, who had married the Ferrarese noblewoman Taddea de’ Roberti and lived mainly at the d’Este court. 101 After Marco di Pio was killed in the service of the d’Este in 1418, his wife lived at the d’Este court with their eleven children.102 Litta’s genealogical tables show that Marco di Pio’s wife was related to Verde (born Carpi, c.1375) who married Ludovico (Luigi) Alidosi

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Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

of Imola in 1392, and had three children, including one named Taddea.103 In 1424 the Visconti expelled Ludovico from Imola and he was taken to Milan as prisioner, and in 1426 he came to Ferrara where he joined the Observant Franciscans of Santo Spirito, although he died during a trip to Rome in 1430.104 Verde di Pio must have joined Tad�� dea de’ Roberti at the d’Este court late in 1424. When she stepped in to help Corpus Christi, she wielded the power and agency of the wife of the former Papal vicar of Imola, her husband’s Observant Franciscan connections, and her own status as resident of the d’Este court. This new understanding of Verde di Pio’s elite social position highlights the interplay of personal interests, Papal politics and Observant reform in the foundation of Corpus Christi. Verde di Pio conforms to a pattern of Observant Franciscan patronage and association among Malatesta women. Paola Malatesta Gonzaga (1393–1449), wife of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga of Mantua, transformed an existing semi-religious house into a Clarissan convent in 1420 after being inspired by Bernardino of Siena’s sermons; she even corresponded with him about Observant reforms.105 Paola participat��ed directly in forming the Ferrarese convent since the first abbess, Verde’s daughter Taddea di Pio, had been a nun in Mantua. Paola’s cousin Parisina Malatesta d’Este (1404–25), wife of Niccolò III and raised in Cesena where Observant Reform movement was much favored, was said to have preferred the Franciscans, but her execution for adultery cut short her opportunity for patronage.106 Paola’s sister-in-law, Battista Malatesta da Montefeltro (1384–1448), marchioness of Pesaro, experienced a scenario similar to Verde di Pio. Her husband was expelled from Pesaro in 1431, after which she fled home to Urbino and later joined the Poor Clares in Camerino.107 The Observant friars at Santo Spirito may have advocated for regularizing Corpus Christi as well. One closely involved friar was Gabriele Mezzavacca of Bologna. He placed his two sisters and a niece in the convent in 1439 and 1447, served as Vicar General of the Observant Province in 1452–55, and was instrumental in founding Corpus Domini, Bologna, in 1456.108 Santo Spirito had been established in 1272 by dis��sident brothers from San Francesco called ‘i frati zoccolanti’, or ‘the sandal-wearing friars’. Influential members of the d’Este court, such as referendarius (administrative secretary) Bartolomeo della Mella, supported rebuilding the church in 1407 and elected burial there in 1425.109 The number of men entering the priesthood suggests the new Studium Conventuale founded in 1425 began to rival San Francesco.110 San�� to Spirito’s library was rich in fifteenth-century liturgical manuscripts, including 28 antiphonaries that could have provided scribal models for the community and their dependents.111 Friar Bernardino of Siena’s frequent presence in Ferrara contributed momentum to the movement to establish a new Poor Clares house. Bernardino preached in the city five times (1408, 1417, 1431, 1438 and 1443), and was asked to become bishop in 1431.112 When he preached, he usually stayed at Santo Spirito. After his first visit in 1408, Bernardino returned during the plague outbreaks in 1416–17. He had contracted

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a fever while caring for the sick at the hospital of Santa Maria La Scala, Siena, and survived, thus serving as an encouraging model for the populace. In 1423–24 he preached in Ferrara and began displaying the panels painted with the name of Jesus ‘YHS’. For his sermons for the Nativity in 1431, the cathedral register shows sacristy expenditures for 300 stalls built so that women could attend and be seated separately from men.113 The women of Corpus Christi may have heard Bernardino’s compelling religious sermons themselves. Even though he refused the position of bishop, the Ferrarese felt a particular closeness to him and held lavish celebrations for his canonization in 1450.114 The new Poor Clares convent retained its original dedication to ‘Corpus Christi’, which was consistent with many Observant Dominican and Franciscan houses in the early fifteenth century. In Venice, a nunnery dedicated to Corpus Domini was established in 1394 under Dominican rule with the guidance of the Observant Giovanni Dominici.115 In Milan, after hearing Bernardino’s sermon in 1419, some Augustinian semi-religious women converted to the Poor Clares and established the convent of Santa Chiara.116 In Mantua, the pinzochere house became an Observant Clarissan convent known as Santa Paola/Corpus Domini in 1420. The pattern of Corpus Domini/Corpus Christi dedications was repeated at Verona (1425), Ferrara (1431), ­Pesaro (1439), Padua (1445), Treviso (1446), Aquila (1447), Cremona (1455) and Bologna (1456).117 Most foundations were associated with, or dedicated to, the feast of Cor��pus Christi, which was launched in 1264 and fully implemented during the 1300s.118 Corpus Christi’s experience of male and female religious and secular patrons coming together to gradually transform the community parallels the slow and complex pace of conventualization noted in other cases by Sensi and Roest.119 By choosing to become part of this network, the semi-religious women in Via Praisolo traded their autonomy for the more restrictive vows of the Poor Clares, while embracing the new wave of Observant piety and Eucharistic devotion in northern Italy.

2. Building a Public Image of Piety The conversion of Bernardina’s house began before the residents received official permission from Pope Eugenius IV on 4 April, 1431, to build a convent with a church, campanile, workrooms, and accommodations for professed nuns following the order of Saint Clare and the laws of enclosure.1 Sister Caterina describes the disruptions early in the Sette Armi Spirituali as part of her third vision of the devil. She recounts that she left the house, which she consented to do because it would be ‘in better condition when they returned’. After some time, ‘she returned with the five sisters who had been there before, and they began to put everything back in a good order … but some time passed before they were able to enter clausura’.2 This passage tells us that after Ailisia de Baldo’s departure, there were six pinzochere and that the residence was being substantially renovated. Corpus Christi’s foundation occurred at a critical political moment in Observant history. On 23 August, 1430, Pope Martin V issued the bull Ad Statum that permitted Franciscan houses to retain property as long as it belonged to the Holy See. This reversed an agreement made in Assisi a few months before and was a major victory for the Conventual party that set back the Observant Reform. As Moorman describes it, ‘the winter of 1430–1431 was a sad time for the Observant leaders who felt they had been betrayed’.3 However after Martin’s death in February, Gabriel Condulmer was elected pope on 4 March, 1431. Pope Eugenius IV immediately issued the bull Vinea Domini that revoked most of Martin V’s changes. His bull recognizing Corpus Christi dates 4 April, exactly one month after his elevation to the papacy, which was followed by his call for universal reform of the Order of Saint Clare on 12 May, 1431.4 In the broader historical view, Corpus Christi represents a first step in Pope Eugenius’s support for the Observant movement and reform of the Poor Clares. The old, relatively anonymous pinzochere house had to be transformed into an urban convent with a ‘public face’ that was more visible and charged with religious authority. The new Observant convent was in part a reaction to the secular lifestyle of the Urbanist house of San Guglielmo. A closer look at their rule, social history and the artistic environment confirms the dichotomy of Urbanist and Observant lifestyles. This chapter examines the construction of Corpus Christi, which included adapting the semi-religious women’s houses by building enclosing walls, the church and campanile, several courtyards and a dormitory.5 Fragments of physical structures, doc��umentation and comparable houses can be used to describe the convent.6 The first phase (1431–c.1456) was home to Lucia Mascaroni and Sister Caterina Vigri. In later years (1447–60), it expanded with patronage by Borso d’Este. The most radical expression of reform was two new altarpieces rich in Eucharistic imagery that expressed the nuns’ devotion to the Body of Christ. The lost Adoration of the Host, with kneeling Poor Clare nuns, confirmed the nuns’ fervent devotion to the Eucharist. The extant

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Entombment of Christ shows Christ’s body lowered into a sarcophagus, mourned by apostles and Franciscan saints, including the recently canonized Saint Bernardino of Siena. The ‘Franciscanization’ of this most solemn Passion image constitutes a new and daring iconography that reflects the strength of Observant Reform.

San Guglielmo as a Poor Clares ‘Anti-Model’ Corpus Christi was established despite the presence of the older Clarissan house in Ferrara that was under the care of the conventual friars of San Francesco. Technically, this action was against Martin V’s papal regulation of 1429 that prohibited establishing a new house within five leagues of an existing convent; these two were less than one mile (a third of a league) apart.7 The older Clarissan convent was begun by Diamite nuns from Parma who purchased the hermit Augustinian monastery of San Guglielmo in 1257.8 Their financial support and monastic rules were set in 1253, when Pope Innocent IV gave them the privilege of receiving and holding (up to the amount of 100 pounds) ‘cose maltolte’ (misbegotten gains, interest from usury, or robbery), if it was not known to whom they should be restored, and monies accrued from vows made to the Church.9 In 1257 Pope Alexander IV placed them under the Holy See, stating they should follow the rule of Saint Benedict.10 With this rule they could receive goods and properties (beni mobili e immobili), celebrate the divine office inside closed doors, and elect abbesses according to Saint Benedict’s rule.11 In 1263 Pope Urban IV reorganized the rule, officially designating it ‘the Order of Saint Clare’. From the beginning, it was the Urbanist Rule that was followed at San Guglielmo.12 This differed notably from ‘Clare’s Rule’ approved in 1253 by Pope Innocent IV, which followed Saint Francis’s original ideas on poverty and prohibited the sisters from owning communal or private property. San Guglielmo evolved into a small, elite community during the fourteenth century. An Augustinian church and monastery with a cloister and other buildings were renovated for nuns’ use and re-consecrated in 1354. Brisighella’s later plan shows a church with three altars and a dozen floor tombs (Fig. 2.1). Property increased as the sisters, relatives and non-professed residents left their estates to the convent.13 An inventory of 1337 reports considerable real estate, vineyards and farmland that supported a community of twelve sisters.14 Samaritani presents evidence that in the years 1350–99, less aristocratic nuns and lay sisters (converse) did piecework for, or invested in, shoemakers, goldsmiths and import businesses; often documents are unclear whether this was for individual or communal economic gain.15 Superbi notes the presence of servants or familiares from the earliest period.16 She avoids gener��alizing about the social character, but the increasing exclusive influence of d’Este daughters and widows seems clear.17 A d’Este mother-daughter-aunt cohort, descen�� dants of Marchese Obizzo III d’Este who ruled Ferrara during 1317–52, helped define

Building a Public Image of Piety

43

Fig. 2.1. Church of San Guglielmo, plan, c.1770. (Photo: After Brisighella, Descrizione delle Pitture e Sculture della Città di Ferrara.)

San Guglielmo as a royal widows’ retreat. His first daughter, Alda d’Este (c.1333–81), retired there as a widow in the 1360s.18 Her sister Beatrice di Rizzardo VI da Camino and her widowed daughter, Verde d’Este (1354–1400), entered in 1369 or later c.1385 ‘along with twelve noble companions’, meaning ladies-in-waiting and servants. Samaritani suggests Verde came and went, not participating in religious life until she professed in 1398.19 Verde, her mother Beatrice, and her aunt Alda contributed to

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Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Fig. 2.2. Master of Verucchio (Francesco or Zantarino da Rimini), Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, mid-14th century, Museo di Casa Romei, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Polo Museale dell’Emilia-Romagna.)

enlarging the convent. There was trouble about enclosure already in 1365: the nuns and non-professed residents rebelled against an order by the friars to install more grates and close up windows. They were excommunicated, and then reinstated after the act was rescinded.20 Given the d’Este presence, the visual culture at San Guglielmo had a courtly flavor, and remnants of fresco cycles reflect richly decorated communal spaces.21 A Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane has a triangular shape, suggesting it was located along a gabled roofline, as on the inner church façade or the end wall of a refectory (Museo di Casa Romei, Ferrara) (Fig. 2.2).22 Conceivably, it was part of a Passion cycle that was placed in a refectory with narrative scenes surrounding a larger central Crucifixion. Previously attributed to the ‘Master of Verucchio’, the artist is now identified as the Giottesque painter Francesco da Rimini (active 1314–c.1350) or his brother Zantarino.23 A Presentation in the Temple, although edged with a different border, could have been part of the same general programme. The Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata conforms to a narrative cycle of Francis’s life and is attributed to Antonio di Recchis, called ‘Antonio da Ferrara’ (c.1355–1447) (Museo di Casa Romei, Ferrara) (Fig. 2.3).24 A fourth fresco shows three patron saints of the nuns or donors. These demonstrate there was extensive fresco decoration at San Guglielmo by c.1430.

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Fig. 2.3. Antonio di Recchis (‘Antonio da Ferrara’), Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, c.1400, Museo di Casa Romei, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Polo Museale dell’Emilia-Romagna.)

By the early fifteenth century, visitors found a lack of religious observance in regard to poverty and humility. It was not the Urbanist Rule, but the worldly lifestyle and presence of secular noblewomen with personal servants that seemed inappropriate.25 On 28 May, 1437, Pope Eugenius IV charged John of Capistrano with investigating negligence in prayer and reciting the divine office, intrigues, scandals and secular lifestyle. Capistrano, Bishop Giovanni Tavelli of Tossignano, and the minister g­ eneral William of Casale worked together. Paola Malatesta Gonzaga of Mantua wrote to Capistrano approving the reform. San Guglielmo’s abbess forwarded a note from three sisters who begged that he listen to them and ‘restrain these bad persons who are treating us this way’.26 The Bishop of Modena defended his female relatives, whom he stated were ‘prudent, modest, chaste, and maintained good religious life’.27 John of Capistrano laid the blame squarely on the abbess, and demanded a ‘legitimate abbess’ to oversee religious practices and monitor sisters, servants, converses and servants (famulis, famiaribusque) whose presence was detrimental to the community. No more than twenty years after the reform of 1437–39, the nuns began requesting dispensations that again created a more permissive lifestyle. They petitioned Cardinal Bessarion, along with their confessor and the vicar general, to be able to annul their vows (1459), to wear or not wear the mantle (1461), to not be bound by perpetual

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silence (1459–60), and for girls who entered the convent to not be required to profess as nuns (1460).28 Such dispensations were never requested by the Observant nuns of Corpus Christi. San Guglielmo’s wealth, laxity regarding cohabitation of nuns and non-professed persons, as well as a luxuriously decorated visual environment, all demonstrate why Corpus Christi was needed as an alternative. San Guglielmo was everything that Verde di Pio, Paola Malatesta Gonzaga and the pinzochere of Corpus Christi did not want their convent to be.

Building the First Church and Convent The long, bare walls along Via Praisolo (west) and Via Campofranco (south) began to enclose the perimeter of the new convent in c.1430–33. Unlike San Guglielmo, Corpus Christi followed Clare’s Form of Life, which stressed that the convent’s wooden doors should be provided with iron locks, bolts and bars.29 The nuns communicated indi��rectly with the outside world: they could speak at the grille or roda, which was covered by a black cloth, but only with the abbess’s permission and when accompanied by three sisters. They could not speak in a visiting parlour, except in the presence of two ‘hearing sisters’, nor visit the convent’s main portal. High walls, small windows and limited access conveyed the message of pious isolation from worldly life. Corpus Christi was atypical in that it was a ‘purpose built’ convent. Most Poor Clares received ‘hand-me-down convents’ when the friars moved on to bigger and better locations. Inheriting spaces meant that there was often a delay taking possession of the buildings; they had to stay in temporary accommodations for five months before moving into their permanent site. Because of rapidly increasing populations, the nuns were constantly renovating properties, but because of their vows of poverty, they were less likely to have funds for comprehensive, well-organized architectural plans. When Vigri and her companions transferred to Bologna in 1456, they received the church of San Cristoforo from the Brothers of San Girolamo of Fiesole. As Forlai explains, they moved into the hand-me-down space in 1456, acquired houses next door in 1461, received a bequest in 1463 that permitted them to modernize the old cloister, but were not able to build a new church until 1477—twenty years after moving into their convent.30 This was not the case in Ferrara since the church was constructed concurrently with the convent. Adjacent to the original pinzochere houses, Corpus Christi is barely visible in the plan by Pirro Ligorio (1598).31 A later plan by Gaetano Frizzi gives some idea of the church (Fig. 2.4). It sat in the southeastern quadrant of the con�vent, set back a few meters from the intersection of Via Pergolata and ‘Via Campo francese’. Clarissan churches were smaller than friar minor churches since multiple altars for celebrating masses for the dead were unnecessary.32 A terminus ante quem is furnished by a 5 October, 1434, document describing a formal ceremony in which thirteen sisters were absolved from sins in taking Clarissan instead of Augustinian

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Fig. 2.4. Gaetano Frizzi, Plan of the ‘Isola Clarissa’, detail, begun 1430 (Archivio Periti, Busta 297), Archivio di Stato, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Archivio di Stato, Ferrara.)

vows. The event took place in the second courtyard (in curtili secundi) next to the church in what was described as a convent (Ecclesia seu Monasterio Corporis Christi Ferrariensis).33 A courtyard with a wellhead, still visible in the 1930s, ran along the flank of the church, and the campanile stood at the west corner (Fig. 2.5). The courtyard corresponds to the original length of the long narrow church.34 Lombardi believed the original façade and public church stood opposite its present location, where a gable with a bricked-up oculus window is visible from the second story of the cloister in Casa Romei.35 If the public church was at the other end, it was adjacent to internal convent areas, such as workrooms, dormitory and refectory. How would the nuns have entered their choir without being seen by the public? The earliest extant visitation report of 1574 advises that the ‘chapel of our ladies in front of the public church of the monastery’ (capellam nostrae Dominae ante ecclesiam publicam dicti monasterii) must have grates added to its windows, and could not be used in the interim under pain of excommunication.36 This seems to imply that the nuns’ choir was on the north end closer to the church of San Francesco, not on the south end on Via Campofranco. In the 1811 plan this space is labeled the sala di preghiera (room for prayer). Its precise configuration is unclear, since choirs differed in form, and as Bruzelius notes, they sometimes blocked the view of the main altar in the outer church.37 The early sixteenth-century nuns’ choir formed the burial site for several ducal d’Este women. In 1665 the church was damaged by a fire that started in a Christmas crèche, but the outer church was less affected and important relics were saved.38 The façade of the modern church on Via Campofranco retains characteristics of its original design although it was restored in c.1910. A comparison of the older façade (Fig. 2.6) with the

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Fig. 2.5. Courtyard beside Church and Campanile, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, c.1800. (Photo: After Calura, Corpus Domini, Casa Romei, 1934.)

present façade (Fig. 2.7) reveals the changes that were made. A projecting porch was removed because the cusp conflicted with the roofline. The portal was rebuilt with a higher gable and it re-used older fragments of terracotta decoration. The bricked-up lancet windows caused some scholars to doubt that the public church was originally here, but d’Este burials in the nuns’ choir, and the description of 1574, argue against the notion of reversed interior and exterior churches. Most southern parts of the convent can be attributed to 1431–47, and the general spatial layout, location of walls, and function of certain spaces are visible. The old pinzochere living area on Via Praisolo with the wells, kitchen, laundry, wood room and

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Fig. 2.6. Church façade, Via Campofranco, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, c.1770–1909. (Photo: After Melchiorri, La Santa nella Storia, La Letteratura, e l’Arte.)

bake oven was in the corner. Remnants of a brick, columned arcade are visible in an area leading to Via Praisolo (Fig. 2.8). The kitchen and oven where one of Caterina Vigri’s first miracles occurred in 1442 is preserved ten feet west of the current chapel

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Fig. 2.7. Church façade, Via Campofranco, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, 1910—present. (Photo: Author.)

by the oven (cappella del forno). This rectangular block with the first dormitory above appears to have been built (or rebuilt) in unified campaign because, unlike most other parts of the convent, the walls meet at 90-degree angles. The kitchens produced food specialties and herbal medicines, which earned donations from friends and family.39 Unlike friars’ monasteries, there was no chapter house, and the nuns’ choir served this function. One room always found in Poor Clare convents, which male conventuals often lacked, was the laundry. This was not just a service area, but a place where Saint Clare’s original emphasis on poverty, humility and hard work was realized. The south exterior wall of the laundry shows modern cement block repairs in a vertical

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Fig. 2.8. Arcade toward Via Praisolo, site of pinzochere houses, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

strip from approximately five feet above ground floor level to the roofline. This was a typical Ferrarese exterior brick chimney, comparable to those on modest brick Renaissance townhouses still preserved along Via Ripagrande, or down Via Praisolo at Casa Romei.40 On the second story, probably the first dormitory, there were around ten nuns’ cells. Also nearby, the infirmary was absolutely essential since cloistered women often lived to considerable ages. Between 1431 and 1500, a significant number of Corpus Christi nuns spent 40 to 50 years within the convent, dying in their eighties.

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Fig. 2.9. Courtyard and Garden, between pinzochere houses and church, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

The architectural style of Corpus Christi was humbler than most fourteenth- and fifteenth-century women’s foundations.41 This convent seems never to have had a fully defined courtyard, although an arcaded loggia near the old pinzochere residence is preserved (Fig. 2.9). Along Via Campofranco a garden, a wellhead and the nuns’ cemetery that was consecrated in 1455 were situated.42 The current sacristy, a single parlatorio and a small atrium contain some fifteenth-century marble flooring.43 The extension of gardens and the nuns’ cemetery suggest that a more formal monastic design was beginning to emerge. On the west side, the new kitchen, refectory and work spaces called ‘officinis’ in the document of 1431 were built. Community workrooms were located in various corners of the convent.44 The placement of the kitchen, refectory and workroom along one side of a cloister area is found in the simpler Umbrian convents.45 The brickwork on the ground level shows it originally had an open loggia with a small, central cloister garden.46 It was also humble in the sense that no fresco cycles are documented or preserved. Sister Illuminata Bembo recalls that Caterina ‘painted images of the swaddled Christ child in many places in the convent’, but these must have been painted in dry fresco, which faded over the years.47

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The community outgrew the first convent by c.1445 and a fundraising campaign for new construction began. Between 1424 and 1468, Corpus Christi received 73 testamentary bequests.48 In 1442 the convent received a legacy of 50 ducats from a female patron; another substantial bequest came from Caterina Vigri’s aunt, the wife of Bonaventura Vigri.49 On 6 October, 1447, Pope Nicholas V granted permission for the abbess to sell decorated altar hangings for ‘building according to prudence and the common good as you see fit’ (pro edificando eam parte de qua prudentie ac bonitati tue videbitur).50 This gave her freedom to use the proceeds from sales for whatever purpose she deemed necessary. Another patron who seems to have responded to the needs was Borso d’Este. Borso had probably known Vigri as a young lady-in-waiting at the d’Este court, and they both may have been tutored by Guglielmo Cappello, ‘Maistro dei Puti del Signore’. Although most noted for introducing the Carthusians to Ferrara in 1452 and building the Certosa, Borso seems to have funded renovations at Corpus Christi. Savonarola’s De Felice progressa illustrissimi Borsii Estensis (1454–61) cites his ‘great altruism in building the Convent of Corpus Christi and large ­contribution to Sant’Agostino’ as signs of his princely virtues.51 Borso’s patronage gave him a reflected aura of piety, while the convent gained d’Este protection. If there were 99 nuns by 1452, more dormitory space must have been needed. During 1455–56 around 30 nuns left Ferrara to establish new Poor Clare convents in Bologna and Cremona, which suggests that they solved the problem by decreasing the population.

The Poor Clares Form of Life The convent’s physical structure projected otherworldliness to the city, but it was the nuns’ daily piety that made them a model of Poor Clare Observance. Copies of rules, papal bulls and Papal letters symbolized the perpetuation of tradition and transference of sanctity. Corpus Christi archives contain Pope Martin V’s bulls referring to Santa Paola, Mantua, which must have been brought to Ferrara by the first abbess.52 Important manuscripts were often kept in wooden boxes, such as the one shown in Fig. 2.10.53 This document box is decorated with the two figures forming iconic visual reminders of the founders of the first and second orders of the Friars Minor. What remains carries no specific symbol of Corpus Christi, such as the chalice and host insignia stamped on book covers and pottery. The checkered red and green border repeats d’Este heraldic colours. Although a simple object of material culture, its iconography is still significant: it is not decorated with a single image of Clare (perhaps spreading her cloak to shelter her sisters like the Virgin of Mercy), nor Clare receiving the rule from Francis, nor with Franciscan and Clarissan nuns receiving their rules from Francis, as in Niccolò di Antonio Colantonio’s diptych of 1445 (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples). This image of Francis and Clare offers a statement of equality or duality between the first and second Franciscan orders.

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Fig. 2.10. Saints Francis and Clare, Document box, c.1450–1500, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

Since the Friars and Poor Clares were certainly not equal in status or power, this representation is noteworthy. In her survey of images of Clare, Debby proposes that equalization was characteristic of fourteenth-century Naples, where the Poor Clares were strongly supported by Robert d’Anjou and his wife, Queen Sancia.54 If royal patronage is the key to such imagery, the decoration could reflect the influence of founding noblewomen, Paola Malatesta Gonzaga and Verde di Pio da Carpi. Its lowly character as an artisan object of material culture suggests a source in popular culture. In northeast Italy, particularly in Padua, single-leaf devotional woodcuts were sold by printers and circulating in lay and religious settings from the 1440s. These depicted paired figures of saints Francis and Clare, with or without their attributes.55 They provided simple visual formulas that migrated via objects like this into the nuns’ visual environment. Strict observation of Clare’s Form of Life was part of the Corpus Christi’s good reputation. The community was given the Urbanist form of life until it received the Prima Regula of Clare. A petition of 30 August, 1435, to Pope Eugenius IV by the same Verde di Pio da Carpi who had written earlier requested confirmation of the Observant Rule ‘on the model of the Mantuan Poor Clares’.56 In January 1446 Pope

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Eugenius IV recommended to the Observant Vicar James Primadizzi that the Corpus Christi follow the rule of Saint Clare.57 This was facilitated by the John of Capistra��no’s Declaration on the First Rule of Saint Clare (Explicatio Primae Regulae S. Clarae) of 1445, written at the request of ‘Elisabetta’, abbess of San Paola in Mantua, which explained and illustrated Clare’s original Rule. The Corpus Christi archives contain one copy of the rules approved by Clement VI in 1343, and two copies of John of Capistrano’s Declaration.58 Capistrano presented a less austere and more realistic Observance that appealed to fifteenth-century nuns. He glossed Clare’s text with examples that moderated the constant fasting, walking barefoot, and maintaining of continual silence dictated in Clare’s original text. As Knox observes, it reflected ‘the disjuncture between the Observants’ idealization of their spiritual origins and their articulation of what that meant in practice’.59 Clare’s Rule summarizes the nuns’ central duty to observe the Holy Gospel by living in obedience and chastity without personal possessions.60 They were to live in obedience to the Pope and his canonically elected successors, the Blessed Francis, and the abbesses who succeeded Clare. When someone wished to accept this form of life, she had to be approved by a majority of sisters, sell all that she owned, and distribute the proceeds to the poor. Her hair was shorn and she was given three tunics and one mantle; she could not leave the convent excerpt for a useful, reasonable, approved purpose during the year of probation. Clare stated, ‘for the love of the most holy and beloved child who was wrapped in such poor swaddling clothes … I beg my sisters to always wear poor garments’. The nuns read the Divine Office according to the custom of the Friars Minor; they could own breviaries, but were supposed to read them without singing. Those who were illiterate said 24 ‘Our Fathers’ during prayer. They fasted at all times except in times of manifest necessity, but could eat twice at Christmas. They confessed twelve times a year and received Communion on Christmas, Maundy Thursday, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption, the stigmatization of Saint Francis and the Feast of All Saints. Chapter Seven of Clare’s Rule decreed that the nuns keep their hands busy to reduce temptations and distractions from their life of prayer. This formed the theoretical basis for nuns’ work as scribes, artists and needlewomen, as well as mundane tasks for sustaining convent life, such as spinning, weaving, sowing, harvesting, doing laundry and preparing food. Nuns and novices were supposed to perform labour that pertained to the virtuous life and the common good, ‘in such a way that while they banish idleness (the enemy of the soul), they do not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion to which all other things of our earthly existence must contribute’. They executed all kinds of handiwork, sewing and decorating altar cloths with drawnwork, repairing vestments, embroidering linens and copying texts. The abbess or vicaress assigned the ‘work performed by the hands’, in chapter meetings; individual nuns’ tastes or talents were not necessarily respected. For this chapter, John of Capistrano’s Explicatio presented only five illustrations that simply restated the original text.61

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The Form of Life and John of Capistrano’s commentary devote considerable attention to the election of abbesses and their duties. The abbess was elected by the professed nuns, and she should provide an example of virtuous behavior. She should console those who are afflicted, preserve the common life, call the chapter together once a week for confession of sins, and consult a group of eight elected sisters—referred to as the ‘discreet’—who were her advisory council. She assigned the work for each sister, examined the mail entering and leaving the monastery, and ordered punishments and penance. In its first twenty years, Sisters Taddea di Pio Carpi from Mantua (entered 1430), Maddalena Malatesta (entered 1433) and Leonarda Campeggi Ordelaffi (entered 1446) served as abbesses. Caterina Vigri often found herself at odds with Abbess Taddea di Pio. In the Sette Armi Spirituali, in the first apparition of the devil, which ‘happens before she is obligated by the monastic rules’, she confesses she was disobedient and critical of the mother superior.62 She attributed this prob��lem to the devil insinuating evil into her heart. She could not refrain from criticizing the abbess, and was terribly upset about her own judgments and cried continually until she cried ‘tears of blood’.63 Later, she ‘prays that future abbesses will take great care for the souls which are pledged to them, because evil worked incessantly’.64 When she asked to change her job of baking bread because of the heat and dryness, the abbess refused. Among the three abbesses, Leonarda was most sympathetic to ­Caterina, judging from her comment to the Bolognese city fathers in 1456, that in Caterina Vigri ‘she was sending them another Clare’. Corpus Christi received some special dispensations from the Rule that reflected the realities of female monasticism. Unlike male convents, where the friars slept in dormitories, the women had cells; Caterina’s legendary furniture (a bed and chair) are preserved in her chapel in Corpus Domini, Bologna. In 1438, in connection with the Council of Ferrara, Friar Silvester of Forli obtained several benefices for Corpus Christi.65 Pope Eugenius IV wrote to Friar James Primadizzi in Bologna on 24 January, 1446, to recommend the observance of the rules, but also to give them wider legal powers. Six privileges were noted, including a) the abbess’s election was to be confirmed by the minister of the Provincial Observant Rule of Bologna; b) if they lacked laywomen or conversi, the abbess could send nun sisters to the questua; c) the sisters would be spiritually guided by the Observants and would have their own chaplain; d) with the favorable majority of the sisters and their father confessor, they could receive probande; e) qualified sisters would not be deprived of the office; and f) the convent could receive bequests in the name of charity. Another bull of Niccolò V on 7 March, 1447, established norms of vestition, profession, the election of the abbess and the duties of lay sisters.66 This most significant aspect of the Bull of 1446 deals with charity. Observant preachers like Bernardino of Siena, James Primadizzi, Albert of Sarteano, John of Capistrano and James of the Marches were concerned with re-instituting the rule of poverty.67 Because of enclosure, female convents were ill-equipped to support

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themselves, and the dramatic increase in residents in the 1440s–50s overstretched the convent budget. Pope Eugenius’s Bull of 1446 gave Corpus Christi access to charitable bequests for the benefit of the expansion of the convent. In addition, a highly significant step was taken to assure their financial stability; a new arrangement was devised with the hospital of Santa Anna, founded in 1444 by Leonello d’Este and Bishop Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano. When it was established, a small donation from every deceased Ferrarese citizen’s estate was required as a contribution to the hospital.68 In 1446, Corpus Christi bequests were funneled through Saint Anna’s accounts, and paid annually to the convent. By creating this regular revenue stream from hospital to convent, Pope Eugenius returned to a historic solution that Pope Gregory IX had used in the thirteenth century when he assigned profits from a hospital in Prague to the convent of Poor Clares led by Agnes of Bohemia. We do not know to what extent the nuns at Corpus Christi were aware of the conflict between the Conventuals and Observants over the interpretation of poverty. In the Sette Armi Spirituali Caterina mentions her admiration for a friar at Santo Spirito, where she confessed in 1428–29: ‘one of those venerable religious men, a real cultivator of God’s vineyards and humanity, whose life deserves to be praised before God and men … even though he is not really known by others with their blind ignorance’.69 She also expresses her devotion to poverty, obedience, but especially humility. In the Dodici Giardini she reinterprets the name of the Observant Minors to signify humility, saying, ‘our particular religious rule is called the Minori Osservanti, and therefore we must be humble in all things, true observers of the true minority and lowliness’.70

The Entombment and Adoration of the Host Altarpieces While the convent church at Corpus Christi was finished around 1434, it was not until the 1450s–60s that it received two large-scale altarpieces, probably for the outer church and nuns’ choir. These could have been gifted to the nuns in celebration of the canonization of Saint Bernardino (1450), or the two-hundredth anniversary of Saint Clare’s death (1453) or her canonization (1455). The most important cult image, the Entombment (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara) dating from c.1450–55 or 1460, sums up the dedication to Corpus Christi through the symbolism of the body of Christ. A second (now lost) polyptych dating c.1450–70 depicted Saints Francis, Clare and Franciscan Nuns Adoring the Holy Eucharist. Together, they focused on the Observant Imitatio Christi, as well as reflecting the intensely physical piety of the Ferrarese religious culture. Corpus Christi’s extant altarpiece represents the Entombment, although it has been called a Lamentation, Pietà, or Deposition (Colour plate II). Though the title varies, the provenance is indisputable. In the eighteenth century it was tucked away in ‘a small oratory in the convent of Corpus Christi in Ferrara with other paintings

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attributed to Galasso and Antonio Alberti’.71 The large horizontal panel (130 x 215 cm.) painted in tempera and oil remained at Corpus Christi until the Napoleonic suppressions of c.1798–1810, when it entered the Costabili Collection and was listed in the Costabili sale in 1872 as ‘#30: Galassi Galasso, ferrarese Nostro Signore deposto nel sepolcro con assistenza di Santi e Sante, figure di poco minore del vero sopra tavola’.72 Lacking a signature, the panel has been the subject of lively debate, and is currently attributed to a Ferrarese-Paduan Master influenced by Squarcione and Piero della Francesca, possibly Galasso di Matteo Piva (c.1423–c.1473).73 Its style has been summed up by Bentini as an ‘archaicizing substrata overlaid by modernizations that were borrowed from artists such as Filippo Lippi, Bono da Ferrara and Piero della Francesca’.74 The technique of tempera combined with oil on panel suggests Nether��landish influence or a relationship with Piero dell Francesca who also used it from c.1445 to c.1470.75 Such a mélange of archaic and modern elements is not unusual in mid-fifteenth-century Ferrarese painting. It is the iconic mood of the Entombment that strongly voices the Franciscan Observant and Poor Clares spirituality. The conspicuous addition of saints Francis, Anthony of Padua, Clare, Bernardino of Siena and Louis of Toulouse in the group of mourners indicates that it was meant to engage viewers through the mediation of familiar Franciscan patron saints. It represents a vernacular modernization and ‘franciscanization’ of the theme of the Entombment. The practice of incorporating anachronistic saints into the Lamentation or Pietà goes back to the fourteenth century, as in the Pietà di San Remigio (Uffizi Gallery, Florence), and was used by fifteenth-century Dominicans, as in Fra Angelico’s small Deposition (Museum of San Marco, Florence), which includes the tertiary beata Villana (d. 1360). This is one of the earlier, if not the earliest, representation of five ‘modern’ Franciscan saints joined together in a single narrative scene. Saints Clare, Mary Cleofa and Salome are centralized but subtly reduced in scale, while the four larger male Franciscans might be understood as shadowy presences except for the fact that they stand so close to the sarcophagus that they function as witnesses to the ‘Corpus Christi’. The concept of the sacra conversazione has taken on a new context and been condensed into an intimate, intense, psychological moment. The dead Christ is interpreted as a serene but pathetic type whose body is lowered infinitely gently into the imposing marble sarcophagus magnificently inscribed with the verse from Luke 24:53: ‘In orto monumentum novum loco numdum quisquam positus fuerat’ (‘It was laid it in a sepulcher which is hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid’). The inscription, designed in beautifully proportioned humanistic capital letters, proclaims the somber dignity of this moment. The sarcophagus rests solidly parallel to the picture plane and recedes in perfectly rendered scientific perspective, affirming Jesus’s tangible, physical presence. The winding sheet is gathered up at the ends like a sack, an unusual design seen in the work of Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, and Baldassare d’Este in his Crucifixion with Stories of the Passion

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Fig. 2.11. Baldassare d’Este (Vicino da Ferrara), Entombment of Christ, detail, c.1475, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.)

from Schifanoia (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara) (Fig. 2.11).76 The similarity of Baldassare d’Este’s design suggests that the Corpus Christi altarpiece was known publicly, or at least to the d’Este court, by c.1475. Christ has a thin face, prominent nose, reddish hair and stubbly beard (Fig. 2.12). His expression is peaceful, and symbolic rivulets of blood run gently down his forehead. His limp body lies in the drooping curve of the winding sheet, which evokes an intense vulnerability and gentle pathos unlike the agonized Pietà images in later fifteenth-century Ferrarese art. The heightened emotion of Mary Magdalen, weeping and tugging her hair, is balanced by the restrained grief of the Virgin Mary supporting Christ’s head with one hand and gesturing with the other.77 The total effect synthesizes a feeling of later Gothic anguish with a dignified classical elegy. The faces of Saints Francis and Anthony of Padua peering out from behind Joseph of Arimethea express polar opposite emotions (Fig. 2.13). Turning away with his face contorted with tears of grief and pain, Francis confronts the viewer as if to ask us to mourn along with him.78 The young Anthony looks toward the body with a solemn, contemplative air. The youthful, round-faced, tonsured friar gives an impression of openness and innocence that relates to his well-known love of children. The contrast between these saints’ emotions must surely be derived from religious sources, such

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Fig. 2.12. Entombment of Christ, detail, face of Christ, c.1450–60, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.)

as the Legenda Aurea, the Fioretti di San Francesco, or Saint Bernardino’s sermons and stories of Anthony’s miracles. In later fifteenth-century north Italian and Sienese art, images of Anthony begin to assume a Bernardinesque appearance, as if Bernardino of Siena’s dark asceticism became a visual signifier for Observant devotion.79 Like Saint Francis on the opposite side of the panel, Saint Louis of Toulouse gazes outward and away from the body of Christ. His face registers little emotion, but his richly jeweled bishop’s hat and embroidered cope recall his rejection of royal life in favor of Franciscan humility. The three women—Clare, Mary Cleofa and Salome—hover close to the sarcophagus and attract the eye because of their individualized faces (Colour plate III).80 The righthand figure whose halo is inscribed ‘Clare’ wears a short black veil and the Franciscan grey-brown habit and carries a processional crucifix and small prayerbook or breviary with a jewel-decorated cover. Clare’s distinguishing attribute, the monstrance that refers to her miracle of defeating the Saracens, is omitted in favor of a processional crucifix that echoes the slender cross carried by Francis. Clare’s crucifix is a dynamic northern type, with Christ’s torso and head violently twisted in opposite directions. This attribute differs from other mid-fifteenth-century portrayals of Clare in which she is often depicted as abbess and legislator, carrying a crozier like a bishop.81 In the Corpus Christi Entombment, Clare is personified more like an ‘acolyte’ of Christ, with the crucifix that bespeaks identification with Christ’s suffering. Physically, she is a plain and sedate character, not idealized or glowing with divine inspiration. Unlike the Virgin Mary or Mary Magdalen’s stereotypical linear physiognomies showing narrowed eyes, tightly stretched skin and bared teeth, she and the

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Fig. 2.13. Entombment of Christ, detail, Saints Anthony, Francis, John the Baptist, c.1450–60, Pinacateca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.)

other woman wearing Franciscan habits have more veristic faces, which echo the taste for Netherlandish artists at the d’Este court art in the 1450s.82 Their centrality and distinctive faces suggest they functioned as representatives of the living nuns in the community. Saint Bernardino of Siena, a familiar personage who often preached in Ferrrara, appears as an old man with a fringe of fluffy white hair, hollow cheeks and sharply pointed facial features (Fig. 2.14). Because of his downcast eyes, his countenance lacks the owlish gaze seen in later portraits. Instead of holding the holy name tablet, his delicate hands are crossed on his chest in a gesture of prayer. Whereas most Tuscan and Umbrian images present his body and face in a three-quarter view, here he stands with his head turned almost in profile. This differs from the north Italian portrait-type in which Bernardino appears in left profile with his head covered by a grey hood. Cobianchi contends that north Italian images were based on Antonio Mariscotti’s medal executed in Ferrara sometime during 1444–62.83 Benati suggests that a half-length hooded portrait attributed to Galasso di Matteo Piva (Pinacoteca ala Ponzone, Cremona) is connected with the Entombment.84 Instead, it seems that the Corpus Christi Saint Bernardino correlates with traditional Sienese types dating before his canonization, which Israëls suggests are veristic images seeking to

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Fig. 2.14. Entombment of Christ, detail, Bernardino of Siena, c.1450–60, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara. (Photo: Author.)

recapture his bodily presence because his physical remains were claimed by Aquila, where he died.85 The Ferrarese Bernardino figure conveys the same veristic human likeness, unencumbered by saintly rhetoric. While it dates slightly after his canonization, he is presented here as a man, not a stereotyped saint. The images of Bernardino and Anthony of Padua offer new evidence for the Entombment’s origins in Paduan circles. The almost-profile view of Bernardino’s head and his downcast eyes are virtually identical to his portrait in the lunette from Il Santo, signed by Mantegna and dated 1452 (Museo Antoniano, Padua) (Fig. 2.15).86 The figures could have been based on the same workshop drawings, passed down by Squarcione, who had known San Bernardino personally.87 One link between Mantegna and Squarcione was Marco Zoppo (1433–98), who worked in Squarcione’s bottega during 1453–55, and to whom both Archangeli and Zeri have attributed the Entombment.88 Besides Saint Bernardino’s physiognomy, the soft plasticity of folds in Nicodemus’s golden tunic resembles Zoppo’s drapery in his polyptych in the Collegio di Spagna, Bologna. While attribution is outside the scope of this study, the taste for Paduan-style artworks in the Ferrarese Franciscan environment is relevant to the problem of authorship. During Borso d’Este’s rule (1450–71), when civic religious celebrations were encouraged, the Entombment altarpiece may have played a role in ceremonies for Easter and the feast of Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi processions developed during the fourteenth century and were common practice by the fifteenth century. Given its

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Fig. 2.15. Andrea Mantegna, Saints Anthony and Bernardino of Siena Adoring the Holy Name, 1452, Museo Antoniano, Padua. (Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.)

likely position in the exterior church, it was available for public viewing, perhaps following the procession when people returned to parish churches for the benediction. During Ercole I d’Este’s rule (1471–1505), Corpus Christi processions wound through Ferrara on a proscribed route that passed along the street in front of San Girolamo, near Corpus Christi. The Blessed Host was carried aloft by the bishop and cathedral clergymen under a canopy held by leading men of the d’Este family. The Poor Clares had no place in public civic rituals, except perhaps singing vespers that echoed softly from behind convent walls. But the focus of their private devotion was the second altarpiece, the Adoration of the Host, which also came from Corpus Christi and is described as ‘four canvases with saints Clare and Francis, accompanied by two kneeling nuns, adoring the Holy Sacrament, flanked by Mary Magdalen and Christ in the Noli me Tangere, Saint John the Baptist, and the Archangel Michael weighing the souls of the dead’.89 Laderchi attributed it to Francesco del Cossa (1436–78), citing stylistic parallels with the Pala dei Mercanti, Bologna. This attribution is intriguing but not mentioned in modern studies.90 Cossa’s first, half-length mourners and fictive panels for the altar of Ferrara Cathedral were executed in 1456, and from1462 he worked in both Bologna and Ferrara. But after executing the frescoes of March, April and Mary in Palazzo Schifanoia in c.1470, he complained that he was given insufficient compensation ‘considering his growing fame’, and he left Ferrara for Bologna.91 Whoever the artist, the lost polyp�� tych clearly linked the living community with deceased nuns and their Franciscan father and mother.

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Since two kneeling nuns presented by Clare and Francis figured prominently in the design, there is reason to believe that nuns or their relatives commissioned it. Abbess Leonarda Campeggi degli Ordelaffi, the 30-year-old widow of the ruler of Forli who headed the convent since 1452, would have been involved in arrangements. Verde di Pio Carpi, who bequeathed property to Corpus Christi in 1440 (probably her death date), is a potential donor, along with her daughter Taddea da Pio ­Carpi (d. 1452), the longtime abbess, who might have been honored in the altarpiece.92 Caterina Vigri, whose aunt Bartolomea de’ Vigri bequeathed a generous amount in 1442, could have been a contributor. They could not order artworks directly, but an Observant friar procurator handled contracts on the convent’s behalf.93 If the nuns selected Cossa, a young, painter-sculptor from a local family of masons, they displayed local pride and courtly artistic taste, especially if he was already working on the Schifanoia frescoes. Apparently, they did not follow a selection process similar to the Poor Clares at Monteluce, Perugia, who in 1505, ‘in order to find the very best artist … consulted many Perugian citizens and their reverend fathers who had seen his works’, before choosing Raphael to paint a copy of Ghirlandaio’s Coronation of the Virgin in the church of San Gerolamo in Narni.94 While the Adoration of the Host is often associated with post-Tridentine Italian religious culture, this altarpiece likely reflected fifteenth-century northern art. The popularity of Flemish art in Ferrara suggests a formal model like Roger Van der Weyden’s Adoration of the Eucharist, with patrons kneeling before a priest elevating the Host.95 Another characteristic type of private devotion shows the Eucharistic chalice and wafer alone on the altar, with adoring kneeling patrons, as in a Books of Hours from Bruges dating from the c.1440s (The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD).96 The altarpiece can be imagined in the context of Clarissan devotion by read��ing the rubrics for Corpus Christi in Caterina Vigri’s breviary.97 In the Commemo��rations, Vigri adds the phrase ‘O sacrum/ Deus qui nobis/ Ego sum panis’, from the chant ‘Ego sum panis Vivus’. The text (John 6:48–52) speaks of Christ as the ‘living bread of life’ that came down from heaven and when eaten guarantees eternal life by the sacrifice of His flesh, given for the life of the world. It stresses the incarnation and the promise of redemption in the mass, suggesting how the nuns’ responses were shaped by performing the offices before the image of the Adoration of the Host. The themes of the Eucharist and the Body of Christ became tangible and explicit for the Poor Clares in Ferrara earlier than most Corpus Christi convents. The display of the Host recalled Saint Clare’s miracle repelling the Saracens, adding another layer of visual meaning and resonance. The first convent in this group of foundations to have an altarpiece with a Eucharistic theme in c.1400 was the Dominican Corpus Domini, Venice.98 This did not continue at Santa Paola/Corpus Domini, Mantua; in 1418 Paola Malatesta paid Zanino da Cremona twelve ducats for the altarpiece with ‘twelve Apostles with the Holy Trinity and kneeling saints Peter and Paul’.99 Later, at Santa Chiara, Carpi, founded in 1490 by Camilla Pio da Carpi after a vision of beata Caterina, an altarpiece

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Fig. 2.16. Domenico Mona, Saints Francis and Clare Adoring the Eucharist, c.1575, Santa Chiara, Carpi. (Photo: After Garuti, Il Monastero di Santa Chiara in Carpi, p. 57.)

of Saints Francis and Clare Adoring the Eucharist by the Ferrarese Mannerist Domenico Mona (1550–1602) decorated the nuns’ choir (Fig. 2.16).100 This was probably modeled after the one in Corpus Christi, Ferrara, although recast in the Mannerist style. In 1609 the Cappuccines in Santa Chiara, Ferrara, had an Adoration of the Eucharist with Frances, Clare and the whole community of nuns kneeling in adoration.101 Other Eucharistic altarpieces can be traced later in Tuscan Poor Clares houses.102 These examples suggest that Corpus Christi was exceptionally progressive in developing the parallel visual imagery of the Adoration of the Host and Entombment in the mid-fifteenth century.

3. The Sette Armi Spirituali and its Audience During the 31 years that Sister Caterina lived at Corpus Christi, Ferrara, she taught the novices, helped her fellow nuns, suffered through crises of faith, experienced divine visions, and wrote prolifically about obedience and humility. Her spiritual treatise begun in the 1430s and revised around 1450–55 before she moved to Bologna, now known under the title the Sette Armi Spirituali, was written as a manual for novices. In her own words, her purpose was to ‘guard them against mistaken ideas and infidelity, to narrate the stories of the saints, to help novices recognize Christ’s infinite charity and thus increase their faith’.1 She laid out a path toward spiritual perfection that the novices were urged to follow. The popularity of the text, which circulated after her death throughout a network of Poor Clare convents, testifies to its didactic value.2 Only in recent decades has Vigri been confirmed as author of the Dodici Giardini (1434–37), lauds, letters, and the 5595-verse Latin poetic prayer Rosarium, and sermons re-copied in the sixteenth century. As one of a select group of Italian women religious writers in the first half of the fifteenth century, Vigri’s life and literary work have received wide attention.3 This chapter examines the Sette Armi Spirituali in the context of the Corpus Christi convent audience. Who were the women Caterina Vigri was addressing in her teaching? Corpus Christi archives give evidence of the nuns’ family backgrounds, community and literacy, including surnames, places of origin, birth dates, professions and deaths of about 135 women who entered the convent in 1426–1500 (see Appendix II).4 While there were illiterate nuns (which explains Vigri’s emphasis on memory and oral learning), a central core of widows from ruling families of neighboring city-states, daughters of the professional class, and patrician families gave the community its elite character. The notion that Vigri had a humanist education with Guarino Guarini (who arrived in Ferrara after she had left the d’Este court) must be abandoned for a more realistic view: the family’s zentilhomini nuovi status and her association with Borso’s sister Margherita d’Este probably accounts for her education. In her little Libro Devota (as the Sette Armi Spirituali was known), Vigri constructs visual similes and metaphors, stages dramatically imagined scenes with the devil, refers to saints who both she as author and the novices as audience would visualize in certain ways, and describes visions based on devotional objects or images that the novices had seen. The visual imagery embedded in her narrative contributes to the freshness of the text, counterbalancing the emotional pain of identifying with Christ, and helps focus the intellectual concentration on interior piety.

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The Corpus Christi Community 1431–56 Corpus Christi expanded rapidly during the first 25 years of its existence. It swelled from 10 nuns who professed in 1433, to 105 sisters and converse by 1455. This rivals the growth of the Benedictine convent of Le Murate in Florence, which grew from 11 nuns in 1426 to 124 nuns in 1458, but differs from the older San Guglielmo in Ferrara, which remained at around 25, or the Dominican house of Le Vergini in Venice, which fluctuated between 25 and 55 nuns.5 In 1447 Pope Niccolò V’s papal brief authorized the expansion of the convent which held 39 professed nuns (‘coristi’).6 In 1455 Vicar General Friar Marco of Bologna issued a mandate that convents should house no more than 55 residents, but the record of a Corpus Christi chapter meeting on 16 October, 1455, lists 105 nuns by name.7 The largest population surge (over 250 per��cent) occurred between 1447 and 1455, which suggests some new force at work, such as Sister Caterina’s public reputation for visions and holiness. The convent developed a regional reputation along two geographic directional axes: Via Emilia from Modena to Bologna, Imola, Forli, Cesena and Rimini, and the Po River Valley from Ravenna to Ferrara, Mantua and Cremona (Fig. 3.1). These areas contained small Renais�sance principalities whose rulers often used their daughters as marriage pawns in battles for territory and sovereignty. Whether they were legitimate, illegitimate, stepchildren, orphans, widows of the rulers, or daughters of the professional class who lacked sufficient dowries to attract husbands, women held little power to determine their own fates. While some entered Corpus Christi with true religious vocation, the convent also may have been perceived by upperclass women as a ‘safe haven’ amidst the political strife of northeast Italy. The nucleus of women who entered pre-1434 came from the professional elite and ruling families of nearby city-states.8 This original cohort included Illuminata Bembo (c.1417–93), an educated daughter of a wealthy, patrician Venetian family.9 Caterina Vigri (1413–63) and Samaritana Superbi (c.1410–59) represented the Ferrarese professional elite whose fathers worked for the d’Este court.10 From noble Bolognese families there was Pacifica Barbieri (c.1410–59), Giovanna Lambertini (d. 1476) and Anna Morandi ‘from Ravenna’ (d. 1483). Additionally, there was Maddalena Malatesta (c.1414–90), probably from Ravenna, who later served as abbess and lived 57 years ‘of religious life’ at Corpus Christi.11 The contingent from Santa Paola, Mantua, includ�� ed Francesca de Franza (from France) ‘of those sisters who came from outside’, and the new abbess Taddea di Pio da Carpi (c.1395–1452). As daughter of the ex-ruler of Imola, Ludovico Alidosi, who Coluccio Salutati praised in 1402 for his literary and humanistic studies, Taddea was likely an educated young widow.12 The Observant friars of Santo Spirito waged a campaign to expand the house during 1434–47. In 1434 thirteen nuns were transferred from convents in Forli, Mantua, Modena, Treviso and Verona, which raised the population to 23 (still under the quota of 35 sisters for Clarissan houses).13 Two sisters likely came from Santa Chiara,

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Fig. 3.1. Geographic Origins of Corpus Christi’s Novices, 1430–1500. (Map/Diagram: Author.)

Forli, through the intervention of Silvestro da Forli, Corpus Christi’s procurator during 1434–43.14 Dorothea da Modena, relative of Archbishop Jacobus of Modena, who presided at the vestition in 1434, is described in Vigri’s Dodici Giardini as a most devout sister and companion.15 Three sisters came from Santa Chiara, Verona, where Observant Franciscans had flourished since Saint Bernardino preached there in 1422–23.16 Friar Gabriel Mezzavacca of Santo Spirito placed his sisters, Paola and Gabriella, and Gabriella’s daughter, Chiara, in Corpus Christi in 1439 and 1447.17 By 1455 Paola had become vicaress, the second-in-command responsible for quotidian management, administration and convent record-keeping. Bernardina, widow of Friar Paolo della Calcina, and her two daughters entered in 1435–38, thus adhering to the norm of family members entering convents after a spouse’s death. The Calcina and Mezzavacca nuns had uncles or brothers with the title ‘Ser’ who as notaries witnessed convent legal actions.18 Eugenia Barbieri followed her sister Pacifica into Corpus Christi in 1446. The influx of women continued from Adriatic city-states like Forli, Ravenna, Venice, and even the island of Rhodes (then under the rule of Alfonso V d’Aragon).19 In 1442 there were eight recently professed nuns and nine newcomers.20

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Helen of Rhodes professed in c.1445 and became fifth in seniority by 1455; she must have been literate since she served on the abbess’s inner council.21 How she came to Ferrara is a matter of speculation. Since Leonello d’Este married Maria of Aragon in 1444, Helen may have been her lady-in-waiting at court before joining Corpus Christi. Most important, Leonarda Campeggi Ordelaffi (1425–96), widow of the ruler of Forli, professed in 1446 and became abbess in 1452. The third stage of growth during 1447–56 drew 66 novices from an even wider geographic area encompassing Bologna, Carpi, Casalmaggiore, Cremona, Forli, Lendinara, Modena, Parma, Perugia, Reggio and Venice, as well as Ferrara. Two Cremonese nuns who had entered in c.1439 recruited eight more sisters from families frustrated with delays establishing an Observant house in Cremona. Ferrara and Cremona were well connected by the Po River, the major thoroughfare linking towns between Ferrara and Pavia.22 Bianca Maria Visconti Sforza (1425–68) visited Ferrara in 1440, and through her influence at the Papal Court and the gift of her own palace in Cremona, Pope Callisto III approved the new Corpus Domini/Santa Chiara Novella in 1455.23 Fifteen nuns transferred to Cremona in 1455, which reached a population of 100 sisters by 1479. Other novices came from Parma because by 1422 Santa Chiara was sufficiently dilapidated as a result of warfare that it needed to be completely rebuilt, which forced families to look elsewhere for a Poor Clares convent.24 Corpus Christi’s growth spiked partially because of stalled foundations of Observant houses in other cities. It would not be surprising if the large cohort of Ferrarese novices in 1447–55 was due to Caterina Vigri’s civic reputation. Public awareness of her visions, predictions and miracles is shown in Bembo’s account of the ‘miracle of the bread’ in the Specchio di Illuminazione. During Friar Albert Sarteano’s four-hour sermon in 1442, Caterina left bread baking in the oven, recommending it to Christ’s care, and when she returned thinking it would be burned, ‘miraculously it was beautiful like roses’, and ‘many secular people wanted some of that bread because they believed it was miraculous’.25 If secular people wanted the bread, the event must have become known in the city. In Vigri’s Sette Armi Spirituali she reported visions related to contemporary events in Ferrara and Bologna. She prayed for departed souls, persons facing life-changing decisions, and criminals condemned to death. Three particular visions concerning political events attracted attention in these years. In August 1443 Caterina predicted Annibale Bentivoglio’s victory over the Milanese forces outside Bologna, a vision which was one of several predictions mentioned by Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti.26 In October 1446 Vigri saw Bishop Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano ascending to heaven on the night of his death in a radiant star and called out to another sister, ‘Do you see the spirit of the Bishop ascending to the Blessed heavens?’ In May 1453, during the siege of Constantinople, she predicted the fall of the city to the Ottoman Turks before the news had reached Ferrara.27 Both Bembo’s and Vigri’s writings demonstrate close ties and communication between the convent and the city.

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Women’s Education in Ferrara, Mantua and Urbino This convent tells us much about female education in northeast Italy. Scholars consistently refer to Vigri’s noble family and humanist education to explain her prolific writings. The ‘noble family myth’ began in 1522 when Flaminio translated the Sette Armi Spirituali into Latin and emphasized the Vigri’s noble roots.28 This notion became intertwined with claims about her education at the d’Este court. Spanò Martinelli calls Vigri’s period at court, ‘decisive because she learned good Latin, to write a beautiful humanistic hand, to paint, to illuminate codices, and to play the viola’.29 Puliatti suggests that she assimilated ‘a humanistic perspective’ and scribal skills from Francheschino, Francesco da Codogoro and Jacopino d’Arezzo.30 Alberigo objects to characterizing Caterina’s outlook as humanist, and calls for more study of the Mantuan model of a courtly school.31 Even though Guarini came to Ferrara in late 1429—three years after Caterina Vigri left the court—many sources state she learned from Guarini. Only Sgarbi, editor of the Rosarium, flatly declares that ‘Caterina’s Latin has nothing humanistic about it; it appears to be traditional ecclesiastical style with no artistic pretensions’.32 Women’s literacy in Ferrara and nearby courts varied considerably and must have created a diverse educational level at Corpus Christi. Social status certainly affected girls’ education, but in the early fifteenth century it is unclear whether daughters of ruling families receive household tutoring. Even more questionable is the supposition that servants or ladies-in-waiting or donzelle were educated with the ruler’s legitimate and illegitimate children. If they lived at the d’Este, Gonzaga, or Malatesta courts, what were opportunities for daughters of the new professional elite class of notaries and judges in the chancellery offices? Female education at the various social levels is, of course, difficult to document. Defining social class in Renaissance Ferrara is more complex than in Florence or Venice.33 Class depended upon inherited wealth, profession and property own�� ership, but there was greater social mobility in Ferrara. A distinction between the older medieval nobility, zentilhomini antiqui, and the new nobility, or zentilhomini nuovi, arose around mid-century early in Borso d’Este’s reign. The concept of ‘noble patrician families’, as it was understood in fifteenth-century Florence, dates from later sixteenth-century Ferrara.34 The zentilhomini antiqui were families like the Bonacossi, Costabili, Pendagli, Trotti and Turchi, who derived large incomes from rural landholdings and maintained city tower houses dating back to the 1200s.35 The Vigri family owned land in the rural territory of Massa Superiore and Ceneselli, while their city residence was located in the contrada of Ognissanti, where narrow streets (originally canals or ditches) run north/south between Via Ripagrande to Via della Rotta.36 This densely populated quarter was not the primary residence of the zentilhomini antiqui, who resettled in the urban additions begun by Niccolò II in 1386 and in the second addition by Borso d’Este. Also arguing against defining the Vigri family

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as noble in this period is the fact that they had no family crest, nor did they owe feudal liege rights to the d’Este.37 One indicator of social status are records of liege gifts for Niccolò III’s marriage to Ricciarda Saluzzo in 1431 and Leonello’s wedding to Margherita Gonzaga in 1435. The Vigri are absent from the list of old families required to present a financial gift, and were more like chancellery employees who simply had one month’s salary deducted for the festivities.38 The earliest sources speak of Caterina’s father’s ‘noble heart’ (not his noble family) and good reputation, or ‘bona fama’. In 1469 Sister Illuminata compared ­Caterina’s ‘high and noble heart’ to her father who ‘was a good man who came from a good house, as well as a good scholar and doctor for which he was always employed’. Her mother was ‘a woman with a good reputation, much desired as a companion to the elite in Ferrara’.39 In 1472 Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti described her father ‘an educated, well-mannered man for which he was always provided with offices’.40 Foletti discovered that Caterina’s father died after 1438, not in 1426, supposedly the reason for Caterina’s withdrawal to the pinzochere.41 Foletti concludes that he served in the diplomatic service outside Ferrara until c.1440.42 He may also have worked in the d’Este bureaucracy, a large administrative staff of l­awyers, scribes and notaries.43 The Regency Council that ruled Ferrara during ­Niccolò III’s minority included notaries from the Roberti and Obizzi families whose daughters (like Caterina) became ladies-in-waiting at court.44 Bembo states Caterina was raised with the daughters of the ‘Chagnacino’ family and Margherita d’Este.45 Their father, ‘honorevole homo Ser Antonio Cagnacino’, was in the chan�� 46 cellery, and Giovanni Vigri may have worked with him. These notaries had reason to desire a basic education for their daughters. For Caterina Vigri and others like her, the benefits of living at court lay more in the realm of art and culture than formal education. When Niccolò III married the fourteen-year-old Parisina Malatesta, she received six young donzelle (maids) and six massare (married women servants) to run the household.47 Caterina lived there from c.1418 to 1426 and is documented as ‘Catalina donzella’ to Parisina Malatesta d’Este during 1422–24.48 She lived with Parisina on the first floor of the Torre di Rigobello just below the d’Este library. Parisina had her own study and commissioned some religious artworks and a Tristan in French.49 Her favorite artist, Giovanni di Paolo ‘del��le Gabelle’, painted a Book of Hours, tarocchi cards, boxes and a small altarpiece for her private chapel.50 Parisina’s musical interests, shown by three small gigas ordered for her and her twin daughters, likely stimulated Caterina’s musical talent. Bembo recounts that Caterina collected music, wrote lauds, and one night after a vision, she surprised her sisters by singing and playing sweet music on her small viole.51 This fifteenth-century instrument is preserved as a relic in her chapel.52 Caterina was exposed to music; oral readings of literature; magnificent clothing; gilded, painted and ivory art objects; illuminated manuscripts; and all the rich material culture of a north Italian court.

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However, formal education at the d’Este court could be called ‘retrograde’ for both boys and girls prior to the 1440s. In Mantua and Urbino, the daughters of ruling families began humanist studies in the 1420s, but in Ferrara they were educated from c.1450. In Mantua, the Gonzaga hired Vittorino da Feltre in 1423 to establish a school for their sons and daughters, and Cecilia Gonzaga wrote in Latin and Greek by 1431.53 The Montefeltro of Urbino educated their daughters in Latin and Greek from the 1420s.54 By contrast, Niccolò III employed individual tutors for his sons and sent them to the University of Bologna.55 After Guarini arrived, male humanist cul��ture improved, enriching court life and attracting foreign students by the 1440s.56 For his eight daughters, Niccolò arranged advantageous marriages based on his political ambitions. Only the youngest, Bianca Maria (1440–1506), had a humanist tutor, Antonio da Casteldurante, in c.1450. She read Vergerio in Latin, Socrates in Greek, romances in French, and the humanist Fidelfo commended her Latin epistles. Later, as wife of Galeotto Pico della Mirandola, she was considered one of the best-educated women rulers in northern Italy.57 For ladies-in-waiting—glorified servants and ceremonial props in court pageantry—education depended on friendships. Vigri’s closest friend was Margherita d’Este Malatesta (1413–78), the daughter of Stella dei Tolomei and natural sister of Leonello and Borso d’Este. After Parisina’s death, Vigri served as companion to Margherita, and they were probably taught by the ‘master of the young children of the Signor’ Guglielmo Cappello da Auletta, who is first documented at the d’Este court in 1421 and who remained there as teacher, administrator and librarian until 1453.58 He provided the children with basic writing, grammar, Latin instruction and access to the court library. The girls likely followed a programme of study like the one recommended by Leonardo Bruni to Battista da Montefeltro Malatesta in 1405, reading Lactantius, Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, Basil and Boethius.59 Vigri cites some of these in her own writings, particularly Augustine and Jerome.60 Bruni advocated reading Epicurius, Zenophon, and Aristotle on the definition and pursuit of happiness. Vigri never quotes Greek and Roman philosophers except through the saints’ examples, but she and Margherita may have read some Roman historians and poets who Bruni suggests ‘can teach women about constancy, devotion, and the highest virtues of womanhood’. Margherita d’Este was a lifelong friend, serving as a conduit from court to cloister for news of the world. Foletti wrongly discounts her as a minor personage who disappeared from public life into a Franciscan convent after her husband’s death.61 On the contrary, documents show she was one of the most powerful women at the d’Este court for 40 years. After a short, chaste marriage to the ascetic ‘povero di Cristo’ Galeotto Roberto Pandolfo Malatesta of Rimini, she returned to Ferrara in 1432 and settled into the ‘Chamber of the Worpas’ in Castelnuovo.62 She regularly appears in court accounts as ‘Illustrissima Margherita d’Arimino’ or ‘Margherita Malatesta’.63 In 1435 she arranged weddings for Parisina’s twin daughters, Ginevra and Lucia, and soon

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after, she attended their funerals: Ginevra was poisoned by Sigismondo Malatesta in 1436, and Lucia died a few months after her marriage to Carlo Gonzaga of Mantua. In 1439 Margherita mourned the death of Leonello’s wife, Margherita Gonzaga, and in 1443 she marveled at Rizzarda da Saluzzo’s angry departure from Ferrara, taking her two young sons and 60,000 ducats worth of money, jewelry and clothes. M ­ argherita outlived her father, Niccolò III (d. 1441), her older brother, Leonello (d. 1450), and her younger brother, Borso (d. 1471). Among court ladies receiving m ­ ourning veils for Borso’s funeral, she ranked in the top five, with the title ‘Illustrissima’. For decades she maintained close ties to Caterina Vigri, even escorting her to the new convent in Bologna in July 1456.

Corpus Christi Library and Lectio Divina Describing convent libraries in Ferrara before c.1460 is difficult since archival evidence is limited. As Franceschini notes, Ferrara was slow to encourage literacy, and Bishop Pietro Boiardi had to establish a grammar school for cathedral canons in 1431.64 By 1466 the cathedral library had doubled in size, but the canons were reluctant to lend their books for reading or copying.65 Observant leaders Bernardino of Siena, John of Capistrano and James of the Marches encouraged greater literacy for the friars, but the few outstanding Franciscan libraries were in Bologna, Padua and Mantua.66 In 1454 Bishop Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano pur��chased an antiphonary from the sisters of Sant’Antonio in Polesine, demonstrating that they copied texts and may have had a library.67 The Benedictine nuns’ library at San Silvestro, Ferrara, was inventoried in 1470, and many texts were ‘on deposit’ from the abbess’s relative, notary Francesco da Fiesso.68 This demonstrates how women’s convents often obtained books—through semi-permanent loan from professional elite male relatives.69 The nuns’ chronicle of Corpus Domini, Bologna, recalls that Vigri inventoried their documents during c.1456–58, soon after they arrived.70 Conceivably, the nuns brought some books from Ferrara to begin the library in Bologna. Spanò Martinelli has identified many texts in Bologna, although some descriptions, such as ‘Sermon delivered on the eve of Holy Friday by a reverend father’ were too vague to recognize.71 Based on their vellum, handwriting and book covers, at least three manuscripts were ‘antiques’: a ‘martirology in the old style with beautiful letters’, a Latin life of Saint Anthony of Padua ‘with beautiful penwork in a wooden cover with beautiful metal closures’ (in asse with belle fibule), and a vellum manuscript bound in wood (libro in cartapecora legato in asse) with a description of a trip to the Holy Land by Capodilista.72 These had previously belonged to the nuns of San Bernardino, Padua, and may have been gifted to Vigri by Ludovico Barbo, Abbot of Santa Giustina, Padua, and later Bishop of Treviso (1437–43).73 This is

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another example of book exchanges between women’s convents that facilitated recopying texts. The nuns at Corpus Christi conform to Gill’s theory of growing literacy spurred by copying of vernacular texts, and their writings demonstrate a broad-based devotional reading.74 Among the few original books from their library extant in Ferrara is a fragment of a French bible (previously catalogued as a fourteenth-century romance) copied in a fifteenth-century hand.75 The page from Mark 5:16–40 recounts Jesus’s miracles of freeing men possessed by devils and raising the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Beyond this, their lectio divina can be deduced from sources mentioned in their writing.76 In the Sette Armi Spirituali, Caterina paraphrases or cites the Bible, the Roman breviary and missal, Augustine’s Confessions, Gregory the Great’s Moralia of Job, Bernard of Clairvaux’s sermons and homilies, and the Collationes patrum of the fourth-century mystic John Cassianus, perhaps because he is mentioned in the Pseudo-Bonaventura’s Meditations on the Life of Christ.77 Franciscan sources include the Rule of Clare, Bonaventure’s Legenda Maior, Tomaso of Celano’s Vita secunda (Second Life), the Fioretti di San Francesco (Little Flowers of Saint Francis), Francis’s Admonitiones, the Regulae, the Speculum perfectionis (Mirror of Perfection), and the Detti di Frate Egidio (Sayings of Friar Giles). In the Dodici Giardini she refers to more than 24 authors, including most commonly the Bible, Saint Paul, and the Song of Songs, as well as saints Bernard of Clairvaux, Augustine and Gregory. In her lauds and letters, she cites Bernardino of Siena, Bernard of Clairvaux, Gregory the Great, Jerome, Bonaventure, Francis, Giles of Assisi, and especially Jacopone da Todi’s lauds and Domenico Cavalca’s Vite dei Santi Padri. The same kind of devotional reading is traceable in Sister Illuminata’s Specchio di Illuminazione, which cites saints Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis, Paul, the rule of Clare, and lauds of Jacapone da Todi. These sources suggest a well-educated community that had access to religious literature in Latin and the vernacular. Many of the Franciscan authors are likely sources for Poor Clare nuns. Vigri’s knowledge of Bernardino of Siena’s ideas may have been based on hearing sermons in 1423 and 1431 or reading vernacular versions.78 As for other female religious writers, Bridget of Sweden was known because a miscellaneous codex of prayers from Corpus Domini, Bologna, contains the ‘Prayers of beata Brigida said before the Crucifix’.79 Although Bridget of Sweden (1303–73) founded her own order, she first joined the Third Order Franciscans and is included in many Franciscan calendars. The fact that her mystical visions and revelations were accepted as orthodox at the Council of Basel in 1436 may have made them especially relevant to Vigri while she was writing the Sette Armi Spirituali and Dodici Giardini. As far as access to religious works, it can be hypothesized that the nuns borrowed books through their procurator at Santo Spirito and from the d’Este court library through Margherita d’Este and the librarian/tutor Guglielmo Cappello.

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The Sette Armi Spirituali and Teaching Novices Sister Caterina began teaching her sisters soon after they moved back into the new convent. In the Sette Armi Spirituali, she recalls a vision of the Last Judgment that she experienced there in 1431.80 By 1435 there were 23 nuns who needed religious instruc��tion. The colophon in her autograph copy states that she began writing ‘this little book’ in 1438 during the abbacy of Taddea di Marco di Pio.81 Vigri probably formulated her thoughts in the process of oral teaching in chapter in the 1430s.82 Her autograph ‘clean copy’ was written in 1455 in Ferrarese dialect with marginal notes in her own hand.83 It includes two final ‘lettere’ or postscripts, one in the format of a colophon, ‘I, by myself nick-named “little puppy” from divine inspiration wrote in my own hand, this book in the monastery of Corpo di Christo in my cell where I lived … in 1438’; and the second with instructions that ‘anyone who finds this codex should give it to the father confessor, who should correct it, have it copied and sent to her sisters in Ferrara’.84 Vigri’s text has been examined through various lenses—tracing literary and biblical sources, analysing literary style, relating it to Franciscan devotional literature, comparing her writings with other religious mystics, connecting the text with psychological aspects of her personal suffering—and finally, as a set of instructions for novices, which, according to her own words, was her main reason for writing it. The concept of Vigri teaching in chapter meetings and at refectory meals has been discussed recently by Zarri, Roest, Bush and others.85 Zarri notes that Vigri was able to raise the level of intellectural and cultural activities in the whole convent.86 Roest suggests that her methods of biblical exegesis are strong, and her sermons display an ‘analytical style of theological thinking’, similar to Bernardino of Siena in didactic and structured narrative.87 Among the mechanisms that she uses in teaching are listings of steps towards a goal, a mnemonic device to reinforce memory. As Knox observes, there are constant admonitions for self-discipline and self-reflection that operate primarily on the intellectual level. She suggests that the Sette Armi Spirituali is focused on ‘interior piety’, in which the mind and mental experience is the foundation of devotional life.88 Expanding on this idea, we should consider that the mind’s eye (occhio del intelletto) responds to language and vision; both can be writers’ and preachers’ tools for communicating. Vigri the teacher characterizes abstract ideas with visual similes and metaphors; she constructs scenes of celestial banquets, conversations with the devil disguised as Christ on the Cross, and visions based on artworks that both she and her audience probably had seen. Embedded in the writing is inspiration not only from texts in Franciscan, Patristic or Biblical sources, but from contemporary visual experience and devotional culture. The following discussion explores visual images and associations that inspired Vigri and resonated with her audience. The concept of the manual as a battle between opposing forces stems from Franciscan tradition. The treatise refers to seven spiritual weapons that will help the novice accomplish her purpose of abandoning worldly thoughts and her own will in

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order to ‘walk in the way of holy obedience’. Caterina describes this crucial path as ‘the excellent and most elegant virtue of obedience, which deserves to be called a queen or noble empress’.89 In personifying Obedience as a queen or empress, she creates the mental image of an enthroned allegorical figure of Obedience, such as the solemn figure depicted placing a yoke upon Francis’s shoulders in the lower church in Assisi (Fig. 3.2).90 The simile of queen or empress conveys the meaning of elevating Obedience to emphasize her overarching authority. The text continues by describing the battle, which will entail many temptations and passing through ‘stormy seas’. Not many novices had seen ‘stormy seas’, although they may have seen images of the Navicella, or heard descriptions of ships saved by miraculous intervention, or perhaps the stormy seas metaphor in Jacopone da Todi’s lauds. She urges novices to take up ‘the way of the Cross’ with Christ, conjuring up a mental image of Christ Bearing the Cross, with the nuns following him like the Virgin Mary or Veronica. The prologue’s central paragraph states that the novice must arm herself with seven virtues: diligence, diffidence, trust in God, memory of the Passion of Jesus Christ, memory of one’s own mortality, memory of the Glory of God, and finally, the authority of the Holy Scriptures, ‘as in the model set by Jesus Christ in the desert’.91 The temptation is well-known through Matthew I, Luke IV and John I, and while monumental images of Jesus in the desert are rare, miniatures occur in the Meditationes Vitae Christi Chapter XVII, and the Speculum Humanae Salvationis Chapter XIII, a widely illustrated text of which 380 manuscript and blockbook copies remain. A few were produced in Bologna, although they were more common in France and Germany.92 The Meditations images with the devil in monk’s robes are calmer than the Speculum, which shows grotesque devils speaking ‘sweet and reasonable words’ to lure Christ up to the mountaintop; Christ goes in order to show mankind that one cannot live in the world without being subject to temptations (Fig. 3.3). The Speculum words and imagery particularly resonate with the Sette Armi Spirituali text. Vigri herself assumes a threatening tone, warning the novice that she ‘will receive many agonizing blows in the battle against the enemies of God’, but simultaneously reassuring her that if she falls into mortal sin, she should not despair but trust in divine goodness. The theme of the battle is paramount, and she offers them ‘good and excellent arms for fighting vigorously’. The first three arms have brief explications that can be imagined as daily lessons concluding with the phrase, ‘A Laude de Christo. Amen’. The visual imagery continues the theme of resisting the devil and obeying God. The first weapon is ‘Diligence or zeal in doing good that requires taking inspiration from the Holy Spirit and putting it into practice’. She warns that there is danger in doing too much as well as too little, but rather they must do just the correct, balanced, right (‘discrete’) amount, as Saint Anthony of Vienne advises. She evokes the image of the old, white-bearded, ascetic abbot, likely known to her audience through panel painting or other images connected with his cult at the nearby church of Sant’Antonio di Vienne.93 Anthony’s

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Fig. 3.2. Master delle Vele, Allegory of Obedience, detail, c.1320, Lower Church, Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi. (Photo: akg-images, London.)

legend was a model of resisting the devil’s temptations that resonated with nuns and a popular lay audience. Devotional prints illustrated an encyclopedia of tortures, sometimes accompanied by fervent personal penitential prayers, as in the midfifteenth-century engraving with the inscription,’light of all penitents, pray to Jesus for his Christian people that he may take unto him our transitory soul’ (Fig. 3.4).94 Next she explains the second weapon, Diffidence (or mistrust of self), which requires giving up one’s own force and accepting Christ’s words: ‘sine me nihil potestis facere’, or ‘without me you can do nothing’. Here personal experience creeps into the words, when she states ‘don’t believe in yourself; blessed are those that have

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Fig. 3.3. Christ Tempted on the Mountain, fol. 13v, Speculum Humanae Salvationis, c.1400, Ms. Latin 511, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. (Photo: Permission of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.)

this beautiful gift … I myself heard from an old, wise priest …’, and continues with a long anecdote about a priest in authority giving up his own ideas in favor of others’ opinions. She concludes with the principle that novices should live according to the conscience and ‘will of their prelate and mistress’ (la sua prelata e maistra), and the authority changes gender, thus referring to the abbess or teacher.95 The third weapon—‘confidarsi in Dio’, or to trust in God—is presented as protection in the battle against devils and one’s own flesh. The mental picture of devils derives from Last Judgment and Hell scenes, such as the sculptured Romanesque façade of Ferrara Cathedral. Trusting or having faith in God dwells on the feeling of abandonment by God, as when Christ asked his Father why did you abandon me? But, she states, the servant of Christ does not fear this, because the eternal father will be with her as he was with his Son. The fourth weapon begins with a passionate call for novices to remember the glorious pilgrimage of the immaculate Lamb of God Jesus Christ, his passion and his death. The Lamb of God, or Agnes Dei, was a ubiquitous symbol that novices would have visually experienced perhaps in early Christian mosaics of Ravenna or the Romanesque portal of Ferrara Cathedral. She speaks of Christ’s journey, his ways of saving persons, and his character as true refuge in adversity. A list of visual person

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Fig. 3.4. Baccio Baldini, Saint Anthony Abbot with Eleven Scenes of His Life, c.1460s–85, Pavia. (Photo: After The Illustrated Bartsch, permission of the Musei Civici del Castello Visconteo, Pavia.)

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and object-metaphors for Christ follows: He is the bright passion and cure of all our wounds, a mother who leads her children to their most Glorious Father, a nurse who guides small children, a brilliant light, an impenetrable shield, the highest of stairs, a true home, the sweetest olive from branches around the universe, and bridegroom of the spirit who loves you.96 Some metaphors are common, like the brilliant light, the impenetrable shield, and the ‘highest stairs’, which calls to mind ladders leading to heavens, as in Saint John of Climactus’s Scala Paradisi. The metaphor of ‘the olive tree whose branches span the universe’ may derive from Paul’s parable in Romans 11:17–24, which concerns faith, obedience and humility. Many metaphors are more unusual and difficult to trace in visual sources. The sense of preaching is strong in the oral repetition and the way she addresses the novices directly (carissime e cordialissime sorele). The fifth and sixth weapons are linked together by thematic opposition. The fifth weapon—‘Remembering death, and always being prepared for it’—is important because as Paul said, ‘Do good while you have time’. Paraphrasing Paul, Vigri says since you can never know what day or hour it [death] will come, you must be ready to demonstrate your good will. A personal note enters when she states ‘if the novices take too much pride in their own forces and do not follow the rules given them by the abbess and maestra, they can do harm to themselves through too much penitence’. This can be the work of the devil. The sixth weapon advises them to remember the blessings of Paradise, because as Saint Augustine states, ‘it is impossible to enjoy both present and future gifts’. Finally, she quotes Saint Francis: ‘The good that awaits me makes every pain a delight’, and urges them to remember the eternal gifts and take pleasure in mortal pain (mal patire). She recounts the story of a novice who wants to return to secular life. When she confesses this, the priest tells her his vision of a beautiful feast with young people dressed in marvelous clothing and wreaths of flowers. She approaches the table, but then turns back. Vigri’s lesson relates textually to the Song of Songs, but also may recall visual memories of court banquets transformed into the celestial banquet. The seventh weapon—‘memory of the Holy Scriptures’—is almost a separate treatise (fols.7v-49v) with multiple mystical visions. Vigri states ‘here she [Caterina] will expose a subtle deception of the devil, which was the motivation for writing this little book’.97 The central theme is the struggle for obedience and trials of self-abnegation.98 She explains that the devil can masquerade as the Virgin Mary (alone or with the Christ child), the Crucified Christ, the angel Gabriel, or any saint; in other words, in many visual forms. In the second ‘diabolical apparition’, the devil appears in the guise of Christ while she is praying in church; he accuses her of having robbed him of the gifts of ‘memoria, l’intelletto, e la voluntà’ (memory, intellect and will) which he gave her and demands them back. She realizes that he speaks because of her unfaithful thoughts about the abbess. He advises her to sleep (by which he means do not get involved in worldly matters), wake up (by which he means be careful to be obedient) and rest (by which he means

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to remember Christ’s suffering). She is still tormented by doubt and self-criticism, and tempted to contradict the abbess, which would have condemned her soul. She survives the temptation because of her act of contrition. The moral of the story, summed up for the novices, is: ‘Remember if you are tempted in obedience, that it is not your own doing but comes from the jealousy of the enemy and must be patiently resisted.’ The crucifix that spoke to Vigri, according to tradition, was preserved at Corpus Christi until c.1510 and then transferred to San Bernardino. Scalabrini and Flaminio associate it with a ‘stucco crucifix in the dormitory that the nuns carried in civic religious processions’.99 This object returned to the convent in c.1800 and now is identified with a rustic crucifix of uncertain date.100 The figure resembles artisan Emilian crucifixes from Carpi, Faenza and Pomposa, with long, thin arms, emaciated musculature, the perizoma wrapped horizontally around the hips, short, straight legs, and the right foot twisted across the left. A recent restoration revealed it was papiermâché; it remains in poor condition, with Christ having lost his beard.101 The cult of a sculptured crucifix that spoke to Caterina may have developed in the sixteenth century at San Bernardino as a parallel to the crucifix from San Damiano that spoke to Saint Francis. However, fifteenth-century documents in Corpus Christi are silent on any cult of ‘Caterina’s crucifix’. In the autograph copy of the Sette Armi Spirituali in Bologna, the single painted initial ‘D’ (Deus et Christus Meus) shows a Poor Clare nun kneeling before the Crucifix (Fig. 3.5). From Nunez’s publication in 1912 until recently, this was considered Sister Caterina’s self-portrait, expressing her devotion to the Crucified Christ. In 1996 Wood noted that the page was added to the original manuscript, but ‘must surely represent the protagonist of the treatise’.102 Biancani points out that the style is notably different from breviary initials, and she could not have painted it in later life when her eyesight was impaired.103 Bohn still describes it as a self-portrait and ‘the initial step in a series of Bolognese women’s self-depictions’.104 In the Italian Women Artists exhibition, only the breviary is accepted as by Caterina’s own hand. Graziani proposes that the text of the letter is autographic, but that a fellow nun created the initial, which seems unrelated to cult images of Caterina.105 The miniature’s relationship to later cult images is problematic. The vellum bifolium was inserted at the end of the text (fol. 51r), which suggests it was added later.106 Stylistically, the feathery leaves in the extenders are consistent with nuns’ art, but in the initial itself, the strong spatial illusionism created by the nun’s body enclosed in the frame while Christ’s arms on the cross are outside the frame, his anatomically correct body modeled with highlights, and the white scrollwork in the blue ground are all signs of a professional Bolognese miniaturist. Unlike formulaic depictions, the nun’s face is lifted to gaze on the crucifix, as if expressing the mystic’s struggle to discern whether this was the devil or the true Christ. This initial embodies the central message of the text and expresses deep empathy with Caterina’s battles to overcome egotism and follow Jesus’s model to achieve humility and obedience to God. Visual and physical evidence suggest it was most likely commissioned shortly after Vigri’s

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Fig. 3.5. Bolognese Illuminator, Poor Clare Nun before the Crucifix, fol. 51r, Sette Armi Spirituali, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

death by the Poor Clares in Bologna. In this sense it represents an internal image created for the nuns before the public cult began. Among the visions in the Sette Armi Spirituali, it was the Virgin Mary handing her the swaddled Christ child that came to symbolize Caterina’s mystical experience. This took place on Christmas Eve 1445, when she remained in the church to recite 1000 Ave Marias: at the fourth hour, in the moment when we believe that Christ was born, appeared a vision of the Virgin with Christ child in her arms, swaddled exactly as we do for other infants when they are born. The Virgin placed him in her lap and the nun gently held him to her breast, face to face, and all around it appeared a heat like what one feels when supper is being cooked … and there was the sweet smell of the pure, Blessed flesh of the Christ child …107

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Fig. 3.6. Lippo di Dalmasio Workshop, Madonna del Pomo, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

This idea of the Virgin giving her the Christ child was every nun’s dream. The story represents a manifestation of divine grace after a period of bitterness and weeping because Caterina was deprived of a mental image of Jesus. On the narrative level, it was an easily comprehensible miracle that echoed the story of Clare’s sister, Agnes, holding the infant Christ, which was illustrated in the frescoes at Santa Chiara, Assisi.

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For older novices and nuns, it played on their maternal feelings. On the psychological level, the words create a powerful experience of melting, merging and becoming one with the infant Jesus. The feeling of warmth ‘like the flush of heat from the oven’ derives from Vigri’s task as convent baker, but the words physically evoke a mystical experience. The vision may have been inspired by an image of the Madonna and swaddled Christ Child in the nuns’ choir at Corpus Christi. The Madonna del Pomo, so closely associated with Vigri later in Bologna, depicts the Madonna and swaddled Christ Child (Fig. 3.6). This conforms to the story in the Sette Armi Spirituali and certainly later became an iconic reminder of her vision. In the Bologna image, the central figures derive from the Madonna and Child in a polyptych by Lippo di Dalmasio dated c.1410 (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna).108 But, in fact, Dalmasio ‘quotes’ an earlier miraculous Madonna and Child by Lippo Memmi that belonged to the confraternity of Santa Maria dei Servi and San Biagio; it was kept high above the altar in the third chapel from the right in Santa Maria dei Servi and taken out for processions (Fig. 3.7).109 Thus the Madonna del Pomo reproduced a miraculous image, which conceivably was a ‘pilgrim replica’ given to Caterina and her companions either while they were in Ferrara or for the new convent in Bologna. At the end of the Sette Armi Spirituali, Caterina recalls her first vision of the Last Judgment, which precipitates a flood of ecstatic guilt, penitence and desire for suffering evil, the malpatire. She sees the Lord God in the clouds wearing a red robe with his face turned towards the west, and below at his side the white-robed Virgin Mary, along with the Apostles seated on flaming thrones with a multitude of people looking upwards, and in the middle is ‘one who preached with a great voice’ (possibly San Bernardino da Siena). She sees herself on the right hand of God rejoicing. Innumerable local sources, such as the façade of Ferrara Cathedral, could have been visual cues for the novices hearing this vision. When she ‘returns to herself’, she urges the novices to pray to placate divine justice and suffer evils for Christ so that He can bear humanity’s pride, greed, lack of charity and immorality. Shifting to a confessional tone, she lists her own faults of falsity, pride, arrogance, sensuality and gluttony. Escalating the intensity, Caterina assumes personal responsibility for all the sins of the world in the past, present and future. The treatise ends with a frenzied response to the visions, departing from the teaching rhetoric into a more personal tone of guilt and repentance. Studying the Sette Armi Spirituali within the framework of the social context of Caterina’s first community illuminates its original purpose and reception. By documenting nuns’ backgrounds from ruling families, new bureaucrats and the d’Este court, studying female education in this region, and reconstructing the library, we can define the audience that Vigri addressed. In her teaching, as recorded in the Sette Armi Spirituali, the mistress of novices used techniques such as visual imagery, anecdotal narratives and personal disclosure to guide the novices along the right

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Fig. 3.7. Madonna of the Confraternity of Santa Maria de’ Servi of San Biagio, from Serie di Varie Immagini di Maria Santissima Madre del Divin Redentore, 1771, fig. 106. (Photo: Author, permission of the Biblioteca Comunale Archiginnasio, Bologna.)

path of obedience to God. The convent necrologies substantiate the notion that this convent housed many better-educated, elite women. Beyond this, they demonstrate that Corpus Christi attracted novices from a large geographic region, one measure of the convent’s reputation in the secular world. Cloistered women, particularly those devoted to absolute poverty, would have seemed powerless to effectuate change in the Renaissance public arena. But Corpus Christi’s dynamic growth demonstrates Caterina’s notable success as a nun-teacher and reformer. Vigri’s preaching and teaching inside the cloister attracted attention from a wider public audience and helped shape the Observant reform in northern Italy.

4. Drawing for Devotion: Sister Caterina’s Breviary Italian nuns produced all kinds of manuscripts, textiles, embroidery or ‘needlepainting’, devotional objects and crafts inside cloister walls, but no comprehensive overview has demonstrated their beauty and diversity as well as the exhibition of nuns’ work Krone und Schleier: Kunst aus Mittelalterlichen Frauenklostern.1 In his publications on German nuns’ art, Hamburger advanced some fundamental principles that still serve as guideposts for German and Italian nuns’ artwork.2 He reminds us that historically cloistered art made by and for women has been considered in the realm of folklore studies. He contends that Nonnenarbeiten must be investigated in the context in which the images were drawn and distributed for devotional purposes. This is often difficult both in Germany and Italy because images were usually detached from their original settings. In discussing the nuns’ drawings from Saint Walburg, Eichenstatt, he observes that their art stemmed from idiosyncratic invention, the influence of religious texts or oral sermons, and adaptation from miscellaneous visual sources. In general, nuns’ artwork disregards models from professional scriptoria, contains unconventional elements, combines narrative and diagrammatic modes, and sometimes directly reflects themes of ritual and devotion. Purpose, spiritual content and devotional function have become the primary focal points in the study of nuns’ art. As Hamburger explains, the nuns’ freedom and originality are not simply a curiosity, but indicative of aesthetic response to internal convent visual culture. Like the nuns’ drawings from Saint Walberg, Vigri’s breviary and her Man of Sorrows should be approached in their own conventual culture. The breviary initials are complemented by hundreds of passionate, prayerful rubrics that reinforce the devotional and meditational character. The style of the coloured initials bears only a distant resemblance to Ferrarese, Lombard, or French-style illumination. The breviary saints’ images reveal unusual, if not idiosyncratic, interpretations. Similar to difficulties of approaching Nonnenarbeiten with traditional German art historical methods, the Italian aesthetic critical framework has no place for cloistered women’s art. Criteria such as invention, narrative force (istoria), mimetic form, variety and complexity, as articulated by Leon Battista Alberti, Giorgio Vasari and Bartolomeo Facio, were developed for religious, political or historical art in the public sphere and manuscripts produced for churchmen, noblemen and humanists. Only once did Vasari mention a fifteenth-century nun-artist—Paolo Uccello’s daughter, the Carmelite sister Antonia di Paolo di Dono—who he said ‘knew how to draw’ (che sapeva disegnare).3 As in Germany, women’s fifteenth-century artwork has been categorized as artisan work within the sphere of popular culture.

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Caterina’s codex is currently the single known example of a fifteenth-century Italian nun-artist’s personally decorated breviary, but few art historians have studied it because it remains a treasured relic in the saint’s chapel in Corpus Domini, Bologna.4 In 1911 Nunez published a skeletal description of its decorated initials and rubrics.5 More recently, Vigri’s personality as a nun-artist was described by Wood, based on an œuvre consisting of the breviary and five paintings. She characterizes her style as ‘using the most precious materials available, which fits comfortably within the Clarissan tradition whereby luxurious materials and expensive art are associated with the sacred’.6 Now that the paintings have been proven to date later or be inconsistent with Vigri’s style, this portrayal needs revision.7 Focusing on the breviary, the present author has suggested that initials of Francis and Clare have roots in Franciscan nuns’ literature, transalpine devotional woodcuts, and convent needlework and that Vigri reacted against her exposure to the materialistic culture of a north Italian court and invented an arte povera appropriate to the Poor Clares poverty.8 This offers an alternate interpretation of Vigri’s art and aesthetic sensibility. The breviary’s first modern edition by Fortunati and Leonardi takes another approach, noting the influence of the Observant Reform as background ‘for the subjective imaginative vision of an Observant nun living the religious life in which contemplation and work are fed by the scriptures and spiritual texts’.9 Fortunati discusses German Nonnenarbeiten and interprets Vigri’s faces of Christ as ‘the Holy Face’ or ‘Veronica’. She suggests that the devotio moderna, with its obsession for seeing ‘the true face of Christ’, merged with the nun’s desire to visualize Christ as the virginal Bridegroom to create the Christocentric Eucharistic imagery in the breviary.10 Complementing the art historical analysis, literary scholar Leonardi reorganizes the almost 1000 rubrics thematically, noting relationships to her Sette Armi Spirituali, lauds and biblical sources.11 This chapter explores Sister Caterina’s expression of spiritual content through artistic techniques accessible to a cloistered nun-artist, and examines the breviary as an integrated creative work. The philosophical and practical issues of Italian nuns’ artistic intentions and aesthetic values, as well as access to paper, vellum, pigments and inks, will be considered first. Vigri’s breviary gives ample stylistic proof of adaptation of techniques from embroidery, cutwork and reticella needlework that the nuns were producing simultaneously in textile form. In addition, being a prolific writer and deeply pious woman, she gives us an aesthetic philosophy that addresses questions of beauty and the proper ornamentation of the ‘Divine Word’. Essential methodological questions of how the sections fit together, where the ‘borrowed’ Kalendar and psalter came from, and how she integrates them visually into the rest of the text are investigated. Instead of a thematic approach, this is a contextual study that unites the Holy Scriptures, the nun’s verbal rubrics and her visual initials. Vigri’s rubrics and miniatures of the infant Christ, the adult Christ, as well as Franciscan, Poor Clare and penitential saints are examined in consecutive order that respects the artist’s construction of the text/image/rubric form, and reveals the synthetic nature

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of the creative process. Also different from previous studies is the mode of probing close relationships between visual form and the written word.12 This approach seeks precise correlations between the breviary text, ideas and images in the Sette Armi Spirituali, and Franciscan devotional literature. The following discussion offers as complete a monographic treatment as possible within the framework of the broader study of Corpus Christi.13 Analysing the breviary in conjunction with the Man of Sorrows drawing from another prayerbook reframes Vigri’s artistic accomplishments.

Nuns’ Artwork: Aesthetic, Medium and Materials The most significant statement quoted by Illuminata Bembo is ‘she [Caterina] did not wish that breviaries were made poorly, that they should be made and touched solemnly with reverence as if they were chalices of the Holy Word with which we minister in praise of God’.14 In Vigri’s own Sermon XX, on the theme of using time wisely, she repeats virtually the same phrases, that images made in the holy books, especially the breviary, ‘should be held in great reverence, almost like a consecrated chalice, out of respect for the sacred and divine words composed by the Holy Spirit that are ministered in praise of God’.15 Particularly, the phrase ‘in praise of God’ is a point of departure for understanding the motivation of Vigri’s art. After defining the devotional purpose of art, which justifies the nun’s time spent executing it, she gives her opinion of the contemporary style of illumination, saying, ‘What are all those flowers and foliage doing there? Would not Jesus or Christ be better in initials (capoversi), as in the prayers and readings? What feeling can one draw from those leaves if not distraction of the mind? But Jesus Christ is a sweet and soft remembrance!’16 This oft-quoted passage seems to reflect on those International Gothic illu�� minated breviaries and psalters she saw in the hands of Parisina d’Este and other court women. She echoes the sentiment of a favorite author, Bernard of Clairvaux, who in his Apologia of 1124 complained to Peter the Venerable about the ‘curious carvings and paintings that attract the worshipper’s gaze and hinder his attention’, or in other words, constitute a distraction from prayer.17 While she disapproves of elaborate decoration, she affirms the usefulness of decorating with Christ’s Word and saints’ images. Bembo tells us Vigri is also concerned about not wasting her time on art, that is, ‘miniare polito e fiorire gentilmente’. Vigri is preoccupied with this in her own Sermon XX, written in 1452 after she has been decorating codices and convent walls for years: she distinguishes between copying holy books, which is a ‘mere charitable work for the benefit of others’, and painting them, which ‘had the just cause of increasing in myself and in all of you the pure devotion’.18 She states that she ‘knows well that as far as the artifice or craftsmanship, they are all trifles (bagatelle) and rubbish (frascherie), because I am very ignorant in art, and as even as good as I was, I will do no more than what I have already done’.19 This humility concerning her artistic

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skills may indicate she considered giving up artwork after completing the breviary. But yet she confesses that ‘otherwise she would go against her main profession [of nun], in which she must always do Good and not spend all day painting with brushes’. She continues more strongly, saying she must discipline herself not to illuminate or miniare, and do penitence for frequently making secular art or ‘esercitare arte secolare con frequenza’. She must observe her Rule and not stain her hands with terrarossa and pegola. The reference to working with red earth or bole, used as a ground for applying gilding, and resin or pitch, an ingredient in the varnishing process, is highly significant since it indicates she was preparing the surface or varnishing panel paintings.20 This whole discourse reveals a sense of conflict between her pleasure in making art and her holy vows, which she resolves by justifying art as a means of increasing religious devotion. How to interpret these words and her art in a proper historical context? Fortunati states that Vigri uses a ‘childish language’ in depicting Christ and the saints because she believed it was impossible to express or reveal the ineffable God.21 This concep�� tion of the ‘impossibility of revealing God’ directly contradicts the nun’s own statements in which she expresses the belief that art has a function in her world and can be used to serve God. Categorizing nuns’ artwork as childish, naïve or casual is tantamount to resituating it within the popular, folkloric tradition. Instead, it should be seen within the framework of convent culture as intentional visual form, an inventive response to the Holy Scriptures. Vigri consciously rejects the prevailing International Gothic style of illumination, with its decorative branches, fruits and flowers, as inappropriate for her audience. She develops her own style in order to honor the holiness of the breviary with simply drawn figures and ornamental needlework designs that are suitable for the Poor Clare values of poverty and simplicity.22 The collective character of the breviary should be understood in relation to this aesthetic philosophy. Although nuns were supposed to have their own breviaries, in reality, many did not. They were shared and read aloud for daily offices. Vigri’s admonitory rubrics, such as ‘audite’, ‘mirate’, or ‘notate, sorores dilectissime’ reminding her sisters to listen, pray and pay attention, reflect this oral practice.23 Other nuns would have seen the breviary, unlike Vigri’s Sette Armi Spirituali that was written secretly in her cell with only the ideas shared orally. The complex integration of individual creative process and community character affects the method of creation. While there may not have been a full-scale scriptorium at Corpus Christi, other nuns were copying manuscripts, and they probably possessed technical manuals or recettari that explained how to make inks, organize the quires and use gold leaf. Vigri’s initials show adaptations from shared visual culture in convent needlework and devotional woodcuts. In the formal sense, it was a completely mystical experience as suggested by Sister Illuminata’s account. According to Bembo, Caterina developed a process of internal dialogue with the Divine, which sometimes led her into tears and a trancelike state.24

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Material aspects and the process of the breviary’s creation, which usually are not considered in nuns’ artworks, can be explored in regard to this manuscript. Vigri wrote parts of the Sette Armi Spirituali in c.1431–38, and the breviary was written in sections in c.1440–52. During this time, Corpus Christi must have established relationships with stationery suppliers in Ferrara. They probably dealt with tradesmen who were relatives, recommended by friars or family, and located nearby, as did other convent scriptoria. In the years 1422–52, three stationers appear in d’Este accounts: Nicolo Nigrisolo & Compagni was the premier supplier (1435–65), along with Andrea di Anzelino (1436–46) and Bernardo di Domenico Carniero (1439–57), both of lesser status but used by d’Este librarian and Sister Caterina’s teacher Guglielmo Cappello.25 The nuns likely obtained paper and vellum from a Ferrarese cartolaio and returned the written leaves to him afterwards for binding, or legadura. They purchased or made pigments such as iron oxide red, massicot or lead-tin yellow, copper green, azurite blue and brown ink. They may have produced their own ink or purchased una pignata de negro, or a block of dried ink, such as one given to Mantovano di Sassuolo—’pittore stampatore’—in d’Este accounts.26 Gold leaf was used infrequently in her breviary, only once delicately brushed on Saint Francis’s hands to symbolize the stigmatization. As Nuovo observes regarding the book trade in Ferrara, payments from ecclesiastical institutions for paper and vellum increased from the 1440s, and Taddeo di Crivelli’s accounts from 1452 to 1456 demonstrate how professional workshops functioned.27 The operation of scriptoria in Ferrarese women’s convents, such as Corpus Christi or Sant’Antonio in Polesine, how they interfaced with professional suppliers and whether they were commissioned to copy specific texts are topics for future investigation.28 While most treatises on illumination were written by male professionals, a few were composed by nuns for nuns, thus confirming internal convent networks for circulating artistic recipes. A short ricettario on colours and inks written in 1485 by ‘Sister Lucia at the request of Reverend Abbess Alessandra Buscetti’ in the Biblioteca Estense Universitària, Modena, came from Modena, Padua or the Emilian region.29 It is copied in a beautiful humanistic scribal hand with a formal signature positioned like a Latin dedication at the top of the first folio. Lucia wrote this either for her own or another convent scriptorium. The chapters include how to make gold letters on different surfaces, long processes for simmering and cooling metallic combinations (sometimes with sugar and milk); how to make brown, red and green pigments; gold to mix with blue; gold water for writing; gilding for surfaces; and preparation of various grounds. The recipes indicate that Sister Lucia’s scriptorium produced manuscripts with more formal decoration than Vigri’s breviary. The single unifying stylistic principle in the breviary is the adaptation of needlework designs replacing borders of flowers, fruits, birds and animals in intertwined leaves that were popular in Lombard-style illumination. Corpus Christi, Ferrara, was known for its lace production in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and still

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Fig. 4.1. Needlepoint, Reticella and Drawnwork, Lace Panel, 16th century, Italy, linen, 9.6 x 11.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Gift of J. H. Wade 1920.1109. (Photo: The Cleveland Museum of Art.)

possesses examples.30 Whitework embroidery was a craft practiced in many convents, but Poor Clares were especially devoted to it because Saint Clare was renowned for her needlework. Using needlework patterns was not a random appropriation of accessible models, but followed the exemplum of their spiritual mother, who stitched fifty corporals on her deathbed and distributed them to poor churches nearby.31 During the 1440s–50s, the Ferrarese nuns were producing cutwork or reticella, an early form of lace in which small bits of cloth were cut away, then pulled and stitched into lacy spiderweb designs, as seen in this example from the Cleveland Museum of Art (Fig. 4.1). Virtually every page of the breviary, including the repurposed psalter, has small and large initials with this kind of drawn-work design (Fig. 4.2). Almost any open area in a letter has a blue criss-cross reticella pattern. Other initials have scalloped borders, which derive from a type of knotted, looping, finishing stitch used for undergarments and altar cloths (Fig. 4.3). Borders have rows of dots or knots taken from the ‘French knot’ stitch. Patterns of fifteenth-century garment construction are also reflected in the drawings of the Christ child’s tunic, which have overstitching on the shoulder seams.32 A brief summary of the breviary demonstrates how it was assembled. The Kalendar (fols. 3r-8v) was dated by Nunez in c.1450–52; he lists the Franciscan saints, but omits the non-Franciscans, thus giving an inaccurate picture of its character. The Temporale or Proper of Seasons (fols.10r-190v) with movable feasts was written and decorated by Vigri, with initials of the infant Christ child, faces and bust portraits of Christ, other saints and extensive rubrics. The psalter (fols. 194r-272v) was re-used text by another hand,

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Fig. 4.2. Caterina Vigri, Initial P, fol. 272v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

but redecorated with drawings of the Face of Christ, swaddled Christ child, numerous small lacy initials and rubrics. The Hymnarium (fols. 273r-279v) contains Caterina’s second signature declaring her humility in a new type of ‘word-initial’. The Commemorationes (fols. 280r-281r) includes the feast of Saint Bernardino of Siena, proving these pages were written after his canonization in May 1450. The Sanctorale or Proper of Saints (fols. 282r-470r) is most heavily illustrated with 35 coloured faces and bust portraits of Christ, a simple, non-narrative programme in contrast to breviaries used by Augustinian or Dominican nuns.33 The ­colophon (fol. 469v) is unique, although some phrases, such as humble servant (humilis ancilla) or good shepherd (pastor bono) are found in many

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Fig. 4.3. Caterina Vigri, Initial A, fol. 220r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

scribal colophons. Sister Caterina invokes Christ’s name three times, then writes ‘that for his love I have copied this book in the convent of the most Holy Corpus Christi under the Rule of the most noble Virgin Clare, as most humble servant of Christ, true disciple, and daughter of holy Francis our Father, 1452, 11 day of June, the day of Saint Barnabas apostle, praise to you Lord Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, Amen’.34 The Common of Saints follows (fols. 470r-501v), written by another hand but again personalized by Sister Caterina’s rubrics. An Easter wheel beginning in 1420 and an Easter table recommencing in 1456 demonstrate that parts of the breviary were in use from c.1420 to 1463.

The Kalendar and Psalter The reused kalendar and psalter are important for establishing the provenance of the parts that Sister Caterina inherited from other sources. The kalendar (fols. 3r-8v) is written in Gothic square littera textualis, with blue capitals at the head of the pages

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Fig. 4.4. Psalter, text and foliate decoration, fol. 203r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

decorated with red-ink lace or drawn-work almost identical to non-figural initials elsewhere. The saints’ feasts have names and decoration added to an older kalendar that must have come from Ravenna, since every month includes references to obscure Early Christian bishops and archbishops from this diocese.35 Saints George, to whom Ferrara cathedral is dedicated, and bishop-martyr patron Maurelius, whose cult was revived in 1419 when his remains were reburied in the cathedral, along with Bolognese patron saints Proculo and Petronio, are listed. The feast of Saint Joseph on 19 March suggests ties to the Franciscans since it was adopted by the Franciscans in 1399, spread through Jean Gerson’s writings on Joseph as protector of Mary and Christ, and popularized in sermons by Saint Bernardino of Siena. Saint Joseph was a cult figure for the Poor Clares both in Ferrara and Bologna because of a wooden bowl (scudella) that was given to Caterina by Saint Joseph disguised as a pilgrim.36 Although Nunez dismisses the ‘Dedicatio ecclesia corporis xpi’ on 3 May because it is written in red ink and lightly crossed-out in later brown ink, it may belong to the early text.

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The psalter (fols. 194r-270r), often at the beginning of a breviary but here positioned as the second section, is written in brown ink in an elegant flowing, more Gothic batarde script, and has initials elaborated with delicate brown or red ivy-leaf foliate designs of French or Lombard design (fol. 203r) (Fig. 4.4). Nunez believes that Clare’s name was added to the penitential litanies (fol. 270r), which include Dominic, Francis, Thomas Aquinas and 26 female martyrs. In my view, the handwriting and ink in Clare’s name appear consistent with the others.37 Because of the emphasis on female martyrs, the psalter likely came from a female convent or patron. Based on the script and calligraphic initials, it could have belonged to Vigri herself when she entered Corpus Christi, or even the pinzochere Bernardina Sedazzari or Lucia Mascharoni. If the latter is true, it might share some characteristics with Beguine psalters. As Oliver has shown, semi-religious Beguines in the Netherlands often added notes, poems and prayers to devotional texts.38 This psalter contains two person�� alized prayers in word-initials added by Sister Caterina. The large capital ‘S’ for ‘Salvam me facet’ (fol. 226r) was written in the same hand as the psalter text, but then enriched with the words ‘se tu pena per xpo, portari con lui in gloria sempre viverai’, meaning ‘if you suffer for Christ, you will live always in glory with him’ (Fig. 4.5). Another word initial, ‘E’ for ‘Exultate’ (fol. 234r), has the added phrase, ‘chi non vora andare con Cristo per la via tribulosa. Non pora con lui godere nella patria gaudiosa verum est’, or ‘those who will not follow Christ in his suffering, cannot enjoy paradise with him’. Both prayers echo Caterina’s numerous references in the Sette Armi Spirituali to taking up the cross for Christ. These word-initials integrated into the reused psalter show her desire to make the psalter her own. These additions may betray Beguine or pinzochere influence on her approach to glossing the breviary. Sister Caterina artistically merged the borrowed psalter with the rest of the breviary by adding initials with faces of Christ and the infant Christ child. The psalter frontispiece with the Head of Christ in the initial ‘B’ (fol. 194r) (Fig. 4.6) is a lightly sketched design with features that closely resemble the faces found elsewhere in the psalter and earlier in the Temporale (fols. 71v, 214r). His countenance is expressionless, his glance slightly elevated, and his short brownish beard terminates in distinctive double point, recalling north Italian or Lombard Christ-types. The initial contains the phrase ‘Servite Domino’, or ‘Serve God’, and a lacy net design in red ink spills out around it. A second frequent image is the infant Christ child’s face framed by napkin-like or handkerchief designs made up of four triangular pieces of cloth sewn together with an overcast stitch and edged with knot-work (fol. 220r) (Fig. 4.7). These resemble the linen corporals that are blessed and laid on the altar during the celebration of the Mass, and the chalice veils used by the priest to cover the chalice and host before Communion; when not in use, they are folded inside the burse or liturgical envelopes.39 The Corpus Christi inventory of 1426 mentions five ‘corporale’ and ‘bur��sam’ to store them, when they were not being used for Mass. Caterina appropriated this form of liturgical needlework in her initials mostly (but not exclusively) for the

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Fig. 4.5. Caterina Vigri, Initial S, fol. 226r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

Christ child.40 The symbolism is Eucharistic, not only because of its use during the mass, but also because the veil and corporal evoke the holy body of Christ. The corporal specifically symbolizes the linen shroud that wrapped Christ’s body for burial, and thus forms a direct reference to the Incarnation and the flesh. Although corporals were originally plain white linen, by medieval times they were often embroidered or edged with drawn work.

Personalizing her Breviary: The Temporale and Hymnarium The Temporale or Proper of Seasons that begins Advent has the most formal decorated frontispieces (fol. 10r) (Colour plate IV). Advent pages in breviaries for Roman use often depict bust portraits of Paul in the initial ‘F[ratres]’.41 Caterina’s frontispiece divides the text columns by a green or red stem with symmetrical sprays of roses at

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Fig. 4.6. Caterina Vigri, Head of Christ, fol. 194r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

the top and bottom border, a much-simplified version of Lombard manuscripts, such as the Franciscan breviary of Marie of Savoy, wife of Filippo Maria Visconti, who became a Poor Clare after her husband’s death.42 The large initial ‘F’ holds the face of Christ, the small E in the right column contains the phrase ‘mirate xps deus noster’, meaning ‘marvel at Christ our God’, and the small initial ‘Verbum’ for ‘The Word’ shows the face of the infant Christ. The Eucharistic chalice and bread, which was also Corpus Christi’s convent seal, gives the folio its crowning touch in the lower border. Although Eucharistic symbolism has been noted by other scholars, the rich embodiment of the Incarnation has not been sufficiently stressed. The page succinctly sums up the idea of the Word Incarnate as Christ. The Temporale begins with the Nativity and Epiphany, continues with Lent and Easter, and concludes with the Pentecost and the following Sundays. Simple sketches of the infant Christ in swaddling bands occur in the Nativity and Epiphany, as in

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Fig. 4.7. Caterina Vigri, Infant Christ Child, fol. 220r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

(fol. 30v) (Fig. 4.8). The faces of a half-dozen infant Christ images are almost identical to the Advent frontispiece. Leonardi observes 360 glosses with the name of Jesus Christ, and another 14 addressed to the infant Christ child.43 The rubrics call him ‘parvulus xps meus’ (‘my little Christ’), and ‘xpto piccolino te me aiuti in sto camino’ (‘Christ little one, help me on this journey’) (fol. 21r), and ‘O dolce mio bambino doname del tuo amore fino’, (‘Sweet little Child, give me your fine love’), then repeated with ‘e puni termine allo mio amaro camino’ (‘and put an end to my bitter journey’) (fol. 22r). Bembo recalls that Vigri painted the Christ child in swaddling bands all around the convent and in books, often speaking to the images with great tenderness, saying ‘Wrap him in swaddling bands, that he is fire that wounds me’.44 While no single rubric can express the mystical meaning of the swaddled Christ child to Caterina, the language in her own first signature is significant. In a long rhyming prayer, she addresses Christ as ‘the messiah who came to save us, who with fervor we shall go to adore, who made himself small so he could be consoled

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Fig. 4.8. Caterina Vigri, Swaddled Christ Child, fol. 30v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

… and so dear sisters, we want to go rejoice with the Mother, and always live with the Son’ (fol. 21v).45 The prayer comingles feelings of maternal love, of consolation of the Son, self-identification with the Virgin Mary, and the strong desire to live in the presence of Christ. The visual imagery, which cannot capture the complexity of her spiritual emotion, was inspired by descriptions of the swaddled Christ child in Franciscan literature, especially the Meditationes Vitae Christi, dedicated to Poor Clares.46 At Christmas, when the baby Jesus was wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in the manger, the Meditationes made the nuns feel as if they were standing beside the Virgin Mary, sharing her love.47 The Meditationes and the Lignum Vitae add interpretations of the swaddling bands and the cradle as symbols of poverty and humility.48 Her rubrics echo the paradox of Christ’s riches, grandeur and authority transformed into the small, poor and vulnerable infant Christ child.

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Fig. 4.9. Caterina Vigri, Thomas Becket, fol. 38r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

For the feast of Thomas Becket, Caterina’s Latin prayer asks the nuns to pray to ‘this most glorious martyr who so very kindly extended his most blessed hand to her …’49 (fol. 38r) (Fig. 4.9). The rubric refers to Caterina’s vision of Thomas praying, then ris� ing and going to sleep; he made a sign that she should do the same, and gave her his hand to kiss. According to Bembo, Caterina held Thomas’s lessons in high regard, especially his advice that life was tenuous, time was precious, and it must be used wisely.50 The rubric and the image show Sister Caterina’s personal devotion to the English saint who was martyred in Canterbury in 1170. The cult of Thomas Becket and his relics was especially strong in nearby Padua, where a long civic procession was staged for his feast day.51 For the feast of the Circumcision, Paul is presented in three-quarter view as a young man with a short, double-pointed beard similar to Christ (fol. 55v) (Fig. 4.10).

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Fig. 4.10. Caterina Vigri, Apostle Paul, fol. 55v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

The l­etter is extended into a rectangular shape filled with lacy design of dots and ­squiggles, and stitched together in diagonal seams; like the infant Christ in the psalter this recalls a white linen embroidered corporal used for the Eucharist. The design is used periodically throughout the breviary for the infant Christ child and the face of Christ as a special sign of holiness. Paul’s letter on poverty (Philippians III:7–14) was familiar as the first reading for the feast of Saint Clare. Paul is mentioned eight times in rubrics when Vigri begs him to intercede on her behalf.52 In the Sette Armi Spirituali, she quotes Paul five times: in the fifth weapon on mortality she repeats ‘Do good while you have time’; in the seventh weapon she makes an analogy between Paul and Saint Bernardino of Siena, saying ‘San Bernardino was the Paul of our patriarch Francis in spreading the name of Jesus’. In speaking of the devil’s temptations, she warns novices with Paul’s advice to make the right choice by their free will so they will receive the crown. She cites his words ‘we should not glory in anything but the Cross’, and calls him the ‘great speaker’ who rightly says ‘just as we share your sufferings, we will share your consolation’.53 Paul was truly a central figure in Sister Caterina’s spiritual life.

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Multiple faces and bust-length images of Christ appear in the following folios. The first one, labeled ‘Dio mio’, or ‘My God’, shows a young beardless man, richly robed, nimbed, and surrounded with the words ‘sapentia xps est deus noster’, or ‘the wise Christ is our God’, from the Latin text repeated inside the initial. If the breviary was decorated in sequence, this is the first time words appear as an integral part of the initial.54 In the saints’ litany, another image of Christ tops the page (fol. 71v) (Fig. 4.11). He is framed by the corporal design, with the words ‘dilectissime sorores’, or ‘most dearest sisters’, calling the nuns’ attention to the image, as Sister Caterina did in the Sette Armi Spirituali. Fortunati suggests the influence of the devotio moderna in Ferrara, although she notes that circulation of copies of the ‘Volto di Cristo’ and textual sources in Ferrarese convents have yet to be studied; she believes that Caterina considered herself like Veronica, and this mindset created the design of the ‘Sacro Volto’ initials.55 Actually, the relationship with the Veronica is not as close as she suggests because there are two types of Christ initials, and the four for Easter and Ascension readings are bust-length, three-quarter view types framed a quadretto or as little pictures. This framed format does not visually reference the veil of Veronica in which Christ is shown as an iconic floating face. The last section of the Temporale shows Caterina’s strongest personalizing of the text, images and rubrics. In the folios for the Sundays after Pentecost, the miniatures and rubrics indicate the scribe’s interior dialogue with the text. The ‘V’ of the ‘Veni Creatore’ hymn for Pentecost vespers contains a small figure of Clare (fol. 139v).56 A long, passionate rubric follows for the ‘Holy, Holy feast of ­Corpus Christi’, ‘celebrating Him with total devotion of mind and body’ (fol. 147r).57 ­Visually and verbally, Caterina’s presence is repeatedly felt in the rubrics: ‘amate xps sorores’ (‘Love Christ, sisters’), ‘Mirate xps’ (‘Marvel at Christ’); in the first reading, Credimus Trinitatem ‘ego vidi eam’ (‘I have seen it [the Trinity]’); and ‘et intellexi ea gratias’ (‘I have understand its Graces’). Another bust-portrait of Christ with a small nun’s face adoring him appears in the ‘P’ for Aquinas’s Pange Lingua chant for Corpus Christi (fol. 149v) (Colour plate V). His head and shoulders are surrounded by the words ‘Adorate Xps meus dilectissime’, or ‘Adore Christ my dearest ones’, and a small initial ’d’ with the golden chalice and bread, symbolizing that the Body of Christ, reiterates the Eucharistic symbolism. These faces, in my view, were conceived as Vigri herself and other faithful nuns in the community, since the Corpus Christi and the Eucharist had a personal dimension for them. In the seventh weapon of the Sette Armi Spirituali, Vigri confesses ‘infidelity’ in not believing that the Body of Christ was truly present in the consecrated Host. She changed her mind after a visitation of God’s presence explaining the consecration of the priest and the Host.58 At the beginning of Proverbs, a word-initial ‘P’ for ‘Parabole Salomonis filiis David’ (fol. 183r) holds the roughly rhyming phrase, ‘Ego Caterina de Vigris soror semper indigna’, or ‘I am Caterina de Vigris always the humble sister’. This has been treated

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Fig. 4.11. Caterina Vigri, Head of Christ, fol. 71v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

by scholars simply as a second signature voicing the humility typical of nuns’ colophons (Fig. 4.12). But, in fact, it holds greater significance and represents her personal response to the adjacent scripture: Proverbs I tells ‘how to know wisdom, recognize prudence, learn to receive doctrine, justice, equity’, and ‘to give subtlety to the little ones, to give the young man wisdom and understanding’. In this initial her words are a confession of her sense of unworthiness to be mistress of novices, to give them ‘wisdom and understanding’, and her feeling of humility standing before the teachings of Christ and the Church Fathers. The Commemorations follow the borrowed psalter that has already been discussed, and although it has no decoration, Caterina annotated each feast with first lines of Latin chants used in singing the offices (fols. 280r-281r).59 For the feast of Corpus Christi, she notes, ‘O sacrum/ Deus qui nobis/ Ego sum panis’, the last one referring to Ego sum panis vivus, a well-known chant celebrating the living bread as the body of Christ. For Francis, she refers to the Salve sancte pater [patriae lux

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Fig. 4.12. Caterina Vigri, Caterina de Vigris soror semper indigna, fol. 172r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

norma minorum], one of the earliest thirteenth-century chants from central Italy. For Anthony of Padua, she cites the chant Sapiente filio [pater gloriatur], of which only five copies are known. For Saint Bernardino, she lists three phrases ‘Simulabo eum/Lex Dei eius/Adesto Domine’, the last one associated with Saint Thomas the Apostle. Here, Sister Caterina references two well-known thirteenth-century chants, the Salve sponsa dei Virgo sacra and Novum sydus emicuit candor for the feast of Clare on 12 August. These two folios reflect Caterina’s attention to music, thorough knowledge of lauds, and singing of the offices.

Poverty, Penitence and Franciscan Saints in the Sanctorale The Sanctorale, or Proper of Saints, contains some of the most idiosyncratic figural and non-figural initials. The text follows the saints’ days from Saint Saturninus (29 November) to Caterina (25 November), with special offices, antiphons and hymns arranged in liturgical order.60 The 22 regular gatherings (fols. 290–509) and the con�� sistent handwriting suggests it was written in a continuous manner. The usual frontispiece design (fol. 282r) has a word-initial in the capital ‘D’ for ‘Deus Xps dicit qui vult venire post me’, or ‘Christ our Lord says who wishes to follow me ….’ C ­ aterina’s rubric is an abbreviated form of Matthew 16:24: ‘Christ said let any man who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross.’61 The theme of deni��al, penitence, and living Christ’s passion continues throughout this section. A small miniature of Anthony Abbot as a dark brown, hooded figure (fol. 291r) relates to her discussion of Anthony in the Sette Armi Spirituali: that ‘glorious doctor of the oldest holy fathers’ was a model of diligence, the right or measured amount of resistance

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to temptation.62 This discretion—not too much and not too little—was important above all other virtues. She appeals to him in a rubric, ‘O Antonio blessed doctor, pray for me your servant’. Anthony of Padua appears in a vespers initial ‘O’ as a young beardless brownrobed Franciscan friar with a halo inscribed ‘sanctus antonius’ (fol. 327v) (Fig. 4.13). His image, dignified by the corporal frame for his holiness, is not the usual tonsured head and round face seen, for instance, in the Corpus Christi Entombment altarpiece. The hooded saint resembles Caterina’s earlier initial of Anthony Abbot or north ­Italian portraits of Saint Bernardino of Siena. She may have been visually referring to the cult of Saint Bernardino’s hood in Padua, and making a deliberate visual analogy between the two saints.63 Both Bernardino and Anthony were known as charismat��ic preachers, and in the Sette Armi Spirituali, Vigri drew similar parallels between Bernardino, Francis and Paul. Because the iconographic type is so unusual, literary sources such as Domenico Cavalca’s Vitae Santi or the Vita Sancti Antonius in the library of Corpus Domini, Bologna, may have inspired this conception. As the most influential female model of penitence, Mary Magdalen occupies the initial ‘N’ fol. 362v (Fig. 4.14). She appears in a rare profile view recalling images of the Magdalen as a desert hermit kneeling in prayer before her cave. Franciscan devotional writers point to the Magdalen as an intermediary model that Francis used for following Christ, and he was sometimes called ‘a second Magdalen’.64 They were related because they both took refuge in rocky retreats as hermits. Saint Bernardino preached a dramatic sermon on the Magdalen’s life in the wilderness, surrounded with wild animals, suffering nakedness and starvation—an experience that provoked a feeling of such isolation that the whole world was forgotten and abandoned.65 The sense of withdrawal from the world is characteristic of penitential passages in the Sette Armi Spirituali. Vigri’s intense poetic rhyming verse begs the Magdalen to be her ambassador, to go into the garden crying and praying for Jesus to bring Vigri comfort.66 This shows a strong emotional identification with Mary Magdalen as a perfect exemplum of penance through contrition, tears and confession. From her own testimony in the Sette Armi Spirituali, Vigri cried so much during her prayers and meditation that the tears turned to blood; Bembo also tells the story of her weeping while copying the breviary. Following Mary Magdalen’s example, the very process of writing becomes an act of contrition. Three images of Clare of Assisi are clustered around her feast day celebrated on 12 August in the fifteenth century. These present her in various roles or guises, as the mother/lover of poverty, mother of the Poor Clares, and the shining divine light. The saint first appears in the chant for Vespers, in the initial ‘C’ for the prayer ‘Concinat plebs fidelium’, as a haloed nun wearing a plaid veil (fol. 378r) (Colour plate VI). With a humble, downcast gaze, her face is shown in larger scale than most initials, which usually cover six text lines; her halo overlaps the top of the letter, projecting into

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Fig. 4.13. Caterina Vigri, Anthony of Padua, fol. 327v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

space and making her presence more dynamic. Clare’s usual attributes of the crucifix, lily or the monstrance are ignored.67 The drawing is situated directly adjacent to Vigri’s red rubric, which calls Clare ‘true disciple of Francis, our spiritual mother, a humble servant of Christ, lover of poverty and all virtues’.68 Sister Caterina clev��erly adjusts or rephrases the litany title ‘mater paupertatis’ (mother of poverty) to ‘amatrix paupertatis’ (lover of poverty), which is expressed through the symbolism of the plaid veil or wimple. This cloth was the rough-woven cheapest material worn by paupers, Third Order Franciscans, and sometimes Poor Clares. This espouses the Franciscan Observant ideal of poverty and conceivably reflects the adoption of the Prima Regula by the convent in 1446. The image and rubric situate the theme of poverty at the center of the celebration of her feast.

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Fig. 4.14. Caterina Vigri, Mary Magdalen, fol. 362v, St. Catherine’s Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

Two more initials express the nuns’ adherence to Clare’s devotion to Christ, and the title ‘Clara claris praeclara’ from the canonization of Clare. One represents an eager, upturned nun’s face adoring the Christ Child in the initial ‘F’ from ‘Famulos tuos quaesumus domine beate virginis tue clare’ (fol. 378 v) (Fig. 4.15). Fortunati and Nunez identify this small face as Clare herself, despite the absence of a halo. The text is a prayer from ‘her faithful servant’ beseeching Clare to intercede with Christ ‘through the intercession of his face’.69 This explains the Christ Child’s face inscribed ‘xps meus’ in the top half of the initial. If the nun’s figure were haloed, it would show Clare’s sanctity and closeness to Christ, but without the halo, this is one step down the divine ladder and should be understood as a Poor Clare following Saint Clare in praying to the Christ Child. This is Caterina’s visual rubric for their humility and devotion to their spiritual mother. The third initial presents a simple bust-portrait of Clare, haloed and in dark nun’s garb, on a page with the frontispiece design. The dignifying of this folio is connected with the text: ‘Clara luce clarior,

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Fig. 4.15. Caterina Vigri, Christ Child with Adoring Nun, fol. 378v, Breviary, Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

lucis eterne filia dies’ (fol. 381r). As in the first initial, it echoes a title in Clare’s litany, but the full prayer is one of the oldest chants recorded in thirteenth-century Umbrian and south Italian breviaries.70 The reverse folio contains the rubric ‘Cla��rum lumen effunditur’ from the well-known hymn to Clare. In these passages, the metaphor of ‘Clare as light’ forms the connective thread. Vigri shows her awareness of the poetic repetition of Clare as light first enunciated in Pope Alexander IV’s bull of canonization. The laudatory metaphors using light—brilliance, shining deeds, wonderful brilliance, her brightness in the world, her presence like a ray of sun, shimmering as lightning in the enclosure—must have been familiar through a life of Clare and sermons.71 In this image the nun-artist struggles to find a visual mode of expressing the brilliant light.

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Fig. 4.16. Caterina Vigri, Jerome, fol. 424r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

Caterina’s devotion to Jerome as translator of the Holy Scriptures is shown in the initial ‘D’ (fol. 424r) (Fig. 4.16). She imagines him as an old monk with a long, curly beard dressed in a brown habit and a soft, roll-brimmed cap. This type is similar to a Jerome initial in the Lodi Spirituali e Regola di San Girolamo from Corpus Domini, Bologna, although the style is different.72 Her rubrics call him ‘revealer of the Holy Scrip�� tures and mystical sacrament’, the teacher of the Nativity, and learned doctor of the church.73 While Jerome’s cult might seem irrelevant to Poor Clare nuns, it appealed to a female religious audience because of his relationship with the early Christian pious women Paula and Eustochium.74 It also appealed to laywomen, including the Veronese scholar Isotta Nogarola (1418–66), who was said to have modeled herself on Eustochium by withdrawing from public life to ‘her book-lined cell’.75 Jerome’s devo��tion to the Infant Jesus and the cult of the creche matched Caterina’s fervent devotion to the swaddled Christ child. By representing him in brown, she visually reinforces analogies between Francis and Jerome, who were often depicted together worshiping the Cross, or with Jerome as a foil to Francis receiving the stigmata.76 The round,

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close-fitting cap appears when Jerome is depicted as scholar. In Johannes Andreae’s Liber de laudibus S. Hieronymi (1334–46), Jerome was revered as a cardinal as well as doctor of the church, and images of Jerome in his study surrounded by books became popular icons with Italian humanists in Bologna and Ferrara.77 Jerome’s status as a role model for a male audience was so strong that his physiognomy often became an ‘allegorical’ portrait of the painting’s owner.78 The scholar-type with a soft beretta appears in German Poor Clare nuns’ manuscripts, and Italian popular prints, such as the miraculous Madonna del Fuoco from Forli, dating 1428.79 Vigri may have known this image from a nearby town since popular images generated ‘replica prints’ that circulated as pilgrimage souvenirs or membership badges in lay confraternities.80 Yet, Sister Caterina’s portrait of Jerome demonstrates such careful veristic drawing of facial features that it may have derived from a painting. It is virtually the only face in the breviary where the upper eyelids are delineated. A small panel of Saint Jerome in the Wilderness is listed among artworks removed from Corpus Christi to the Costabili Collection.81 Attributed to Bono da Ferrara and described as very similar to another signed panel (National Gallery of Art, London), this could have provided an in-house exemplum. The London panel shows Jerome looking left in a slightly more profile view than the breviary miniature, but a relationship with the lost panel is conceivable. The Legenda Aurea and the Hieronymus Vita et Transitus inspired images of Jerome in the desert reading in front of a cave or beating his bared chest with a rock, as well as removing the thorn from the lion’s paw, which were more characteristic of the Observant Reform than the images of Jerome in his study.82 Among popular beliefs surrounding Jerome, one folk legend said that if you kept an image of Saint Jerome in your cell, Satan could not enter! This may well have appealed to the nuns or novices at Corpus Christi. The feasts of Francis in September and October have three initials that demonstrate Sister Caterina’s innovative verbal and visual imagery. The sequence opens with the figural initial ‘D’ from the chant ‘Deus ques ecclesiam’ (fol. 427r) (Fig. 4.17), Caterina uses a strict right profile view, a mirror image of Mary Magdalen’s left-facing profile view; this creates a visual, symbolic parallel between the two saints who are the only ones in the breviary shown in profile. Francis appears as a youthful tonsured monk with a short beard, pink cheeks and his lips parted as if he is speaking. His bright gold halo is drawn behind his face, instead of foreshortened behind his head, and an embroidered chalice veil frames the initial. On the next page, fol. 427v, another frontispiece design holds an elegant word-initial ‘A’ with the rubric ‘sanctus Franciscus pater meus, ego vidi illum bis, Deus scit quia non mentior’ from Paul’s text in Romans 9:1 and Timothy 1:7.83 (Fig. 4.18) The words are squeezed into the lower half of the ‘A’, with an embroidered cross design in the upper half, and triple borders of drawn-work on the stem of the letter. The word-initial ‘A’ follows a text passage written in red citing ‘the beginning of the life of our most holy father’ and is one of the more complex needlework designs. This indicates that Sister Caterina consciously inter-mingled figural and abstract modes at this point in the text.

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Fig. 4.17. Caterina Vigri, Francis, fol. 427r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

The third Francis initial for the feast of the Stigmata (September 17) has a highly idiosyncratic conception. Rather than being titled the ‘Stigmatization’, it should be ‘Saint Francis with Brother Sun’. This is the only initial with landscape and certainly the breviary’s masterpiece in terms of a mystical vision (fol. 443r) (Colour plate VII). Francis is surrounded by delicate plants and spiky flowers recalling his love of nature. He has marks of the stigmata on his hands already, and the Christ-Seraph, the agent of stigmatization, is replaced by radiating light from a gigantic sun. The moment hinges on Caterina’s mystical empathy with Francis’s feeling of stupor that he has been crucified with Christ but still lives, and Christ lives within him. In a flash of creative insight, Caterina brushed Francis’s hands with gold leaf to show they had been touched by the hand of God. The image vibrates with the miraculous power of light, the sun blazing like fire and igniting divine love, as she herself describes in the Sette Armi Spirituali. Other Franciscan sources accessible at Corpus Christi likely

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Fig. 4.18. Caterina Vigri, Initial A, ‘Sanctus Franciscus pater meus’, fol. 427v, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

contributed to her creative construction. Bernardino of Siena’s sermons dwell on the symbolism of rays of light emanating from Christ’s Name.84 Bonaventure’s Legenda Maior recounts a story about Francis and his companions lost in darkness in the Po River valley, when ‘a great light emanated from the sky which lite up the world and made them see their path as clearly as day’.85 But the Speculum perfectionis, which Caterina quotes five times in the Sette Armi Spirituali, is closest in spirit.86 It describes Francis’s feeling for nature as a mirror of God’s love for humanity, Francis’s especial love of sun and fire that illuminate the world just as God takes away humanity’s blindness, and quotes the saint’s Canticle of Brother Sun. This image was created and understood in this sense rather than as the stigmatization. Caterina’s name-saint, Catherine of Alexandria, deserves special attention (fol. 465r) (Fig. 4.19). She is mentioned five times in rubrics that call her ‘sponsa christi’ or bride of Christ, ‘virgo prudentissima et martire fedelissima’, or most prudent virgin and most faithful martyr, and Vigri appeals to Catherine to pray for her, thus casting

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Fig. 4.19. Caterina Vigri, Catherine of Alexandria, fol. 465r, Breviary, Corpus Domini, Bologna. (Photo: Courtesy of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Bologna.)

her in the role of intercessor saint.87 Vigri denotes her high status with the frontis��piece design, and since the scriptures refer to her being crowned, the blond-haired queen wears a small diadem. The initial is framed with the embroidered chalice veil that is tacked to the edges of the letter like linen tacked to an embroidery frame. This is one of the clearest, definitive instances of the needlework models.

Vigri’s Man of Sorrows and the Gaude Virgo Mater Christi The breviary constitutes the most significant part of Caterina’s œuvre, but an ink drawing of the Man of Sorrows in a prayerbook in the Arcivescovile Archives in Bologna also can be attributed to her (fol. 105v) [(Colour plate VIII).88 The image presently faces a laud to Saint Bernardino of Siena (c.107r-v). Serventi published the laud and

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cautiously attributed the drawing to Vigri.89 She suggests that Caterina had heard Bernardino preach in Ferrara or Bologna in 1423 and 1428, and the incipit ‘O dolce mie sore, per carità ve voio pregare’ can be understood as Caterina urging her lay sisters to visit his tomb at Aquila and pray.90 Stylistic affinities between her breviary and the Man of Sorrows are indubitable. The double-pointed beard, squiggly pattern in the hair, simple line of the nose, and the sidewise glance recall her breviary portraits of Christ. The original codex is a miniature miscellany containing prayers of Saint Bridget, liturgical texts, a collection of lauds (many by Vigri), and printed texts on vellum and paper; it is made up of irregular gatherings and raises doubts whether Caterina’s drawing relates to this laud or preceding pages with the Gaude Virgo Mater Christi.91 The pages have been cut down, likely assembled in random order, and bound in the sixteenth century. The drawing seems to function as a meditative postscript to the Gaude Virgo Mater Christi, the ‘Seven Joys of the Virgin’, also known as the ‘Franciscan Crown of the Seven Joys’.92 This prayer appeared in several variations in the later Middle Ages, but in the fifteenth century it became identified with Third Order Franciscans and Observant preachers. San Bernardino referred to it in his sermons on the Virgin Mary and the various meanings of her name.93 It gave rise to a widespread devotional practice in which pious persons recited the prayer recalling significant moments in the Virgin’s life, such as the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, Finding Jesus in the Temple, the Resurrection, and the Assumption of the Virgin. The Gaude Virgo Mater Christi is best known as a motet by Guillaume Dufay (1397–1474) in c.1436. Du Fay worked for the d’Este court from 1437 to 1445, and this may have helped popularize the hymn in Ferrara.94 The expand��ed, 68-line text in this codex was either copied from a transalpine model or used by a German-Italian, because it includes two rubrics in German: At the end of the fourth Joy, ‘Hilf Got[t]’; and after the Seventh Joy, ‘Amen. Wyl Got[t] unde sayen Muter’.95 A few folios before (fol. 102v), Caterina states: ‘Anyone who wishes the Virgin to be their intercessor or advocate upon death, should recite the Gaude Virgo prayer daily with the Magnificat.’96 The image contains verbal and visual prompts to direct the nuns’ minds to the Eucharistic meaning of Christ’s blood and the triumph of Resurrection. The banderole points to a verse from Lamentations 1:12: ‘All those of you who walk this way, pay attention and see if there is any pain like my pain.’ This verse was used during Matins on Holy Saturday; it was one of the tenebrae responsories because it was spoken as the candles were extinguished in sequence. Saint Bonaventure recommended these words to nuns as an aid to identifying with Christ’s Passion.97 The process of contem�� plating the joys of the Virgin and the redemptive power of Christ’s precious blood are intertwined with the act of drawing. The drawing is infused with the Franciscan nun’s mystical process of identification with His suffering, seen in the spurting red blood and wounds of Christ. The Eucharistic meaning had a personal message for

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Vigri since in Sette Armi Spirituali she mentions her difficulty accepting the transubstantiation of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament.98 The iconography differs from the Italian half-length Man of Sorrows, which shows a passive Christ with a downcast head and arms extended palm up or crossed over his chest, beneath a cross and behind a sarcophagus with instruments of his torture scattered nearby.99 In Vigri’s drawing, Christ confronts the nuns in all his ill-proportioned, full-length glory. His nakedness (except for the perizoma) communicates vulnerability, and all five wounds remind us of His suffering on the Cross. His emaciated torso shows a u-shaped abdomen and seven pairs of ribs. His face is framed by shoulder-length curly hair, a dark, double-pointed beard and a rope-like crown of thorns. His eyes turn towards the right, which directs attention to the inscription. His rubbery right arm twists to touch and open the wound in his side, causing His blood to spray forth into the chalice. The gesture of spreading the costal wound and the suspended chalice are striking devotional stimuli. In Michel of Ulm’s Man of Sorrows and Arma Christi, Christ points to the costal wound with his right hand and holds the chalice in this left.100 Vigri’s drawing most resembles the variant in which Christ uses his right arm to point or open his wound, as in the engraving by the ‘Master E.S.’, dated c.1460. The action of pointing to the wound with the right hand may have been invented in c.1429 in the Man of Sorrows on the west portal of Ulm cathedral by Hans Multscher (1400–67). A woodcut, dated c.1430, may reflect the design (Fig. 4.20). It is rare to find full-length figures in nuns’ drawings, and this provides a good example of how northern prints were appropriated as models. The Poor Clares were probably gifted devotional prints, since they could be purchased easily in Venice or Padua where printdealers offered many religious subjects and print sizes by the 1440s.101 Caterina’s richly decorated breviary and the Man of Sorrows open the door to artistic expression in a Poor Clare convent. In her sermons, Sister Caterina gives a rare aesthetic statement of the devotional purpose of art for religious women. The nuns’ lack of professional training was turned to advantage by adapting needlework designs and devotional woodcuts as models. As Field describes it, prints were sold or given out as souvenirs from pilgrimage places, at commercial fairs, and at religious establishments; they were used as protective images—for personal devotion, pasted on walls and over fireplaces and onto doors, or as humble altarpieces.102 German nuns such as Anna Jack, prioress of a reform Augustinian convent near Lake Constance, collected prints and miniatures to illustrate manuscripts she was copying from c.1430 to 1472. Did Caterina Vigri and her sisters do the same, or were their prints tacked on walls of the nuns’ cells? Were they applied to choir stalls as in Santa Lucia, Foligno, as a kind of poorwomen’s substitute for inlaid wood designs?103 How did the transformative adaptive processes occur? In any event, the lack of professional constraints encouraged a high degree of freedom and imagination for cloistered women artists.

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Fig. 4.20. Anonymous, Christ as Man of Sorrows, single-leaf woodcut (Schr. 891), North German, c.1430, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. (Photo: Permission of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.)

Like the Sette Armi Spirituali, Sister Caterina’s breviary is a personal statement with rubrics that allow us to imagine her creative process. The foregoing examination of each section of the breviary and relationships between text/image/rubrics lays bare this aspect of her art. The codex evolved like a patchwork quilt: the kalendar was a hand-me-down from Ravenna, and the psalter may have been borrowed from earlier pinzochere, who were inclined toward personalizing prayers, as Caterina did

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with her rubrics. The intense devotion to Christ inspired subtle and idiosyncratic depictions of Christ, Paul, Bernardino of Siena, Mary Magdalen, Jerome, Clare and Francis that demonstrate an intellectual and spiritual depth of her visualization. The Clare initials express different faces of her sanctity, and are accompanied by rubrics that render tangible Clare’s devotion to poverty and her role as mother of the Poor Clares. Vigri invented needlework-initials and word-initials to enrich other pages of the codex. As a nun-artist, she used carefully considered means to synchronize Clarissan ideals of humility and poverty with her extreme reverence for God’s Word. Her imagery was rooted in the same spirituality as the Sette Armi Spirituali—intentional, mindful and responsive to the scriptures, not to be dismissed as random, thoughtless or child-like. Caterina’s drawings reveal a restless creative spirit manifest in the interweaving of text/image/rubric. She constantly writes, ‘guardate sorelle mie’, which reinforces the sense of the breviary as a book made for her community. She felt that it was her duty to dignify and embellish it, for the sake of increasing the ‘pure devotion’ in herself and others.

5. Corpus Christi’s Later Religious and Civic Identity What happened to the ideals of Observant Reform and Poor Clares rules of poverty and humility after Caterina Vigri’s departure in 1456? Saint Bernardino (d. 1444), John of Capistrano (d. 1456), James Primadizzi (d. 1460) and James of the Marches (d. 1476) were not forgotten by nuns who lived in the religious life from c.1450 to 1500. In a Corpus Christi chapter meeting in 1464, the nuns agreed to celebrate Saint Bernardino’s feast by ‘arranging the chapel and preparing and decorating the altar as best they can, and celebrating two vespers in complete chant or song, according to the way they have been used to doing’. This ‘chapel’ must have existed since Saint Bernardino’s canonization in 1450, but later visitation reports do not mention it, and so far no documents have come to light.1 According to the convent necrology, many miracles occurred for the benefit of the nuns, including a miraculous vision of Vigri together with Saint Bernardino that cured one of the sisters in 1463. For this gift, Bernardino was designated as father and special advocate of the convent, ‘padre e singolare advocato di questo monasterio’.2 This chapter begins by analysing Sister Caterina’s legacy through the diffusion of copies of the Sette Armi Spirituali, and then turns to changes in architecture and visual culture precipitated by Corpus Christi’s expanded environment in the 1480s–90s. The convent was tripled in size by the adjacent Casa Romei, bequeathed to the nuns in 1483 by Ferrarese banker Giovanni Romei. The first convent, with its simple church, half-cloister, garden, workrooms, kitchen and dormitory consistent with the Poor Clares vows of poverty was completely transformed into a sprawling, richly decorated residence with four cloisters, dormitories, multiple kitchens and parlatorios where nuns, novices and students visited with families and maintained contact with the secular world. The population grew from 90 women in 1464 to 130 women by 1475, 142 women by 1497, and around 150 with several boarding students or educande by c.1506. The space for educande, as well as apartments where d’Este family members retired for religious retreats, created a new religious civic identity, as well as an educational mission. Bounded by Via Pergolato, Via Campofranco, Via Savonarola and Via Praisolo, the convent occupied a whole city block that from the eighteenth century onwards was referred to as the ‘Clarissan Island’. Another significant change in this period was the patronage of d’Este women, including Eleonora d’Aragona, Isabella d’Este, Bianca Maria d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia. Besides withdrawing to the convent for prayer vigils, Eleonora d’Aragona gifted many items, including a Baptism of Christ from Bruges that completed the imagery on the body and blood of Christ, visually realizing the devotion of the convent to its name. Lucrezia Borgia founded the third Poor Clare convent in Ferrara, San

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Bernardino, but nevertheless elected burial at Corpus Christi. Her husband, Alfonso I d’Este, arranged a new financial relationship between the nuns and the hospital of Sant’Anna that helped stabilize annual revenues. The d’Este family loyalty to the Poor Clares was manifest both in life and in death. A series of pious d’Este women, duchesses and laywomen as well as d’Este nuns, arranged for burial there. Although two other churches—San Francesco and Santa Maria degli Angeli—were potential d’Este mausoleums, in the end it was Corpus Christi that became the real and symbolic repository of d’Este memory.

The Sette Armi Spirituali and Observant Reform In the 1460s, Corpus Christi retained a strong cult of San Bernardino of Siena founded upon Sister Caterina’s special adoration for Bernardino and her teachings in the Sette Armi Spirituali, where she called him ‘the Paul of our patriarch Saint Francis’. His last visit to Ferrara was in 1443, and sometime between his death in 1444 and canonization in 1450, Vigri wrote a laud in his honor, praising the city of Aquila where he died as a place of pilgrimage.3 Ferrara held two public celebrations for his canon�� ization, in the main piazza and at San Francesco, where Bernardino’s pupil Giovanni da Prato preached.4 As in Bologna, miracles occurred for the benefit of the nuns in Ferrara, including a vision of Vigri in heaven together with Bernardino, which cured one of the sisters.5 In a chapter meeting in 1464, the nuns outlined how they planned to celebrate his feast that year by decorating his altar and singing two complete vespers. The convent archival index of 1577 lists a document, ‘come celebrare la festa di San Bernardino’, which may refer to this meeting.6 All the sisters except one voted in favor of the plan, but there may have been some underlying disputes because Abbess Leonarda Ordelaffi lectured the nuns on maintaining the dignity of the feast and not disgracing themselves before God.7 She warned them severely not to remove any objects from the altar. What could have been so enticing that they would wish to remove them from the altar? Perhaps it was painted tablets with the ‘YHS’ Name of Jesus? Relics of the holy preacher must have been present, and a later inventory lists bone fragments of Saint Bernardino, but it is not known when they were acquired.8 The diffusion of Vigri’s mystical, meditative guide to devotion helped perpetuate the Observant Reform spirit among both religious and secular women. To date, 21 copies of the Sette Armi Spirituali have been found in libraries, convents and museums, or traced in documents. The title Sette Armi Spirituali is an invention dating to c.1775; seven codices are titled ‘Incomencia uno libretto composta da una beata religiosa del Corpo de Cristo sore Caterina da Bologna’, or ‘Here begins a little book composed by a holy religious woman from Corpus Christi, Suor Caterina da Bologna’.9 The text is often combined with other works, such as Bembo’s biography of Caterina, the book of Angela da Foligno, the Relevations di Beata Giuliana of Milano and

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Domenico Cavalca’s Specchio dello Mondizio del Cuore; it also included post-mortem miracles, such as the cure of Sister Francesca Mondini in Bologna on 13 January, 1464. The title of the second letter, ‘epistola inspirata da Dio’, is sometimes missing, and the letters are reversed in respect to the autograph copy. The Ambrosiana codex, decorated with paste-down initials, is particularly important because it probably came from Corpus Christi, Cremona, founded in 1455 by sisters from Ferrara.10 The Brescian copy came from the Benedictine Santa Faustina, and two Florentine codices came from the Camaldolese Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Servite Santisssima Annunciata.11 The influence of Caterina’s Sette Armi Spirituali spread to other monastic orders in northern Italy, as well as to royal laywomen such as Eleonora of Aragona. Precisely how these copies were generated and circulated before the text was published in 1475 remains a complex issue. In the colophon, Vigri asks that her little book be shown to her confessor, corrected and copied, and the copy sent to Ferrara. Since the nuns at Corpus Domini, Bologna, possessed the original, they must have taken the lead in reproducing the text before it was printed in 1475.12 A previously unidentifed copy is the ‘Opere devozionali’ (British Library, London) that contains a seventeenthcentury inscription: ‘Opera d’una serva di dio per una religiosa monaca nel monastero del Corpo di Christo di Ferrara, nominate Suor Lucia Mascharini.’13 The codex presents the Sette Armi text, Vigri’s first letter, and the second letter (fol. 54v), saying ‘this was sent by the Reverend mother of Corpus Christi Bologna to the Reverend mother and Abbess of Corpus Christi di Mantua’, which was finished in the convent of ‘corpo di christo’ in Bologna, 2 September, 1463.14 Although Paola Malatesta Gonzaga had died, the Poor Clares at Santa Paola/Corpus Domini, Mantua, may have been one of the first houses to receive it, even before the miraculous cure of Sister Francesca in January 1464 that accelerated the reproduction and diffusion of Caterina Vigri’s text. Three Sette Armi copies can be associated with Ferrara based on their stylistic connections with the Ferrarese illuminators Taddeo Crivelli and Guglielmo Giraldi. Codex Cl. I. 354 (Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara) has a frontispiece with an initial ‘C’ with a pen sketch of Caterina kneeling before an altar where the Virgin Mary reaches down to hand her the infant Jesus (Fig. 5.1).15 This illustrates Sister Caterina’s vision on Christmas Eve 1445, when she remained in the church to recite 1000 Ave Marias; it is the only illustration of this vision in any copy. The text, written by a professional hand in black ink with red and purple calligraphic initials, turns to red ink for the Christmas Eve vision text, a feature not found in other known copies. This suggests the scribe and illuminator were making a coordinated effort to highlight this event as emblematic of Caterina’s mystical experiences. The impagination and gold and foliate wavy borders are similar to the Crivelli/Giraldi workshop of c.1470, as in the borders of the Gualenghi-d’Este Hours and Giraldi’s psalter and hymnal for Ferrara cathedral.16 The unfinished ink-drawing shows the Virgin Mary in the act of handing the Christ Child to Vigri (Fig. 5.2). Conceivably, the image was sketched out by a professional artist for the Corpus Christi nuns to finish in colours.

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Fig. 5.1. Taddeo Crivelli/Guglielmo Giraldi Workshop, Christmas Eve Vision, fol. 1r, Ms. I.354, c.1465–70, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.)

Ms. C.I. 356 (Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara) is simpler, with unfinished border decoration, and it appears to be an early copy possibly produced within a convent (Fig. 5.3).17 It presents an idiosyncratic image of a Poor Clare nun, standing or lying

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Fig. 5.2. Taddeo Crivelli/Guglielmo Giraldi Workshop, detail, Christmas Eve Vision, fol. 1r, Ms. I.354, c.1465–70, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.)

in repose with grey-gloved hands joined in prayer; the body is framed by a scaly fish with a bird-like beak holding a delicate flower (fol. 1v) (Fig. 5.4). Unlike the straight�forward narrative of Caterina’s vision, this author-portrait sends a perplexing message. Graziani proposes that Vigri is depicted here as a ‘bride of Christ’, with the fish symbolizing Christ, and the viola flower denoting marriage, but this interpretation is uncertain.18 When viewed horizontally, the figure appears to be reposing on a funeral bier with hands folded across her chest and eyes closed. The black-and-white-striped taccolino symbolizes poverty and humility, recalling how Caterina dressed in rags even when she stayed at the grate, fed beggars at the door, and fasted while secretly giving food to fellow nuns.19 But the grey-gloved hands suggest elevated status, as in portraits of bishops wearing gloves. The image may depict Caterina not exactly as a bride of Christ, but as resurrected (hence the symbolism of the fish) in paradise. Her face is flushed pink, and red lips reflect descriptions of the miraculous manner in which her face regained a rosy complexion after it was disinterred. Bembo recounts that her face sweated and grew more coloured like a seraph; many visitors came to see this phenomenon, and the bishop’s vicar told them that ‘her beauty showed she was a soul in paradise’.20 This provides a historical context to interpret this as an

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Fig. 5.3. Ferrarese nun-artist, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. I.356, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.)

image of incorrupt flesh, a symbol of innocence and immortality. Given its unusual symbolism, it may have been conceived by a nun-artist as ‘an insider’s image’ of beata Caterina’s incorrupt body.

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Fig. 5.4. Ferrarese nun-artist, detail, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. I.356, Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara.)

A third unpublished Sette Armi Spirituali codex, Ms. W.342 (The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore), contains an author-portrait depicting Sister Caterina holding a book and plain wooden cross, fol. 1v (Fig. 5.5).21 Henry Walters purchased this in c.1895 in Venice or Florence from Olschki as a codex attributed to Illuminata Bembo.22 Like other man�� uscripts, it contains the note explaining the text: ‘the letter below was written by our blessed mother for us here in Bologna in her own hand through revelation and divine will ….’23 Inserted immediately before this is a colophon asking ‘our blessed mother Caterina to pray to God for my sins’ (‘la nostra beata madre caterina che se degni pregare dio per mi peccatora |I.|B.Scr.Il’m. 1466).24 The date is definite, and although the

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Fig. 5.5. Guglielmo Giraldi and Ferrarese nun-artist, Caterina Vigri, fol. 1v, Ms. W.342, 1466, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. (Photo: The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD.)

attribution to Bembo is plausible, it requires further study by paleography experts. Sister Illuminata, abbess of Corpus Domini, Bologna, in 1466, displays a thorough knowledge of Caterina’s writings in her biography in 1469, and therefore could have copied the Sette Armi. The Walters codex ends with a 106-line laud in the same hand, beginning, ‘Jesu signor piacente/sempre situ laudato’, which also appears in a volume of anonymous fifteenth-century lauds in the Biblioteca Universitària, Bologna.25 If copied around 1466, this image formed part of the rapidly developing cult of beata Caterina. The border decoration and non-figural initials recall the Ferrarese style of the Taddeo Crivelli/Guglielmo Giraldi workshop. The miniature, like the Christmas vision, appears to have been sketched by professional illuminators and coloured by a nun-artist. The grey cloak falls in lightly shadowed folds, the hands and facial features are simplified, and the black veil sits low on her forehead. The features are drawn rather than painted, which can be seen by comparing it to Giraldi’s portrait of ‘beata Caterina da Bologna’ in the Gualenghi-d’Este Hours (Fig. 5.6). The shape of

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Fig. 5.6. Guglielmo Giraldi, Beata Caterina Vigri, fol. 185v, Ms. Ludwig IX, 13, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA. (Photo: Courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA.)

her face emphasizes a small, pointed chin, which conforms to Bembo’s description of C ­ aterina’s physiognomy. Giraldi’s portrait, with furrowed brow and mournful eyes, reflects much more emotion and spiritual turmoil, while the nun-artist’s image is less expressive, but calm and meditative. The whimsical landscape recalls the flowered meadow behind Saint Francis and the fondness for nature in Caterina’s breviary (see Colour plate VII). The Walters initial seems to be a veristic portrait of Caterina executed by a nun-artist who knew her. The fact that she holds a plain wooden cross, not a crucifix like other female saints in this period, indicates an intentional message. It has an almost evangelical fervor—a call to arms, so to speak—illustrating a central theme in the Sette Armi Spirituali and breviary rubrics taken from Matthew 16:24: ‘Christ said let any man who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross.’26 That other nuns at Corpus Christi were engaged in devotional drawing is proven by the Stigmatization of Saint Francis and Saint Clare Protector of Poor Clare Nuns in a

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Franciscan miscellany in the convent.27 This codex, written by several hands in Gothic script and red calligraphic initials, contains the rules, a few lauds, letters and other items ranging from 1352 to 1467, as well as offices ‘per chi non sa la grammatica’ (‘for those who cannot read the Latin service books’).28 In the Stigmatization, Francis appears in a flow�� ery mountain meadow that evokes the wilderness of La Verna (Fig. 5.7). His round face shows disproportionately large eyes as if suspended in a trance, conveying his lightness of being after the vision of the Christ-Seraph. ­Francis’s whole body emanates rays of yellow light, similar to images of the Virgin Mary in G ­ erman woodcuts; he is enveloped in divine love. He is represented half-kneeling in a three-quarter, right-facing view that recalls Giotto’s Assisi fresco, still influential in the fifteenth century, as in Gentile da Fabriano’s Stigmatization of c.1420 (Fondazione Magani Rocca Collection) (Fig. 5.8). The red-blood-spattered Christ-Seraph has large black nails in his hands and feet; the wood-grain texture of the cross and the feathered wings are rendered with obsessive precision, as if the nun herself was seeing it in the sky. The ‘wounding rays of light’ are interpreted as five, red-dotted streams of blood. At first, the nun was unsure how to connect Christ’s wounds with Francis, so an extra stream of blood starts from the right hand. After hesitation, she followed a pattern of parallel wounds, which Frugoni believes emphasizes the concept of Francis as ‘the second Christ’.29 The transforma��tion of stigmata rays of light into streams of blood appears unique, although a German woodcut of Clare and Francis from c.1480 shows stigmata lines coloured red instead of yellow.30 In the nun’s drawing, the dots or droplets of blood are devotional signifiers. In empathizing with Francis, as Francis did with Christ, she follows the mystical devotion to Christ’s wounds. The droplets of blood extend the temporal process of creating the image, and punctuate the Eucharistic blood, just as the knots in the belts of Poor Clares reminded them of their monastic vows. The nun-artist is repeating and reinforcing those vows with every dot as she creates the image. The other drawing depicts Clare as Protector, spreading her cloak wide like a Madonna of Mercy, with eight nuns with stereotyped faces, huge eyes and vague facial features kneeling below (Fig. 5.9). This is a Franciscan adaptation of the Virgin of Mercy type who usually protects laypersons or confraternities. Community portraits with the Virgin Mary or the founder of the order appear in Tuscany in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; for instance, Sano di Pietro’s Virgin Protecting the Poor Clares from San Niccolò, Siena, executed in the 1440s.31 The closest parallel to the drawing is the fresco of Saint Clare with the Virgins in the ex-convent of Santa Chiara, Milan (now Monte dei Pietà), commissioned in c.1471–76 when the church was consecrated.32 In this case, Clare spreads her cloak and simultaneously holds the monstrance. Whether Corpus Christi had a similar fresco that provided the model for the nun’s drawing is not known. The image recalls Clare’s roles as mother, mediatrix and intercessor, and encouraged contemplation of Clare as Mary’s imitator, Mary as Clare’s model. Just as Francis was ‘alter Christus’, theologians saw Clare as ‘alter Maria’. Mooney suggests it was subsequent interpreters who saw Clare as following Maria, while in Clare’s own writings the

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Fig. 5.7. Ferrarese nun-artist, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, fol. 6v, Franciscan Miscellany, c.1467, Convent Archives, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

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Fig. 5.8. Gentile da Fabriano, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, c.1420, Fondazione Magani Rocca. (Photo: Scala/ Art Resources, NY.)

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Fig. 5.9. Ferrarese Nun-scribe, Saint Clare as Protector of Poor Clares, fol.7r, Franciscan Miscellany, c.1467, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

metaphor of Mary is remote.33 This drawing of Clare protecting the Poor Clares suggests how much mid-fifteenth-century Poor Clare nuns had absorbed the ideology of Clare following the Virgin Mary. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, Clare becomes integrated into the Virgin of Mercy iconography to an even greater degree as a plague

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Fig. 5.10. Ferrarese Nun-scribe, I Fioretti di Sant Francesco, fol. 26r, Ms. Gamma G.4.3, 1488, Biblioteca Estense Universitària, Modena. (Photo: Author, permission of the Biblioteca Estense Universitària, Modena.)

saint.34 The fact that the nuns were drawing gives evidence of continued involvement in active prayer.35 The act of drawing itself functioned as a mode of kinetic, affective and imaginative meditation on the miraculous presence of saints Francis and Clare. The nuns continued copying Franciscan works, such as the Lezenda grande di San Francesco, and received at least one new breviary. A large codex of Francis’s life from the Vite dei Santi Padri, with selections from the Fioretti, ‘Remembrances and Prayers of Saint Francis’, a ‘Meditation on the Glories of Paradise’, and the ‘Joys of Paradise and the Saints’, was completed 15 April, 1488, as an act of penitence by a nun-scribe who begs to be forgiven and absolved of her sins (Biblioteca Estense Universitària, Modena).36 There are no figural initials (not unusual in manuscripts of saints’ lives), but capital letter initials display fringed ribbon designs, recalling woven and embroidered bands edging sleeves and necklines in court dress (Fig. 5.10). Thus, the tendency to use needlework models continued after Sister Caterina’s departure. The convent library expanded through increasingly lavish donations. In 1481 a cathedral canon, Paolo Villa, left books to many churches, including ‘a large breviary with a green silk cover, silver metalwork and other ornaments’ to Corpus Christi.37 This gift was probably connected with Sister Angiola Camilla Villa, who professed in 1480 and later served as abbess.

The Community and Casa Romei After the departure of two groups of nuns to found Observant houses in Bologna and Cremona in 1456, the convent continued to grow under new leadership. Besides

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twelve sisters who moved to Bologna, another eighteen were sent with ‘Sister Francesca’ to found the new Poor Clare house in Cremona in 1455.38 Like Ferrara, the Cre��monese convent was supported by the ruling family’s patronage, especially Bianca Maria Visconti (1425–68). Some of the better-known nuns were from the Pallavicini family, also represented in Ferrara and known as founders of a monastery for Observant friars in Busseto (Parma). The Cremonese nuns lived for several decades in Bianca Maria’s own Renaissance palace that was adjacent to pre-existent churches that became part of the new convent. The social and architectural history of the Cremona convent parallels Corpus Christi, Ferrara’s expansion into Casa Romei.39 The demographic data shows remarkable strength and stability in the mother house. Approximately 65 nuns joined Corpus Christi in the last period of Caterina Vigri’s residency during 1447–55.40 Many who became nuns before 1456 lived into the 1490s, such as Maddalena Malatesta, who spent 57 years in religious life, and died in 1490. The Calcina family (two daughters and their mother) lived 44 to 55 years in the convent. Among novices who entered during 1460 to 1500, some twenty women lived 40 to 63 years in religious life. In the 1460s, Corpus Christi acquired a new core of noble residents who survived into the early sixteenth century. Ten abbesses came from ‘noble’ families in the d’Este duchy or cities in Romagna: Leonarda Campeggi Ordelaffi (1425–96) of Forli, Cleopatra Varani (1443–99) of Ferrara, Angiola Maria Villa (1461–1528) of Ferrara, Theresa Rangoni (1462–1542) of Modena, Innocenza Pallavicini (1463–1539) of Busseto, Adelaide Mosti (1468–1533), from a Modenese family who moved to Ferrara in c.1500, Clemenza Novelli (1466–1534) of Ferrara, Lucida dalle Calce (1471–1545), and Gabriella Machiavelli (1480–1546) of Ferrara. Cleopatra Varani was a cousin of Camilla Battista da Varano (1458–1524), a Poor Clare nun in Urbino and Camerino who authored several devotional texts.41 The Novelli family had been prominent in the d’Este chancellery, held fiefs since medieval times, and was later designated as ‘noble’.42 This was a group of aristo��cratic women who had more education than the earlier generation and were more inclined towards writing. The strong growth is typical of convents elsewhere, such as Florence and Bologna.43 The most outstanding abbess was Violante da Montefeltro Malatesta (1430–93), who joined Corpus Cristi in 1465 after the death of her husband, Domenico ‘Novello’ Malatesta. He was a condottiere and lord of Cesena, who built the Observant Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria in 1438, founded the Biblioteca Malatestiana in 1452, and strongly supported the Observant Franciscans. Violante, daughter of Guidantonio da Montefeltro and Caterina Colonna, was well educated in Urbino and married Domenico at the age of twelve, but after witnessing her brother Oddantonio’s assassination she vowed chastity and transferred to Cesena only in 1447. Franceschini, Baronio, and others have demonstrated that Violante participated fully in the humanistic revival in Cesena.44 She was devoted to the Observant Franciscans from an early age. In 1457–60 she helped build a new church by the city walls and arranged donations of building materials from the Venetians. Her political contacts followed her to Corpus

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Christi in the form of privileges, indulgences from Pope Sixtus IV, and gifts from the Bishop of Venice and the people of Cesena. Her social network included the Colonna family in Rome, Federico da Montefeltro’s court in Urbino, and the Sforza in Pesaro, where her sister Sveva was a Poor Clare. At the d’Este court she knew her husband’s sister-in-law Margherita d’Este, widow of Galeotto Roberto Malatesta, who was a close friend of Caterina Vigri. Although a completely different personality, Violante can be considered Caterina Vigri’s successor with respect to leadership and convent intellectual life. When not serving as abbess, she may have followed Vigri as mistress of novices, occupied with teaching and the convent library. By the time Sister Caterina became abbess of a new Corpus Domini and departed for Bologna in July 1456, Corpus Christi had achieved an outstanding reputation for sanctity. The population pressure was so great that expansion was inevitable, and the logical direction to move was west toward San Francesco and the center of town. This area was blocked by a new palatial residence belonging to a wealthy Ferrarese banker, courtier and humanist patron, Giovanni Romei (1402–83).45 Romei had strong ties to d’Este rulers through his marriages to Lavinia Baroni, daughter of an advisor to Niccolò III d’Este; and Polissena d’Este (daughter of Niccolò III’s natural son, Meliaduse), who Romei married in 1451.46 Wishing to have a noble residence reflecting his high court rank, he commissioned an urban palace from Pietro Benventuo dagli Ordini or Pietro di Brasavoli, architects who had worked for Niccolò III.47 By the time of his testament on 17 April, 1483, this included ‘la Casa Grande dello stesso testatore, con le corti, gli orti, il campo granario, le stalle, e le altre cose spettanti ed appartenenti ad esso … .’48 He left large annual bequests of food, wine, bread, meat and other necessities to the Poor Clares and a provision that his wife, Polissena d’Este, could live in half the palace until her death, and that heirs should be paid 2000 ducats.49 Romei’s chief motivation was most likely restitution for usury, but the selection of Corpus Christi as beneficiary was influenced by the Observant Franciscans and the Pio da Carpi family. Scalabrini recalls that in 1458 Duke Borso imposed taxes on Romei and had his palace furnishings dumped in the piazza, accompanied by ringing of the city’s bells.50 Again, in 1475, Duke Ercole chastised him for usury.51 During Romei’s career at court he served as ambassador to Count Pio II of Carpi and was knighted there. This is the same family who initiated the transformation of the pinzochere into a Poor Clares convent in 1431. Romei represented Duke Ercole I at the court of Ferrante of Naples, and accompanied Eleonora of Aragona to Ferrara when she came to marry the duke in 1473. Romei chose burial in Santo Spirito, where a tomb with an elegant epithet by Tito Strozzi had been prepared since 1475, and his 1483 will was witnessed by seven friars from this convent, which demonstrates his ties to the Observant Franciscans.52 The nuns’ date of transfer into Casa Romei has been based on Romei’s will and architectural renovations of the palace in 1490–91, but this assumes that the terms of his will were followed and ignores a dramatic turn of events after his death. After

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being widowed, Polissena d’Este refused to marry the Mantuan nobleman who Francesco Gonzaga had proposed to Ercole I, and absconded with one of Ercole I’s condottieri, Giorgio ‘Scaramuzza’ Visconti.53 The Duke and Duchess announced their formal disapproval, Ercole removed the soldier from his service, and the couple was banned from d’Este court life. They took their household and removed to the Milanese court.54 After reconciliation with the d’Este in 1488, Polissena became senior lady-in-waiting to Beatrice d’Este after she married Ludovico ‘il Moro’, but she never returned to Ferrara and died in Pavia in 1504.55 Casa Romei remained in legal limbo in the years 1483–91. Ironically, the situation recalls the ambiguous legal status of the pinzochere house in 1426–31 when Bernardina Sedazzari died. As in that period, leadership and decision-making power devolved to the d’Este rulers—in 1426 to Niccolò III d’Este and now to Duke Ercole I and Eleonora of Aragona. This provided an opportunity to make a gesture of beneficence towards the Poor Clares, and gave Eleonora a larger role in guiding the convent’s development. A notarial document of 1491 states that she paid Romei’s heirs 2000 gold ducats to probate the will, finally liberating Casa Romei for the Poor Clares.56 Thus, Duchess Eleonora of Aragona removed the final barrier to the later stage of Corpus Christi’s development. The old convent and Casa Romei were joined by filling four spatial units with cloisters and gardens, more dormitories, a large refectory, chapels, kitchens and service areas for the increased population. Viewing the Frizzi plan of 1811, which includes sixteenth- and seventeenth-century alterations, a general idea of the massive change in scale can be seen (Fig. 5.11). The d’Este Office of Munitions recorded detailed pay�ments to architect Baptista di Rainaldo for the reconstruction—down to the number of old and new bricks required—and dimensions of a new chapter house with a dormitory above.57 There were renovations to ‘il cortile vecchio’ and the addition of an arcaded cloister with brick columns; walls were rebuilt to heighten them; and a chapter house was added. Unfortunately, it is difficult to correlate the materials and shorthand references to walls with extant architecture. The original accounts refer to payments begun as early as 1487, which suggests that the nuns began to occupy their half of the property before the final legal transfer. The convent façade and main portal were originally opposite the modern-day entrance. The façade had a crenellated roofline, brickwork with inset gothic arches, and a marble balcony above the portal. Di Francesco notes the discovery of painted shields and merli during roof restoration in the 1950s, which show its earlier appearance.58 The main entrance led into the palatial ‘court of honor’, defined by a two-story, marble arcade of harmonious proportions, decorated with Saint Bernardino’s large sculpted ‘Name of Jesus’ ‘YHS’, surrounded by rays of light and eight angels in terracotta relief (Fig. 5.12). Earlier, the courtyards had been used as a setting for banquets and dancing, as when Romei hosted a party in 1479 for Eleonora of Aragona, her sons and daughters, and the whole d’Este court.59 Now the ‘chiostro grande’ became a partially public face of the convent, with numerous parlatorios on the ground floor, as well

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Fig. 5.11. Gaetano Frizzi, Plan of ‘Isola Clarissa’, detail with addition of Casa Romei (Archivio Periti, Busta 297), Archivio di Stato, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Archivio di Stato di Ferrara.)

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Fig. 5.12. Second Grand Cloister, Casa Romei with the YHS monogram, c.1450. (Photo: Author, permission of Museo di Casa Romei/Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna.)

as the Chamber of the Sibyls with its large fireplace, pre-existing frescoes of sibyls, and a fifteenth-century Madonna and Child attributed to Antonio Alberti. Two corner staircases gave access to the upper story, which was so altered in the later sixteenth century as to not permit an architectural reconstruction. On the second floor of the ‘Chiostro Grande’ was Romei’s studiolo, which has a coffered wooden ceiling with inset hand-painted designs on paper of classical heads, flowers and foliate patterns.60 The Casa Romei was linked to the upper level of the old convent’s dormitory through another courtyard and rooms that were later renovated by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este (Fig. 5.13). From this vantage point, another cloister garden with its wellhead and the first church façade are visible. A third cloister was erected in c.1490–1510, where the novices were housed with their own chapel with a ceiling painting of God the Father by Girolamo da Carpi.61 An oratory was built by the Varani family in 1512, probably in honor of Abbess Cleopatra Varani (d. 1499). The reconfiguration of the palace involved creating more rooms where nuns and novices could speak with family, and differentiating the spaces for nuns, novices and laypersons. The convent required multiple kitchens to accommodate cooking for professed nuns, lay sisters, visiting adults designated as ‘convittrici’, orphans and educande (pupils) who were admitted at the age of five for instruction in a Christian life.62 As Forlai explains in ref��erence to Corpus Domini, Bologna, convents became aristocratic boarding schools: one whole wing was designed for those not in clausura, while the inner core was the truly enclosed area of the convent.63

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Fig. 5.13. First Cloister, Casa Romei, c.1450. (Photo: Author, permission of Museo di Casa Romei/Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna.)

Enclosure became more carefully enforced but was less rigorous in practice than in theory. The Archbishop of Ferrara’s office issued passes to individuals required to enter clausura, and these records show a continual procession of workmen to fix doors, paint cupboards, and build or repair objects, furniture, walls and windows; doctors to treat sick and dying nuns; and deliverymen bearing food, olive oil, firewood and other necessities that the nuns could not produce themselves.64 Ecclesias��tical legislation could not control ordinary human activities; people, food and charitable donations passed through, more or less invisibly. The six parlatorios, or private parlours where nuns could meet and talk with guests, meant easy access to news of the outside world. Some family members and courtiers could still take temporary refuge in the convent, and nuns kept up an active correspondence with their families. Ironically, being dependent on charity for their subsistence required them to have continual daily contact with the secular world. Moving into Romei’s palace meant that the Poor Clares inherited one of the earlier fresco cycles of sibyls in the ‘Chamber of the Muses’ (Fig. 5.14).65 Originally com�� missioned by Romei to celebrate the virtues of Polissena d’Este, the frescoes came to symbolize ideas of Christian virtue, chastity, and the prediction of the Incarnation. Depicted in court dress, they stand in a verdant garden that Toniolo interprets as

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Fig. 5.14. Chamber of the Sibyls, Casa Romei, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of Museo di Casa Romei/Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna.)

a ‘hortus conclusus’, referring to the Virgin, and the red ‘garofani as an illusion to the sacrifice of the Christ child for humanity’.66 The Erithryean sibyl, who predicted the Coming of Christ, stands adjacent to a wall niche with the Nativity scene, next to the Samian sibyl holding a scroll with an inscription referring to the birth of the poverella.67 This is a courtly variation of the mid-fifteenth-century mode of depicting Erithryea as a nun writing at her desk. Altogether, these frescoes added a modernized vocabulary of classical visual culture to Corpus Christi.68

The d’Este Duchesses as Patrons Corpus Christi had been supported in earlier critical moments by Niccolò III, but the d’Este associations became closer with Eleonora of Aragona and Ercole I d’Este’s special attention to the Clarisse.69 For twenty years (1473–93), Eleonora of Aragona was active in support of the Poor Clares. Edelstein suggests that she developed Franciscan ties at the Neopolitan court where the royal family had heavily patronized the Poor Clares since the fourteenth century.70 Queen Isabella Chiaramonte d’Aragona of Naples gifted a jeweled crown for beata Caterina to the convent Bologna, and in return Cardinal Legate Angelo Capranica sent her a copy of the Sette Armi Spirituali, which her daughter Eleonora d’Aragona inherited in 1465.71 Bryant has discovered

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that a copy, described as ‘un libro di un suore di Corpo di Christo’, is listed among Eleonora’s books in 1478–83. The entry states that on ‘8 July 1479 her servant Silvia returned this [treatise by a sister of Corpus Christi covered in paper and canvas] because it belonged to them’.72 Bryant suspects Eleonora brought her mother’s Sette Armi Spirituali to Ferrara in 1473 when she married Ercole I. In fact, Eleonora may have owned two copies, because a second reference appears in the same inventory as ‘no. 26 Trattato de sore coperto de braxafilio stampito’. Two inventories of her books from 1478–83 and 1493 list numerous devotional works, histories of saints, works by Jerome and Bernard of Clairvaux, and Franciscan texts including I Fioretti di San Francisco, Uno Libro del Albero della Croce by Ubertino da Casale, and the Stimulo all’amore di Jesu Christo by James of Milan. Barstow comments that her books ‘show the strong relationship between monastic and lay culture’.73 Eleonora was already was in the habit of withdrawing to Corpus Christi for meditation by October 1476.74 In public life, Eleonora displayed piety by staging of ceremonial processions to the convent, sponsoring feast celebrations and bringing royal visitors; in December 1481 she, her son Sigismondo, and her ladies-in-waiting rode in the ducal cart with two daughters of noble Ferrarese families who were entering the convent as novices. Rosenberg has shown that Eleanora was involved in organizing the annual Corpus Christi festival processions, particularly in 1485 when Ercole I was absent from the city, and a difficult political decision had to be made concerning the rights of Venetian and Milanese officials to carry the honorific baldachino over the Host.75 Showing political acumen, she mandated that only clergy would carry the baldachino, while the officials would escort her along the course of the procession. She also brought Beatrice d’Este and her daughter-in-law Anna Sforza to visit the convent, which helped spread its good reputation. But her position evolves beyond the public expression of piety to a private, more intimate relationship. At court Eleonora was responsible for maintaining court provisions, and she would have identified with administrative problems faced by the abbesses. In 1476 the pressure of feeding 130 residents was so great that Abbess Leonarda Ordelaffi appealed to the vicar of the Bishop of Ferrara to allow more freedom of movement for sisters and visitors who would bring donations. In 1487 Abbess Violante Serifica di Malatesta wrote home to Cesena begging for more olive oil to sustain the overcrowded convent of 142 residents.76 In 1485–91 Eleonora’s court accounts show monthly allotments for the sacristan and other donations to Corpus Christi.77 Particularly noteworthy are payments in 1491 to ‘carry items to Fra Mariano in Florence’, which might explain how Fra Mariano copied the Sette Armi Spirituali for his history of the Poor Clares.78 In August 1493, shortly before her death, the duch�� ess ordered locking the campanile windows at nearby San Francesco, because the nuns had complained that the monks were spying on them in their new quarters.79 When she died 11 October, 1493, she asked to be buried in the simple brown morello Franciscan habit, barefoot, with only monks from San Francesco and Santo Spirito

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in attendance.80 Perhaps the constant worry about feeding the convent influenced Eleonora’s final bequest to Corpus Christi: 5000 sheep, 500 milk cows and 80 pairs of oxen, as well 1000 gold ducats.81 Withdrawal to Corpus Christi gave Eleonora a private spiritual life. She had her own wooden oratory built in the nuns’ choir, as well as a cell in the convent, and while in ritiro she participated in the nuns’ lives.82 After one sojourn in November 1490, she wrote to her daughter Isabella d’Este that she had been to Corpus Christi: ‘after being with the nuns in meditation, she returned home to Castelvecchio in better health and more cheerful spirits’.83 The nuns offered physical and bodily health, possibly even curative powers, as well as spiritual renewal. The dispensing of gifts from consort/ruler to a female convent usually represents a power equation tilted toward the patron/donor. In this case, the setting offered Eleonora spiritual teaching and value in exchange for material goods and alms. In a study of material culture in north Italian courts, Clark addresses Eleonora’s close rapport with ­Corpus ­Christi.84 Examining the d’Este diptych by Ercole dei’ Roberti (National Gallery, London), which depicts The Adoration of the Shepherds and The Dead Christ, Clark presents a semiotic analysis of intertextuality and the viewer’s sensory response to the juxtaposed images of the infant body of Christ and the Crucified body of Christ, the stable and cradle versus the marble tomb. She believes that perception of the ‘Word as Flesh’ by engaging with the double image conforms to Vigri’s approach to the Eucharist and the ‘Divine Word as Flesh’, and this was reflected in the convent images of the infant Christ child. Clark suggests that Eleonora may have seen these paintings and engaged with objects, words and images in a similar devotional way. Eleonora of Aragona’s sister-in-law Bianca Maria d’Este (1440–1506), youngest daughter of Niccolò III d’Este, was also a patron of Corpus Christi. Raised in Ferrara, Bianca Maria belonged to a generation of highly educated humanist women, praised by Francesco Fidelfo and Tito Strozzi. She married Galeotto della Mirandola in 1468 and kept in touch with the d’Este court by attending weddings, diplomatic events, religious festivals and funerals.85 After a full life as consort of the ruler of Mirandola, she died in 1506. Although she chose burial in San Francesco, Mirandola, she bequeathed enormous amounts of land, food and possessions to Corpus Christi, Ferrara.86 This was partially motivated by her daughter being a nun there, but also by her personal devotion to Caterina Vigri, which had been inculcated in childhood by her aunt, Margherita d’Este da Rimini. Her patronage represents a later expression of devotion to the Franciscan Observants, stimulated by the Sette Armi Spirituali and the miracle of Caterina Vigri’s incorrupt body. A natural generational divide occurs between these two donors and Lucrezia Borgia and Isabella d’Este, whose patronage dates after the rise of the Savonarola. Assessing the state of Observant Reform at Corpus Christi during c.1490–1510 is complex. Friar Savonarola, although born in Ferrara, departed in 1475 and had a lesser impact on Ferrarese convents than Dominican nunneries in Florence.87 While studying in

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Bologna, he saw Beata Caterina’s corpus, and wrote a poem praising the virtues personified in her incorrupt flesh.88 The city of Ferrara became a secondary Savonarolan center after his death in 1498; his main supporters were family members and Duke Ercole, who brought the ‘living saint’ Lucia Broccadelli from Viterbo to Ferrara in 1499. The duke built a new Dominican tertiary convent, acquired a relic from Saint Catherine of Siena’s body, and supported the convent until he died in 1505. The general rise of mystical holy women during the Italian Wars (1494–1530) suggests that they filled a vacuum created by a Church preoccupied with wars. As Herzig notes, there may have been some Savonarolian sympathizers at Corpus Christi, such as Maddalena Pico, sister of Savonarolian supporter Gianfrancesco Pico of Mirandola, who professed in 1495.89 Lucrezia Borgia, who came to Ferrara to marry Alfonso d’Este in January 1502, gravitated towards Corpus Christi, following the model of Eleonora d’Aragona. The Ferrarese were skeptical about Lucrezia’s character and previous marriages, but Duke Ercole’s ambassador Gianluca Pozzi reported after meeting her in Rome in December 1501 that, ‘She is a good Christian, filled with the fear of God, and is going to confess tomorrow and take communion on the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord.’90 After the wedding celebrations in January and February 1502, Duke Ercole lowered her annual allowance to 8000 ducats and sent her Spanish and Roman staff home; Lucrezia’s response was greater isolation from court life. During Holy Week in March 1502, she withdrew to Corpus Christi for prayer and meditation.91 As Nalini Montanari notes, in April she wrote to her brother-in-law commenting on the many excellent Franciscan friars who followed San Francesco’s model.92 By 1503 she had been inscribed as a Franciscan tertiary by Observant friar Ludovico Della Torre.93 The contrast between Lucrezia Borgia’s courtly persona and her religious interests is striking. Judging by the books she owned in 1502–1503, Zarri notes that although they did not compete with Eleanora d’Aragona’s library, they reveal an educated woman reading historical chronicles, a ‘specchio della fede’, letters of Saint Catherine of Siena, Petrarch, and probably knowing the basics of Latin. Lucrezia seems to have preferred the quiet of Corpus Christi and was influenced by women she met there, such as Sister Laura Boiardi.94 She demonstrates a particular interest in charismatic mystics Lucia Broccadelli da Narni and Suor Stefana of Mantua, who after the death of Osanna Andreasi became counselor to the Gonzaga. Her first pregnancy ended with a stillborn daughter, and to recuperate, her husband embarked on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loreto while Lucrezia retired to Corpus Christi. In the years 1503–1507 she withdrew to the convent semi-annually, every spring around Lent or Easter, and once in the fall. Lucrezia’s donations to Corpus Christi differ from those of Eleonora d’Aragona and Bianca Maria d’Este. She loved music and magnificent textiles, and often sent her poet/confidant, Ercole Strozzi, to Venice to purchase fabrics. Among her first gifts to Corpus Christi in 1502 was a length of blue brocade cloth for an altar dossal.95 No

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gifts of paintings or prints are recorded, but during periods of famine she supposedly pawned her jewels to give alms, and ordered simple durable clothing from her own tailor to be distributed to the poor by Corpus Christi.96 By 1507 the need for food provisions for 150 women was partially assumed by the d’Este Camera Ducale, which provided annual and monthly allotments of grain, fruit, vegetables and fish; weekly amounts of bread; and special foods for Lenten meals and all important religious saints’ days.97 In 1509, after a seven-year relationship with Corpus Christi, Lucrezia Borgia founded a new Franciscan Observant house, San Bernardino da Siena. Twenty-two nuns, including her brother’s illegitimate daughter, Camilla, departed from Corpus Christi to establish the convent in a small monastery previously owned by the friars of San Bartolo. Her contact with Sister Laura Boiardi, now abbess of Corpus Christi, had remained close, and Lucrezia arranged her appointment as abbess of the new convent.98 Thus, she created a new house in the eastern part of the Herculean addition to the city, and built her own palace adjacent to it.99 In one sense this continued the spread of Observant Franciscan piety, as the foundation of the new houses in Cremona and Bologna had done earlier, but at the same time it created competition in the public consciousness. The ideals of stricter adherence to poverty and communal poverty were conveyed to the smaller community at San Bernardino.100

Later Fifteenth-Century Art and Visual Culture The primary d’Este patrons of art and visual culture were Eleonora of Aragona and Isabella d’Este. In 1481 Eleanora of Aragona commissioned a polyptych for Corpus Christi. This was a politically charged moment when the duchess was reaching the height of her influence, having escaped the coup by Niccolò d’Este in 1476, and taken on state affairs while Duke Ercole was away as captain general in the Pazzi War in 1478. Her patronage also may have been motivated by a desire for holy intercession after the birth of her last son in October 1481, who died within a few months. Mentioned in a Catasto of 1494 by the secretary Giovanni Ziglioli, the altarpiece was a large canvas showing the Baptism of Christ that cost more than 50 ducats. The subject was described as ‘a painting on canvas commissioned in Bruges that depicted the Baptism of Christ and his Ascension into heaven, with the magi, and certain other mysteries’.101 The canvas probably had lateral compartments to accommodate the ‘mysteries’, meaning the passion cycle, and may have resembled Gerard David’s Baptism of Christ (Groeningemuseum, Bruges).102 This must have been one of the first Flemish artworks commissioned by Eleonora, who learned to appreciate early Netherlandish-influenced artists like Colantonio and Antonello da Messina during her childhood in Naples.103 Although too young to have known the humanist Bartolomeo Facio, who described Jan van Eyck and Roger

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van der Weyden in his Die Viris illustribus, she might have read his work. Her taste for early Netherlandish art was complemented by Ercole’s development of the Court chapel. In 1481 he brought a talented musician from Bruges, paying his all travel and food expenses for the journey.104 In June 1486 the duchess paid a certain Francesco Vendegino to purchase ‘uno quadro per fare uno Chrozefisso per donare ale suore del Chorpo di Cristo’.105 Several months later she paid one ‘Johanne Martino di fian�� dre’ sixteen ducati for a painting.106 Later inventories of Eleonora d’Aragona’s posses��sions list Flemish paintings of the Madonna and paintings in the German style—de lo todescho.107 With her large collection of devotional books of hours, Eleonora must have been familiar with the new realism of the Ghent-Bruges school. The polyptych illustrated two moments from the Gospel—John’s Baptism of Christ in the Jordan and the Ascension or Descent of the Holy Spirit. This had special meaning in the Franciscan Observant context in relation to Eucharistic imagery already present at Corpus Christi. The Baptism of Christ was associated with the feast of Epiphany, hence also related to the Adoration of the Magi. In later fifteenthcentury Netherlandish painting, according to McNamee, the reference to Christ’s Ascension suggests Trinitarian allusions.108 The baptism represents a moment of humility when Christ ‘empties himself of his dignity as the second person of the Trinity’, and accepts baptism from a common man.109 The humility would have resonated with the Observant Poor Clares. The altarpiece may have replaced an old Madonna and Child from the pinzochere and been destined for Eleonora’s chapel in the nuns’ choir. If placed in the nuns’ choir, the Passion scenes could have served a didactic, affective and mnemonic function for the nuns. Between the Paduan style of the Entombment, the Flemish-inspired Adoration of the Host with its kneeling nun patrons, and the Baptism of Christ from Bruges, a decisive trend towards northern taste is apparent. This contrasts with the urbanist Poor Clares at San Guglielmo, who received new altarpieces by court artists Cosmé Tura (c.1433–95) and Lorenzo Costa (c.1460–1535) in the same period. Tura’s ‘panel with compartments above the little altar of Sister Argenide Bode where are depicted narrative stories of saints Eustachio, George, Christopher, and the death of Clare with weeping nuns surrounding the bed’ was located in inner oratory within clausura.110 The format suggests a small, private, devo��tional altar, such as the panel with folding wings commissioned by one Bernardino da Venezia and given to Duke Ercole in 1474.111 Among Tura’s known works, only the small, arched panel of Saint Christopher (Gemaldegalerie, Berlin) can exemplify his depiction of this saint. As Campbell notes, in Tura’s conception of sanctity, Christopher both grins and grimaces with the spiritual and physical weight of the Christ Child on his shoulders.112 Finding Tura’s art here confirms a taste for the Ferra��rese, late-Gothicizing style at San Guglielmo. The painting in the nuns’ choir attributed to Costa by Barotti and Scalabrini was described as having ‘the Virgin assumed into heaven with the apostles below at the sepulchre’.113 But the most significant altar��piece was the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Franciscan Saints and William of

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Aquitaine by Benvenuto Tisi Garofalo, commissioned by Antonio de’ Costabili in 1517 for the high altar.114 San Guglielmo was much more au courant with Italian High Renaissance art than Corpus Christi. This contrast is further demonstrated by a wall painting in the old part of Corpus Christi in the style of northern fifteenth-century devotional woodcuts.115 Still in situ adjacent to the infirmary, the Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane has been dated 1490–99 (Fig. 5.15). The theme derives from (Luke 22:43): the disciples sleep while Jesus kneels in the garden praying to God to ‘remove this cup from me’, and ‘an angel appears unto him from heaven, strengthening him’. Lombardi suggests that it was based on a woodcut, and in fact, a close compositional relationship can be seen with a single-leaf German woodcut with a similar woven wattle fence, trees, positions of the apostles, and the angel with the banderole proffering the cup and cross to Jesus (Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art).116 The enclosed garden recalls the nuns’ own cloistered world, and its location on the second story by stairs to the nuns’ dormitory near the infirmary meant it served as a visual focal point for the inner convent. Particularly significant for Poor Clares, as Hamburger explains, the Agony in the Garden frequently appears in nuns’ devotional miscellanies, and was exemplary of the whole experience of prayer.117 The Meditationes Vitae Christi cites the theme of the Garden of Gethsemane as a visual stimulus for the nuns’ identification with Christ’s sorrow.118 Angela of Foligno (1248–1309), in her Liber Vitae, urged her readers to ‘place this mirror [of Christ’s prayer at Gethesmane] before your eyes and apply yourself to it as often as you have to, for he prayed for you, not for himself’.119 The image of Christ praying and foreseeing his pain formed a mirror of the nuns’ prayers. Isabella d’Este (1474–1539), Eleonora d’Aragona’s daughter, made small gifts to the nuns that demonstrate a new aspect of their private devotions. Isabella grew up at the d’Este Court, married Francesco Gonzaga, and removed to Mantua in 1490. She maintained contacts at home, frequently writing her mother and visiting for weddings or the feasts of San Giorgio and Carnivale, when her father arranged performances of Roman comedies in her honor.120 After her mother died, Isabella contin�� ued her support for Corpus Christi; in June 1495 she sent donations of foodstuffs made exempt from Mantuan taxes and import duties.121 After her father died in 1505, she visited Ferrara less frequently but, as Hickson has shown, kept in touch with Corpus Christi, particularly Sister Laura Boiardo, through letters and visits by her close friend Margherita Cantelma.122 When Beata Osanna died in 1505, Isabella wrote Laura a detailed account of her last hours.123 Cantelma traveled back and forth from Mantua to Ferrara during 1506–10 visiting her family and Corpus Christi on Isabella’s behalf. She spent whole days with Sister Laura, praying together, discussing the love and affection the nun had for Isabella, and passing along news of the duchess.124 In 1509 Cantelma reported to Isabella some gifts that sisters Eufrosina and Laura had requested: ‘a saint Barbara and a saint Lucia like those French ones Your Highness sent us …’125

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Fig. 5.15. Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, c.1490–99. Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

These ‘French’ dolls were related to d’Este taste for Franco-Flemish art, and ­probably originated in the center of wooden doll production, the Malines/Mechlin (now ­Mechelen) region of the Brabant.126 A wooden Malines Saint Agnes (on the art market) and a Saint Barbara (Musée National de Moyen-Àge de Cluny, Paris), dated 1515–25 illustrate precisely what the nuns desired (Fig. 5.16).127 They were small wooden ­statuettes or figurines sculpted in great detail and elaborately dressed in contemporary fashion. ‘Malines’ came with little rectangular wooden tabernacles with painted wings like small domestic altarpieces. They had movable parts and decorated interiors or backgrounds that functioned as miniature stages for the holy figures.128 They were

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Fig. 5.16. Saint Barbara, Malines/Mechlin Figurine, 1515–20, Musée National de Moyen-Àge de Cluny, Paris. (Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY.)

not dolls in the same sense as the Gesù Bambino figures that earlier Beguines had handled and cuddled; in fact, the letter does not use the term ‘puppa’ or doll, but simply calls them by name. Barbara was the name saint of one of the first educande recorded in 1505.129 The ‘sister Eufrosina’ was Eufrosina Codigoro (1476–1522), who joined the Poor Clares in 1493 at the age of seventeen and lived in Corpus Christi for 29 years. She was 31 years old when she requested the holy figurines; this confirms that the appeal of the miniature saints was not limited to novices, but included

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mature women who could relate to the re-enactment of biblical narratives through the proxy of the miniaturized figures. In a sense, these staged narratives arose from the same devotional impulse as the sculptured tableaus of the Lamentation popular at the time. This type of ritual or practice made biblical stories and saints’ lives more accessible to cloistered women. As the fifteenth century wore on, the last living Observant Reform leader, James of the Marches (d. 1476), became a cult figure. James had attended the Council of Ferrara in 1438 and returned to give the quaresima or Lenten sermons in 1449. He was known for preaching devotion to the blood of Christ. After his death in November 1477, his body remained incorrupt and his cult grew rapidly, facilitated by the diffusion of his portraits in central and northern Italy.130 In the early sixteenth century, Corpus Christi acquired an engraving known to the nuns and the internal community as the ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’ (Fig. 5.17). Until recently it was displayed with a letter stating that it was given to James in Rome in 1463 by Francesco of Savona (1414–84); this was prior to the Cardinal of Savona’s election as Pope Sixtus IV in 1471. The letter recounts that the two men were discussing interpretations of the Incarnation of Christ, and when James said that the ‘son of God was incarnate in the pure flesh of the Virgin’, the printed image leapt off its supporting board and traveled about two feet, coming to rest standing up by itself. This was interpreted by the cardinal and the friar as a miracle. The cardinal exclaimed that the image had been there for 64 years and never done this before. Both men kissed it, and the cardinal gifted it to Friar James, who took it home to his native convent. At the end of the letter, James of the Marches signs and witnesses that ‘whoever prays to it in his need or danger, will have his petition granted, and this I declare to be true with absolute certainty’.131 The engraving itself has been attributed to the Master of the Vienna Passion and dated c.1460–70s rather than c.1400 as the letter implies (Fig. 5.18). Another betterpreserved impression (Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin) has a handwritten brown ink date of ‘1481’ that is not present on the Ferrarese print, and both are primitive examples of Florentine, fine-style engraving.132 Along with Dorothy, rarely represented in Italian prints, the saint previously identified as Catherine of Siena is more likely to be Margaret, with attributes of a sword and a dragon beneath her feet. In Swabia, the Rhineland and Nuremberg, she is often paired with Dorothy.133 The saints and border decoration suggest German, Franco-Flemish or Netherlandish influence in this print supposedly acquired in Rome in the 1460s. A copy of the letter in the archives states that the print was presented to Abbess Leonora d’Este (1515–75), daughter of Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso I, by James’s home convent of Monteprandone. The cult of this last fifteenth-century, Observant Franciscan leader demonstrates the duration of Observant Reform at Corpus Christi.

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Fig. 5.17. Master of the Vienna Passion, ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’, Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy and Margaret and Letter from James of the Marches, c.1460–70s, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

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Fig. 5.18. Master of the Vienna Passion, detail, Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy and Margaret, c.1460–70s, Corpus Domini, Ferrara. (Photo: Author, permission of the Poor Clares, Corpus Domini, Ferrara.)

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However, the Observant Franciscans suffered a heavy blow in Ferrara when the friars of Santo Spirito lost their historic convent in Borgo della Pioppa. It was demolished in December 1512 by order of Duke Alfonso I in order to build new defensive walls to protect the city against the Venetian and papal armies.134 A contemporary chronicle describes how the friars hurried to empty the sacristy and load boxes of books from Santo Spirito’s library, and by 15 January had taken apart the choir and moved the altarpieces and all the friars’ possessions.135 Some items may have been stored in Corpus Christi, since the friars resided in several temporary quarters for decades.136 The site of the new convent was established in 1514 and some construc��tion occured in 1516. The convent and church were officially begun in 1530, continued sporadically after Duke Alfonso I’s death in 1534, and then were seriously damaged by the earthquake in 1570. Ferrarese sources are vague, but this must have been a watershed moment for the Franciscan Reform. The nuns of Corpus Christi were sorely affected by the displacement of their spiritual advisors, and the religious culture shifted away from the spiritual ideals of the earlier fifteenth century.

Corpus Christi as a Pantheon of d’Este Women The conception of Corpus Christi as a d’Este family tomb chapel evolved slowly through the centuries. It was not a formal plan of the d’Este dukes in the sixteenth century—quite the contrary—but developed as the number of burials grew, especially after Duke Alfonso I (d. 1534) elected burial with his wife, Lucrezia Borgia, despite his father’s strong involvement with Santa Maria degli Angeli, which had been intended as the official d’Este burial church and mausoleum. The first d’Este family to be buried at Corpus Christi were ducal consorts, the women who married into the family, Eleonora d’Aragona (d. 1493) and Lucrezia Borgia (d. 1519), who both demonstrated strong allegiance to the Franciscan Observants, rejecting the Dominican church that Niccolò III had envisioned as a dynastic mausoleum. Eleonora’s tomb was originally near the entrance to the nuns’ choir, and Lucrezia Borgia’s tomb lay in the middle of the same space. Santa Maria degli Angeli, located near the villa of Belfiore, had been founded by Niccolò III in 1440 and donated to the Dominican Observants.137 By 1493 when Eleonora died, Niccolò III, his third wife, Rizzarda da Saluzzo; his son Leonello; Leonello’s wife, Maria d’Aragona; and an infant son were buried there. Ercole I may have expected to continue this tradition. However, shortly after his wife’s death, he had the main choir of Santa Maria degli Angeli rebuilt by Biagio Rossetti, adding four side chapels that were richly decorated by a team of painters. Perhaps he considered transferring Eleonora’s remains to this elegant setting despite her testamentary request for the simplest possible burial. In 1501 the duke, after receiving a divine sign, dramatically enlarged the plan to include ten apsidal chapels, which may have been

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inspired by the French Valois mausoleum. Ercole I was buried there in 1505, followed by a few uncles and illegitimate children in the 1540s, and numerous aristocratic Ferrarese and Bolognese families. The monastery was a hotbed of Dominican Savonarolian reform in the first half of the sixteenth century, and burial there associated the families with the d’Este and this religious current. The tipping point in regard to the Poor Clares came when Duke Alfonso I decided to follow his wife to Corpus Christi, instead of electing burial in Santa Maria degli Angeli. Alfonso I wrote a testament on 25 March, 1520, that voiced his high regard for Corpus Christi and the Poor Clares convent. As was customary, he asked for the nuns’ frequent prayers for his soul, and laid out a weekly and monthly schedule for ‘all the nuns that know how to read’ saying the seven penitential psalms, the office of the Virgin, and a solemn office with alms of bread and wine distributed to the poor. In return, he left substantial monies and land in perpetuity, which he gave to the hospital of Sant’Anna, through which the Poor Clares received annual subsidies. This early testament, written fourteen years before his death, does not explicitly state his wish to be buried in Corpus Christi, but it can be inferred.138 His patronage and the more regularized funding of Corpus Christi were motivated by his mother’s and his wife’s recent burials there.139 The tomb of Alfonso I d’Este (d. 1534) eventually held Eleonora d’Aragona, his wife, Lucrezia Borgia, and infants Alessandro and Isabella. After that, burial at Corpus Christi became a tradition for his brother Duke Ercole II (d. 1559), Alfonso II (d. 1597), and many female descendants, some of whom were Clarissan nuns. Two sixteenth-century, d’Este holy women were buried there. Sister Lucrezia d’Este (d. 1572) was a nun in the convent for 42 years and revered in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century calendars of saints as a beata, although little is known of her life or miracles.140 She was buried near her cousin Eleonora d’Este (d. 1575), nun and abbess of Corpus Christi, who was so renowned for her holiness during her lifetime that she was called to help establish a new Poor Clare convent in Carpi. The sepulchral slabs were on the left-hand side near the entrance to the nuns’ choir, thus barely accessible to view by special visitors to the convent. Though neither nun was as distinguished as beata Beatrice II d’Este (d. 1262), a cult figure at Sant’ Antonio in Polesine, Poor Clares were following the model of the older, much-­ esteemed Augustinian house. Only much later were d’Este burials reorganized to contain markers for twenty family members who had died in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Tomb VII contains Niccolò III d’Este (d. 1441) and nine other fifteenth-century family members who first had been buried in Santa Maria degli Angeli, but were moved to Corpus Christi in 1960. The modern identification of Corpus Domini as a pantheon of d’Este rulers represents a centuries-old attempt to unite five generations to recapture ­Niccolò III d’Este’s dynastic vision, which ended in 1597 with the death of Alfonso II and the takeover of the Duchy of Ferrara by the Papal States.

Conclusion This study of Corpus Christi, an influential Poor Clare convent in northeast Italy, traces its evolution from a pinzochere house, through its growth as a center of Observant Franciscan reform, to maturation as a venerable Ferrarese religious institution with an educational mission and civic identity connected with the d’Este rulers. The history of a particular institution from c.1410 to c.1520 adds depth and breadth to the knowledge of fifteenth-century cloistered women’s lives. Extant documentation, visual culture, and artistic and literary works, often in the women’s own charismatic voices, offer a singular opportunity to look inside enclosed religious life. The book has focused on Caterina Vigri’s life as a nun and mistress of novices during her 30 years in Ferrara rather than her death and holy cult in Bologna. Unlike the ‘living saints’ who were cultivated by d’Este and Gonzaga rulers as court adornments, consulted for prophecies, prayer and protection, Sister Caterina and her closest companions occupied a different civic and religious space. By drawing novices into the convent from cities across northern Italy, they increased the civic piety and actively spread the model of Observant Reform to a broad range of society. The pinzochere house illuminates the independent, semi-religious women’s urban-living style. Knowledge of Italian Beguine houses has been hampered by lack of empirical data. Bernardina Sedazzari’s construction of the house using her own financial resources demonstrates that by working with male relatives, women could negotiate pious communities without church supervision. Serving the clergy as needlewomen of ecclesiastical vestments, they survived in the marginal spaces of Ferrarese society for twenty years. The inventory of 1426 demonstrates the kind of altarpieces, devotional objects like the Gesù Bambino, and relics that were important to them. They interacted with these religious devotional objects and achieved a physical and material sense of the Divine. The Dream of the Virgin, which depicts a laywoman reading close by the sleeping Virgin Mary’s side, symbolizes their everyday proximity to the Divine. Handling the Gesù Bambino brought the kind of intimate relationship with Christ that was advocated by the Devotio Moderna. The founder’s death opened the door to Observant Franciscan influence through male relatives and noblewomen like Verde di Pio, wife of the former Papal Vicar of Imola, and Paola Malatesta Gonzaga of Mantua, both of whom were anxious to become patrons of the Reform. This offers proof of the effectiveness of Friar Bernardino of Siena’s preaching to inspire foundations dedicated to the Body of Christ. Corpus Christi was a model of pious simplicity in contrast to the Urbanist Clarissan house in Ferrara. The dynamic tension, probably experienced in other cities too, caused Corpus Christi’s rejection of San Guglielmo’s wealth, property and mixed population of professed and secular women. A clear distinction between Urbanist and Observant life and visual culture can be seen in Ferrara throughout the century.

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San Guglielmo remained a small, courtly, more secularized and richly decorated environment. Corpus Christi was humble in its architecture and visual arts until mid-century when they received the Entombment of Christ and the lost Adoration of the Host. Like Bernardino of Siena’s sermons, the artistic rhetoric addressed their audience via contemporary perspectives, with nuns and Franciscan saints inserted to mourn the Body of Christ, and nuns presented by Francis and Clare to adore the Eucharist. The programme is an early instance of coordinated imaging of the Body of Christ and the Host. The Poor Clare lifestyle, lightened by John of Capistrano’s reinterpretation of Clare’s Rule, became a magnet for elite and noble daughters and rulers’ widows in the Adriatic city-states. As mistress of novices, Sister Caterina presents an inspiring model of teaching that emphasized obedience and mystical identification with Christ. The difficult quest for abnegation of self, and the vows of poverty and humility were expressed through verbal and visual imagery in the Sette Armi Spirituali. Re-examining visions and visual metaphors taken from common experience gives a new sense of her author-personality. The tracking of demographic growth and social networks that fed the community supplies concrete data on growth patterns, social status and women’s literacy that can serve as benchmarks for studies of other fifteenth-century convents. Sister Caterina’s breviary reveals a complex web of word-initials, saints’ portraits, marginal prayers and rubrics that give nuanced interpretations of the scriptures and Caterina’s favorite saints, Thomas Becket, Paul, Anthony Abbot, Jerome, Catherine of Alexandria and Mary Magdalen, as well as Anthony of Padua, Francis and Clare. We can see the nun’s intellect at work formulating interconnections of rubrics, verbal metaphors and visual analogies. Visual parallels between Francis and Mary Magdalen, for instance, express the idea of Francis following the Magdalen’s ascetism. An inventive framing design adapted from the corporal was used for Christ Child faces and selected saints, and emphasizes the Incarnation of the Word. Her word-initials, rubrics and colophons express humility before God and an intense mystical experience of Christ, which is seen in the Man of Sorrows drawing as well. Caterina’s art has been presented here not as childlike or naïve, but as a language of intentional form to express subtle readings of the Holy Scriptures. This treatment has emphasized the conceptual spiritual content as well as the materials, process of writing, and borrowing from other sources. It offers hypotheses about collaboration between nun-artists, secular stationery suppliers, and professional illuminators. The decorative vocabulary derives from popular devotional woodcuts and convent needlework and lace, but still lends dignity to the saints’ portraits and the Christ child, which, in Caterina’s own words, ‘increases pure devotion for her and others’ and thus justifies the time spent on art. Unfettered by workshop conventions, her philosophy reveals more about the individual creative process than professional male artists. The breviary may be a unique example, but others probably existed, and

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it is important to include this class of women’s art alongside professional private and public art in fifteenth-century Italy. Observant ideals and devotion to Saint Bernardino survived at Corpus Christi after Caterina’s departure, and inspired two daughter houses in Cremona and Ferrara. The mother convent found a new generation of abbesses from the north Italian elite who were devoted to the Observant Franciscans. In the 1460s they helped distribute the Sette Armi Spirituali and formulated author-portraits of their beloved beata. Duchess Eleonora’s patronage helped Corpus Christi cope with a population that reached a total of 142 nuns, non-professed sisters, and boarders, in addition to d’Este rulers on religious retreats. The demarcation between secular and religious spheres became less distinct, and convent walls more porous. Inheriting the Renaissance Casa Romei expanded the space for residents and royal visitors and irrevocably changed the lifestyle. D’Este daughters and wives supported the convent and sometimes withdrew there for prayer. We gather insight into the nuns’ private devotion from accounts of Saint Bernardino’s feast, Eleonora’s commission of the Flemish Baptism of Christ and Isabella d’Este’s gifts of Franco-Flemish Malines-Mechlin figurines, probably with small stages for the miniaturized re-enactment of the saints’ lives. The nuns also preserved the Observant Reform into the sixteenth century through the cult of a relic connected with James of the Marches. By this time Corpus Christi had become a venerable religious institution in the city, but the early fervor of the Franciscan Observant reform faded, partially due to the force of Dominican leaders. Savonarola was influential in his native Ferrara, and Duke Ercole I d’Este planned an elaborate dynastic mausoleum at the Dominican Observant Santa Maria degli Angeli. Simultaneously, Ercole undermined the Observant Franciscans by destroying the old convent of Santo Spirito in 1512, resulting in the lack of a permanent convent until 1596. The absence of a physical, symbolic presence in the urban arena contributed to declining Franciscan influence. Behind convent walls, the Poor Clares welcomed a succession of d’Este women for burial, beginning with Eleonora of Aragona, Lucrezia Borgia, and d’Este daughters and nuns. Although not quite the repository of d’Este memory that it is today, Alfonso I d’Este’s election of Corpus Christi as burial site and his strong support of the convent helped preserve its reputation. Despite monumental historical changes in religious culture in the early sixteenth century, Corpus Christi is a testament to the enduring influence of Franciscan Observant ideals and of Caterina Vigri’s memory.

Notes Introduction 1 Archivio di Stato, Modena (hereafter ASMo), Cancelleria Marchionale, Carteggio dei referendari, consiglieri, cancellieri e segretari, 1454–55, Busta 2/A. The use of the term ‘una dona santa’ conveys her public reputation. 2 For perspectives on visual culture, see Preziosi, Rethinking Art History, pp. 1–79; Cardarelli (ed.), Art and Identity: Visual Culture, Politics and Religion in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, pp. 1–23; Cherry (ed.), ART: HISTORY: VISUAL: CULTURE, pp. 1–15; Bryson (ed.), Visual Culture: Images and Interpretations; Woods (ed.), Art and Visual Culture: 1100–1600. 3 On methodology in Nonnenarbeit, see Hamburger ‘The use of Images in Pastoral Care’; Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent; The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany; Krone und Schleier. 4 Gundersheimer, Ferrara: The Style of Renaissance Despotism; ‘Bartolommeo Goggio: A Feminist in Renaissance Ferrara’, pp. 175–200; Gundersheimer, Art and Life at the Court of Ercole d’Este; Rosenberg, ‘Per il bene di … nostra cipta: Borso d’Este and the Certosa of Ferrara’, pp. 329–340; ‘Women, Learning and Power: Eleonora of Aragon and the Court of Ferrara’, Beyond their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past, pp. 43–65; The Este Monuments and Urban Development in Renaissance Ferrara; Rosenberg (ed.), The Court Cities of Northern Italy; Boskovits, ‘Ferrarese Painting about 1450: Some new Arguments’, pp. 370–385; Campbell, Cosmè Tura; Manca, Cosmè Tura; Toniolo, ‘Taddeo Crivelli, Il maggior minatore della Bibbia di Borso’, pp. 159–180; Toniolo, La Miniatura a Ferrara: Dal Tempo di Cosmè Tura all’Eredità di Ercole de’ Roberti; Mariani Canova, Guglielmo Giraldi Minatore Estense; Barstow, The Gualenghi d’Este Hours; Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara. 5 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo e le correnti riformatrici femminili a Ferrara nella prima metà del secolo XV’, pp. 91–157; ‘Conventualizzaioni dei pinzochere’, pp. 302–358; ‘Una Diocesi d’Italia: Ferrara nel cinquantennio in cui sorse l’Università’, pp. 600–624; Lombardi, I Francescani a Ferrara, I–V; Gli Estensi ed il Monastero del Corpus Domini di Ferrara; Superbi, ‘I primi decenni di vita di un convento ferrarese: San Guglielmo delle Clarisse (1256–1337)’, pp. 13–109; Franceschini, Artisti a Ferrara in età umanistica e rinascimentale. Testimonianze archivistiche, Vols I–III; exceptions are McLauglin, ‘Creating and Recreating Communities of Women’, pp. 261–288; Calore (ed.) Le Custodi del Sacro. 6 For art historical fonts, see Guarini, Compendio historico (1620); Brisighella, Descrizione delle pitture e sculture della Citta di Ferrara (1770); Barotti, Pitture e sculture che si trovano nelle chiese, luoghi publici e sobborghi (1770); Scalabrini, Memorie istoriche delle chiese di Ferrara (1770); Scalabrini, Guida per la Città e i borghi di Ferrara in cinque giorni (1773); Cittadella, Catalogo historico de’ pittori e scultori ferraresi, 4 vols (1782); Baruffaldi, Vite de’ Pittori e scultori ferraresi, 2 vols (1844–46). 7 See ASMo online and the inventory of the Archivio della Camera Ducale from the earliest registers to 1505 in Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 487–507.

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For art and architecture of fifteenth-century women’s convents, see Roberts, Domenican Women and Renaissance Art; Strocchia, Nuns and Nunneries; Weddle, Enclosing Le Murate: The Ideology of Enclosure and the Architecture of a Florentine Convent 1390–1597; Wood, Women, Art and Spirituality: The Poor Clares of Early Modern Italy; Thomas, Art and Piety in the Female Religious Communities of Renaissance Italy. Biancani, ‘La Leggenda di un’artista monaca: Caterina Vigri’, pp. 203–219; Graziani, ‘L’icona della monaca artistica’, pp. 29–42; Medica, ‘Alcune considerazioni per una presenza bolognese del ‘Maestro del Brevario Francescano’; Fortunati, ‘Towards a History of Women Artists in Bologna’, pp. 41–48; Fortunati and Leonardi, Pregare con le Immagini. Graziani, ‘Icona della monaca artista’, in Fortunati and Leonardi, Pregare con le Immagini, pp. 35–36. Caterina de’ Vigri, ed. Puliatti, Santa Caterina Vegri, Le Sette Armi Spirituali (hereafter SAS); Foletti (ed.), Santa Caterina Vegri, Le Sette Armi Spirituali; Degl’Innocenti (ed.), Le Sette Armi Spirituali (hereafter SAS-Degl’Innocenti); Sgarbi (ed.), I Dodici Giardini; Sgarbi (ed.), Rosarium Metricum; Sgarbi (ed.), I Sermoni; Serventi (ed.), Laude, Trattate, e Lettere; Zarri, ‘Les Ecrits inedits de Catherine de Boulogne e ses soeurs’, pp. 219–230; Bush, Sorelle Mie: The Sermons of Caterina Vigri and Franciscan Observantist Reform; Bembo, ed. Mostaccio, Specchio di Illuminazione (hereafter SdI-Mostaccio). See Benini, ‘Descrizione della Quadreria Costabili’, pp. 79–96; Ugolini, ‘Revedendo la collezione Costabili’, pp. 50–76; Mattaliano (ed.), La Collezione Costabili, pp. 15–29; Giumanini, ‘Le Soppressioni a Ferrara nell’epoca napoleonica (1797–1814)’, pp. 198–122.

1. The Pious Women of Corpus Christi 1

See Guarnieri, ‘Pinzochere’, in Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione, pp. 1721–749; King, Women of the Renaissance, pp. 104–113; Gill, Penitents, Pinzochere, and Mantellate, Ph.D.; Sensi, Storie dei bizzoche, pp. 350–355; Casagrande, ‘Il Movimento religioso femminile: storie di bizzoche e terziarie’, pp. 187–214; Sebastiani, ‘Da bizzoche a monache’, in Il Monachesimo femminile, pp. 193–218; Rusconi, ‘Women Religious in Late medieval Italy’, pp. 305–326. 2 Baruffaldi, reprint Chiappini, La Chiesa di Ferrara nella Storia della Città, pp. 22–24; Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, p. 356, also places Sedazzari’s group within the category of female hermits. 3 Sensi, Storie di Bizzoche, pp. xiii–xiv. 4 Gill, Penitents, Pinzochere, and Mantellate, pp. 16–17; Herlihy, pp. 162–166. He discusses convent data from Florence in 1427. 5 See La Chiesa di Ferrara nella Storia della Città, ed. Chiappini, pp. 5–38; also, Samaritani (as above), ‘Profilo di storia della spiritualità, pietà e devozione’, pp. 81–129, with a thorough bibliography on Caterina Vigri, pp. 83–87, 120–121; Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, pp. 102–325, 310, 330–332. It is curious that the Sedazzari sisters founded two separate residences instead of living together. 6 For Beata Angelina, see Sensi, Storie di Bizzoche, pp. 31–32; idem, ‘Documenti per la beata Angelina da Montegiove’, pp. 153–180. This parallel applies to the period before Angela organized multiple houses.

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7 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 65: ‘Occurre subito premettere che, inizialement, il monastero non aveva alcun aggancio con le clarisse e i loro ordinamenti’; Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, p. 309, finds sisters of penitence under the control of San Guglielmo in the late 1300s, but the language was imprecise, so they could be confused with converse. 8 Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazzioni’, pp. 330–332; Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, pp. 91–157, especially 104: ‘Sono, come in questi, cosi in successive atti, uomini borghesi di governo e di finanza a promuovere initiative di reforma.’ 9 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, pp. 1–75, especially 22–47. Foletti highlights Vigri’s struggles to find her vocation and shows that her father died c.1438–1440 instead of 1426, the oft-quoted reason for her entry into Corpus Christi. 10 Peverada, ‘Spiritualità e Devozione Femminile’, pp. 7–59. A testament of 1424 refers to them as ‘pauperculas sorores Corporis Christi guardianum fratrum minorum, Sancti Spiritus’, suggesting the community was connected to the Franciscans before becoming Poor Clares. 11 McLaughlin, ‘Creating and Recreating’, pp. 261–288; King, Women of the Renaissance, pp. 107–109. 12 McLaughlin, ‘Creating and Recreating’, p. 265; Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 65–68. 13 Lombardi says simply ‘merchant’, but the surname’Tamisari’ means sieve-maker; sieves were possibly used in dying textiles. 14 Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 334; Faoro, ‘L’Abbazia di San Silvestro’, pp. 29–86. For its sixteenth-century history, see Ghirardo, ‘Lucrezia Borgia’s Palace’, pp. 474–497. 15 ASFe, Archivio Notarile Antico di Ferrara, 8 dicembre 1398, Prot.1501 (III) Carlo Contughi, mat. 363, pacco 2. 16 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 68–69; McLaughlin, ‘Creating and Recreating’, p. 265. 17 Chojnacki, ‘Dowries and Kinsmen’, pp. 571–600; Chojnacki, ‘Patrician Women’, pp. 176–203; Muir, Civic Ritual, pp. 150–151. 18 Riccoboni, Life and Death in a Venetian Convent, pp. 3–5, 26–27. However, Sedazzari lacked the support of a prominent preacher like Giovanni Dominici. 19 ACDFe, Cartella A. n.3: ‘edificium facere incepit in civitate Ferrarie unum Monasterium post ecclesiam Sancti Nicolai de curtili in quo voluit et disponit mulieres honeste viventes ibidem (…) del famulationis sub vocabulo sacri corporis Yeshu Xristi et visitationis virginis gloriose Elisabet Sancte facte’. Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 71. Note that citations to Corpus Christi documents follow Lombardi’s numbering although the archives are now reorganized into ‘Buste’ that preserve them in a different order. See my bibliography for the most important current collocations. 20 ACDFe, Cartella A, n. 2. Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 69–70; Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, pp. 131–134. 21 ‘pauperibus mullieribus spirituallibus bene e honeste viventibus dummodo non sint sorores alicuis monasterii’. See other examples of 1421, 1424, 1430, and 1449 in Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, pp. 330–332. 22 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 75. The term ‘hospitalis’ in Ferrara was used for places which cared for the sick and housed pilgrims, the elderly, homeless, and poor people. See Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 6.

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For the first addition by Niccolò II, see Bassi, Perché Ferrara è bella, pp. 46–49. For urban development under Niccolò III, see Zevi, Sapere vedere l’urbanistica, fig. 65, the late fourteenth-century plan of Ferrara attributed to Bartolino Piloti da Novara. 24 Guarini states Sant’Andrea was given to the Hermit Augustinians by the Estense and enjoyed patronage by Borso d’Este (1451), Eleonora d’Este (1491), and Ercole d’Este (1496–97). See Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 367–368, 389, 392. Vigi, Ferrara ChiesePalazzi-Musei, p. 55. 25 Niccolò III made a pilgrimage to Sant’Antonio in Vienne, France, in 1415, was captured, held for ransom, then freed. 26 Rosenberg, The d’Este Monuments, p. 48. 27 For Tuscan houses, see Papi, ‘Mendicant friars and female pinzochere in Tuscany’, pp. 84–103. 28 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, ‘sono may professe a ordene allchuno nianche sacrade’, p. 139. 29 ACDFe, Cartella A; Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 78–79; McLaughlin, ‘Creating and Recreating’, p. 268. 30 For d’Este patronage, see Lombardi, Gli Estensi a Corpus Domini. 31 ACDFe, Cartella A, n. 5; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 73. 32 Calura mentions acquisition of the Zambaldi houses at the corner of Via Praisolo and Via Campofranchi, Casa Romei, Corpus Domini, p. 30. 33 Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 284; Scalabrini, Guida per la città e i borghi di Ferrara in cinque giorni, p. 79. 34 ACDFe, Cartella A, n. 6, Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 73. 35 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fols. 12v-13r. See my Chapter Three. 36 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia di Baldo’, p. 93. He sees her as an agent of change who accelerated the process of absorbing the house into the regular monastic orders. 37 Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, pp. 357–358. 38 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, p. 100. For interpretation of what the community meant to Lucia, see McLaughlin, ‘Creating and Recreating’, pp. 275–279. 39 Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, p. 357; Peverada, ‘Spiritualità e Devozione Femminile’, pp. 34–38. 40 ‘Opera manoscritto di una serva di dio per una religiosa monaca del monasterio del Corpo di Christo di Ferrara nominata Suor Lucia di Mascherini, morta santa e sue rivelazioni’, BLLo, Ms. Add. 10767. See Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts in the British Museum, London, 1836–1840; Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts; See my Chapter Five. 41 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 43 r (pp. 54–55). ‘E questo fo innanci che pigliasemo regola e in questo locho proprio del Corpo di Christo e in quelo tempo che li demorava nostra prima madre sore Lutia dii Mascaruni la quale per divina volunta me receve in questo locho e fo la prima che me mostro lo modo de servire a Dio con pura carita e materno affect; a li pie della quale sempre me chiamo obligatissima e ricomandala cordialement a tute vue, madre e sorelle, aricordandove cmmo veramente siete obligate, non tanto per respect delle molte fatiche che essa a portanto per multi agni in questo locho, ma etiam per respeto che lo principio de esso locho era suo e che lo conserve senpre in tempo del suo humile rezimento in bona fama e santa pace e honesta vita.’

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42 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, pp. 91–157. 43 Chiappini (ed.), La Chiesa nella Storia della Città, pp. 22–23. 44 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 73. 45 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 78. 46 ACDFe, Brevi e istrumenti, B, transcribed in Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, Appendix II, pp. 134–136: ‘locum sive monasterium per ipsam testatricem constructum et hedificatum’. 47 ACDFe, Cartella A, n. 9 & 10; Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, pp. 144–145. Samaritani stated ‘dall’elenco di quest ultimi [beni] a destinazione ecclesiale, speciale di culto] deriva l’impressione trattarsi di manufatti eseguiti dalla congiunta operosità della comunita’, p. 96; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 76 noted the reference to ‘unum crucifixium de ligno vetus’. Peverada notes the ostensorio and the puerellam, pp. 24–26. I wish to thank Don Enrico Peverada for providing a photocopy of this document. 48 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’stated ‘dall’elenco di quest ultimi [beni a destinazione ecclesiale, speciale di culto] deriva l’impressione trattarsi di manufatti eseguiti dalla congiunta operosita della comunita’, p. 96; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 76, notes the reference to ‘unum crucifixium de ligno vetus’. 49 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, p. 136. 50 See Appendix I. To my knowledge, no other Italian fifteenth-century pinzochere inventories have been published. 51 Samaritani, ‘Ailisia de Baldo’, pp. 138–145; ACDFe, Cartella A, n. 10. 52 O’Brien, The Sacristan’s Manual, http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/sacristy/handbookfor-sacristan/handbook-for-sacristan-02.html [accessed 10 April, 2017]. As website links lead to the full citation, they will not be repeated in the bibliography, except in cases of biographical encyclopedia articles with authors. 53 ACDFe, Cartella A, n. 9; Lombardi, Francescani IV, 76: ‘alchune persone sono venute non con devocione et veri devoti de dio anche con gram violentia cono zudei cum gladiis et fustibus che andono a tradire xristo yhesu, vennero a rompere le porte e feno inventario de zoe che era in dita casa’. Bernardina’s family probably wished to inherit the valuable property. On wealth among bizzoche, see Pennings, ‘Semi-religious women in fifteenth-century Rome’, pp. 115–145, especially pp. 125–126. 54 Herlihy, ‘Opera Muliebria’; Strocchia, Nuns and Nunneries, pp. 72–110. 55 Strocchia, Nuns and Nunneries, pp. 116–126. 56 ‘Comune è ritrovare nei corredi del Trecento e del Quattrocento i mantilia oxelata, le tovaleae oxelatae, cioè ricamate ad uccelli’, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ biancheria_(Enciclopedia-Italiana) [accessed 11 June, 2016]. 57 For San Guglielmo, see Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 9–61; Superbi, ‘Primi decenni’, pp. 13–109. She addresses property and economic issues up to 1337; regarding economic activity 1350–1400, see Samaritani, ‘Una Diocesi d’italia’, pp. 600–613. 58 Ferraresi, Il beato Giovanni Tavelli III, pp. 134–646. For Tavelli’s asceticism and influence as a model of sainthood, see Campbell, Cosmè Tura, pp. 67–90; for recognition of his saintliness, see Peverada, Schede documentarie per il beato Giovanni Tavelli, pp. 159–168. 59 Ferraresi, Il beato Giovanni Tavelli III, pp. 50–51. A convenient glossary of textiles is found in McIver, Women, Art and Architecture in Northern Italy, pp. 203–205.

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‘Valessio’ silk was used for lining velvet, as in the cloak made to be worn by Jacopo della Quercia’s Madonna and Child on feast days. See Ferraresi, Il beato Giovanni Tavelli III, p. 56, p. 455, ‘Unus mantellus de veluto auro, novus, foderatus valessio albo pro Imagine Beatae Virginis de lapide marmoreo albo in dicta capella. Unus mantellus parvus pro dorso yhu, quern tenet in brachiis dicta Beata Virgo, de veluto auro, novus, foderatus valessio nigro seu auro’; Peverada, Schede documentarie per il beato Giovanni Tavelli, no. 40, p. 8 n. 28. For liturgical objects and dress in Ferrara, see Cavaliere, Forma Fidei, pp. 42–43. On ecclesiastical dress, see Reau, Iconographie de L’art, pp. 234–236. 61 Transfer of documents, books, and relics to a new foundation was standard practice. When Vigri founded Corpus Domini, Bologna, they took documents from Ferrara; the Memoriale by Suor Clemenza Bordella (1559–79) lists papal bulls and documents that ‘Beata Caterina’ brought with her, pp. 7–37. However, the relics seem to be from the seventeenth-century, pp. 256–275. 62 For types of reliquary panels, see Preising, ‘Bild und Reliquie’, pp. 13–84; Ciatti, ‘The Typology, Meaning and Use’, pp. 21–26. 63 Mann, ‘Relics, reliquaries’, pp. 251–259. 64 Idem, pp. 253–254. The inner relic frame and panel was removable and it may have been used in para-liturgical rituals such as processions. Depending on the scale, this could have been possible in the pinzochere setting. 65 Chareyon, Pilgrims to Jerusalem, p. 27. 66 The original cult image was replaced by a Venetian-Cretan sixteenth-century Virgin Amolyntos, and the church was rebuilt by Biagio Rossetti c.1495. The cathedral sacristy holds an arm-shaped reliquary of 1388 for the city’s first patron saint George, and devotion to Saint George, along with Corpus Christi, constituted the most important civic religious festivals. Maurelius’s place as patron saint of the city in 1420, further promoted by the Gesuati in the 1440s, increased popular awareness of local saints’ relics. Relics could be ‘rediscovered’, as in the church of San Gregorio on 4 March 1422 when an altar was erected for saints Cyprian and Roland by Bishop Boiardo. See Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 278. 67 Ferraresi, Il beato Giovanni Tavelli, pp. 55–59. His abstract of artworks could be crossreferenced with early guides by Baruffaldi, Barotti, and Brisighella, but artists’ names are not listed, making identification difficult. 68 Relics saved from the fire in 1665 included bones of saints Celestino, Florido, Deodato, and Innocent (Scalabrini, p. 81). An inventory c.1800 is a virtual encyclopedia of saints whose relics probably entered the convent c.1600–1800. For purchasing relics in Venice, see Hetherington, ‘A Purchase of Byzantine Relics’, pp. 9–30. 69 Luchino dal Campo, ‘Viaggio del Marchese Nicolò d’Este al Santo Sepolcro (1413)’, pp. 13–15, 76–77. 70 Bynum, Christian Materiality, pp. 125–131, 140, 148–149, 168–176. 71 Ferraresi, Il beato Giovanni Tavelli III, p. 58. 72 On Trecento Ferrarese art, see Longhi, Officina Ferrarese; Ragghianti, Pittura tra Giotto e Pisanello, pp. 32–43; Varese, Trecento Ferrarese. 73 Mattaliano, La Collezione Costabili, n. 9, p. 36. Described as the Virgin laid out on the bed, from whose stomach rises a tree with many branches, in the middle of which is Jesus Christ crucified; on the lateral branches are angels in adoration; A pelican in the rest sits atop of the tree; a woman sits reading beside the sleeping Virgin Mary.

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Varese, ‘Proposte ed ipotesi per il sogno della vergine’, pp. 683–684. Other paintings with cimase of the same shape: Coronation of the Virgin, Giuliano da Rimini (Carlton Towers, Coll. Duke of Norfolk); Crucifixion, Master of Verucchio (Strassburg); Crucifixion, Master of the Incoronazione of Urbino (National Gallery of the Marche, Urbino); Giovanni Baronzio and the anonymous Riminese (Pinacoteca of Faenza); Andrea da Bologna, dated 1369 (Pinacoteca of Fermo). 75 Villers, Gibbs & Hellen, ‘Simone dei Crociffi’s “Dream of the Virgin”’, pp. 481–486; Franklin, Catalogue of Paintings, p. 85. This was restored in 1994, revealing a landscape background, and is now on loan to the National Gallery, London. 76 Lodi, ‘Note sulla decorazione punzonata di dipinti di tavola’, pp. 70–119. 77 Laderchi, Descrizione della Quaderia Costabili, ‘l’invenzione e figlia del simbolismo mistico di quei tempi’, or in the catalog of 1874, ‘configurazione mistica-religiosa’, in which the woman reads a prophetic book. 78 Vigri, Rosarium, ed. Sgarbi, pp. 16–17, 30–31: ‘Absque viro, ex vergine sola, quae (quam creasti) gratis/ Te genuit, virgo permanens ex spiritu Deitatis/ Et haec est generatio quarta hic tui soli nascentis/ Quae deficiens, erat adimplenda his in elementis.’ 79 Varese, ‘Proposte ed ipotesi’, pp. 684–685. 80 Idem, pp. 686–687. 81 Clare of Assisi, ed. Armstrong, Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, pp. 186–237; for the chronology of the prose and versified legends, see Mooney, Clare of Assisi, p. 16. 82 ‘unum puarellum de ligno vestitum in modum zaghi de zendali plurium colorum’: ‘puarellam’ is variant of ‘puer/puera’ (child) or puellus (little boy). Peverada, quotes modum zaghi without the ‘de zendali plurium colorum’, calling it a ‘poverello in abito di lavora’, Dalla Corte al Chiostro, p. 26 n. 58, but satin would not have been used in a peasant figure. 83 Schlegel, ‘The Christ Child’, pp. 1–10; Previtali, ‘Il Gesù Bambinio come immagine devozionale’, pp. 31–40. Bambini sculptures are found in Berlin (Staatliches Museen), Florence (Museo Bardini), and Pisa (Collection Bruera). 84 Ringbom, Icon to Narrative pp. 175–76; Wentzel, ‘Christkind’, pp. 590–608; Bertelli, ‘il Piccolo Gesù’, in Ninos Jesus, pp. 23–35. Andrea Mantegna painted an ‘Infant Redeemer’ as a pictorial reflection of the freestanding statuette; see Boskovits and Brown, eds., Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth century, pp. 428–431. 85 Castelmadama, Memorie storiche sulla miracolosa effigie del S. Bambino; Van Hulst, ‘La storia della divozione a Gesù Bambino”, pp. 35–54. Enroute to Rome it was thrown overboard in a storm, but miraculously the box washed up in Livorno and was restored to its owner. 86 Schlegel, ‘The Christ child’, p. 7; Van Hulst, ‘Scorci di Storia’, Il Santo Bambino, p. 17. 87 Museo Nazionale, Bologna, Inventario del Ministero per I Beni Culturali, n. 08/0052720, entry by L. Maioli, 1997, describes this as a devotional object, tempera on paper attached to wood, dated 1440–60. This rests more on the traditional attribution to Caterina de’ Vigri than stylistic analysis of comparable objects. 88 Biancani, ‘La Leggenda’, pp. 203–208. 89 Hamburger, Nuns as Artists, pp. 68–69. This is a generic stylistic relationship; the absence of preserved Italian examples makes it difficult to assess style. 90 Klapisch-Zuber, ‘Holy Dolls’, p. 314; Neri di Bicci, Le Ricordanze, pp. 170–171. They are called ‘bambini di relievo’.

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91 Family ricordanze mention them, e.g. the bambino given to Sister Angelica who entered the Poor Clares convent of Monticelli in 1446; see Goldthwaite, ‘The Florentine Palace’, p. 101; Klapisch-Huber, ‘Holy Dolls’, pp. 310–329. 92 Lugano, I Processi inediti per Francesca Bussa dei Ponziani. For frescoes of her miraculous cures, see http://www.umilta.net/traumahealing.html [accessed 1 October, 2015]. 93 Francesca Romana, ed. Carpaneto, Il dialetto romanesco del Quattrocento, pp. 100–104; Francesca Romana, ed. Giornetti, Tractati della vita et delli visioni di santa Francesca Romana. 94 Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, Chapter 30, Travels to Assisi, August 1414, pp. 75–78; Windeatt, ed., The Book of Margery Kempe, p. 113. 95 Biancani, ‘La Leggenda’, p. 207. See Masini, Bologna Perlustrata, p. 118; Corpus Domini, Bologna, Memoriale del Convento, Suor Clemenza Bordella, ‘un bambino da lei dipinta quale viene mandato agli infermi e se ne sono veduti molti miracoli’, c. 256. 96 Castelmadama, Memorie storiche sulla miracolosa effigie del S. Bambino; Van Hulst, ‘Scorci di Storia’, II Santo Bambino d’Aracoeli; Spimpolo, Storia dei Frati Minori I, p. 74. 97 Illuminata Bembo, Specchio di Illuminazione, II [12], p. 14. As a hagiographical biographer, Bembo would not necessarily deal with her years in the semi-religious community. From the description of the first sisters, Corpus Domini, Bologna, AGABo, 37.1., c. 76: she lived 61 years in religious life and died in 1493 in Corpus Domini, Bologna; she must have professed in Corpus Christi, Ferrara c.1432, which suggests she came after the pinzochere stage. 98 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 12, dated 1426: Lucia and her heirs renounced possession of the private property following the arrival of some Poor Clares from Mantua: ‘in anno MCCCCXXVI supervenientibus in dicto oratorio sive hospitali certis monialibus cum habitu et religione sancte Clare de Civitate Mantue, que fuerunt in dicto Monasterio Oratorio sive hospitali intromisse … ipse sorores, que vitam honestissimam et contemplativam ducunt et de elemoxinis vivunt, desiderant quod aut dicta soror Lutie reddatur in dicto Monasterio cum dicto habitu sancte Clare ut tamen privata soror, aut placeat eidem renuntiare iuribus suis que habet in dicto loco, Oratorio sive Monasterio …’ Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 80. 99 ACDFe contains notarial copies of Mantuan documents from Pope Martin V (1417–31). Martin had originally authorized Corpus Christi, Ferrara as an Augustinian house. Although supportive of Observant Reform, he was preoccupied with reestablishing Papal control of Rome. He died 20 February, 1431, before granting approval for Corpus Christi. 100 McLaughlin, ‘Creating and Recreating’, pp. 272–275. In my view, Bernardina Sedazzari better exemplifies female independence and self-actualization than Verde di Pio. 101 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 78–79. This is based on Flaminio da Parma, Memorie istoriche I, p. 483 and ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 3, undated review of events after Bernardina’s death: ‘… Post eius mortem (Bernardina), Magnifica domina Viridis de piis de Carpo, tamquam pia e devota domina, supradicte Lucie, et aliis secum morantibus in dicto loco, multiplicitur manus porexit adiutrices invictu, vestitu et aliis necesariis, ac in perquirendo et perquiri faciendo quamdam venerabilem dominam expertam in regula Sancti Augustini de que supra. Sed cum nulla reperiretur et interim occurrerit quod quedam soror carnalis dicta Viridis cum quadem eius filia et aliis suis ancillis effecte sint moniales sancta Clare, dictas Sororem et nemptem sibi propinquas cupiens habere in Civitatis Ferrarie …’

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102 Litta, Famiglie Celebri Italiane, Pio da Carpi, Tav. II: Marco (d. 1418) married Taddea de’ Roberti, a relative of Alberto d’Este’s wife. He ruled Carpi 1389–1418 and lived at the d’Este court. His oldest son Alberto I ruled Carpi 1418–64. A second son, Galasso, married Niccolò’s daughter ‘Margherita grande’, mentioned in d’Este records in the 1420s. When Margherita died, she left a large patrimony to her niece Camilla Pio, who founded Santa Chiara, Carpi in 1489; See Lombardi, Vita della Beata Camilla Pio, in Ferrari, Documenti Storici, pp. 33–135; Garuti and Colli, Il Monastero di Santa Chiara in Carpi. His youngest daughter was named Taddea, but she was born c.1418 and married in 1439. 103 Idem, Verde di Pio was the daughter of Giberto I (d. 1389) and his second wife Bianca Fieschi; Verde married Ludovico Alidosi, ruler of Imola in 1392. See Ori, ‘Pio Famiglia’, DBI (83) 2015; http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pio_%28DizionarioBiografico%29/ [accessed 15 October, 2016]; Raimondi, ‘Donne della famiglia Pio’, Memorie storiche e documenti sulla Città e sull’antico Principato di Carpi, XII. 104 For Ludovico Alidosi (no author), DBI (2) 1960, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ ludovico-alidosi_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ [accessed 14 September, 2016]. On the Alidosi of Imola, see Bombardini, Fatti e misfatti degli Alidosi; Vivoli, Gli Alidosi e Castel del Rio. 105 For Paola Malatesta, see Lazzarini, DBI (81) 2014, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ ricerca/Lazzarini,-Paola-Malatesta/ [accessed 21 September, 2016]; Gilbert, ‘Tuscan Observants and Painters in Venice’, pp. 109–20; Cenci, ‘Le Clarisse a Mantova’, pp. 35–75; Letts, Paola Malatesta and the Court of Mantua; Wood, Women, Art and Spirituality, pp. 86–102; Welch, ‘The Art of Expenditure’, pp. 303–316. 106 See my Chapter Three; see Iotti, ‘Laura (Parisina) Malatesta’, DBI (68) 2007, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/laura-detta-parisina-malatesta_(DizionarioBiografico)/ [accessed 1 October, 2016]; Falcioni, Le Donne di Casa Malatesti I, pp. 433–470. 107 ‘Battista Malatesta’ or ‘Battista di Montefeltro’ is known for her poetry and humanist education. On her eventful life, see Clough, ‘Daughters and Wives of the Montefeltro’, pp. 31–55; Falcioni, ‘Battista di Montefeltro’, DBI (76), 2013, http://www.treccani.it/ enciclopedia/battista-di-montefeltro_(DizionarioBiografico)/ [accessed 2 October, 2016]. 108 For Mezzavacca, see Picconi, Serie cronologica biografica dei ministri a Vicari Provinciali, pp. 359–382. Mezzavacca was associated with Corpus Christi from c.1431 and in 1455 was one of three friars who selected Vigri as abbess of the Bologna convent. His sister Paola accompagnied Vigri and later was venerated as a beata. Her bones reside in the Cappella della Santa, and a miniature prayerbook is extant in AGABo. 109 For Santo Spirito, Lombardi, Francescani II, pp. 9–51. 110 Lombardi, Francescani II, pp. 141–142. The first notices of the studium were dated 22 December, 1425 and 20 December, 1432. It was a lower-level type to prepare clerics in theology and philosophy. Pietro de’ Lardi, the notary, is the votive figure in the Madonna and Child with Kneeling Donor, c.1420–30, in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY. Zeri, ed., Italian Paintings: North Italian School, pp. 70–72. 111 Vigi, ‘I Libri Corali del convento di Santo Spirito’, pp. 183–197. I examined these in 2006, but the calligraphic initials differed from Vigri’s breviary. The first church was destroyed in 1512; surviving artworks include the Ecce Homo terracotta bust and a wooden Crucifix attributed to Niccolò Baroncelli. Lombardi, Francescani II, pp. 105–106 (Ragghianti, n. 13), pp. 177–179.

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112 Niccolò III requested Bernardino as bishop. See Pacetti, San Bernardino da Siena, pp. 445–463; Lombardi, Presenza e Culto di San Bernardino, pp. 13–19. 113 Scalabrini, ‘Descrizione della Santa Chiesa Metropolitana’, BCAFe, Ms. Cl. I, 26, c. 136r, in Lombardi, Francescani V, pp. 93–101; Lombardi, Presenza e Culto di San Bernardino, p. 19. The stalls for seating in the piazza differ from Sienese images of men and women kneeling in Piazza del Campo, Siena. 114 Five documents listing the workmen and items commissioned were transcribed from lost originals (Memorial K 1450, ASFe and Ms. Cl. I.423, BCAFe) by Scalabrini, Della Religione dei Minori Osservanti in Ferrara, 14b-15a-b. reprinted Lombardi, Francescani V, pp. 100–101. 115 Riccoboni, Life and Death in a Venetian Convent, pp. 30–43. 116 Sevesi, Le Clarisse in Milano; for Poor Clares in Milan, Brescia, Cremona, and Mantova, see Mosconi, Lombardia Francescana, pp. 155–165. 117 Corpus Domini/Santa Chiara Novella, Cremona was founded by sisters from Ferrara who would have taken documents, books, and art objects there. It is abandoned, overgrown, its church a dilapidated auto body shop, and its fragmentary archives transferred to ASMi. The city plans to renovate the buildings for a new arts complex. 118 For Corpus Christi and Eucharistic devotion, see Devlin, Corpus Christi: A Study in Medieval Eucharistic Theory; Rubin, Corpus Christi; Walker, Holy Feast, pp. 48–69; Walters, Corrigan, and Rickets, The Feast of Corpus Christi. 119 Roest, Order and Disorder, pp. 70–71, 180–181.

2. Building a Public Image of Piety 1 Wadding, Annales Minorum X, III, pp. 489–499; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 82. ‘Aedificare incepit, illudque pro una abbatissa et nonnullis monialibis Ordinis sanctae Clarae sub perpetua clausura, et secundam eiusdem Sanctae Regulam vivere debentibus cum Ecclesia, campanili, ac officinis, sufficienter dotare, perficere et complere proponit.’ Lombardi calls this ‘the date of birth’ of the convent, but Vigri’s account implies this was only in an official sense. 2 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 12v-13r: ‘E Lei pure stando forte non volse uxire forra fino che non ge fo promesso da quili che la cavo commo essa tornaria inn esso loco e ricomenzar avesse in miiore condicione de prima … E dopo alquanti di, come piaque alla divina providential, torne ne o locho con alter cinque da quele sorele che pri/ ma li era e commenzosse a riformare el monastero in bono stato. Ma passo alquanto tempo innaci se potesse avere el modo de serarse in clauxura, sic he le persone, le quale veniva a vixitare lo loco, intrava dentro.’ Enclosure began in 1434 when they were absolved from their vows to become Augustinians. 3 Moorman, History of the Franciscan Order, pp. 447–450. The Assisi accords known as ‘Capistrano’s shears’ would have preserved the unity of the Order. After Pope Eugenius issued his bull in support of the reform, he found the Conventual party was too strong, forcing him to repeal some acts. This began the practice of Observants electing their own vicars; in 1431 in Bologna they appointed vicars for all Italian provinces.

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Pope Eugenius IV’s Ad statum singulorum, dated 12 May, 1431, complained that a state of laxity, scandals, and disputes existed in many Clarissan houses. For the impact, see Knox, Creating Clare of Assisi, pp. 124–156. 5 On the architecture, see Guarini, Compendio historico, pp. 283–287; Scalabrini, Memorie istoriche, pp. 209–213; Righini, Quello che Resta; Melchiorri, ‘Note storiche ferraresi’, in La Santa, ed. Nuñez, pp. 10–25; Calura, Casa Romei, Corpus Domini; On the artworks, Rizzi, Corpus Domini (typewritten census) and the Soprintendenza delle Beni Culturali e Arte inventory, 1997–98. 6 Filipiak, The Plans of the Poor Clares’ Convents in Central Italy; Bruzelius, ‘Hearing is Believing’, pp. 83–91; Maioli, Monasteri e Conventi Francescani in Emilia Romagna, pp. 181–210; Wood, Women, Art and Spirituality, pp. 86–120; Guzzon and Poggipollini, Chiese e Monasteri di Ferrara, pp. 121–126. 7 For legislation, see Moorman, A History of the Franciscan Order, p. 446. San Guglielmo (now destroyed) was located on what is now Via Franceschini, about a mile from Corpus Christi on Via Praisolo and Via Campofranco. Pope Martin’s rule would mean houses of the same monastic order five leagues or fifteen miles apart. This may have been a factor in the delays in establishing the convent. 8 ASDFe, Monastero S. Guglielmo, filza B, n. 37 for a papal bull of 1254 and the notary act of 24 September, 1256, for purchase of San Guglielmo from the Eremitani, with the proviso that the name remain the same. A dedication to Saint William of Aquitaine (d. 1137) was unusual for the Poor Clares. See Guarini, Compendio historico, pp. 217–218; Samaritani, ‘Francescanismo e società a Ferrara’, pp. 199–204; Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 13–21. 9 ASDFe, Monastero S. Guglielmo, filza B, n. 5, in Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 14. 10 ASDFe, Monastero S. Guglielmo, filza B, n. 50 and n. 68, in Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 18–23. The original bull in part states: ‘In primis siquidem statuentes ut Ordo Monasticus qui secundum deum et beati Benedicti regularum atque institutionem Monialium inclusarum sancti Damiani asisinatis …’ p. 20. 11 ASDFe, Monastero S. Guglielmo, filza B. n. 65, in Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 23. 12 Bughetti, ‘Codices duo florentini’, pp. 91–117. A fifteenth-century copy of the Urbanist rule is found in Cl. II, cod. 698, fols. 1r-26r (BNF). In 1537 they adopted the Ordinamenti per le Clarisse by Beato Angelo da Chivasso. See Bughetti, pp. 101–110. 13 Superbi, ‘Primi Decenni’, pp. 40–41, 61–93. On the accumulation of wealth, she cites an early patrimony or nucleus of property, bequests from family members rather than land purchases, and tax exemptions due to papal protection. In 1336 a father left his daughter’s share of his inheritance indirectly to the sisters of San Guglielmo after she professed, which occurred almost twenty years later in 1352. 14 Gaddoni, ‘Inventaria Clarissarum (1317–41), pp. 335–346. They listed 168 items, including ownership of 63 houses and farms and rental income from 62 pieces of land and houses. Income from workers is listed separately, as in dowry properties of 8 nuns and 14 items from conversi. The final pages were ruined, leaving an incomplete picture without liturgical furnishings, objects in the sacristy, and the books. 15 Samaritani, ‘Una Diocesi d’Italia’, pp. 600–623. The language is ambiguous to cover the nuns from charges of tax evasion or economic gain. Charitable gifts are noted only from 1348 to 1358.

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Superbi finds ‘serventes e familiares’ (12–20 men) living in the convent in the first 80 years, indicated in notarial documents as ‘fratres’, ‘conversus’, or ‘familiares’. ‘Primi Decenni’, pp. 48–54. For notices of these men in 1346–1399, see Samaritani, ‘Una Diocesi’, pp. 622–624. 17 For surnames and social history, see Superbi, ‘Primi Decenni’, pp. 34–39. San Guglielmo replaced Sant’Antonio in Polesine as the d’Este women’s retreat. Guarnieri, S. Antonio in Polesine, and Maragna, I regesti del Monastero di Sant’Antonio in Polesine. Founded in 1256 by Beatrice d’Este (d. 1262), who is revered as beata, she was accompanied by sister Costanza (d. 1313). 18 Scalabrini, Memorie Storiche, p. 172. Alda d’Este was the widow of Ludovico II Gonzaga in 1356. See Osio, Documenti Diplomatici tratti dagli archivi Milanesi I, p. 221. Verde (c.1354–1440) entered either in 1369 or after her husband’s death in 1384. There may have been a tomb marker for Isotta d’Este, illegitimate daughter of Meliaduse d’Este. See Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 218, Scalabrini, p. 60. 19 Samaritani, ‘Una Diocesi d’Italia’, pp. 606–607. Verde entered with her mother, never confessed, left and was married to a German count, before her profession in 1398. Such a personal history exemplifies the lax, secular lifestyle cited by the reform. 20 ASDFe, Indice generale chronologico di tutte le scritture nell’archivio delle Rev. Madri di San Guglielmo, I, Giacomo Filippo Guarini, Ferrara, 1739, c. 83r. This eighteenthcentury manuscript index contains summaries of many lost items from 1311–1437, cc. 53r–136r. 21 The convent is destroyed except for walls, a garden, and a wellhead. See Virgili, ‘L’exconvento di S. Guglielmo’, pp. 20–28. 22 Ragghianti, Pittura tra Giotto, p. 38, fig. 55; Varese, Trecento Ferrarese, pp. 9, 36; Corbara, ‘Francesco da Rimini’, pp. 513–514; Benati, Trecento Riminese, pp. 100, 117, 53–54; Lamborghini, ‘La Raccolta di affreschi staccati’. 23 Boskovits, ‘Per la storia della pittura tra la Romagna’, pp. 163–183; Gordon, Paintings before 1400, p. 13. In 1993 regarding the Vision of the Blessed Clare of Rimini (NG 6503), Miklós Boskovits wrote that paintings by the Master of Verucchio, the Master of the Cini Madonna, and the Master of the Blessed Clare are from different phases of Francesco da Rimini’s career. Gordon argues that stylistic similarities between Francesco da Rimini and the Master of Verucchio can be explained by workshop collaboration with Francesco’s brother Zantarino. 24 Giuliani, ‘Antonio da Ferrara (n. 1355–m. 1447/49) Appunti per la ricostruzione del lungo viaggio artistico del pittore Antonio de Recchis di Badia Polesine detto Antonio Alberti’, p. 47; Ragghianti, pp. 38–41; Varese, Trecento Ferrarese, p. 7. The frescoes have different framing designs, suggesting they were in separate sites but still part of the expansion funded by the d’Este women. 25 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 27–33. He bases his description on Ghinato, ‘l’Ideale di Santa Chiara attraverso i secoli’, pp. 323–324. This is further supported by ASDFe, Fondo Moniale San Guglielmo, Filza M. 2/26, which shows that in 1412 the convent owned 81 properties around Ferrara. 26 For the bull and letters, see Ferraresi, Il Beato Giovanni Tavelli III, pp. 99–108. 27 Bologna, 17 June, 1437: ‘Verum cum in eo tres habeam moniales mihi attinentes, quarum vita et mores satis laudabiles sint, dignum existimavi pro earum summa religione atque modestia tuae plurimum commendare predentiae … illas ut bonae

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religionis sunt et vitae commendatas suscipere digneris, non misi eidem religioni tuae decorum maximum alaturae sunt: tantam in illis cognovi morum observantiam et vitae castitatem.’ Ferraresi, p. 105. 28 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 34–42. For the texts, see Bughetti, ‘Codices Duo’, pp. 95–101. 29 Armstrong, Clare of Assisi, pp. 70–71; Bruzelius ‘Hearing is Believing’, p. 90 n. 6. She points out that the Clarissan constitution was the first to be authorized. Most studies of the churches are earlier or after 1500, as in Zarri, ‘Recinti Sacri’, pp. 381–396. 30 Forlai, ‘La Chiesa e complesso’, pp. 315–340. 31 The conventionalized views of buildings show a church and campanile (now labeled as Corpus Domini) (#60), along with San Francesco (#59), the oratory of the Battuti Bianchi (62), and Piazza Scandiana (65). Pirro Ligorio lived in Ferrara in 1568–83 and worked as antiquarian for Duke Alfonso II d’Este. See also, the Aleotti plan of 1600, BCA, Bib. Ariostea XVI.64. 32 Filipiak, Plans of Poor Clare Convents, p. 81. Women’s conventual churches usually had three altars. San Guglielmo shows this design, and Corpus Christi probably had a smaller version. 33 Ferraresi, Beato Giovanni Tavelli IV, pp. 192–93; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 84. The relevant passages are: ‘et quamlibet earum commorantes in Ecclesia seu Monasterio Corporis Christi Ferrariensis … tam per predictam Sororem Anselisiam quam predictas omnes mulieres, occassione processus habit per Abbatem de Gavello in dicta Ecclesia Corporis Christi …’ 34 Calura, Casa Romei, Corpus Domini, pp. 29–49. This narrow courtyard flanking the church may have provided access from the ‘hospitalis’ to the church, see Codice R. Stagni n. 147 in Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 197. 35 Lombardi, Francescani IV, fig. 10, pp. 198–199; Calura, Casa Romei, Corpus Domini, p. 31. This was questioned by Melchiorri, ‘Note storiche ferraresi’, pp. 15–16: ‘E in origine il cenobbio del Corpus Domini aveva il suo prospetto come al presente, sulla via di Campo franco …’ The long courtyard, the church gable, and a reduced campanile, partially absorbed in other roofs, are still visible on Google earth. 36 Marzola, Per La Storia della Chiesa Ferrarese, p. 396. The 1574 document is not mentioned by other scholars, and Lombardi uses a visitation from 1824, pp. 257–263. Other pastoral visits are found in ASDFe, Fondo Visite Pastorali, 27 (1630), 32A (1646), 42A (1693), 43 (1694). 37 Bruzelius, ‘Hearing is Believing’, pp. 85–90. Santa Chiara (Corpus Domini), Naples, built 1310–40 by Queen Sancia of Naples was the first large Clarissan church to locate the nun’s choir behind the main altar, so that they could see the Elevation of the Host during the celebration of Mass. 38 ACDFe, Cartella F. n. 15: the crèche in the nuns’ choir caught fire and burned walls, paintings, and damaged the marble of the Estense tombs. The document states that saints’ reliquaries, the ‘scudella di San Giuseppe’, and beata Caterina Vigri’s habit were saved, suggesting that the fire was less severe in the external church. The church was back in use already in 1667. 39 Bynum, Holy Feast, p. 87. 40 Righini, Quello che resta di Ferrara antica, III, pp. 240–320. He notes many fifteenth-century chimneys in this quarter, but does not discuss Corpus Christi.

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Santa Paola, Mantua, has a large square cloister, probably not built in the first phases of construction. See Filipiak for earlier plans of Beata Mattia, Matelica, S. Rosa, Viterbo, and San Salvatore Fucecchio. The Poor Clares houses vary greatly in plan, according to their sites and history. 42 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 11; Lombardi Francescani IV, p. 95. The bishop entered the convent to bless the cemetery. Burials took place before 1455 because Bembo mentions that Vigri’s sister was buried there. 43 For the early fifteenth-century pavement in a small confessional room, see Soprintendenza dei Beni Ambientali e Culturali n. 08/00217295. 44 The sacristy workroom was awkwardly placed in relation to the old church, and was probably contemporaneous with the new church c.1770. According the present day nuns, the second story was added in the 1950s. 45 Filipiak, see Beata Matta Matelica or San Paolo, Tuscanello. 46 Calura, Casa Romei, Corpus Domini, p. 34. 47 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, p. 7: ‘E tanto se abrasiava che era una iubilatione e voluntiera depingea lo Verbo divino piccolino infassato, e per molti lochi del monasterio di Ferrara e per i libri …’ 48 Samaritani, ‘Conventualizzazioni’, p. 358. He contrasts this with 50 bequests received by Sant’Agostino founded by Ailisia de Baldo. He cited ASFe, ‘catasto A’ that summarized pious donations from fifteenth-century testaments. 49 ASFe, Archivio Notarile Antico, Giacomo Meleghini, mat. 72, pacco 1, protocollo 1442, 18 December; see Foletti, Le Sette Armi Spirituali, p. 170. For the Vigri bequest, ASFe, Archivio Opera Pia, orfanatrofi e conservatori mendicanti, catasto A, c. 201e, notaio Raffael e di Milio, see Vigri, SAS-Foletti, p. 172. 50 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 7; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 91. These ‘excess altar hangings’ were likely the nuns’ own manufacture as earlier in the pinzochere house. 51 For the Certosa, see Rosenberg, ‘Per il bene di nostra ciptà’, pp. 329–340; for Corpus Christi, see Rosenberg, d’Este Monuments, p. 335; Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 373–374. 52 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 45; see Lombardi, I Francescani IV, p. 80. Also listed in ACDFe, Busta A. n. 16: Breve di Papa Martino V alle monache del Corpus Domini di Mantova, 1420; Busta A. n. 17: Copia della Conferma della Fondazione del Corpus Domini di Mantova, 1421. 53 See Cat. Gen. 08/00217419, Ministero per I Beni Culturali e Ambientali, 1996: oil on wood, dated 1400–99. 54 Debby, The Cult of Saint Clare, pp. 43–47. 55 Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 165, S.VIII*1432n, S.VIII.*1432l, S.1432i. 56 ‘ad instar Monialium Monasterii sanctae Clarae Mantuani’. Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 90. He believes Verde di Pio da Carpi is last documented in 1435, but she appears in 1440, ASMo, Mandati in volume #5 (1439–40), c. 149v. 57 ACDFe, Cartella B n. 5; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 92. 58 ACDFe, Cartella A 19.ns. 2, 3, 4. ‘Regola di S. Chiara compilata da s. Giovanni Capistrano nel 1447 diretta a Suor Elisabetta Badessa del Corpus Domini, Mantova.’ These Explicatio copies do not identify ‘Elisabeth’. In my view Elisabetta Malatesta Varano, daughter of Battista da Montefeltro, is most likely to have written John Capistrano. For the published text, see van Adrichem, ‘Explicatio Primae Regulae’, pp. 337–357, 512–529.

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For John of Capistrano’s role in the reform, see Knox, Creating Clare, pp. 128–144. For the Form of Life of Clare, see Armstrong, Clare of Assisi, pp. 64–70. In the original rule, the nuns could not advise a woman where to dispose of her goods, but under Capistrano’s Explicatio they could suggest that she bestow them on the convent. See Knox, True Daughters, p. 159. This helped develop support for the communities. 61 John of Capistrano, ed. van Adrichem, ‘Explicatio Primae Regulae S. Clara’, pp. 512–513. 62 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, pp. 31–32; See also, Bembo, SdI-Mostacchio, p. 22. 63 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, fol. 11r, pp. 35–36. 64 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, p. 43. 65 Lombardi, Francescani II, p. 211; Piana, Il Beato Marco da Bologna, 194 (110), n. 15. 66 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 96. 67 Richards, ‘Community and Poverty’, pp. 10–25. 68 Gundersheimer, p. 149. See ASCA, Deliberazioni del Maestrato, L, ff. 52–54. 69 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, f. 37r, p. 48. 70 Vigri, Il Rosarium, pp. 40–41. 71 Cittadella, Catalogo istorico de’pittori, II, p. 207; Brisighella Descrizione delle pitture e sculture, p. 353, describes the oratory as built in 1513 by the noble Varani family and lists paintings of the Virgin Mary and the Annunciation with God the Father by Sebastiano Filippi (Il Bastianino). 72 Laderchi, Catalogo de’ Quadri di Varie Scuole Pittoriche nella Galleria Costabili in Ferrara, p. 6; Bentini, La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Ferrara, pp. 95–96; Benini, ‘Descrizione della Quadreria Costabili’, pp. 79–96, #85 under Francesco Pelosio; Ugolini, ‘Revedendo la Collezione Costabili’, pp. 50–76; Mattaliano, La Collezione Costabili; Besides Galassi (Cittadella 1782, Laderchi 1838, Cavacaselle 1870), it has been attributed to Antonio Alberti (Gruyer 1897, Venturi 1914) and Francesco Pelosio (Longhi 1934). 73 On Galasso, see Benati, La Pittura in Italia, II, pp. 630–631; Guerzi, ‘Devozione e committenza nella Ferrara del Quattrocento’, pp. 61–81. 74 Bentini, Catalogo della Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara, pp. 95–96. 75 The black background and boots must be repainted. Piero experimented with oil glazes in the Misericordia Altarpiece (1445–62), the Portrait of Sigismund Pandolfo Malatesta (1451), and the Polyptych of Saint Augustine (1450–60). 76 Ultimately deriving from northern prints, it appears in the predella of Piero della Francesca’s Madonna della Misericordia from Sansepolcro. See Betti, Frosini and Refice, Ripensando Piero della Francesca, pp. 15–30; Banker has shown that Don Giuliano Amidei painted the predella in 1460, p. 17; it also is ‘quoted’ in an embroidered antependium in Berlin attributed to Mantegna or Zoppo; see Ruhmer, Marco Zoppo, Pl. XXV, pp. 102–103; The Crucifixion with Stories of the Passion has been attributed to the ‘pseudo Zoppo, Cicognara, Maestro di Ambrogio Saraceno, Baldassarre d’Este’. See the Fondazione Federico Zeri, University of Bologna, inventory n. 67485. 77 The Virgin looks like she should be holding some object because the dorsal side of the hand is thick, almost masculine, unlike the other slender hands. The anatomy resembles the Virgin’s hands in Piero’s Misericordia predella or the lamenting Virgin in the Crucifixion panel.

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Francis was known for tears and weeping, as recounted in Jacapo da Voragine’s Legenda Aurea. His brothers tried to persuade him to abstain, but he replied they should not refuse ‘the pouring in of eternal light’. 79 For example, Alvise Vivarini’s Sacra Conversazione, signed and dated 1480 (Galleria dell’Academia, Venice). Saints Bernardino and Anthony of Padua are almost identical thin, dark, ascetic types. 80 Saint Clare appears with a book in north Italian and Venetian painting; see Bisogni, ‘Per un census delle rappresentazoni di Santa Chiara’, pp. 131–165, and Carlo Crivelli’s Montefiore Altarpiece, dated 1471–73. 81 Debby, Cult of St. Clare, pp. 66–73. The Ferraraese Entombment is not discussed and does not cohere with this theory. 82 Real persons modeling for saints became the fashion a decade later when Ercole d’Este and Eleonora of Aragona were portrayed as Nicodemus and Maria di Cleofa in Mazzoni’s terracotta Deposition for the Gesù. See Lugli, Guido Mazzoni e la rinascita della Terracotta, pp. 325–326. Many cases of this phenomenon also appear in portraits of Saint Jerome. 83 Cobianchi, ‘Fashioning the Imagery of a Franciscan Observant Preacher’, pp. 55–83, especially 65–69 on Saint Bernardino in Ferrara. He briefly mentions the Entombment dating it c.1460, p. 59. 84 Bentini, Pinacoteca Nazionale, pp. 96–97. The style is notably different, but since the Poor Clares from Ferrara founded the house in Cremona in 1455, it may have come from Ferrara. 85 Israëls, ‘Absence and Resemblance’, pp. 77–114, especially 79–93 on pre-canonization images. 86 Salmazo, ‘L’affresco di Andrea Mantegna al Santo’, pp. 293–311; Banzato and Salmazo, Mantegna e Padova 1445–60, p. 192. 87 Muraro, ‘Francesco Squarcione pittore umanista’, Dal Giotto al Mantegna, p. 74, n. 21; Colletta, ‘La Vita’ di Francesco Squarcione di Bernardino Scardeone’, in Salmazo, Francesco Squarcione. 88 Chapman, Padua in the 1450s: Marco Zoppo, pp. 12–31; Ruhmer, Marco Zoppo, pp. 15–40. He believes a drawing (Uffizi) taken from the bronze Crucifixion group in the cathedral of Ferrara proves that Zoppo visited Ferrara in 1456–61. 89 Laderchi, Descrizione della Quadreria Costabili, p. 29; Mattaliano, La Collezione Costabili, p. 42. The main panel, in poor condition in 1838, is assumed lost. The two predella scenes of John the Baptist and Saint Michael Weighing Souls were sold in the Vendita Semenzato, Venice, in 1985/1987 and were tentatively attributed to the Veronese illuminator Francesco dei Libri or the workshop of Cespo di Garofano. See Sgarbi, p. 64. 90 Neppi, Francesco del Cossa, p. 45 mentions a Deposition from the main altar of Ferrara Cathedral; see also, Ruhmer, Francesco del Cossa, pp. 23–26; Bacchi, Francesco del Cossa, pp. 13–23; Sgarbi, Francesco del Cossa, pp. 240–245; Toffanello, Le Arti a Ferrara nel Quattrocento, pp. 242–244. 91 Rosenberg, ‘Francesco del Cossa’s Letter Reconsidered’, pp. 11–15. 92 ASMo, Mandati in volume #5 (1439–40), c. 149v. Verde di Pio must have still been living at court.

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93 Gardner ‘Nuns and Altarpieces’, pp. 27–55. 94 Shearman, Raphael in Early Modern Sources, pp. 94–96; Sartore, ‘Begun by Master Raphael’, pp. 387–391. 95 School of Roger Van der Weyden c.1480–90: Adoration of the Holy Sacrament, c.1480–90 (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Belgium). See also, Lavin, ‘The Altar of Corpus Domini in Urbino’, pp. 1–23. 96 Ms. W.211, fol. 45v, WAMBa. For a broad consideration of Eucharistic images, see Baviera, Mistero e Immagine, pp. 134–139. The Corpus Christi Adoration of the Eucharist would fall into the ‘Triumph’ type. 97 Vigri, Breviario, fols. 280r-281r; Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii’, pp. 738–739. 98 Kaplan, ‘The Paliotto of Corpus Domini’, pp. 121–174. 99 Cenci, ‘I Gonzaga e I Frati Minori’, p. 267; ASMa, Busta 409, reg. 23, f.36v, ‘Item de quibus magister Zaninus de Cremona pictor factus est creditor … pro trabula duodecim apostolorum, Trinitate, cum sancto Petro et s. Paulo genuflexo coram ipsam de mandato domine in ecclesia Corporis Christi, duc. 12.’ 100 Garuti, Il Monastero di Santa Chiara in Carpi, pp. 14, 57–58; Orbicciani, ‘Domenico Mona’, DBI 75 (2011). 101 Baviera, Mistero e Immagine, pp. 162–163; Novelli, Lo Scarsellino, pp. xx. 102 Il Preciosissima Sangue in Gloria con Santi by Francesco Boldrini (c.1790–1835), Santa Verdiana, Castel Fiorentino.

3. The Sette Armi Spirituali and its Audience 1 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, f. 7v, p. 14: ‘e questo e stato la caxone che m’à moxa a scrivere el presente librezolo a cautela e amaistramento de tute quelle novice sore che ce sono al prexente e debeano succedere per l’avenire in questo monasterio…’ 2 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, pp. xvi–xxix. 18 codices are in Bologna (5), Brescia (1), Ferrara (2), Firenze (3), Gorizia (1), Milan (1), Modena (1), Oxford (1), and Perugia (2). Three newly discovered codices are in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and London. 3 Nuñez, La Santa e la Città; Alberigo, ‘Caterina da Bologna dall’agiografia’, pp. 5–23; Mucciolo, Santa Caterina da Bologna; Spanò, ‘Per uno studio su Caterina da Bologna’, pp. 13–59; Spanó, DBI, pp. 381–383; Spanò, ‘La Canonizzazione di Caterina Vigri’, pp. 719–34. Vigri, ed. Foletti, ‘Le sette armi spirituali’; ed. Sgarbi, I Dodici Giardini; ed. Sgarbi, Rosarium Metricum; ed. Sgarbi and Lodi, I Sermoni; ed. Serventi, Laudi, trattati e Lettere; Rubbi, Una Santa Una Città; Bush, Sorelle Mie: The Sermons of Caterina Vigri. 4 ACDFe, Busta 19, n. 7 contains the necrology 1460–1898. Deaths are arranged by month and day, with the typical formula, ‘10 giugno, 1460 … La reverenda madre Violana Serifica, vedova del ful Signor Malatesta di Cesena e poi religiosa professa e badessa di questo monastero, morta in eta d’anni 69 e di religione 42’. Birth dates and entry dates can be calculated. For those who transferred to Bologna with Caterina, see AGABo, Corpus Domini Ms. 37.1, Notizie del Convento, written 1559 by Suore Armelina and Clementia da Imola: ‘La veneranda Madre sore Gabriella, sorella della sodetta sore Paula, venne all religione del 1447 e finis il corso suo del 1493 et doe volte fu vicaria di questo monastero’.

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Brucker, ‘Monasteries, Friaries and Nunneries’, pp. 47–48; for numbers at Le Vergini (Venice), Le Murate (Florence), and San Cosimato (Rome), see Lowe, Nuns’ Chronicles, pp. 149–155. For the earlier Observant house, Corpus Domini, Venice, see Riccoboni, Life and Death in a Venetian Convent, pp. 32–34. 6 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 7; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 91. 7 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 93–95, uses the number 99 nuns as listed in Niccolò V’s bull of 15 April, 1452. However, see BCABo, Cod. B.3606, n. 3, Giovanni Sabadino degli Ariento’s copy of a Mandato di Procura of 1455 that lists 105 nuns in 1455. 8 AGABo, Archivio della Santa, Ms. 37.1, c.76: the first Ferrarese nuns who followed Vigri to Bologna were Illuminata Bembo, Giovanna Lambertini, Paola Mezzavacca, Anna Morandi da Ravenna, and Pacifica Barbieri. 9 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, pp. xxii–xxiii. Daughter of Lorenzo di Lorenzo Bembo (detto Il Bianco) and Maddalena Morisini; her brother Andrea was a canon at Padua cathedral. The necrology of Corpus Domini, Bologna, states that she professed in 1430, but since this predates the conversion to the Poor Clares, she may have arrived sometime during 1431–33. See SAS-Foletti, pp. 59–60. 10 Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, p. 32. ‘Antonio de Superbo’ worked at the d’Este court in 1472, suggesting the Superbi, like the Vigri and Cagnaccino, belonged to the new administrative elite. 11 ACDFe, Busta 19.1 Necrologia, Maddalena Malatesta ‘d. 25 Ottobre, 1490’. 12 On Salutati and Alidosi, see Kohl, ‘The Changing Concept of the Studia Humanistatis’, p. 191. Previously we knew nothing about this longtime abbess. Taddea was born c.1395–1400 and due to her father’s interest in humanism, she was likely educated at the Imola court. Taddea’s daughter Luchina is not mentioned after 1431 and probably died. 13 BCAFe, Ms. Cl. I.432 (Scalabrini, Memorie istoriche), 6 October, 1434: Anna and Bartholomea da Forli; Clara, Malgarita e Philippa of Mantua; Dorotea da Modena; Anelisia, Petra and Iacoba de Verona; and Bonaventura de Tridento. From Ferrara there were only Agnola and Antonia, Caterina Vigri’s sister. See Moorman’s discussion of the numbers in Clarissan houses, History of the Franciscan Order, p. 407. 14 Lombardi, Francescani II, p. 211. Silvestro da Forli moved to San Paolo in Monte, Bologna, by July 1443. 15 Sgarbi, I Dodici Giardini, c. 82r, p. 79: in the ‘Fourth Garden’ sisters Antonia and Dorothea are remembered as looking forward to becoming brides of Christ. 16 Grubb, Provincial Families of the Renaissance, pp. 197–199. 17 Lombardi, Francescani II, pp. 211–212. Gabriel Mezzavacca was Provincial Vicar of the Observants in 1452–55 and supported the initiative to establish Corpus Domini, Bologna. 18 BCABo, Ms. B3606, n. 3. ‘Ser Bartholomeum de Calcinis et Ser Baptistam Magnavascham …’ This Mandato di Procura was executed when the nuns were given Corpus Domini, Bologna and is not cited by Lombardi. 19 ASCBo, 37.1 Notizie del Convento: ‘Pellegrina Lionari, Bernardina moglia che fu Fra Polo dalla Calcina’, with her daughters Anastasia and Andrea della Calcina, Paola Mezzavacca, Gabriella her sister, and Chiara her daughter; Eugenia Barbieri da Bologna, Modesta degli Argenti da Ferrara and Andrea da Cremona. The Mandato

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di Procura of 1455 (as above), lists further nuns who because of their position probably joined in these years: Helena of Rodea, Michaela of Ferrara, Gigliola de Gambolaga, Costanza da Ferrara, Elisabetta da Ferrara, and Franceschina da Cremona. 20 ASFe, Archivio Notarile Antico, protocollo 1442, Giacomo Meleghini, matr. 72, dated 18 December, 1442. The newcomers were Lena of Modena; Ursula, Veronica, and Beatrisia of Ferrara; Simona of Parma; Maria from Codegoro; Pax from Venice; and Clara from Rome. Some known sisters, like Illuminata Bembo, are not listed in the bull, which was not uncommon. 21 BCABo, Ms. B3606, n. 3, c. 17: ‘Suor Leonarda Abbatissa e mater dicti monasteri Corpus Christi, soror Paola de Ferraria vicaria, soror Caterina de Ferraria, soror Johanna de Bonomia, soror Francisca de Ferrari, soror Helena de Rodea …’ 22 Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 154–160. Water was the normal mode of transportation in the Val Padana; one could travel from Verona to Milan via rivers, as Shakespeare writes in the Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589–93). 23 Flaminio da Parma, Memorie istoriche delle chiese e conventi, pp. 325–332; Mosconi, Conventi francescani del territorio cremonese, pp. 106–108; Dordoni, Gli Antichi Monasteri di S. Benedetto, S. Chiara, e Corpus Domini, pp. 30–37, 110–124. 24 Moorman, Medieval Franciscan Houses, pp. 643–644; Soncini, La Chiesa e il Monastero delle Francescane di S. Chiara di Parma. 25 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, pp. 17–18: ‘Occorse una volta imperoche a me pare fusse bello e notabile miraculo, che havendo lei una volta messo el pane nel forno, vene lo venerabile e divoto padre frate Alberto a predicare, e essa predica duro per spatio de hore 4 e piu. E quando lei benedecta ando a questa predica disse allo pane: Io te aricomando a Christo mio’. Mirabile cossa! Quando essa ando per trarlo credendo molte de lore fusse bruxaro, era bellissimo e parea belle rose, e molti seculari volseno del decto pane in segno del miraculo’ [my emphasis], c.19 [4]. 26 Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, ‘De Catherinae Beata da Bologna’, in Gynevra de le Clare Donne, pp. 204–244; on her political visions, pp. 220–222. 27 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, c. 50, pp. 44–45. 28 Giovanni Antonio Flaminio (1456–1536) was a Venetian scholar who settled in Bologna in c.1520. Through connections with the Elefantuzzi family whose daughter was a nun in Corpus Domini, he was asked to translate the work. See Chines, I Lettori di Rhetorica e humane litterae allo Studio di Bologna. 29 Spanò Martinelli, ‘Caterine Vigri (Vegri)’, DBI 22, pp. 381–383; Spanò Martinelli, ‘La Canonizzazione di Caterina Vigri’, p. 733. For photographs of her handwriting, see Vigri, Laudi, Trattati, e Lettere, ed. Serventi, plates 1–4. When her penmanship is compared to a letter from Cecilia Gonzaga, educated by Vittorino da Feltre, it is clear Vigri’s script is not a humanist hand. 30 Puliatti, La Letterature ascetica e mistica, pp. xi–xviii. He was the first to identify particular humanists, like Donato degli Albanzani and Giovanni Aurispa, as well as naming illuminators who could have taught her. 31 Alberigo, ‘Caterina da Bologna dall’agiografia’, pp. 5–23, especially pp. 7–8. 32 Vigri, Rosarium, ed. Sgarbi, p. xxii: ‘Il latino di Caterina non ha nulla di umanistico. Presente l’aspetto ecclesiastico della tradizione e non ha aspirazioni artisiche.’

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Bocchi, ‘Uomini e Terra nei Borghi Ferraresi’, pp. 89–97; Tristano, Ferrara in the Fifteenth Century; Tristano, ‘Vassals, Fiefs, and Social Mobility in Ferrara’, pp. 43–64; Dean, ‘Notes on the Ferrarese Court in the Middle Ages’, pp. 357–369; Dean, Land and Power in Late Medieval Ferrara. 34 Brown, The Politics of Magnificence in Ferrara, p. 126; Bocchi, ‘Uomini e Terra nei Borghi Ferraresi’, pp. 89–90. 35 Chronica Parva Ferrariensis, R.I.S. VIII, Riccobaldo da Ferrara, coll. 483; Gundersheimer, Ferrara: The Style of a Renaissance Despotism, pp. 13–38. 36 Bassi, Perché Ferrara è bella, pp. 77–80. 37 Frassoni, Dizionario Storico-aralidco dell’antico Ducato di Ferrara; Conti, Illustrazioni delle piu cospicue e nobili Famiglie Ferraresi, pp. 520–523. 38 ASMo, Mandati # 4, c. 86r-88v; c. 98–100v. 39 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, p. 54: ‘Ma per vero lei era de uno core alto e nobile, anche lo suo padre e stato homo da bene e de bona casa, el quale se chiama d’e Vigri de Ferrara: quale anche main non fece arte niuna non la sapendo fare, ma era stato bono scolaro e doctore ed erali dato li offitii e cossi vivea. La sua madre, Bolognese di Mamolini e sempre stata donna da bene e de bona fama, rechiesta e adimandata per la sua compagnia de la macore de Ferrara; unde non era cotanto da pocho come che se tenia.’ c.61[11]. 40 ‘figlia di Zoanne di Vigri da Ferrara, homo litterato et de egregii costumi per le cui fu tenuto sempre in officii’. See Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, Gynevra delle Clare Donne, BCABo Ms. B 3147, c. 87; idem, ed. Ricci and Bacchi della Lega, pp. 204–244. 41 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, p. 32. Giovanni appears in a request to Leonello d’Este written by his nephews, sons of Bonaventura Vigri, to sell land after their father’s death, 24 February, 1438. 42 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, pp. 22–36. Nascimbene Vigri had a son Giovanni who died as a minor without male heirs. Bonaventura Vigri appears in documents in 1406–21 and in 1435 worked as procurator at court. In 1437 he was patron of the chapel of Saints Maria and Livio in the church of Ognissanti. When Bonaventura died, he asked not to be buried there, but his sons disobeyed ‘despite not having attended Mass for many years’. Bonaventura’s wife, Bartolomea, who died in 1441, left substantive donations to all the major monasteries in Ferrara, with the largest amount to Corpus Christi. Giovanni Vigri does not appear in notary documents in ASFe or in the notarial index in Camera Marchional records in ASMo. Another ‘Giovanni Vigris’ appears in 1439–40 as ‘comastabilis’, a provider of foodstuffs. See ASMo, Mandati #5 1439–40, cc. 29, 30. 43 Gundersheimer, Ferrara: The Style of a Renaissance Despotism, pp. 51–53. 44 Valenti, ‘Consigli di Governo’, pp. 20–22; ASMo, Cancelleria, Leggi e Decreti, Sec. II, vol. II, fol. 1. 45 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, f. 61, p. 54. ‘E la piu parte de sua vita mentre stete nel seculo fu alevata con madona Margarita, figliola del Marchese e con le figliole de Chagnacino, chasa gentile e nobile.’ Frizzi, Memorie storiche IV, p. 44, connected them with a later ‘Giacomo Cagnaccino’. 46 ASMo, Mandati #3, 17r, 21r. He also received land from Niccolò III in 1427 and was deputy in the office of the Condagioni from 1428 to 1440. See ASMo, Camera Ducale, Leggi e Decrete B, IV, Nicolo III 1419–1441, c. 307r; ASMo, Mandati #3, Ragione Extraordinare 1426–41, c. 14r, 17r, 21r, 51r, 68v, 69r, 72r, 75, 78, 79.

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47 ASMo, Mandati #1, c. 3v: ‘three books needed for keeping account of the linens, the laundry, and for other kinds of linens which are inside and outside the house’. 48 ASMo, Mandati # 1, ‘catalina nostra’ cc. 29v, 149r, 168r, 176v; ‘chiara da mantua’, c. 29v; ‘ala chiara doncella del madonna duchessa’, c. 47r; ‘domenega da padua’, c. 31v; ‘polyxema e lustamina nostra doncella’, fol. 47v; ‘Pelegrina nostra donzela et fiola di zoexe’, c. 84. Her father was Jacobus de Zoexus, the court chamberlain and pivotal character in court politics; ‘verde degli oppizi’, c. 103v; Arthur, ‘Il breviario di Santa Caterina da Bologna’, pp. 93–111. 49 Gundersheimer, Ferrara, pp. 85–86; ASMo, Mandati #1, 1424, f. 53v; Gandini, Usi e Costumi, p. 152. 50 ASMo, Mandati #1, c. 24v; Mandati #2, 1424, c. 53; Mandati # 2 gennaio, 1423, 18 settembre 1424 (tarocchi). See also, Franceschini, ‘Inventari inediti’, docs. 287; 293d, g, f; 297e; 298, 303a, 307. For his full name, see Toffanello, Le Arti a Ferrara nel Quattrocento, p. 180. A document of 4 November, 1404, calls him ‘Giovanni pittore, figlio di Paolo pittore, della contrada di San Paolo’. The l’ufficio della gabella grossa was located there, hence his nickname. He was an associate in Giacomo Sagramoro’s workshop. 51 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, p. 66: After a vision of the heavenly court with saints Lawrence, Vincent, and many angels, she rejoiced, ‘et oltra fu de bisogno como fu dect di sopra le si atrovasse una violeta. E quella piu volte sonando lei, parea tuta se delguase come fa la cera al fuoco, ora cantando …’ She found her viola and as she played, she seems to melt as wax does by the fire, and sometimes singing … [c. 76]. 52 In 1938 Disertori called it ‘il piu antico esemplare esistente di strumento ad arco’; in 1975 Tiella confirmed its authenticity and identified it as a transitional type with a rebec-shape and a viola soundboard. He compares the shape to an instrument in Beato Angelico’s Coronation of the Virgin (Museo San Marco, Florence), ‘The Violeta of S. Caterina dei Vigri’, pp. 60–70. Additionally, it resembles the viola held by Thalia in the S-Series Tarot prints; see Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch 24: Early Italian Masters, fig. 33. 53 Garin, Il Pensiero pedagogica, pp. 504–718; Woodward, Vittorino da Feltre; Giannetto, Vittorino da Feltre e la sua scuola. Vittorino’s school educated women such as Cecilia Gonzaga and Barbara von Brandenburg, child-bride of Ludovico Gonzaga. 54 Clough, ‘Daughters and Wives of the Montefeltro’, pp. 31–55, describes their ‘humanist education’, which differed significantly from d’Este women. 55 Giacomo de Bisio came to Ferrara to tutor Meliaduse and Borso in 1420. Bertoni, Guarino da Verona, pp. 77–133, especially 58–59. He cites ASMo, Mandati #1 (1422–24), c.73r, but Bisi is also referenced as ‘preceptori illus. Meliaduse’ July 1, 1423, c. 117r. Meliaduse graduated to his own separate tutor, or ‘repetitore’, Prosdocimo Conti in 1424. Bertoni, p. 59–60: Conti had taught at the d’Este court before, but low wages and erratic payment of his stipend drove him back to Padua in 1429. See Kohl, DBI, 28 (1983). 56 Guarini promoted Latin, Greek, and rhetoric in private schools (from 1436) and the Studium Generale (from 1442). He brought a deep knowledge of Greek sources, translated Latin and Greek texts, wrote grammar books, and organized curriculum of the classics, which attracted students from England, France, and Hungary. An effective teacher, he gave students a discursive catalogue of information about basic grammar. See Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy, pp. 127–130.

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Ceretti, ‘Bianca Maria d’Este’, pp. 531–533. She left a large bequest to Corpus Christi (see my Chapter Five). 58 Bertoni, Guarino da Verona, pp. 60–61: Guglielmo Cappello de Auletta (Salerno) also wrote his commentary on the Dittamondo of Fazio degli Alberti for Niccolò III in 1435–37, held court offices, and taught Ercole I and Sigismund as children. See Haussmann, DBI, 18 (1975). 59 Lenzi, Donne e Madonna: Educazione femminile, pp. 67–84; on Bruni’s De Studiis et Literis, Woodward, Vittorino da Feltre, pp. 119–133. 60 She demonstrates knowledge of Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos I in the sixth weapon, admonishing that it is impossible to enjoy both the present and future benefits (f. 6r) and his Confessiones X, 32 in the seventh weapon, saying that the life of the soul on earth is continual temptation (f. 26v). A full comparison of texts in Bruni’s letter to fonts in Caterina’s works awaits a separate study. 61 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, p. 39. In contrast, Iotti, ‘Margherita d’Este Malatesti’, in Falcioni, ed., Le Donne di Casa Malatesti, II, pp. 473–493. 62 Litta, Famiglie Celebri, Tav. XII. 312; for Galeotto, see Jones, The Malatesta of Rimini, pp. 169–175; Bertolucci, ‘Legenda Galeotti Roberti de Malatestis’, pp. 532–557. The Riminese Chronica di Giovanni di Maestro Pedrino (1432) mentions the key fact that Margherita was the daughter of Stella dei Tolomei, Niccolò III’s favorite mistress. Luciani, La Signoria di Galeotto Roberto Malatesta (1427–1432), p. 363: ‘è pertanto aviando lui per moglere una figliola del marchexe de Ferara, figliola de madonna Stella non legittima, gle mando una volta a dire el ditto marchexe, che non credea aver data la figiola a romite, e non gle piaxe a sua vita; e in questa vita mori.’ See also, Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 312–319 and ASMo, Mandati #3, 1434, c. 172v. 63 ASMo, Mandati #3, 1434, c. 78v, 93r-94v, 98r-98v; ASMa, Archivio Gonzaga, Registri dei Mandati, n. 4986/99, 1436–38, c. 37; ASMo, DF, 1443, Oct. 24, 27, ‘se partite Madona Rizarda molgiere che fu del Marchexe Nicolo, et andete a Saluzo per starte e porto’ con lei tra roba, veste, dinari e zoje che furono estimate ducati sexanta milia’. 64 Franceschini, ‘Inventari inediti di Biblioteche Ferraresi’. In 1355 there were only 62 volumes in the cathedral’s library, and little interest in literature, philosophy, legal, or theological texts. 65 Idem, pp. 25–28. 66 Cenci, ‘Biblioteche a bibliofili francescani a tutto il secolo’, pp. 74–77. 67 Artioli, Il Monastero di Sant’Antonio in Polesine; Guarnieri, San Antonio in Polesine: archeologia e storia di un monastero; an unpublished fifteenth-century miscellany from Sant’Antonio in Polesine is BEUMo, Ms. Gamma.T.6.10. 68 Franceschini, ‘Inventari inediti di Biblioteche Ferraresi’, pp. 111–125. 69 Contò, ‘I libri volgari del monastero di Santo Spirito’, pp. 121–160. This convent had twenty manuscripts and printed books; eight printed books were on loan from a nun’s brother. 70 ACDBo, Sister Clemenza Bordella, Memoriale, c. 1–37, c. 49.This lists bolle and documents that Vigri brought from Ferrara, including Pope Eugenius’s Bull of 1446 and John of Capistrano’s Explicatio. She states: ‘La Beata Caterina fece inventario di tutte le bolle che si trovavano in quell tempio masterio quale inventario scritto in sua mano si conserve di present in una cassettina di latta appresso la Madre Abbadessa che e pro tempore.’ Later the inventory was moved into the Cappella della Santa.

Notes

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Spanò Martinelli, ‘La Biblioteca del Corpus Domini’, pp. 1–23, #33 ‘Dieci Admonitioni o ricordi spirituali, belle scritte a penna in volgare’; #35 ‘Prediche fatta la notte del venere santo da un reverenda padre’. 72 Idem; #36 ‘Libro in carta pecora legato in asse e scritto a penna diretta alle monache di San Bernardino in Padova’; #41 ‘Vita di Sant’Antonio de Padova’. The d’Este library contained a Vita di Sant’Antonio di Padova, with intertwined Malatesta and d’Este crests. 73 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, VII [2], p. 52; Pesce, Ludovico Barbo, p. 158. Barbo came to Ferrara often during 1430–32, when Corpus Christi was being established. 74 Gill, ‘Women and the Production of Religious Literature’, pp. 64–104. 75 ASDFe, Corpus Domini, Filza 26, 1. My thanks to Don Enrico Peverada for bringing this folio to my attention. The other two pergamene are registers from 1524 and 1605. 76 For cited texts, see Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, pp. 69–71; Vigri, Dodici Giardini, pp. 58–59; Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, index, p. 81; Vigri, Laude, Trattati e Lettere, index, pp. 197–201. Vigri, SAS, ed. M. Giovanna Lo Bianco, pp. xi–xx. A manuscript of the Fioretti di San Francesco copied at Corpus Christi is BEUMo, Ms. Gamma.G.4.3., ‘Lezenda Grande di S. Francisco’, dated 1488. (See my Chapter Five). 77 Cited as ‘Conlationes’ II, 4 in Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, p. 71. It should be Joannis Cassiani, Collationes XXIV Collatio in tres partes, see www.documentacaotholicaomnis.eu/ 02m/0360–0435,_Cassianus_Ioannes,_Collationum_XXIV_Collectio_In_Tres_Partes_ Divisa,_MLT.pdf [accessed 10 April, 2017]. This unusual source is referenced in the Vitae Meditationes Christi. See Ragusa and Green, Meditations, p. 117. 78 See Lombardi, Presenza e culto di San Bernardino da Siena, pp. 13–28. 79 AGABo, Cart. 35. n.2/3/4. The ‘Fifteen O’s’ were widely circulated in the mid-fifteenth century, and Bridget’s prayer was included in this miscellany. See also, Vigri, ed. Serventi, Lauds, Trattati e Lettere, p. xciii. 80 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 43r/43v, pp. 55–56. 81 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 50r, p. 61. Folio numbers of the original text will be cited first, with page numbers of the editions second. 82 Cardini, ‘Santa Caterina da Bologna’, pp. 58–60; Roest, ‘Late Medieval Female Preaching’, pp. 147–149. 83 Vigri, SAS-Foletti, p. 106. The Degl’Innocenti edition will be used because it preserves the Ferrarese dialect, rubrics, and insertions that Foletti omits. It consists of 49 text folios, with the incipit, ‘Con reverentia prego …’ The watermark Briquet #11769 dates it to Ferrara in 1454–55. For Caterina’s autograph hand, see Marchioli, ‘La Scrittua e I Libri’, in Dalla Corte al Chiostro, pp. 111–132. 84 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 50r, 52r, p. 61. 85 For Vigri’s preaching and teaching, see Henrion, ‘Una educatrice francescana del Quattrocento’, pp. 486–495; Zarri, ‘Les ècrits inedits’, pp. 224–230; Roest, ‘Late Medieval Female Preaching’, pp. 147–149; Roest, Franciscan Literature of Religious Instruction, pp. 222–224; Knox, Creating Clare; Bush, Sorelle Mie, pp. 82–115. 86 Zarri, ‘Le istituzioni dell’educazione femminile’, in Zarri, Recinti, pp. 156–173. 87 Roest, ‘Late Medieval Female Preaching’, p. 148; Vigri, ed. Sgarbi, I Sermoni, pp. xviii–xl. 88 For Vigri’s intellectual approach, see Knox, Creating Clare, pp. 166–171. 89 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 2r, p. 4. Vigri, ed. Feiss and Re, The Seven Spiritual Weapons. In my view the modernized language causes slight differences in connotation from the Italian.

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Whether the Assisi fresco was known to Caterina, images of Francis and Obedience may have circulated. Saint Bernardino of Siena stressed Obedience as the primary virtue and spoke of Saint Francis accepting the yoke of obedience from the allegorical figure. See ‘Franciscan Order: Iconography’, Grove Dictionary of Art, p. 609. 91 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 2v, p. 5. From Matthew IV:4–10: Jesus withdrew into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days. The devil tempted him to turn stones into bread, but he resisted. 92 See Silber, ‘The Reconstructed Toledo Speculum Humane Salvationis’, pp. 32–51. She analyses a copy related to the Bologna group that traveled to Toledo before 1455; See also Wilson, A Medieval Mirror (e-book), http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft7v19p1w6/ (accessed 15 November, 2016); Jesus in the desert appears at the Dominican convent of San Marco, Florence, in the 1440s, but Fra Angelico imagined him as a contemplative hermit. 93 Niccolò III had a special veneration for Anthony and visited his shrine in Vienne (France). He invited the friars to establish a hospital/convent near Corpus Christi. Like Christ in the desert, Anthony had been tempted by the devil and strongly resisted. 94 The Saint Anthony Abbot engraving attributed to Baccio Baldini represents a revival of a thirteenth-century composition with a central figure surrounded by narrative scenes. Multiple variant prints include C2403–131, C2403–132, C2402–024, C2402–036, C2402–038, 2405–006, 2405–023, 2405–043. See Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, 24, part 1. 95 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 3v, p. 8. The nouns ‘prelate’ and ‘teacher’ change from masculine to feminine. 96 Wood, Women, Art and Spirituality, pp. 198–199. 97 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 7r-7v, pp. 13–14. 98 Poggi and Leonardi, eds., Scrittrici Mistiche Italiani, pp. 261–286. Leonardi suggests the message of obedience contrasts with the text’s immediacy of experience, ‘Caterina Vegri e l’obbedienza del diavolo’, pp. 119–122. 99 Scalabrini, Memorie istoriche, p. 229; for Saint Bernardino, see Lombardi, I Francescani IV, pp. 279–312. 100 Lombardi, I Francescani IV, pp. 219–220. Rizzi dated it nineteenth century, while Lombardi dated it fifteenth century. In 1998 the Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali e Artistiche revised the date to fourteenth century. 101 See Pinacoteca, Faenza (Foto Sansoni n. 4359), the Chiesa della Sagra, Carpi (Goto Gast 1824), and Previtali, ‘Maestro del Crocifisso di Visso’, pp. 76–82. For types of perizome, Sandberg-Vavala, La Croce Dipinta Italiana I, pp. 110–111. 102 Wood, Women, Art and Spirituality, pp. 128–129, 195. Vigri, ed. Foletti, pp. 93–94 and Wood, p. 250, n. 17 incorrectly state that the initial is toward the beginning of the codex. 103 Biancani, ‘La Leggenda di un’artista monaca’, pp. 218–219. 104 Bohn, ‘Female Self-Portraiture in Early Modern Bologna’, pp. 272–273. 105 Spanò Martinelli and Graziani, ‘Caterina de’ Vigri between Manuscript and Print’, pp. 360–361. 106 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 50r, pp. 61–62, ‘Christus Meus’ postscript letter; fol. 50v, blank; fol. 51r, Initial D with the phrase ‘Deus et xps meus’; fol. 51v, blank; fol. 52r/v, ‘Epistola inspirata da Dio a dover fare e sottoscrivere qui in Bologna’.

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107 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 30r-31v, pp. 41–42 (my translation); Vigri, ed. Feiss and Re (modern English translation), p. 73; Wood, Women, Art and Spirituality, pp. 202–204 (in Italian). 108 Biancani, ‘La Leggenda di un’artista monaca’, pp. 210–213. 109 ‘Madonna della Confraternità di S. Maria de’ Servi di San Biagio’, in BCABo, ‘Serie di Varie Immagini di Maria Santissima Madre del Divin Redentore che si venerano in Bologna’, 1771, pl. 106, p. 314. See http://badigit.comune.bologna.it/books/immagini_ maria/panoramica.asp. Painted replicas still exist in Santa Maria dei Servi and are documented by the photograph Virgin and Child (#4923-Bologna-Servi, ed. Croci). The provenance is further confirmed by photo record #6036, Frick Art Reference Library, New York.

4. Drawing for Devotion: Sister Caterina’s Breviary 1

2

3

4 5

Hamburger and Suckale, Krone und Schleier. Kunst aus Mittelalterlichen Frauenklostern, especially pp. 53–78, 84–86, 230–254, 382–456. The closest parallel, the exhibit Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., 2007, focused on professional women artists through Elisabetta Sirani. This demonstrates the different approaches to the study of women artists in Germany and Italy. Hamburger, ‘The Use of Images in the Pastoral Care’, pp. 20–46; Hamburger, ‘Art, Enclosure, and the Curia Monialum’, pp. 108–134; Hamburger, Nuns as Artists, especially pp. 1–51; Hamburger, The Visual and Visionary, especially pp. 9–34; Oliver, ‘The Walters Homilary and Westphalian Manuscripts’, pp. 69–85. For Sibilla von Bondorff, a Poor Clares from Freiburg, see Brett-Evans, Bonavenuras Legenda Sancti Francisci; Bruins, Chiara d’Assisi come Altera Maria. For Magdalena Buetler of Freiburg, see Greenspan, ‘A Medieval Iconographic Vernacular’, pp. 200–215. See Vasari, ed. Barocchi, Le Vite de’ Piu Eccellenti Pittori Scultori e Architettori, p. 167. Barocchi notes this was Antonia di Paolo di Dono, a Carmelite nun in Florence, who died 9 February, 1491, and was described in the convent necrology as ‘pittoressa’. Based on the inscription, the Monacazione di Membri della Vecchietti Famiglia (Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, inv. 1890, 3335) was thought to be her work. In 1997 Marini re-identified the image as the vestition of a Cistercian nun at San Donato in 1501, thus dating it after Antonia’s death. See Marini, ‘Il monastero di San Donato in Polverosa’, pp. 115–116. In 1998 Lowe attributed it to unknown miniaturist, but thought it conceivable that Antonia painted or commissioned it. See Lowe ‘Secular Brides and Convent Brides”, p. 56. This seems unlikely since she died a decade earlier. See Arthur, ‘New Evidence for a Scribal-Nun’s Art’, pp. 271–279. We must now discount the breviary signed by Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi that was mainly decorated in northern Italy by professional illuminators. Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Brevarii Manuscripti’, pp. 732–747. Nuñez gave the measurements (160 x 110 mm.). The breviary was photographed in 1998 by the Provincia di Bologna to revitalize public awareness of Caterina Vigri’s works. I wish to thank Corpus Domini, Bologna, and Dr. Mario Pisauri, ex-Soprintendente dei Beni Culturali e Ambientali, for permitting access to these photographs.

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6 Wood, Women, Art, and Spirituality, pp. 121–144. The paintings were the Gesù Bambino, the Redeemer, the Madonna del Pomo, the Madonna and Child, and the Madonna of Humility. 7 Biancani, ‘La leggenda di un’artista monaca’, pp. 203–219; Medica, ‘Alcune considerazioni per una presenza Bolognese del ‘Maestro del Breviario Francescano’, pp. 72–76. 8 Arthur, ‘Images of Clare and Francis in Caterina Vigri’s Personal Breviary’, pp. 177–191; Arthur, ‘Il breviario di Santa Caterina da Bologna e “l’arte povera” clarissa’, pp. 93–111. For similar French Poor Clares nuns’ art, see Charles-Gaffiot and Rigaux, Beauté et Pauvreté: l’arte chez le Clarisses de France, pp. 62–63. 9 Fortunati and Leonardo, Pregare con le Immagini, pp. 43–56. She relies heavily on Bembo’s hagiographic biography which stresses the religious vision of the beata. 10 Fortunati and Leonardi, Pregare con le Immagini, pp. 57–77. On the Veronica, see Kessler and Wolf, The Holy Face and the Paradox of Representation. 11 Fortunati and Leonardi, Pregare con le Immagini, pp. 9–27. His goal was mainly the transcription and reorganization of the rubrics, with less emphasis on considering their context. 12 Ceccanti and Castelli, eds, Il Codice Miniato. Rapporti tra Codice, Testo e Figurazione, pp. vii–xiv. For a similar concern with Vigri’s breviary text and image, see Faberi, ‘La Pedagogia dell’Immagine’, in Dalla Corte al Chiostro, pp. 177–211. I wish to thank Mariafiamma Faberi osc for help with photographs of the breviary text. 13 The breviary is considered here as part of the history of the convent, and not every initial is included. 14 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, VI [25], p. 41: ‘Non volendo pero che fusse facte vilmente li breviarii, li quali dicea se doveano fare e tochare con molto solemnità e reverentia, como se fusse uno calice per rispecto delle sacre parole, le quale se ministrano in laude de Dio.’ 15 Vigri, ed. Sgarbi, Sermoni, p. 179: ‘Ben è vero che simili figure fatte su li libri santa, et molto più sui il breviario, per esser libro da tenere con molto reverenza (son per dire) quasi come un calice consacrato per rispetto delle sacre, anzi divine parole composted al Santo Spirito et ministrate continoamente in lode di Dio, ricararebbono esser formate et dipinte con grande eccellenza …’ This is followed by a humble confession that it would be wonderful to paint with such excellence, but her own figures do not have good design and therefore her time is wasted, except for the reasons cited above; that is, increasing her own and others’ devotion. The sermons were recovered from transcriptions by Paolo Casanova (1550–1614) in the Archivio Beata Caterina, Cartone 13 n. 1, AGABo. 16 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, VI [22], p. 41: ‘Che li fa quello fiorire e frasche? Non sta meglio Iesu o Cristo, nelli capoversi, com’e delle oratione e lectione? Che sentimento si puo trarre da quelle frasche, se non vagatione di mente? Ma Cristo Gesu è uno dolce e suave aricordo!’ 17 For Bernard of Clairvaux’s Apologia, see Rudolph, ‘The Things of Greater Importance’: Bernard of Clairvaux’s Apologia. Vigri echoes the late medieval debate concerning the use of images.

Notes

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Vigri, ed. Sgarbi, Sermoni, p. 178: ‘non dico in copiare libri santi per solo giovamento di noi altre, perchè, è mera charità, ma in depingerli tal volta, com’è detto, sapitate nondimeno che ciò è stato per sola giusta causa, et cioè di accrescere maggioremente in me et in voi la pura devotione’. 19 Vigri, ed. Sgarbi, Sermoni, p. 178: ‘nel rimanente conosco ben anchio che sono (quanto all’artificio) tutte bagatelle et frascherie, perche dell’arte ne sono ignorantissima et quando ben ne fossi eccellente, non ne farei di piu du quell poco c’ho fatto sin qui’. The note comparing this to ‘quello fiorire et frasche’ is incorrect because ‘frascherie’ meaning rubbish, trifle, silly thing, is not the same as ‘frasche’ meaning leaves and branches. 20 If she was working with red bole and resin, she was refinishing or repairing panel paintings. This reopens the question of attributing paintings to Vigri. The only other nunartist who possibly executed a panel painting was Andriola de Barrachis (c.1446–1504), Abbess of San Felice, Pavia, who signed the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels and Nuns, now in the Musei Civici del Castello Visconteo, Pavia. 21 Fortunati, ‘L’artista donna e il sacro’, p. 7; Graziani, ‘L’icona della monaca artista’, in Fortunati and Leonardi, Pregare con le Immagini, pp. 29–42, especially 35–36. 22 Arthur, ‘Il Breviario’, pp. 93–122. 23 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, VI [2–7], pp. 33–34. 24 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, VI [28], p. 37: She cried while she wrote the text and was so unconscious of things around her, the nuns took the pen from her hands. She would rise, say a few Pater Nosters and return to writing. 25 Franceschini, Artisti a Ferrara I, for Nicolo Nigrisolo: #404h; 421d; 461z; 555g,q; 601s; 603c,d; 604a,g; 647c,f,g,i,m; 663 a,b,c,d,e,l,m,n; 688o; 705d,e; 723a; 725r; 728 d,g,t,u,x,y; 761n; 788g; 1033f. App, 28,31 f,h. For Andrea di Anzelino, see 421,l,I;555b; For Bernardo di Comenico Carnerio, see 421d,m,p; 428a, 448b, 461d,i. 26 Francheschini, Artisti a Ferrara, #684e, p. 377 (from Libri Camerali Diversi, Mandati #11, 1454, c. 15). 27 Nuovo, Il Commercio librario, pp. 4–8. For Crivelli’s account book, see Franceschini, Artisti in Ferrara I, pp. 827–847. 28 For parallels in Florentine convents, see Arthur ‘New Evidence for a Scribal-Nun’s Art”, pp. 271–279. 29 ‘Soror Lutiao scripsit ad petitionem e per istantiam Revde. Dne. Soror Alessandra Buschetis’, Gamma.O.6.15, BEUMo. The codex is ten folios, but a seventeenth-century index refers to more pages. For ink, see Gheroldi, ‘Relucente come specchio’, pp. 105–117. 30 Six examples of ‘pizzi, merletto di camicia, e ricami’ are documented in the inventory of the Ministero di Beni Culturali e Ambientali. 31 The Versified Legend of Clare, ‘XXIV: Her Marvelous Devotion toward the Sacrament of the Altar’, in Armstrong, ed., Early Documents, p. 211; The Legend of Saint Claire, in Armstrong, ed., Early Documents, p. 282: On her deathbed she made ‘over fifty sets of corporals enclosed them in silk or purple covers, and sent them to various churches …’ 32 For Italian fifteenth-century lace, see Ricci, Old Italian Lace, II; Rizzini and Schoenholzer Nichols, Fili e parole: Il merletto a fuselli; Kliot and Kliot, The NeedleMade Lace of Reticella. I wish to thank Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols for the note about the tunic pattern.

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For analytical tables of decorative programs, see Naughton, ‘Books for a Dominican Nuns’ Choir’, pp. 67–110, especially 93–96. Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi’s breviary shows the Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Pentecost, and portraits of Paul at the beginning of the Temporale and David at the beginning of the psalter. 34 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 469r/v: ‘Christus meus, Christus meus, Christus, pro cuis amore ego soror Chaterina explevi librum istum in monasterio sacratissimi corporis Christi, sub regula virginis preclarissima Clarae, humilis ancilla, Christi et vera disciplina et filia serafici Francisci patris nostris M CCCC LII, XI die mensis Iunii, in die sancti Barnabe apostoli. Laus tibi, Domini Iesu Christe, pastor bone. Amen.’ 35 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, Kalendar, fols. 3r-10v: Maximianus archbishop (4 February), Colaxarii (3 February), Agrepriti archbishop (17 March), Urli archibishop (8 April), San Vitalis (4 April), Dati archbishop (4 July), Apollinaris (20 July), Aderitus archbishop (27 September), Marcellino archbishop (3 October), Probus archibishop (2 November), Jacobus archbishop (11 November), Peter archbishop (3 December), and Liberius archbishop (30 December). None of these are listed by Nuñez. 36 The ‘scudella di san Giuseppe’ was a wooden bowl given to Vigri by a man dressed as a pilgrim. She later learned he was Saint Joseph in disguise. It survived the fire of 1665 and is now in Corpus Domini, Bologna. For the cult of Joseph, see James, ‘The Exceptional Role of Joseph’, pp. 79–104; Wilson, Saint Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society, pp. 6–8, and their bibliographies. 37 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 270v, Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii Manuscripti’, p. 738. The name appears 18 lines from the bottom of the page. Nuñez states that the litanies are scrambled, but other scholars find no standard order. See Abate, ‘Il Primitivo Breviario Francescano’, pp. 102–103. 38 For Beguine psalters, see Oliver, ‘Devotional Psalters’, pp. 199–225; Simons, ‘Beguines and Psalters’, pp. 23–30. 39 See Roualt de Fleury, La Messe, vol. VI, pp. 197–204; ‘Corporal’, New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04386c.htm [accessed 31 October, 2016]. 40 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 128r. For the fourth Sunday after Easter, James is shown in a bust-length, three-quarter portrait with a yellow halo against a rectangular embroidered cloth, demonstrating that other apostles may be dignified with this framing device. 41 ‘Fratres scientes …’, Epistle of Paul to the Romans, 13:11. For Advent pages in 45 Italian breviaries in the Vatican, see O’Brien, ‘The Illustration of the First Sunday in Advent in Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries Italian Breviaries’, pp. 147–157. 42 Cappugi, ‘Il Manoscritto N.4 della Biblioteca Municipate di Chambery’, pp. 159–168; Heid-Guillaume, Le Manuscrits Medievaux de Chambery, pp. 30–43. This dates to c.1435, before she entered the convent. For similar impagination, see the Breviary of Leonello d’Este, c.1440–48 (Llangattock Breviary), produced by Giorgio d’Alemagna, Guglielmo Giraldi, Magnanimo, Matteo de’ Pasti, and Bartolomeo Beninca. 43 Fortunati and Leonardi, eds, Pregare con le Immagini, pp. 10–15. 44 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, p. 7: ‘vuluntier depingea lo Verbo divino picolino infassato. E per molti lochi del monasterio di Ferrara e per i libri lo facea cossi picolino e dicea spesso con grande tenerezza: ‘Pigliarolo per la fasciola, che l’e’ lo foco che me acora’; Puliatti, Letteratura, p. xix; Cecchetti, ‘Con or, argento, seta, e cannatiglia’, pp. 115–124.

Notes

45

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ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 23r. ‘O infinita caritade de alto dio devino che prese umanita, e ffesse pelegrino, e pero te prego o xpo amor fino che aci piatanca de lo mio core tupino amen … O xpo mio segnore senca dubitare tu sei el vero messia che nei vegnu a salvare. Or suso con fervore andiamolo adorare, che le fato picolino per doverne consolare e per cio care sorele vogliamoce alegrare e con la mama e con lo figlio sempre demorare amen. Deo gratias xps.yhs.exps.yhs.exps per lo cui amor Io sore catelina del corpo di xpo in Ferara o scrito questo breviario exceto lo salmista e lo commune de sancti e lo calendario xps.’ 46 Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Mss. Bib. Ital. 115, in Ragusa and Green, Meditations, pp. 33–34. ‘He was born without a murmur or lesion in a moment … the Virgin stooped to pick him up, embrace him, placed him in her lap, washed him with her milk. She wrapped him with the veil from her head and laid him in a manger.’ The profusely illustrated copy from Pisa shows Christ in swaddling bands in the first scene after the birth, stating that Virgin and Joseph knelt to adore Him. 47 On the immediacy of feeling, see also, Polzer, ‘Concerning the Origin’, pp. 308–351. In ‘Of the Stay of the Lady at the Manger’, he describes the Virgin’s emotions as she swaddled the child: ‘Oh how often and how gently she looks at his face and all parts of His most holy body, How regularly and skillfully she placed the tender limbs while swathing them, As she was most humble so she was most prudent.’ Ragusa and Green, Meditations, p. 55. 48 This discourse on the poverty of Christ’s birth, in contrast to others born with silks and riches, continues with the Adoration of the Magi in which He is in swaddling clothes when the Magi arrive, in a tunic when they present the gifts, and then returns to swaddling clothes afterwards when they have given the gifts away to the poor, when the text gives a homily on humility. Ragusa and Green, Meditations, pp. 45–53. 49 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 38r. ‘Oratio pro sancto toma meo gloriosissimo Martire tam beignissimo quia manus suas sanctissimas ostendit mihi et osculavi illa dulciter in corde et corpora meo ad aludem dei et illius scritsi et narravi. Hoc sum omni veritate.’ 50 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, VI [20–23], pp. 35–36. 51 Cipollaro and Decker, ‘Shaping a Saint’s Identity: Thomas Becket in Italy’, pp. 116–138, especially 117–119. 52 Fortunati and Leonardi, eds., Pregare con le Immagini, p. 23. ‘tu autem Paulus, magnus apostolus, intercede pro me ad Dominus tuus Iesus Christus, Amen’, f. 63ra. Nuñez identified him as Christ, but Fortunati calls him Paul. 53 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fols. 5v, 19v, 22r, 28v, 34v. 54 Based on the elegant writing in the psalter with the rougher small initials scattered throughout, its decoration may have been her first essay into artistic work. 55 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fols. 112v, 114v, 132v, 140r. See also, Fortunati and Leonardi, eds., Pregare le Immagini, pp. 72–73, pp. 88–95. 56 Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii’, p. 737; Fortunati and Leonardi, eds., Pregare con le Immagini, p. 119. 57 Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii’, p. 737. The breviary rubric fol. 147ra states. ‘Feria v. post octav. Pentec. celebratur officium sacratissimi corporis xpi. Et nocta quod debet celebrare cum tocta devocione et munditia mentis et corporis. Quia corpus xps meus virgo et pulchrum plusquam ceteris. Et semper in corde tuo cum devotione et iubilatione de xps tuo cantatur hoc versus. E l dedectoxo xpoxp dele anime elette.

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Affacto ale dillecte un convent amoroxo … da xpo dolce amore non me posso partire impero che le cului el quale me fa languire: xpx.xps.xps.meus xps meus.’ 58 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 33v, pp. 44–45. God came and filled her mind with explanatory words; it was not a vision. 59 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fols. 280r-281r; Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii’, pp. 738–739. These have been considered rubrics until now. See the CANTUS database, University of Waterloo, http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca. The chants are: ‘Ego sum Panis Vivus’, Cantus n. 002594; ‘Salve Sancte Pater Patriae’, Cantus n. 204368; ‘Salve Sancte Pater Patriae’, Cantus n. 204368; ‘Sapiente filio padre gloriatur’, Cantus n. 204548; ‘Salve Sponsa dei Virgo Sacra’, Cantus n. 204369, ‘Novum sidus emicuit candor’, Cantus n. 203334. 60 Van Dijk, Breviarium, in Sources of the Modern Roman Liturgy II, pp. 121–173. 61 Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii’, p. 739. New Testament: Matthew 16:24. 62 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, fol. 3r, p. 7. 63 For Saint Bernardino in Padua and Ferrara, see Cobianchi, ‘Fashioning the Imagery’, pp. 62–73. 64 For Mary Magdalen, see Jansen, The Making of the Magdalen, pp. 124–142, 199–244. 65 Bernardino da Siena, ‘Feria Quinta post dominicam de passione’, De Sanctissima Magdalena (Sermo 46), in S. Bernardini Senesis Opera Omnia, vol. 3, p. 436. 66 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 364rb; Fortunati & Leonardi, eds, Pregare le Immagini, p. 23: ‘apostola fervente tute de Christo infiamata/ ando subitamente e fiecce l’ambasata/ e disse e pianceva/ pregare e iera nel orto/ o Iseu mio conforto dis Maria dillecta/ Dio gratias Amen’. 67 For Clare holding the monstrance, see Cristoforo de Predis, Corale n. 1, fol. 109v (Biblioteca Francescana, Milan), see Bisogni, ‘Per un census delle rappresentazioni di Santa Chiara’, pp. 131–165. 68 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 378v: ‘In sancta Clare virginis vera discipula serafici francisci et mater nostra humilis ancila xpi et amatrix paupertati et omnium virtutem.’ 69 ‘Famulos tuos quæsumus Domine Beatæ Virginis tuæ Matris nostræ Claræ votiva natalitia recensentes cœlestium gaudiorum suâ facias interventione participes et tui Unigeniti cohæredes Qui tecum vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculorum, Amen.’ ‘Your servants beseech thee, thy holy Virgin Mother of Blessed Clare through the intercession of his face, Christ will be the only-begotten son and heir of heavenly joys; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the ages of ages, Amen.’ Demore, La Vie de Sainte-Claire, p. 446. 70 For ‘Clare luce Clarior’ see the CANTUS database, University of Waterloo, Canada. It appears in US-CA.24, Chicago, Newberry Library 24 and I-Nn vi.E.20, a Franciscan breviary from central Italy, 1250–1300, now Napoli, Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, vi. E. 20; van Dijk, ‘Some manuscripts of the earliest Franciscan liturgy’, pp. 60–101. 71 Armstrong, ed., Clare of Assisi, pp. 238–245; Bull of Alexander IV, http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bullarium/clara.html [accessed 25 October, 2016]. 72 AGABo, Ms. 28.1, fol. 1. The letter from Saint Jerome to Eustochium is not in Vigri’s hand. The miniature shows French or Lombard inspiration. See the brief note in Vigri, ed. Serventi, Laudi, Trattati e Lettere, p. cx.

Notes

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Nuñez, ‘Descriptio Breviarii’, pp. 744–745: ‘Deus qui nobis b. Jeronimo confessore tuum scriptore sancte veritate e mistica sacramenta revelare dignitas est, presta quesumus ut cuius natalius colimus eius semper erudiamur doctrinis et meritis adiuvemur … O jeronimo bon doctore, per mi prega al tuo factore.’ (God, to whom noble Jerome confessor and writer revealed the mysteries of the holy truth of Sacrament, grant we beseech Thee to sustain the teachings and merits of one whose birth saves us ... Oh Jerome the good teacher, pray for me to your Maker.) 74 On his appeal to women, Rice, Saint Jerome, pp. 95–99, 161–165; Turcan, ‘Saint Jerome et les femmes’, pp. 259–72. On the cult of Jerome, Meiss, ‘Saint Jerome’, pp. 147–170; Idem, ‘Scholarship and Penitence’, pp. 134–140; Rice, Saint Jerome in the Renaissance; Pavone, Iconologia Francescana nel Quattrocento. On his cult in Ferrara, Barstow, Gualenghi-d’Este Hours, pp. 165–199; Campbell, Cosmè Tura, pp. 80–90; Ferraresi and Marzola, Gli Atti ufficiali del beato Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano; Russo, Sainte Jerome en Italie, pp. 168–69. 75 Isotta presented an oration on Jerome’s feast day in Padova in 1453. See King, ‘The religious retreat of Isotta Nogarola’, pp. 807–822; King, ‘Book-lined Cells: Women and Humanism’, pp. 66–90. Battista da Montefeltro was particularly devoted to Jerome and took the name ‘Suor Geronima’ when she became a Poor Clare nun. 76 Meiss, ‘Scholarship and Penitence’, pp. 192–193. He discusses Jesuit dress in the early fifteenth century, which originates from the Papal Bull which recognized the order in 1415 but did not describe their habit. Pope Eugenius’s Bull of 1441 states only that they are to retain their accustomed habit. For instance, the Saint Jerome by Jacopo del Sellaio (El Paso, Museum of Art, Texas). 77 Ridderbos, Saint and Symbol: Images of Saint Jerome, pp. 41–62. Pisanello sent Guarino Veronese a portrait of Saint Jerome that he praised in a laudatory poem, and Ferrarese noblemen decorated their studies with portraits. 78 Hall, ‘Cardinal Albergati, St. Jerome, and the Detroit Van Eyck’, pp. 2–24; Hall, ‘ More about the Detroit Van Eyck’, pp. 181–201; Fahy, ‘A Portrait of a Renaissance Cardinal as Saint Jerome’, pp. 1–19; Jolly, ‘Antonello da Messina’s ‘Saint Jerome in His Study: A disguised portrait?’ pp. 27–29; Ridderbos, Saint and Symbol: Images of Saint Jerome, pp. 41–62. 79 See the Fioretti di San Francesco by the Poor Clares nun from Freiburg, Sibilla von Bondorf. BLLo, Ms. Add. 15710, fol. 4. For the Madonna of Forli, see Hind, History of Development of the Woodcut, vol. I, pp. 160–162. 80 Terpestra, Lay Confraternities and Civic Religion, pp. 21–23, 30. Jerome prints were given to every layperson who joined the Confraternity of Saint Jerome in Bologna in c.1450. 81 Mattaliano, La Collezione Costabili, p. 43, ns. 34–35. Laderchi’s catalog describes Jerome as dressed in gold, removing the thorn from the lion’s foot; the panel was much repainted in the landscape, but Jerome’s head resembled a second version (National Gallery of Art, London). The Corpus Christi version was 35 x 24 cm. and sold by Angelo Genolini, Milan, in 1884. 82 Russo, Saint Jérôme en Italie, pp. 141–149. Jerome withdrawing the thorn from the lion’s paw was situated in his study or in the desert: Saint Jerome, Lorenzo Monaco (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), Saint Jerome, Ottaviano Nelli (Avignon, Musee du Petit Palais). Three new monastic groups dedicated to Jerome rose to prominence in c.1400— the Gesuati founded by Giovanni Columbini, the Eremiti of San Girolamo of Fiesole under the auspices of Franciscan tertiaries, and the Pisan Girolamani, recognized by

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Pope Martin V in 1421. See Meiss, ‘Scholarship and Penitence’, pp. 136–140; Russo, Saint Jérôme en Italie, pp. 117–139; Rice, Saint Jerome in the Renaissance, pp. 75–83. 83 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fol. 427vb; Fortunati and Leonardi, eds, Pregare con le Immagini, p. 21. 84 Pavone, Iconologia, pp. 134ff. In sermons delivered in Siena in 1425 he preached the importance of ‘putting the sun in the name of Christ’. 85 Pseudo-Bonaventure, Legenda Maior di San Francesco, Chapter VI, in Brett-Evans, ed., Bonaventuras Legenda Sancti Francisci; Bartolomeo da Pisa [Bartolomeus Pisanus], ‘De Conformitate vitae beati francesci ad vitam domini Jesu’ (1385–1399). 86 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, pp. 12, 22, 44, 56–57, 59–60. 87 ACDBo, Vigri, Breviario, fols. 464vb, 466vb, 467ra, 467rb, 467va. 88 AGABo, Ms. 35, n. 4. See Vigri, ed. Serventi, Laudi, Trattati e lettere, pp. xcii–xcix; cii–civ. She entitled it ‘Resurrected Christ’, but it is closer to the Man of Sorrows or Vir Dolorum. 89 Vigri, ed. Serventi, Laudi, Trattati e lettere, pp. 26–28; idem, ‘Una lauda di santa Caterina da Bologna in onore di San Bernardino’, pp. 429–437. She calls it possibly by Saint Catherine’s hand. Its place among autograph lauds and comparison to breviary initials makes it almost certain. 90 Vigri, ed. Serventi, Laudi, Trattati e Lettere, pp. 26–28. She dates it between May 1450, when Bernardino was canonized and March 1463, when Vigri died. Since the text consistently refers to Bernardino as ‘beato’, it could date from 1444–1450. 91 AGABo, Ms. 35 n. 4, fols. 105r-107v. The margins have been cut which obscures some words. The codex measures only 11 x 9 cm. 92 This began after the Virgin Mary’s miraculous appearance to a Franciscan friar in c.1420, Father Emidius, Manual of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi I, pp. 305–307. 93 Bernardino of Siena, Opera Omnia, VI, pp. 65–180. 94 Dufay is documented in Ferrara in 1437–44; while working in Savoy and Cambrai, he sent music back to the d’Este court. Lockwood, ‘Dufay at Ferrara’, in Dufay Quincentenary Conference, pp. 1–25. 95 Serventi transcribes it ‘Wyl Got unde sayen Muter’ (Vigri, ed. Serventi, Laudi, Trattati e Lettere, p. xcviii), although it looks more like ‘Wyl Got vude scripsi mutit’. No sources or comparative phrases have been found. 96 ‘Qualuncha vora che nostra dona sia in l’ora de la morte sua avocata, dica ogno di al suo honore questi gaudi con lo Magnificat’ (fol. 102v). 97 ‘O vos Omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte sic est dolor similis dolor meus’, Saint Bonaventure, Opera Omnia VIII (1898), De Perfectione Vitae ad Sorores, chapter vi, p. 122. 98 On Caterina’s doubting the sacrament, see Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti fol. 33v, p. 44; Vigri, ed. Feiss and Re, pp. 77–78. 99 In general, see Panofsky, ‘Imago Pietàtis’. German woodcuts display this half-length type with the sarcophagus; Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 161, Schr.856, 860, 862, http://www.artstor.org/content/illustrated-bartsch. 100 For the half-length type, see Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 161, Schr. 856, 860, 862, 891 (Swabia, c.1430). For provenance of this group of five woodcuts, see Korner, Der Fruheste Deutsche Einblattholzschnitt, p. 118. Other examples are Schr. 850 (Swabian or Upper Rhine, 1460–70), Schr. 864 (Rhineland, c.1470), and Michel of Ulm

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(Schr. 877). The action of his right hand bent to touch his wound and left hand falling downwards recalls a Risen Christ type (Schr. 910–911). 101 Sartori, ‘Documenti Padovani sull’arte della stampa nel secolo XV’, pp. 116–117; Hind, Introduction to the History of Woodcuts, pp. 80–85, 160–170; Saffrey, ‘Ymago de facili multplicabilis in cartis’, pp. 4–7. Caffarini describes woodcuts of Saint Catherine of Siena in c.1390. The Bavarian print of Saint Dorothy in c.1410 (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich) exemplifies this early stage. 102 Field, Fifteenth-Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts; Schmidt, in Parshall and Schoch, Origins of European Printmaking, pp. 37–51; Areford, The Viewer and the Printed Image, pp. 1–23. 103 Scandella, Ricordanze del Monastero di Santa Lucia in Foligno, Plates XIII and detail, Pl. I. The choir stalls were decorated with miniatures on paper by Mezastris or Lattanzia di Nicolo Alunno; Memorie, par. 248, fols. 72r/v.

5. Corpus Christi’s Later Religious and Civic Identity 1

‘Cappella’ does not necessarily indicate a separate building, but could be an altar or niche. For the visitation of 1574, see Marzola, Atti della Visita Apostolica, p. 396: they had 99 nuns and 20 converse; on the main altar, the Eucharist was displayed in a silklined tabernacle placed on a corporal cloth; they had all the proper grates on the window, but they were not supposed to have a portable altar as their main altar. For later reports, see Archivio Diocesano Arcivescovile, Ferrara, Fondo Visite Pastorali 27 (1630), 32A (1646), 42A (1693), 43 (1694). The last two visitations were after the fire of 1665. 2 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 17; Lombardi, Francescani, IV, p. 143; Presenza e Culto di San Bernardino, pp. 27–28. 3 Pacetti, Cronologia Bernardiniana, p. 461, nn. 5, 6, 7; Lombardi, Francescani V, pp. 93–101. Lombardi, Presenza e Culto di San Bernardino, pp. 25–26; Serventi, ‘Una lauda di santa Caterina da Bologna in onore di San Bernardino’, pp. 429–437. 4 For Friar Giovanni da Prato, see Lombardi, Presenza e Culto di San Bernardino, pp. 19–24; Francescani V, pp. 106–108. Lombardi echoes the hypothesis that Caterina Vigri may have had some personal contact with San Bernardino, but so far no archival evidence has been found. 5 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 17; Lombardi, Francescani, IV, p. 143; Presenza e Culto di San Bernardino, pp. 27–28. 6 ACDFe, Busta 10. The numbering system in the archives has changed twice, making cross-references difficult. No second document about celebrating his feast has been found. 7 ACDFe, Cartella B, n. 17; Lombardi, Francescani, IV, p. 143. The document is very ruined, but it devotes much attention to a group of nuns ‘who would disgrace San Bernardino and themselves in the eyes of God, and anyone who does not like it, can just put up with it!’ ‘Niuna persona presume togliere la mercede de altaris e ardisca … Chi unquam presumera fare questo incorrere nella disgratia de dio omnipotente e de questo glorioso Sancto e portarne grave iuditio quanto … chi fa impedire quella divotione no avesse suo effecto … E chi non gli piace lassisene li panni alle spalle …’

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ACDFe, Buste 11. The list of relics is in eighteenth-century hand; Saint Bernardino’s bones are in the first, possibly earlier, section. 9 Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, xxvii: as in Bologna, Biblioteca Universitària, 2890; Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Conv. Sopp. C.II.299; Firenze, Biblioteca Riccardiana 1725; Gorizia, Biblioteca del Seminario Teologico, no number; or similar titles in Perugia, Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, 1019 and 1176; in Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Campori, Appendice 118 the title is ‘Doctrine of the beata Katherina da Bologna suore e badessa del monastero nel corpo di Cristo in Bologna’. 10 Vigri, SAS-Degli’Innocenti, pp. xvi–xxix; ‘Le Sette Armi Spirituali’, in Nuñez, La Santa, pp. 48–52. See BAMi, Y 46 Sup. Lat. Sec. XV, 140 folios. Coloured initials of simple, later design are pasted on fols. 1r, 3r, 10v, 20r, 24r, 39r, 68v. It entered the Ambrosiana 1824. Fols.1r-67v, Illuminata Bembo, Specchio de Illuminatione; fols. 67v-73r: two lauds for Saint Caterina; ff. 73r-115v: Sette Armi, first and second letters without the ‘Christus Meus’; fols. 116v-140r: miracles post mortem including events that took place in Corpus Domini, Cremona. 11 BNCFi, Conv. Sopp. B. II.1370, lists it as from Santissima Annunziata, Florence; however, at the end, c. 141r, ‘Compilata fuit haec apud locum Sancti Petri Camerino in vigilia Sca/Thome Apostoli circa horar tercias nocte 1454’. BNCFi, Conv. Sopp. C.II.299, inventory states it is from Santa Maria degli Angeli. It belongs to the group which includes the miraculous cure of Francesca di Mondino da Bologna, 14 January, 1464. 12 BNCFi, Pal. E.6.4.97, ‘Incomenza uno libretto composto da una beata religiosa del corpo di christo sore Caterina da Bologna’, published by Azzoguidi, 1475. 13 BLLo, Add. Ms. 10767, purchased by Thomas Rodd in 1837 from the Canonici/Sneyd Collections, the same source as Oxford, Bodleian Ms. Canon. It.134 that contains the Dodici Giardini. The Canonici Collection originated with Jesuit Matteo Luigi Canonici (1727–1807) who collected books in Parma, Bologna, and Venice. 14 Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 29, figs. 641 a/b. The gothica textualis is slightly larger than the autograph in the Cappella della Santa; see Vigri, Laudi, Trattati e Lettere-Serventi, Pl.1. The statement that it was finished 2 September, 1463, and sent to the abbess of Mantua is similar to the copy in Brescia, Biblioteca Civica Queriniana G. II. 3. See Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, p. xix. 15 BCAFe, Mss. Cl. I. 354, fol. 1v. The text has fols. 1-40v, followed by two epistles with rubrics ‘Questa sottoscripta la nostra Beata Madre abiamo nui suore appresso a nui’, and ‘Amenus Christus pro nobis cruficixus’, ‘e quell’ che seque ne le precedente due chartette scritte di mia mano’. See also, Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, p. xx. 16 Barstow, The Gualenghi-d’Este Hours, pp. 100–115; Mariani Canova, Guglielmo Giraldi, cat. Nos. 12, 13, pp. 182–184. 17 BCAFe, Mss. Cl. I. 356, fol. 1. The text has fols.1-48v, a letter from Corpus Domini, Bologna, dated 4 July, 1463, the Office and Litanies of the Virgin with indulgences and prayers, fols. 48v-59v. See Vigri, SAS-Degl’Innocenti, p. xxi. 18 Biancani, ‘La leggenda’, pp. 218–219; Spanò and Graziani, ‘Caterina de’ Vigri between Manuscript and Print’, p. 361. 19 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, II [7], pp. 12–13; Warr, ‘The Striped Mantle of the Poor Clares’, pp. 415–430.

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20 Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, IX [18–21], pp. 78–79: ‘Che la biancheza della sua fatia comenciò a venire rossa e colorita e sudava tuta, e quello sudore era di precioso odore e de hora in hora venia piu colorita in tanto lei se abraxava che parea una seraphina … che mai non vide lo più bello, e che per questo credea fusse una delle più excelente anime che fusse in paradixio’; See also, Bartoli, Caterina la Santa di Bologna, pp. 169–174. 21 WAMBa, Ms. W.342, 66 fols, with an initial on fol. 1v. De Ricci, Census I, p. 844, n. 497. See the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania; http://dla. library.upenn.edu/dla/schoenberg/index.html [accessed 28 November, 2016]. 22 WAMBa, Ms. W.342, inside front cover: ‘n. 203 S. Caterina da Bologna. Le armi spirituali. Manuscrit sur parchemin, date de 1466. Avec le petit portrait de Ste. Catherine peint en couleurs, un morceau de bordure peint de meme et … Le colophon se trouve au recto du f.62: Prego humilemente omne una de vuy la qualle legera questo libro … che se degni pregare dio per mi peccatora. I. B. ser.C.ro 1466 … Des ces lignes et du quelques autres qui suivent après une letter de Ste. Catherine nous apprenons que le manuscript fut execute par la B. Illuminata Bembo, compagne de St. Catherine …’ 23 WAMBa, Ms. W.342, fol. 62r: ‘Questa sotoscripta lettera scripse la nostra bta’ madre puy nuy qui in bologna de sua propria mano per revelatione e volunta divina como che ritrovo puy icluso nel suo libro:lo reverend padre frate Batista da Modena nostro dignissmo confessore neli anni del signore 1463: la quale sua lettera abbiamo nui sore apreso a nuy.’ 24 The handwriting in the autograph Specchio di Illuminazione in Bologna, the Sette Armi Spirituali in Baltimore, and the short version of the Specchio di Illuminazione, Ms. 2894, Bibliotheque Royale, Bruxelles, should be compared by experts. For Bembo’s role in Caterina’s cult, see Bembo, SdI-Mostaccio, pp. xx–xxxviii; Van Ortroy, ‘Une vie italienne’, pp. 386–394. 25 See BUBo, Ms. Bol, Univ. 4019, c. 87v Incipit: ‘Jesu signor piacente/sempre situ laudato/e fu fliglio di dio/scana el mio disio/che tama o signore mio/e sempre sia infiamato’, Explicit: ‘Jesu conferma sano/el popolo cristiano/avungeli la mano/che sia glorificato. Amen’ in Frati, ‘Giunte agli Inizi di antiche poesie italiane’, p. 200, https://archive.org/stream/iniziidiantichep00tenn/iniziidiantichep00tenn_djvu.txt [accessed 21 January, 2017]. The incipit is not in Serventi, Laudi, Trattai e Lettere, pp. 185–189. The laud has 23 quatrains except for a 12-line strophe in the middle. The style of the laud resembles one in AGABo, Archivio della Santa, Cart. 25, n. 1 that Serventi, pp. 41–45, attributes to the ‘bottega’ of Corpus Domini, Bologna. 26 Vigri’s Breviario, in the psalter, fol. 220r: ‘Exultate: chi non vora andare con xpo per via tribuloxa, non pora con lui godere nella patria gaudiosa verum est.’ 27 ACDFe, Buste 19, 1. ‘Miscellanea del XV Secolo, scritte dalle sorelle clarisse’, fol. 8r, dated 1467. 28 The watermark lacks sufficient clarity to make comparisons in Briquet; the binding and first pages are fifteenth century. The prayer on fol. 2r is written in a more vertical textualis; fols. 3–4, in Gothic hand with the explicit ‘Venetia, aprilis’ (no year); fols. 9–28, the Rule of Clemente VI; fols. 27–28 are testimonies of two notaries ofAssisi with a Rule in fourteen chapters; fols. 29–66 is the divine office ‘per chi non sa la grammatica’ in gothica textualis hand with red calligraphic letters; fols. 66–67 recopy an order of Pope Clement VI in 1352 concerning the Divine Office. The last pages contain an Easter Table and models for profession of novices, nuns, and ‘sore di fora’. This text was not discussed by Lombardi.

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29 Frugoni, Francesco e l’invenzione delle stimmate, pp. 235–265; Bartholomeus Pisanus, ‘Liber de conformitate vitae beati Fransicis ad vitam domini Jesu’, Analecta Franciscana 4–5 (1906–12). This was officially accepted by the general chapter at Assisi in 1399. See Banker, ‘The Program of Sassetta’s Altarpiece’, pp. 11–58. 30 Zucker, ed., Illustrated Bartsch, Schr. 1432i, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 31 For instance, the Madonna of Mercy with Nuns of Santa Maria dei Candeli (Accademia Museum, Florence) attributed to Giovanni Gaddi c.1380. Dedicated to the Virgin, the convent was Augustinian. For Sano di Pietro, Christensen, Painting in Renaissance Siena 1420–1500, p. 145. 32 Sevesi, Le Clarisse in Milano, pp. 163–177. He proposes this was funded by Duchess Bianca Maria among other frescoes for the new church, as it is listed in her book of charity, ASMi, Potenze Sovrane, Bianca Maria, cart. 803. 33 Mooney, ‘Imitatio Christi or Imitatio Maria?’ in Gendered Voices, pp. 52–77. She disagrees with Armstrong’s translations of parts of Clare’s writing, saying that Clare referred more often to imitating Christ than the Virgin Mary. 34 Debby, Cult of Clare, pp. 73–74. 35 Hamburger, Nuns as Artists, p. 184; Ziegler, Sculpture of Compassion; Piattoli, ‘Un Capitolo di storia dell’arte libraria’, pp. 1–21; Lowe, ‘Women’s Work in the Benedictine Convent of Le Murate’, pp. 133–146; Niccolini, ‘I Minori Osservanti di Monteripido’, pp. 100–130. 36 BEUMo, Ms. Gamma.3.4. See Lodi, Catalogo dei codici autografi posseduti dal Marchese Giuseppe Campori, I, p. 39, #47. The manuscript has several watermarks: fols. 17–22 has a hand with a globe and later fols. 118v and 122 have three mountains with a cross, and fol. 126 has a circle with a frame like a medallion; it measures 20 x 30 cm.; fols. 107r-113v may include later nuns’ sermons. 37 Franceschini ’Inventari inediti’, p. 42, ASFe, Archivio Notarile Antico matr. 213 Notaio Evangelista Massari, Pacco 15, Fasc. 1481–83, pacco 1, prot. 1480–81, reprinted pp. 136–138. 38 The abbess was ‘Franceschina da Cremona’ who joined Corpus Christi 1430–47, and appears in the 1455 mandato, but not in the necrology ACDFe.19. See also, Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 285. 39 For Corpus Domini/Santa Chiara Novella, Cremona, see Mosconi, I conventi francescani del territorio cremonese, pp. 106–108; Ms. 4523, ASMi, concerning a testamentary bequest of 1484, and indulgences for persons visiting the church, as well as permission to have a portable altar for mass and to elect their own confessor. For the fifteenth-century building history, see Dordoni, Gli Antichi Monasteri, pp. 24–54, 110–112. Although in poor physical condition now, the two-story cloister originally was as elegant as Casa Romei. The Pallavicini family was prominent at both Clarissan houses. On the patronage of later Pallavicini women, see McIver, Women, Art and Architecture in Northern Italy, pp. 171–198. 40 BCABo, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, B. 3606, cc. 16–25: Mandato di Procura delle monache del Corpus Domini di Ferrara ‘di pigliarsi dagli’infrascritti nominate a nome di loro il possesso del convent di Corpus Domini di Bologna, rogato del notaio ferraese Nicolo q. Antonio Vicenzi, 16 ottobre, 1455’. The names from the Mandato di Procura were cross-referenced with the necrology in the Corpus Domini, Ferrara convent archives.

Notes

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For Camilla Battista da Varano’s works, see Le Opere Spirituali, ed. Boccanera: I dolori mentali di Gesu nella sua passione (1488), translated by Berrigan as The Mental Sorrows of Jesus Christ; the autobiographical Vita spirituale (1491); Preghiera a Dio (1488–90?); Ricordi di Gesu (1483–91). 42 Many families had worked at d’Este Court for generations. See Gundersheimer, Art and Life at the Court of Ercole I d’Este: the De triumphis religionis of Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, p. 56. On the Novelli, see Dean, Land and Power, pp. 40, 98, 140. 43 Evangelisti, Nuns: A History of Convent Life, pp. 14–39, especially 68–82 on ‘Convent Voices’. Forlai notes there were 122 nuns at Corpus Domini, Bologna by the sixteenth century. 44 See Franceschini, ‘Violante Montefeltro Malatesti signora di Cesena’; Baronio, Violante Malatesta da Montefeltro Magnifica Signora di Cesena. 45 Zambotti, Diario Ferrarese, Rerum Italicum Scriptores VII dal anno 1476–1504, pp. 3, 28, 33, 60, 146; Scalabrini, Memorie Istoriche, p. 212; Lombardi I Francescani IV, pp. 153–157; Zaccarini, Casa Romei e la vita privata, pp. 5–30; Calura, Casa Romei, Corpus Domini; Di Francesco, Le Sibille di Casa Romei, pp. 11–14. 46 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 153–157. 47 Di Francesco, Le Sibille, p. 13; Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 373–374. 48 Franchescini, Artisti a Ferrara, II, pp. 301–302. Indicated as a ‘new testament’, see ASFe, Jacobo Vincenzi, Notaio matr. 177, Pacco 20, sched 1483. Romei ordered a new tomb from Master Ambrogio tagliapietra in the Observant Franciscan church of Santo Spirito. He left his ‘domus magnus’ in the contrada of San Salvatore to the monastery of Corpo di Cristo, with the proviso that his wife, Polissena, and her servants could live in half of it, and he bequeathed the nuns 2000 ducati in first four years after his death; see Zaccarini, Casa Romei, pp. 6–29. 49 Muscolino, Casa Romei: una dimore rinascimentale, p. 10. 50 Scalabrini, Memorie Istoriche, p. 212. 51 Chiappini, Gli Estensi, pp. 161–165. 52 Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 349. Romei’s testament of 1483 contradicts the early dating of his tomb, or perhaps refers to an intended newer monument ten years later. 53 For Giorgio ‘Scaramuccia’ Visconti, see Chiappini, Gli Estensi, p. 299; Bestor, ‘Gli Illegettimi e Beneficiati’, in Storia di Ferrara VI, pp. 93–94; Guerra, Soggetti a Ribalda Fortuna, pp. 63–64. 54 De Castro, I ricordi autobiografici inediti del Marchese Begnino Bossi, p. 796. 55 A Pavese document records disposition of her dowry of 5000 ducats and property in Polesine and Figarolo. See BEUMo, Lat. 1359 = beta.43.1@ https://manus.iccu.sbn.it// opac_SchedaScheda.php?ID=169851&lang=en [accessed 17 July, 2016]. 56 Muscolino, Casa Romei, p. 10; Cittadella, Notizie relative a Ferrara per la maggiore parte inedite, II, p. 183. not. Andrea Succi, 1491. The house is described as ‘sul belvedere’, which is the term used in Romei’s will; see Gagliardo, ‘Le sibille’, pp. 14–20. 57 Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 373–374. See ASMo, Offitio delle Munitione e Fabbriche, Memoriale, 25 1491, fols. 93–94; Memoriale 27 (1492), fols. 101–104; the list of materials gives shorthand references to how they were used, e.g. dimensions of the long, narrow chapter house (72 x 20 braccia), fol. 103r. 58 Di Francesco, ‘Casa Romei: un ritrovamento’, pp. 79–82.

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Diario Ferrarese, R.I.S. XXIV, Parte VII Dall’ anno 1476–1504, p. 60: 1479, 7 domenica. ‘Messer Zoanne de Romie, cavalero e consiliaro ducale fece fare una bella festa in caxa soa, dove ge here la illustrissima duchessa nostra madonna Heleonora con li filioli e fiole e donzelle e molte zintildonne dove se ballo in maschara insino ad hore 5. Dove dicte done e lo illustrissimo duca nostra e messer Zoanne Bentivolgio con la cha’ da Este cenono in gran magnificentia.’ 60 Haughton, ‘An Alleged Fifteenth-century Ceiling’, pp. 385–389. Previously described as woodcuts or stencils, she identifies them as hand-drawn designs on paper datable to Romei’s residence or renovations in the 1490s. 61 Lombardi, Francescani IV, fig. 11. This was still standing in the mid-twentieth century. 62 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 228. ACDFe, Cartella G. n. 4/1–126. Lombardi notes that there is a lacuna between 1506 until 1613, so it is not possible to determine the number of pupils. 63 Forlai, ‘Corpus Domini’, pp. 323–326. 64 ASDFe, Fondo Moniale, I: Registro delle Licenze (1590), c.120–128; Registro delle Licenze II (1595), c.1–90. Licenses were given to individual workmen, even gardeners to ‘clean the cloister’. 65 Gagliardo, ‘Le sibille nel giardino. Un ciclo di affresci per Giovanni Romei’, pp. 14–37; Di Francesco, Le Sibille e Casa Romei, p. 44. 66 Di Francesco, Le Sibille e Casa Romei, p. 43. 67 Di Francesco, Le Sibille e Casa Romei, p. 33. 68 Two devotional niches, one with the Madonna and Child fresco by the earlier Ferrarese master Antonio Alberti, and another Pietà with two Franciscan friars, show strong northern influence. 69 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 158–194. 70 Edelstein, ‘Nobildonne napoletane e commitenza: Eleonora d’Aragona’, pp. 295–329. 71 ACDBo, Varie Memorie del Monastero del Corpus Domini, Sr. Elisabetta Bordocchi, 1702 (ed. Eleonora Brusi, 1724), pp. 2–3. 72 ASMo, Camera Ducale Estense, libri e carte d’amministrazione patrimoniale e principi: Eleonora d’Aragona. No. 638: 1478, Libro della guardaroba dela Ex’tia Madama, in the Guardaroba dated 1478: n. 43. ‘Tractato de una sore del Corpo de Christo coperto cum cartone cum cartonj de tela coperto. Questo soprascripto fu reso alle sore de Corpo de Christo a dì 8 de lujo 1479 perché era suo. Me disse Silvia [Silvia da Napoli, ladyin-waiting] de comissione de Madama.’ I wish to thank Diana Rowlands Bryant for sharing this citation. 73 Barstow, Gualenghi-d’Este Hours, pp. 113–114. 74 Zambotti, 18 Ottobre, 1476; letter from Eleanor d’Aragon to her daughter Isabella d’Este: ASMa, Gonzaga 1185.243 ‘siamo incluse nel monasterio del Corpo di Christo per le devotione nostre …’ 75 Rosenberg, ‘Women, Learning and Power’, pp. 43–65; ‘The Use of Celebrations in Public and Semi-Public Affairs’, pp. 521–535, especially 524–526. His analysis is based on the chronicles of Zambotti and Caleffini. The original letters are found in ASMo C&S 131 and C&S 131–2. 76 ACDFe, Cartella B. 22. Lombardi, I Francescani IV, pp. 97–98. 77 ASMo, Camera Ducale Estense, Amministratione dei Principi, B Non Regnanti, Eleonora d’Aragona, Reg. 633, (Debitori e Creditori 1485–91) fols. 3v, 5v, 6v, 9v, 10v, 11v, 14v, 17v, 24v, 29r, 30r, 34r; 1486: fols. 37r, 42r, 44r, 50r, 50v (lists donations to all churches), 51r, 55r; 1487: fols. 58r, 63r, 64r; 1491: fols. 202, 203r, 210r, 211r, 223r.

Notes

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ASMo, Camera Ducale Estense, Amministratione dei Principi, B Non Regnanti, Eleonora d’Aragona, Reg. 633, (Debitori e Creditori 1485–91), fols. 210–211. 79 Lombardi Franceescani IV, pp. 175; [Caleffini], ed. Pardi, ‘Diario Ferrarese’ II, August 1493. 80 Chiappini, ‘Eleonora d’Aragona’, pp. 5–125. 81 [Caleffini] ed. Pardi, ‘Diario Ferrarese’ II, pp. 376–377. 82 Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, p. 373. See ASMo, Offitio delle Munitione e Fabbriche, 27.78. 83 ASMa, Archivio Gonzaga, busta 1184, (no fol. #). Letter from Eleonora d’Aragon to Isabella d’Este: ‘Faremo per questa nostra risposta a la vostra de penultimo del passato, per la parte che la rechiede’: et dicemove che, gratia de nostro Signor Idio, ne sentiamo sana, e liberata de la indispositione venutani et andiamo per le camere e sala nostra del castello. E hieri andassimo al monastero de le venerande suore del corpo de christo e insiemo ala suora staessimo cum epse in consolatione, et poi venissimo a casa, e non se sentiamo lesione alcuna che sapemo che multo ve alegrara: e fara star de bonissima voglia.’ I wish to thank Diana Rowlands Bryant for sharing this document. 84 Clark, Value and Symbolic Practices, pp. 238–243. This echoes Wood’s reading of Vigri’s conflation of word and image and Barstow’s emphasis on the body as flesh. 85 Ceretti, ‘Bianca Maria d’Este’, pp. 119–167; Simona Foà, DBI 43 (1993). 86 BEUMo,  https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_SchedaScheda.php?ID=169851& lang=en. Although dated 1604, it contains copies of late fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury bequests to Corpus Christi. 87 For Savonarola and women in Florence, see Polizzotto, ‘When Saints Fall Out: Women and the Savonarolan Reform Movement’, pp. 486–525; Strocchia, ‘Savonarolan Witnesses: the Nuns of San Iacopo and the Piagnone Movement’, pp. 393–418; for Savonarolan devotion in Ferrara, see Herzig, Savonarola’s Women, pp. 91–93,102, 125–145. 88 See Bartoli, Caterina la santa di Bologna, pp. 23–26. 89 Herzig, Savonarola’s Women, p. 102. Maddalena was the daughter of Bianca Maria d’Este, who left a large bequest to Corpus Christi in 1506. 90 Gregorovius, Lucrezia Borgia second i documenti e carteggi del tempo, pp. 176–77, 194; Samaritani, ‘Contributo documentario per un profilo spirituale-religiosa di Lucrezia Borgia’, pp. 957–1007. 91 Bellonci, Lucrezia Borgia, p. 245. 92 Nalini Montanari, ‘I Luoghi della devozione care a Lucrezia Borgia’, 2002–2003, http://ww3.comune.fe.it/biblio/lucrezia/BCA_nalini.htm [accessed 23 June, 2016]. 93 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 204, Letter from Lucrezia Borgia to Francesco Gonzaga. 94 Zarri, La Religione di Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 49–55. See the section of patronage of religious dolls. 95 Bertoni, Biblioteca Estense, p. 48 n. 3: ‘Dall’inventario (c. 19) di Lucrezia Borgia (1502–1503) imparo che ‘di una baschina di brochato piano celestro fodrata di tella celestra se feze uno palio d’altare a le monache del Corpo de Christo da comissione de la S.’ 96 ASMo, Mandati #11, Lucrezia Borgia, 1507. 97 Marighelli, ‘Spigolature archivistiche elemosime’, pp. 89–94. ADAFe, Fondo Corpus Domini, Busta 2/8 (San Ludovico), 1507. 98 Zarri, La Religione di Lucrezia Borgia, pp. 107–113. 99 Ghirardo, ‘Lucrezia Borgia’s Palace’, pp. 474–497. 100 For San Bernardino, see Guarini, Compendio historico, p. 332; Lombardi, Francescani, IV, 279–312; Ghirardo, ‘Lucrezia Borgia’s palace’, pp. 424–497.

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101 Bertoni, La Biblioteca Estense, 1903 p. 48, n. 2. ‘per una tela grande ha fatto depinzere in burges: la quale è Christo (quando fu batezato quando monta in ‘cielo cum li maghi et certi altri misteri: la quale ordino ill’ma Madonna per le suore di corpo di xpo il quale costo’ ducati cinque e grossi quindise’. The same text is referenced in Venturi, ‘L’Arte ferrarese nel periodo di Ercole d’Este’, p. 33, n. 1. Barstow, Gualenghi-d’Este Hours, describes it more generally as a ‘Life of Christ from Bruges’, p. 113. 102 David’s folding triptych dates slightly later. Side panels depicting patrons could have been adapted to the Passion. In the 1574 Visitation, Corpus Christi was cited for having a folding altar in the nuns’ choir. 103 For Eleonora’s art patronage, see Manca, ‘Isabella’s Mother: Eleonora d’Aragona and her art patronage’, pp. 79–94. This mainly concerns portraits of her in the lost Triumph frescoes at Belfiore. Eleonora’s background made her familiar with Santa Chiara and its rich artistic decoration, which included painted linen wall hangings. See Hoch, ‘Pictures of Penitence’, pp. 206–226. This type of movable ephemeral decoration could have appealed to the Poor Clares at Corpus Christi. The only reference to fresco decoration in the church is remnants of architectural designs after the fire of 1665. 104 For Ercole’s recruitment of chapel singers, see Lockwood, Music in Renaissance Ferrara, pp. 130–232. 105 ASMo, Camera Ducale Estense, Amministratione dei Principi, B Non Regnanti, Eleonora d’Aragona, Reg. 633 (1485–91). See also Franchescini, Artisti a Ferrara II, p. 370, n. 540b. 106 ASMo, Camera Ducale Estense, Amministratione dei Principi, B Non Regnanti, Eleonora d’Aragona, Reg. 633, (Debitori e Creditori 1485–91), fol. 48r. Based on the price, this was a small to medium-sized commission. His name is not found among known masters in Bruges. 107 For Eleonora’s art collections, Franceschini, Artisti a Ferrara II.II, 35, doc 17 and II.I, 409, doc 597 bis (inventory of the Guardaroba). Another inventory of Eleonora’s goods in Ercules’s account books lists their possessions separately. See ASMo, Amministrazione e Principi, #30. 108 McNamee, Vested Angels: Eucharistic Allusions, pp. 167–173. 109 Idem, Vested Angels, p. 179. 110 Scalabrini, Memorie istoriche, p. 173; not referenced in Campbell, Cosmé Tura or Manca, Cosme Tura. 111 For documents of Cosmè, see Toffanello, Le Arti a Ferrara, pp. 226–233; Franceschini, Artisti a Ferrara II/I, 73d,117b,f; 145d. The small, double-sided panels of Angel Gabriel, the Virgin Annunciate and Saints Francis, Louis of Toulouse (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C) were part of a personal devotional ensemble. See Campbell, Cosmè Tura, pp. 63–70; Boskovits and Brown, eds, Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century, pp. 660–665. 112 Campbell, Cosmè Tura, pp. 78–79. The possible companion piece depicts a Saint Sebastian which would not fit the description. It should be noted that their ground lines and the lighting in the two panels does not match. 113 ‘Lorenzo Costa dipinse la B. Vergine assunta al cielo con sotto gli apostolic al sepolcro.’ A similar painting now attributed to Baldassare d’Este is in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan. 114 Lombardi, Francescani IV, pp. 54–58; National Gallery of Art, London, NG671.

Notes

197

115 Inventario della Soprintendenza delli Belle Arti e Ambientali, 1998; Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 226. In 1782, just before the Napoleonic suppressions, Cesare Cittadella recalled seeing in the convent of Corpus Christi ‘un orazione nell’orto, e la sepoltura di Gesu e diverse tavolette di Galasso della Masnada’. See Catalogo Historico de’ pittori, IV, pp. 116, 207, 210, 219, 222, 224–225. 116 N.1943.3.463 (Sch. 184a), Rosenwald Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; see Hamburger, Nuns as Artists, fig. 59. 117 On the Agony in the Garden, see Hamburger, Nuns as Artists, pp. 80–94. 118 Pseudo-Bonaventure, Meditationes, Chapter LX, ‘Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Prayer in the Garden’, pp. 279–280, https://archive.org/stream/stbonaventuresli00bonauoft/ stbonaventuresli00bonauoft_djvu.txt [accessed 10 October, 2016]. 119 Thier, Il Libro della Beata Angela da Foligno, p. 466; Hamburger, Nuns as Artists, p. 82. 120 For relations between Eleanor of Aragon and her daughter Isabella, see James, ‘What’s Love got to do with it?’ pp. 528–547. 121 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 139. 122 Hickson, Women, Art and Architectural Patronage, pp. 61–63, 160–163. 123 Idem, Women, Art and Architectural Patronage, p. 61; Bagolini and Feretti, La Beata Osanna, Appendix II, n. V. 124 ASMa, Archivio Gonzaga, b. 1242, n. 43: 23 August, 1508. See Hickson, Women, Art and Architectural Patronage, pp. 61–63. 125 ASMa, Archivio Gonzaga, b. 1242, n. 419: 8 February, 1509: ‘una Sancta Barbara e una Sancta Lucia de quelle francese como forno quelle che Vostra Signora gli mando’. See Hickson, Women, Art and Architectural Patronage, pp. 61–63, 162. She suggests they were ivory like the Virgin doll that Isabella gave her daughter, but this seems unlikely. 126 On late Medieval dolls, see Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, I, p. 487; King, A Collector’s History of Dolls; Croizat, ‘Living Dolls: Francois Premier Dresses His Women’, pp. 94–130. Sixteenth-century holy dolls were made of wood, clay, or composite, and sometimes had a wire armature for clothing. 127 Suduiraut, Sculptures brabançonnes du musée du Louvre – Bruxelles, Malines, Anvers, XVe-XVIe siècles. They came in three sizes: small = 12.5cm. /medium = 34cm. /large = 45 cm. For Saint Agnes, see http://www.lasculpturefrancoise.com/renaissancesculpture/ XVI_th_c_mechlin_malines_doll_saint-agnes.html [accessed 10 October, 2016]. 128 Serck-Dewaide, ‘Support and Polychromy of Altarpieces’, pp. 82–99; for examples in German convents, see Hamburger, Krone und Schleier, pp. 428–430, figs. 335a, 336, 336 detail. 129 Memorie cavate dalli giornali di messer Paolo Zerbinato, f.98a; Flaminio da Parma, Memorie Istoriche I, pp. 509–510 in Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 185. 130 Lombardi, Francescani V, pp. 111–112. In the Marches and Venice c.1477: Carlo Crivelli (Louvre, Paris), Vittore Crivelli (Ripatransone, Pinacoteca Comunale) and Cola dell’Amatrice (Gallerie Nazionali delle Marche). His physiognomy is similar to Saint Bernardino, but his holds the Bible and monstrance displaying Christ’s blood. 131 ACDFe, Busta 19. Lombardi claims the handwriting resembles a fifteenth-century hand. It has yet to be authenticated through comparison with James’s autograph writing in Santa Maria delle Grazie, Monteprandone. In the 1970s Ludovic Samek noted (private communication, convent files) that Francesco was elected Cardinal in 1467, so the title is anachronistic. In my view, the event could have transpired between 1467 and 1471, when Francesco was elected pope.

198 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

132 This is catalogued as ‘Madonna and Child with Saint Dorothy and Another Saint, with a Border of Plants and Animals’. See Hind, A Catalogue of Early Italian Engravings, Plate 37; Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, 24, II, pp. 127–128. I wish to thank Dr. Dagmar Korbacher, Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, for photos and access to the original in Berlin. 133 Zucker, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch, S. 1162, S. 51q S. 1164, 1160–61. Van Straten, Iconclass Indexes, Vol 5/1: Schr. 1394, 1397, 1399, 1380, 1398b, 1395, 1396, 1404. 134 Scalabrini, Memorie Istoriche, pp. 154–155; Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, p. 392; Lombardi, Francescani II, pp. 9–62. The friars were transferred to the hospital of San Girolamo in 1512.The new convent in Via Montebello was begun in 1519, but unfinished for decades. The church was damaged severely in the 1570 earthquake, and only consecrated in 1596. 135 Lombardi, Francescani II, p. 46. He quotes Paolo Zerbinati’s eyewitness account, Ms. Cl. I.337, c.54b, 67a. BCAFe; see also, Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, p. 392. 136 Lombardi, Francescani II, pp. 103–123. The only extant fifteenth-century artworks from Santo Spirito are a Crucifix and Ecce Homo by Niccolò Baroncelli cited by Lombardi from Ragghianti’s unpublished inventory of 1947. 137 Rosenberg, ‘Per il Bene di nostra ciptà’, pp. 329–340; Tuohy, Herculean Ferrara, pp. 379–382. For Savonarola’s influence at Santa Maria degli Angeli, see Herzig, Savonarola’s Women, pp. 104–105, 130, 156. 138 ACDFe, Busta n. 9. The will was transcribed by Lombardi and contains other documents concerning the hospital of Sant’Anna in 1524, 1529, 1539, 1555, 1610, 1620, and 1625. 139 Ercole’s brother, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este (1509–72), maintained apartments in Corpus Christi, demonstrating a similar attachment to the site. 140 Lombardi, Francescani IV, p. 200.



Appendix I

‘Processo tenuto dal Consiglio marchionale in favore di Lucia Mascheroni’ (1426, 11 maggio–19 giugno). Inventory of Corpus Cristi, Ferrara, 8 July, 1426 Archivio Monastero femminili di Corpus Domini di Ferrara, Brevi e istrumenti di sommi pontefici e duchi riguardanti la Fondazione del monastero, pacco B. For the Latin document, see Samaritani, ‘Alisia de Baldo’, pp. 144–145. For textile terms, see the glossary/index in Bertoni & Vicini, ‘Il Castello di Ferrara’, pp. 169–192. 1. Item unum calicem magnum cum patena de argento aureato et cum bursa magna de panno auri cum campo viridi, foderato cenduli rubeo et fulcita cum corporalibus  A large chalice with paten of silver gilded with gold and a large corporal case of golden cloth with green field, lined with red satin and supported with padding and corporal. 2. Item unum calicem parvum cum patena de argento aureato com bursa veluti azurei com crucem in medio, foderato zendali azurri et fulcita cum corporalibus.  A small chalice with paten of gilded silver with a blue velvet corporal case with a cross in the center, lined with blue satin and supported with padding and corporal. 3. Item una bursam parvam de zendali rubeo cum cruce et fioretis albis in medio, foderatum de tela zana non fulcitam  A small corporal case of red satin with a cross and white flowers in the center, lined with linen canvas, not padded. 4. Item una bursam de zendali turchino utroque latere fulcitam cum corporalibus  A corporal case of turquoise satin on both sides supported with padding with corporal. 5. Item una planetam de zendali albo et azuro cum croce de zendali rubeo, foderato de tela azura cum stola et manipolo dictorum colorum, cum camiso fulcito zendali viride vergato et cum lamito fulcito et cum cordon.  A chasuble of white and blue satin with a cross of red satin, lined with blue linen with a stole and maniple of the same colours, with green satin camice lined with green satin and with a padded amice and cincture. 6. Item unam planetam de valessio albo foderato vallesio also grossiori, cum cruce de zendali rubeo habente cruce frixeti auri, cum stola e manipolo similiter factis, cum camisio fulcito zendali rubeo et lamito fulcito et cordono.  A chasuble of white silk lined with silk, with red satin cross which has gold fringe, with a stole and maniple to match, with a padded tunic with red satin and a padded amice and cincture. 7. Item unam planetam de zendali azuro veteram fractam, cum cruce panni azuri, foderatum zendali rubeo cum stola e manipulo de zendali nigro, cum crucetis

200 

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de serico rubeo foderato de tela nigra, cum camisio fulcito zendali nigro et cum lamito fulcito zendali nigro cum croce in medio et cum cordono.  A chasuble of blue satin of old construction, with cross of blue cloth, lined with red satin with a stole and maniple of black satin, with little crosses of red silk lined with black linen, with a camice lined with black satin and with amice lined with black satin with a cross in the middle and a cincture. 8. Item quatuor aurelia cum endemelis zendalis azuri vergati, cum pedibus de serico. Four halos or crowns with a lining of blue inlaid satin with silk at the foot. 9. Item unum aureale cum endemella zendalis rubei cum pedibus de serico viridi. A halo or crown with lining of red with green silk at the foot. 10. Item unum aureale cum endemella plurium pannorum et diversorum colorum, laborata cum acu, cum pedibus de serico viridi.  A halo or crown with lining of many cloths and different colours, worked with the needle, with green silk at the foot. 11. Item unum bravium ab altari di panno nigro laborato di serico et aliter cum listis de zendalis vergatis plurium colorum et ab uno latere cum lista de tela alba et foderatum de tele azura.  A pallium for the altar of black cloth worked in silk and another with narrow border of inlaid satin of many colours and on one side with narrow border of white linen and lined with blue linen. 12. Item unum bravium plurium pannorum ad mandulas cum ucelis laboratis super ipsis mandulas, cum una lista de tela alba et franzia de serico plurium colorum et com aliis listis zendalis rubei, foderatum tela rubea.  A pallium of many fabrics with lozenge shapes with birds worked over the lozenges, with a narrow border of white linen and fringe of many-coloured silks and with another narrow border of red satin, lined with red linen. 13. Item unum bravium de panno viridi vetus laboram, foderatam de tele azura vetere, cum una lista de tela alba.  A pallium of green cloth of antique craftsmanship, lined with old blue linen, with a narrow border of white linen. 14. Item unum bravium panni rosati et morelli ad intalios, foderatum de tela azura vetere, cum una lista de tela.  A pallium of pink and dark brown brocade cloth, lined with old blue linen with a linen narrow border. 15. Item unum bravium plurium pannorum laboratum cum auripello foderatum de tela azura, cum una lista de tela alba.  A pallium of several cloths worked with goldleaf, lined with blue linen with a narrow border of white linen. 16. Item unum bravium panni viridis et rubei foderatum do tela nigra, com franzia de serico plurium colorum circumcirca et cum lista de tele alba.

Appendix I

201

 A pallium of green and red cloth lined with black linen, with a fringe of multicoloured silks all around and with a narrow border of white linen. 17. Item tria mantilia nova oxelata ab altari. Three new altar-cloths with embroidered bird borders for the altar. 18. Item tria mantilia nova ab altari cum virgis. Three new altar-cloths with edging. 19. Item duo mantilia vetera ab altari. Two old altar cloths. 20. Item duas tovaleas novas oxelatas et unam veterem oxelatam.  Two new handcloths with embroidered borders and one old with embroidered border. 21. Item unam tavoleam novam cum virgis ab altari. A new handcloth with edging for the altar. 22. Item quatuor drapos cum virgis de serico, duos novos et duos veteres. Four hanging cloths with silk edging, two new ones and two old ones. 23. Item tres drapos novos cum virgis de bambaxio. Three new hanging cloths with edging of light cotton. 24. Item quatuor drapeselos a manibus ab altari. Four hand cloths for the altar. 25. Item sex drapos a cuperiendo cruces. Six cloths to cover the cross. 26. Item unum terribile et unam columbinam ab incense. A thurible censer and a container for incense. 27. Item unum bussulum ab ostiis. A box to contain the host. 28. Item tres duplerios cum fulcimentum de ligno pictis de rubeo Three dupleres with wooden support painted red. 29. Item duo candelabra magna ab altari. Two large candelabra for the altar. 30. Item unam anchonam cum reliquiis sanctorum. An altarpiece with saints’ relics. 31. Item duas cruces unam de argento et unam de ligno, pictam de rubeo cum reliquiis. Two crosses, one silver cross and one wooden, painted red with relics. 32. Item unum cristalum pro reponendo Corpus Christi in modum [viatici] cum cuperchio cristallino.  A crystal container to display the Corpus Christi like a viaticum with a crystal cover. 33. Item duo censederia de broncio. Two bronze censers.

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34. Item duos anchonas veteres ab altari. Two old wooden panel paintings for the altar. 35. Item unum crucifixum de ligno vetus. A crucifix of ancient wood. 36. Item unum puarellum de ligno vestitum in modum zaghi de zendali plurium colorum, cum suis fulcitmentis.  A child [bambino] of wood, dressed in a pieced style with multi-coloured satins, with its lining/support. 37. Item unum drapum magnum cum tribus virgis de bambaxio oxelatum. A large cloth with three borders of cotton embroidered birds. 38. Item unum banchum a duobis coltis et unum mortale marmoreum ab aqua sancta. A wooden stand with two sides and a marble cup for Holy Water. 39. Item unam campanam et unum campanellum. A large bell and a small bell. ‘Ego Johannes fq. Ser Antonio de Fiesso imperiali autoritate notaries publicus Ferrarie suprascriptis omnibus et singulis dum eu supra predictiture agerentur presens fui et rogatus scriber scripsi subscripsi.’



Appendix II

Demographic Growth of Corpus Christi 1430–c.1500 Date Entered

Name

Age Birth ProDate fessed

1407

Bernardina Sedazzari

never

1425

Alisia de Giovanni di Baldo Founder of Sant’Agostino Lucia Mascheroni Taddea ‘di Marco Pio da Carpi’ (Abbess) Luchina di Verde Pio da Carpi Francesca de Franza ‘delle sore vennero di fora del 1430’ Caterina de’Vegri/Vigri Illuminata Bembo Giovanna Lambertini Anna Morandi da Ravenna Samaritana Superbi Pacifica Barbieri Maddalena Malatesta (Abbess) Anselisiam de Verona

1430

1408 1426

1430 1432 1430 1433 1433 1433 1433 1433 1434 1434 1434

Bonaventura de Tridento Annam de Furlivio

1434

Doroteam de Mutina

–

pre1375 pre1400 1404 1390s

–

19

19

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life 1425 c.50 – 1461 1477 1452

c.35 73 50s

– 30

50

32 61 43 50

1430s?

1413

1414

1463 1493 1476 1483 1459 1459 1490 pre1460 pre1460 pre1460 pre1460

76

26 26 57

204 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Date Entered

Name

1434

Iacobam de Verona

1434

Claram de Mantua

1434

Petram de Verona

1434

Agnolam de Ferraria

1434 1434

Antoniam de Ferraria 3 Malgaritam de Mantua

1434

Philippam de Mantua

1434

Bartholomeam de Furlivio Helena de Rodea Michaela de Ferrara Gigliola de Gambolaga Costanza de Ferrara Margherita (Broda) de Ferrara Elisabetta de Ferrara Franceschina da Cremona Pellegrina Lionari Bernardina di Fra Polo dalla Calcina Anastasia Calcina Andrea Calcina Serifica Danzi (velo 24 bianco) Paola Mezzavacca Andrea da Cremona Eugenia Barbieri da Bologna

1435–1447 1430–1447 1430–1447 1430–1447 1430–1447 1430–1447 1430–1447 1435 1435 1438 1438 1438 1439 1439 1446

Age Birth ProDate fessed

1414

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life pre1460 pre1460 pre1460 pre1460 1437 pre1460 pre1460 pre1460

1490 1490

55

1482 1482 1480

44 44 42

1482 1482 1470

66

43 43 37

205

Appendix II

Date Entered

Name

1446

Leonarda Campeggi 21 Ordelaffi (Abbess) Gabriella Mezzavacca [39 nuns documented] Polonia de Ferrara Pelacita de Ferrara Justina de Ferrara Nastagia de Bologna Eugenia de Forli Eufrasia de Mutina Battista de Perusio Stefania de Ferrara Jacoba de Cremona Angelina de Bologna Domicilla de Ferrara Vincentia de Lendinara Victoria de Ferrara Seraphina de Ferrara Marcella de Cremona Alexandra de Cremona Aurea de Ferrara Maurelia de Ferrara Theodosia de Ferrara Laurentia de Cremona Felice de Cremona Servadei de Ferrara Cherubina de Carpi Consalva de Bologna Gigliolina de Cremona Concordia de Forli Ipolita de Cremona Clara da Reggio Beatrix de Ferrara Agnes de Venezia

1447 1447 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455

Age Birth ProDate fessed 1425

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life 1496 71 50 1473

26

206 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Date Entered

Name

1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455

Lucia de Parma Cecelia de Parma Benedicta de Casalimajori Marta da Parma Philippa da Parma Theodora da Cremona Prudentia de Ferrara Archangela de Ferrara Libera de Ferrara Silvia Foligati (velo 21 nero) Chiara Maria Fabri 21 (velo nero) Terarzia Orlandi (velo 19 bianco) Modesta degli Argenti da Ferrara Cornelia de Ferrara Timotea de Ferrara Egilia de Ferrara Rufina de Ferrara Gratia de Ferrara Simona de Ferrara Lucinda de Ferrara Leona de Ferrara Nicolosa de Ferrara Candida de Ferrara Filippa da Parma (da Ferrara) Innocentia degli Amichini da Ferrara [105 nuns documented]

1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1447–1455 1448 1448 1452 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455 1455

Age Birth ProDate fessed

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life

1427

1491

64

43

1427

1486

59

38

1433

1501

68

49

1490

35

1483

28

1493

38

207

Appendix II

Date Entered

Name

1456

Benevenuta de’ Vegri (Third Order— Caterina Vigri’s mother) Maria Margarita Mattei (velo nero) Lucida Fava (velo nero) Chiara Ceve (velo nero) Maria Aloisia Leprini (velo nero) Cleopatra Varani (Abbess) Francesca Foglia (velo bianco) Orsola Ponti Violanta Serifica Malatesta da Cesena (Abbess) Maria Virginia Merendi Maria Angelica Bonacossi Virginia Felice (velo nero) Maria Antonia (velo nero) Giuglia Balbi (conversa) [130 nuns documented] Valeriana Balducci (velo nero) Angiola Camilla Villa (Abbess) Fulvia Ronchetti (velo nero)

1456 1458 1459 1459 1460 1461 1464 1465 1465 1467 1468 1473 1473 1475 1479 1480 1480

Age Birth ProDate fessed

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life 1463 7

17

1439

1496

57

40

18 24 18

1440 1435 1441

1487 1497 1515

47 62 74

29 38 56

23

1443

1499

56

39

23

1438

1524

86

63

53 35

1411 1430

1496 1493

85 63

32 28

16 19

1449 1448

1482 1477

33 29

17 10

17

1451

1511

60

43

17

1456

1500

44

27

25

1448

1523

75

50

21

1458

1507

49

28

19

1461

1528

67

48

17

1463

1531

68

51

208 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Date Entered

Name

Age Birth ProDate fessed

1481 1482

Lucrezia Zambeccari Mosiclena Bandi (velo nero) Maria Teresa Rangoni (Abbess) Francesca Foglia (velo bianco) Virginia Paluani (velo nero) Clemenza Novelli (Abbess) Matilda Bonati (velo nero) Fortunata Petrucci (velo nero) Adelaide Mosti (Abbess) Lucida dalle Calce (Abbess) Alessandra Brasavoli (velo nero) [142 residents documented] Ottavia Mazzotti (velo bianco) Eugenia Naonali (velo nero) Bevenia Fogliani Agostina Franzi (velo bianco) Eufrosina Codigori (velo nero) Innocenza Pallavicini (Abbess)

16 22

1465 1460

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life 1540 75 59 1522 62 40

21

1462

1542

80

59

23

1460

1546

86

63

17

1466

1524

58

41

18

1466

1534

68

50

16

1469

1535

66

50

19

1467

1500

33

14

19

1468

1533

65

46

16

1471

1545

74

58

19

1468

1540

72

53

22

1466

1508

42

20

21

1467

1539

72

51

18 23

1472 1468

1544 1530

72 62

54 39

17

1476

1522

46

29

18

1463

1539

76

58

1483 1483 1483 1484 1485 1486 1487 1487 1487 1487 1488 1488 1490 1491 1493 1495

209

Appendix II

Date Entered

Name

1497

Gabriella Malchiavelli 17 (Abbess) Anangela Ancellotti 17 Marta Bartolucci (velo 22 bianco)

1498 1500

Age Birth ProDate fessed 1480

Death Age at Yrs of Date Death Religious Life 1546 66 49

1481 1478

1548 1548

67 70

50 48

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Bologna Archivio di Stato (ASBo)

Cod. Min. n.63, Aggregazione e Figlioanza delle monache … 20 July, 1472. Corp. Religiose, Corpus Domini, 105/2127 Copie Bolle de Ferrara. Corp. Religiose, Corpus Domini, 1/1126. Corp. Religiose, Corpus Domini, I43/1268. Corp. Religiose, Corpus Domini 220/2127.

Archivio Generale Arcivescovile, Archivio della beata Caterina (AGABo) Cart. 13 n.1 Lodi e Devozione (sixteenth-century copies). Cart. 21 n.2. Liste di Spese per l’altare della santa. Cart. 23 n.1/5.Vitae Santa Caterina/printed Sette Armi Spirituali. Cart. 25 n.1. Devozioni, Lodi altre cose diverse spirituali. Cart. 25 n.2. Devozioni, Lodi e altre cose. Cart. 26 n.1. Le Sette Armi Spirituali. Cart. 28 n.1. Lode Spirituali e Regola S. Gerolamo. Cart. 28 n.2. Viaggio Spirituale del meditazione nell’andare del spasso. Cart. 28 n.3. Meditazione e Regole per la Practica della Virtù. Cart. 29 n.1/2. Angela da Foligno e altre cose. Cart. 34.7. Modo che si tiene per conservare il vero spiritualismo. Cart. 35 n.2/3/4. Orazioni e Salmi, Laudi Spirituali, Psalterio Paola Mezzatesta. Cart. 36 n.4 Viaggio e Felice Ingresso Caterina in Bologna. Cart. 37.1. Notizie del Convento.

Biblioteca Comunale Archiginnasio (BCABo)

Cod. B.269 Avvertimenti della S. Madre Catterina da Bologna. Cod. B.369 Modo di stare alla Santa Messa della Nostra Santa Caterina. Cod. B.1051 Le Sette Armi Spirituali. Cod. B.1444 Liber Civicae Salutis, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti. Cod. B.3147 Ginevra delle Clare donne, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti. Cod. B.3606 Vita di Beata Caterina da Bologna, Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti. Cod. B.4009 Estratti de Varie Cronache Monastero di Corpo di Cristo, Bologna. Serie di Varie Immagini di Maria SS.Madre del Divin Redentore che si venerano in Bologna …, 1771 (print album).

212 

Women, Art and Observant Franciscan Piety

Biblioteca Universitària (BUBo)

Ms. Cod. Ital. 1493 Sette Armi Spirituali. Ms. Cod. Ital. 2890 Sette Armi Spirituali. Ms. Cod. Ital. 337 Breviary. Ms. Cod. Ital. 4019 [Ms. Bol. Univ. 4019] Laude.

Archivio del Convento di Corpus Domini (ACDBo)

Libro K. 11.1 Inventario delle cose per la Cappella del Santissimo Corpo. Memoriale del Convento, Sr. Clemenza Bordella, 1559–79. Ms. Breviario di S. Caterina, Caterina Vigri, 1452. Ms. Lo Specchio di Illuminazione, Illuminata Bembo, 1469. Ms. Setti Armi Spirituali, Caterina Vigri, 1438–52. Varie Memorie del Monastero del Corpus Domini, Sr. Elisabetta Bordocchi, 1702.

Ferrara Archivio del Convento di Corpus Domini (ACDFe)

Busta 5 (Old#G) Atti, Denuncie, Memorie Monache; Licenza allungare la chiesa. Busta 8 Raccolta di stampe e immagini antiche (1700s). Busta 9 Opuscolo Regola II delle monache di S. Chiara, lettere, S. Anna (1500s). Busta 10 (Old#B) Vecchie Indulti e permessi, Inventario e Repertorio delle Suore del Monastero 1577 (alphabetical index A-G), Brevi papali. Busta 11 Memorie del Convento di San Guglielmo, Inventorio dell’architettura del monastero come era prima delle soppressioni 1798; Raccolta Soppressioni Napoleoniche (Quello che esiste nel monastero dopo la partenza delle Madri 23 ottobre 1800); Memoria famosa incendio 1665; Libri e Memorie (quadretto dell BVM di San Giacomo della Marca 1476). Busta 15 Manoscritti riguardanti il monastero Corpus Domini. Busta 16 Estratto di ricerca architectonica Corpus Domine e Casa Romei, restauro del Coro, la facciata della chiesa. Busta 19 (old #A) Miscellanea Francescana del Sec. XV (1466), Copie di Bolle Pontifice; Regole delle Clarisse Clement VI, Regola di S. Chiara compliata da S. Giovanni Capistrano (2), Necrologia dal 1460–1898; Regola del Terz’Ordine in volgare stabilito da Papa Niccolò. Busta 25 (old #A) Testamento Bernardini da Sedazzari; Bolle Pontificiali, Decreti Niccolò III d’Este; memoria Lucia Mascaroni, copia della conferma della Fondazione del Corpus Domini, Mantova. Inventario di Corpus Domini, Ferrara, Soprintendenza delle Belli Arti, 1997/98.

Archivio Storico Diocesano (ASDFe)

Fondo Moniale, Corpus Domini, Catasto I (1520). Fondo Moniale, Corpus Domini 2/8 San Ludovico. Fondo Moniale, Corpus Domini 2/11 San Niccolò Martire. Fondo Moniale, Corpus Domini 2/13 San Pietro di Ancona. Fondo Moniale, Corpus Domini, Pergamena Filza #3. Fondo Moniale, Corpus Domini, Cattastri 1 (1520–1604). Fondo Moniale, Registro delle Licenze I (1590); II (1595). Fondo Moniale, San Guglielmo. Indice generale chronologico di tutte le scritture nell’archivio delle Rev. Madri di San Guglielmo, 1739.

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Fondo Moniale, San Guglielmo. Filza M 2/26 Inventory of Possessions, 1412. Fondo Visite Pastorali, 27 (1630), 32 A (1646), 42A (1693), 43 (1694).

Archivio di Stato (ASFe)

Archivio Notarile Antico, Protocollo 1442, Giacomo Meleghini, matr. 72. Archivio Notarile Antico, Protocollo 1480–1481, Evangelista Massari, matr. 213. Archivio Notarile Antico, Protocollo 1483, Jacobo Vicenzi, matr. 177. Archivio Notarile Antico, Protocollo 1501 (III), Carlo Contughi, matr. 363. Archivio Periti, Busta 297 Gaetano Frizzi, Plan of the ‘Isola Clarissa’.

Bibliotecta Comunale Ariostea (BCAFe)

Ms. Cl.I.26, It. 1766 Descrizione della Santa Chiesa metropolitana di Ferrara. Ms. Cl.I.337 Giovanni Andrea Barotti, Ragioni della Casa d’Este sopra di Ferrara. Ms. Cl.I.354 Sette Armi Spirituali. Ms. Cl.I.356 Sette Armi Spirituali. Ms. Cl.I.432 Scalabrini, Memorie istoriche. Ms. XVI.64 Aleotti plan of Ferrara, 1600.

Florence Biblioteca Riccardiana (BRFi) Ricc. 1725 Sette Armi Spirituali.

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (BNCFi)

Con. Sopp. B.II.1370 Sette Armi Spirituali, SS. Annunciata, Firenze. Con. Sopp. C.II.299 Sette Armi Spirituali. Lindau-Finaly Ms.1975–2040 Sette Armi Spirituali, Monteluce. Ms. Pal. E.6.4.97, ‘Incomenza uno libretto composto da una beata religiosa del corpo di christo sore Caterina da Bologna’.

London British Library (BLLo)

Ms. Add. 10767 Opera Devozionale Sette Armi, Lucia Mascaroni. Ms. Add. 15710 Fioretti di San Francesco, Sibylla von Bondorff. Ms. Add. 28025 Office book, Duomo di Ferrara, c.1400.

Oxford Bodleian Library (BLOx)

Ms. Canon. It.134 Sette Armi Spirituali & Dodici Giardini. Ms. Ital.34 Boccaccio, Le Clare Donne.

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Mantua Archivio di Stato (ASMa)

Archivio Gonzaga Busta 1184. Archivio Gonzaga Busta 1185, n.243. Archivio Gonzaga Busta 1242, n.419. Archivio Gonzaga Busta 1242, n.43. Archivio Gonzaga Busta 409-A, 409-B, 410-A.

Milan Biblioteca Ambrosiana (BAMi) Y.46 Sup. Lat. Specchio dell’ Illuminazione & Sette Armi Spirituali.

Archivio di Stato (ASMi)

Fondo di Religione, Ms. 4523 Corpus Domini, Cremona. Potenze Sovrane, Bianca Maria, cart. 803.

Modena Biblioteca Estense Universitària (BEUMo)

Ms. Epsilon.H.7.38 Sette Armi Spirituali. Ms. Epsilon.23.2.17 Libro di Legati, Monastero di Corpus Domini, Ferrara. Ms. Gamma.G.3.4 Lezenda Grande Fioretti San Francesco, 1488. Ms. Gamma.H.7.34 Rivelazione della B. Caterina alla B. Giulia da Milano. Ms. Gamma.H.7.35 Rivelazione della B. Caterina alla B. Giulia da Milano. Ms. Gamma.H.7.36 Rivelazione della B. Caterina alla B. Giulia da Milano. Ms. Gamma.O.6.15 Ricettario di Suor Lucia, 1485. Ms. Gamma.T.6.10 Miscelleanea Sant’Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara. Ms. Lat.1359 = beta 43.1 Testament of Polissena d’Este, 1504. Ms. Lat.V.G.II Brevario di Ercole I D’Este, c.1450.

Archivio di Stato (ASMo)

Camera Ducale Diversi, 87, Intrata e Spese 1471. Camera Ducale Estense, Amministrazione e Principi, B Non-regnanti, Eleonora d’Aragona, Reg. 633 (Debitori e Creditori 1485–91). Camera Ducale Estense, Amministrazione e Principi, Guardaroba, 633. Camera Ducale Estense, Amministrazione e Principi, Guardaroba, 637. Camera Ducale Estense, Amministrazione e Principi, Guardaroba, 638. Camera Ducale Estense, Amministrazione e Principi, 30. Camera Ducale, Leggi e Decrete B, IV, Nicolo III 1419–41. Camera Ducale Estense, Libri e carte d’amministrazione patrimoniale dei principi: Eleonora d’Aragona, 638. Cancelleria Marchionale, Carteggio dei referendari, consiglieri, cancellelieri e segretari, 1454–55, Busta 2/A. Carte Diplomatiche, LD, 4, Libro di entrata e spesa, 1434. Casa e Stato, 131,132, 376.

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Perugia Biblioteca Comunale Augusta (BCAPe)

Ms. 1019 Tractato de Sancto Bernardo sopra il Vangelo & Tract. Dela beata Chaterina de Bologna. Ms. 1176 Libro de Beata Angela da Fuligno & Trattatello de la beata Caterina. Ms. 1199 Vita sanctis vergine Clara de Montefalco.

Philadelphia, PA University of Pennsylvania Library (UPPh) Ms. 241 Miscellanea, Le Setti Armi Spirituali.

Printed Primary Sources and Historical Fonts

Angela of Foligno, ed. Sergio Andreoli. Il Libro della beata Angela da Foligno (Anesello Balsamo, MI: Editrice Paolina, 1990). Arienti, Giovanni Sabadino degli. Gynevra de le Clare Donne, ed. Corrado Ricci and A. Bacchi della Lega (Bologna: Presso Romagnoli-dall’Aqua, 1888). Arienti, Giovanni Sabadino degli. Art and life at the court of Ercole I d’Este: the De triumphis religionis of Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, ed. Werner Gundersheimer (Geneva: Droz, 1972). Bartholomeus Pisanus. ‘Liber de conformitate vitae beati Fransicis ad vitam domini Jesu’, Analecta Franciscana 4–5 (1906–12). Bartolomeo da Riccoboni. Life and Death in a Venetian Convent: The Chronicle and Necrology of Corpus Domini, 1395–1436, ed. and trans. Daniel Bornstein (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). Barotti, Cesare. Pitture e sculture che si trovano nelle chiese, luoghi publici e sobborghi della Città di Ferrra (Ferrara, 1770; reprint, Bologna: Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1977). Baruffaldi, Girolamo. Dell’istoria di Ferrara di Dott. G. Baruffaldi in 9 volumi (Ferrara, 1700). Baruffaldi, Girolamo. Vita della Beata Caterina da Bologna (Ferrara,1708). Baruffaldi, Girolamo. Vite de’ Pittori e scultori ferraresi, 2 vols (reprint Ferrara, 1844–46). Battista da Varano, Camilla. Le Opere Spirituali, ed. Giacomo Boccanera (Iesi: Scuola Tipografica ­Francescana, 1958). Battista da Varano, Camilla. The Mental Sorrows of Jesus Christ, trans. Joseph Berrigan (Saskatoon, SK: ­Peregrina, 1986). Bembo, Illuminata. Specchio di Illuminazione, ed. Silvia Mostaccio (Florence: Sismel Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2001). Bernardino of Siena. S. Bernardini Senesis Opera Omnia, 9 vols (Quarachi: Collegium S. Bonaventurae, 1950–65).

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Bertoni, Giulio, and Emilio Vicini (eds.). ‘Il Castello di Ferrara ai Tempi di Niccolò III’ [Inventorio dei beni mobili 1436], Documenti e Studi di R. Deputazione di Storia di Patria per le provincie di Romagna III (1909), pp. 1–198. Bonaventure. De Perfectione Vitae ad Sorores, in S. Bonaventure, Opera Omnia VIII (Roma, 1898), pp. 107–127. Borsetti, Andrea. Supplemento al Compendio historico delle chiese di Ferrara di Marc’Antonio Guarini (Ferrara, 1670). Borsetti, Franco. Historia Almi Ferrariae Gimnasii (Ferrara, 1735). Brisighella, Carlo. Descrizione delle pitture e sculture della Città di Ferrara di Carlo Brisighella (1704–35), ed. Maria Angela Novelli (Ferrara: Spazio Libri Editori, 1991). Bughetti, Fra Beneventus. ‘Codices duo florentini archivi nationalis Clarissan spectantes’, Archivum francescanum historicum VI (1913), pp. 91–117. Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts in the British Museum, London, 1836–1840 (London: Trustees of the ­British Museum, 1850–1967). Chronica Parva Ferrariensis, in Rerum italicarum scriptores VIII, ed. Riccobalda da Ferrara, coll. 473–88. Cittadella, Cesare. Catalogo historico de’ pittori e scultori ferraresi, 4 vols (Ferrara: F. Pomatelli, 1782–83). Cittadella, Luigi Napoleone. Notizie relative a Ferrara per la maggiore parte inedite (Ferrara, 1864). Clare of Assisi. Clare of Assisi: Early Documents, ed. Regis J. Armstrong (Saint Bonaventure University, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 1993). Demore, François. La Vie de sainte Claire d’Assise (Paris: A. Bray, 1856). Francesca Romana. Il dialetto romanesco del Quattrocento: il manoscritto quattrocentesco di G. Mattiotti narra i tempi, i personaggi, le “visioni” di Santa Francesca Romana, compatrona di Roma, ed. Giorgio Carpaneto (Rome: Nuova Editrice Spada, 1995). Francesca Romana. Tractati della vita et delli visioni di santa Francesca Romana: testo redatto da Ianni Mattiotti, confessore della santa, in volgare romanesco della prima metà del secolo XV, ed. Renata Incarbone Giornetti (Rome: Aracne, 2014). Francheschini, Adriano, Artisti a Ferrara in età umanistica e rinascimentale. Testimonianze archivistiche, I: Dal 1341 al 1471 (Ferrara: Gabriele Corbo Editore, 1993). Francheschini, Adriano, Artisti a Ferrara in età umanistica e rinascimentale. Testimonianze archivistiche, II: Dal 1472 al 1492 (Rome/Ferrara: Gabriele Corbo Editore, Cassa di Risparmio, 1995). Francheschini, Adriano, Artisti a Ferrara in età umanistica e rinascimentale.Testimonianze archivistiche, III: Dal 1493 al 1516 (Ferrara: Gabriele Corbo Editore, 1997). Frizzi, Antonio. Memorie per la storia di Ferrara [1787] (Servadio, 1848; reprint, Ferrara: Pomatelli, 1982). Guarini, Marc Antonio. Compendio historico dell’origine, accrescimento e prerogative delle Chiese e luoghi pie della Città (Ferrara: Eredi V. Baldini, 1621). John of Capistrano. ‘Explicatio Primae Regulae S. Clarae auctore S. Ioanne Capistratensis (1445)’, ed. Donatus Van Adrichem, Archivum Franciscanum Historicum 22 (1929), pp. 337–357, 512–529. Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe: An Abridged Translation (Woodbridge, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer, 2003). Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe, ed. Barry Windeatt (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2004). Litta, Pompe. Famiglie Celebri, 11 volumes (Milano: Tip. del dottore G. Ferrario, 1819–1885). Luchino dal Campo, ed. Caterina Brandoli. Viaggio del Marchese Niccolò III d’Este in Terrasanta 1413 (Florence: Olschki, 2011). Mariano da Firenze. Libro delle dignità et excellentiae del ordine della seraphica madre delle povere donne Sanctae Chiara da Assisi, ed. P.G. Boccali (Assisi: Porziuncula, 1986). Masini, Antonio di Paolo. Bologna Perlustrata Ill. Impresa in cui si fa mentione delle funtioni sacre e profane di tutte l’anno, delle chiese e loro fondationi, feste, ecc. [1666] (Bologna: Tipi Gamberini e Parmigiani, 1823). Neri di Bicci, ed. Bruno Santi. Le Ricordanze 10 Marzo 1453–24 Aprile 1475 (Pisa: Edizioni Marlin, 1976). Osio, Luigi. Documenti Diplomatici tratti dagli archivi Milanesi, 3 vols (Milano: Tip. ei G. Bernardoni di Giovanni, 1864–72). Pardi, Giuseppe, ed. ‘Diario Ferrarese dall’anno 1409 sino al 1502 di autori incerti’, RIS 2, XXIV/7 (Bologna: 1928–37).

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Index Italicized page numbers indicate figures. Page numbers with letter n indicate notes. Adoration of the Host (Corpus Christi lost altarpiece); description of, 63–65, 173n96; fifteenth-century northern art and, 65; gifted to the nuns, 57; Poor Clares’ private devotions and, 41–42, 63 Agnes of Bohemia, Saint, 57; Malines figurine of, 146–147, 197nn125–127 Ailisia de Baldo (Augustinian nun); as agent of change, 160n36; as Corpus Christi resident, 26; departure from pinzochere house, 41; founding Augustinian convent, 23; power struggle with Lucia Mascheroni, 27 Albergati, Niccolò (Bishop of Bologna), 25–26 Albert of Sarteano, 56, 70 Alberti, Antonio, 58; Madonna and Child, 136, 194n68 Alberti, Galasso, 58 Alberti, Leon Battista, 87 Alexander IV, Pope, 42, 108 Alidosi, Ludovico (Luigi) of Imola, 37–38, 68 altarpieces; ancona (altarpiece) with saints relics, 30; at Corpus Christi, Ferrara after 1447, 41–42; gifts to Corpus Christi, Ferrara of, 57; in pinzochere inventory, 30; for San Guglielmo, 144–145; themes, other Poor Clares’ convents and, 64–65. See also specific altarpieces Andrea di Anzelino (Ferrarese stationer), 91 Andreae, Johannes; Liber de laudibus S. Hieronymi, 111 Andriola de Barrachis (Abbess, nun-artist); Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels and Nuns, 183n20 Angela of Foligno; Liber Vitae, 145 Angelico, Beato (Fra), 180n92; Coronation of the Virgin, 177n52; Deposition, 58 Angelina of Montegiove, 23 Anjou, Robert d’, King of Naples, 54 Anthony Abbot, Saint, 80, 105–106 Anthony of Padua, Saint; in Entombment of Christ, 58, 59–60, 61, 62, 172n79; in Vigri’s breviary, 105–106, 107 Anthony of Vienne, Saint, 77–78, 180n93 Antonia di Paolo di Dono (Carmelite nun-artist), 87; Monacazione di Membri della Vecchietti Famiglia, 181n3 Antonio da Casteldurante, 73 Antonio de’ Costabili, 145 Aquila, Poor Clare convent at, 39 Aragona, Alfonso V d’, 69 Aragona, Eleanora d’; art patronage and collection, 196n103, 196nn106–107; Casa Romei legal issues and, 135; death, burial, and bequest to Corpus Christi, 140–141, 151, 152; Giovanni Romei and, 134; polyptych for Corpus Christi and, 143–144; Poor Clares of Corpus Christi and, 18, 119; Sette Armi Spirituali copies of, 139–140; withdrawal for meditation, 140, 194n74 Aragona, Isabella Chiaramonte d’, 139 Aragona, Maria d’, 70, 151 Arezzo, Jacopino d’, 71

Arienti, Giovanni Sabadino degli, 72, 174n7, 176n41 arte povera (Poor Clares), 88, 182n8 Assisi; San Damiano, crucifix that spoke to Saint Francis from, 82; San Francesco, Allegory of Obedience, 78; Santa Chiara, frescoes of Virgin Mary and Christ child, 84, 180n90 Augustine, Saint, 73, 75, 81, 178n60 Baldini, Baccio; Saint Anthony Abbot with Eleven Scenes of His Life, 80, 180n94 Baptism of Christ (from Bruges), 119 Baptista di Rainaldo, at Casa Romei, 135 Barbara, Saint, Malines figurine of, 146–147, 147, 197nn125–127 Barbieri family of Bologna; Eugenia, 174n19; Pacifica, 68, 69, 174n8 Barbo, Ludovico, Abbot, 74, 179n73 Baroncelli, Niccolò; Crucifix, Santo Spirito, 198n136; Ecce Homo, 198n136 Baronio, Francesca (Poor Clare nun), 133 Bartolomeo della Mella, 25, 38 Baruffaldi, Girolamo, 23, 162n67 Beatrice di Rizzardo VI da Camino, 43–44, 175n20 Beguines. See pinzochere Bembo, Illuminata (Poor Clare nun); brother Andrea Bembo, 174n9; description of Vigri’s father, 72; following Vigri to Bologna, 174n8; Ms. W.342 codex attributed to, 125–126; original cohort at Corpus Christi and, 68, 175n20; Specchio di Illuminazione, 20, 70, 75, 120, 164n97, 191n24; on Vigri as nurse and healer, 37; on Vigri painting Christ, 99; on Vigri weeping while copying, 106, 183n24; on Vigri’s art as mystical experience, 90; Vigri’s face on disinterment, 123; on Vigri’s painted images on convent walls, 52; on Vigri’s standards for breviaries, 89 Bentivoglio, Annibale, 70 Benventuo dagli Ordini, Pietro, 134 Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint, 75, 182n17; Apologia (1124), 89 Bernardino da Venezia, 144 Bernardino of Siena, Saint; analytical style of thinking by, 76; Commemoration, in Vigri’s breviary, 93, 105, 118; Corpus Christi celebration of feast of, 119; Corpus Christi devotion to, 18, 120, 189n7; in Entombment of Christ, 42, 58, 60, 61–62, 62, 172n79; influence on Vigri, 75, 102, 113, 188n84; as inspiration for Paolo Malatesta Gonzaga, 38; laud to, Man of Sorrows drawing and, 114–115, 188n90; on literacy for friars, 74; Lucrezia Borgia and, 143; on personal contact with Vigri, 189n4; requested as bishop of Ferrara, 166n112; on rule of poverty, 56; on Saint Joseph, 95; tablets of the Holy Name and, 32 Bernardo di Domenico Carniero (Ferrarese stationer), 91

238  Bessarion, Johannes, Cardinal, 45 bizzoche. See pinzochere Body of Christ, 18, 30, 41, 57, 60, 64, 97, 103, 141, 153–154. See also Adoration of the Host Boiardi, Laura (Poor Clare nun), 142, 143, 145 Boiardi, Pietro (Bishop of Ferrara), 23–24, 25, 27, 74, 162n66 Bologna Confraternity of Santa Maria de’ Servi and San Biagio, 85–86 Corpus Domini: architecture, 46; artworks, 35, 35, 83, 83, 84, 84, 184n36; breviary of Caterina Vigri (Saint Catherine of Bologna), 87–114; chronicle or memoriale, 74, 164n95, 174; documents from Ferrara, 162n61; establishment of, 18, 53, 132–133; Gesù Bambino in, 35, 35, 163n87, 163n89; jewelled crown gifted to, 139; library, 74, 106; Lodi Spirituali e Regola di San Girolamo, 110; Mandato di Procura, 174–175nn18–19, 192n40; nuns from Corpus Christi, 70Sette Armi Spirituali (See Bembo, Illuminata); Vigri’s furniture in, 56; Vigri’s inventory of documents at, 74–75, 178n70 San Cristoforo, 46 Bonaventure, Saint, 115; Legenda Maior, 75, 113 Bono da Ferrara, 58, 111 Borgia, Camilla (San Bernardino abbess), 143 Borgia, Lucrezia; burial at Corpus Christi, 151, 152; foundation of San Bernardino, 143, 159n14; as Franciscan tertiary, 93, 142, 195n90; patronage of Corpus Christi, 18, 119, 120, 141; piety of, 142, 195n90, 195n92, 195n98 breviaries; decoration of, 93–94, 184n33; International Gothic illuminated, 89; sharing and oral reading of, 90 Breviary of Caterina Vigri; aesthetic philosophy and drawing for devotion, 89–90; Anthony Abbot, 106; Anthony of Padua, 106; Apostle Paul, 102; Beguine influence, 184n38; Catherine of Alexandria, 114; Christ faces and bust images in, 103, 118, 185n54; Clare, 107–109; colophon and signatures, 93–94, 104, 105; Commemorations, 104–105; corporal design and Eucharistic symbolism, 96–97; Francis, 111–114; Hymnarium, 93; Infant Christ Child, 99–100, 99; Jerome, 109–111; Kalendar, source of, 94–95, 117, 184n35; Mary Magdalen, 106; materials and suppliers, 91; needlework, 91–92, 96–97; psalter, 92–93, 95, 96–97, 117, 185n54; relationships of text/ image/rubrics of, 117–118; rubric and personalizing the text, 64, 87, 99, 103–104, 182n11; Sanctorale (Proper of Saints), 93, 105–114; swaddled Christ Child, 99–100, 185nn46–47; Temporale (Proper of Seasons), 92, 97–105; Thomas Becket, 101; word initials, 93, 93, 94, 97, 111, 112, 113 Bridget of Sweden, Saint, 75, 179n79 brocade (brocato) textiles, 28 Bruni, Leonardo, 73 Buetler, Magdalena (German mystic), 181n2 Buscetti, Alessandra (Abbess), 91 Busseto, Parma, Observant friars in, 133 Calcina family, 133; Anastasia della, 133, 174n19; Andrea della, 133, 174n19; Bernardina (widow of Paolo), 69, 133; Paolo della, 69

Index

Callisto III, Pope, 70 Camerino, Poor Clares in, 38 Cantelma, Margherita, 145 canvas vestments, church inventories of, 28 Cappello, Guglielmo, da Auletta, 53, 73, 75, 91, 178n58 Capranica, Angelo (Cardinal Legate), 139 Carpi; Emilian crucifixes from, 82; nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 70; Santa Chiara, altarpiece at, 64–65, 65 Casalmaggiore, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 70 Casella, Ludovico, 17 Catherine of Alexandria, Saint, 113–114, 114 Catherine of Bologna. See Vigri, Caterina Cavalca, Domenico; Specchio dello Mondizio del Cuore, 121; Vitae Santi, 106; Vite dei Santi Padri, 75, 132, 192n36 Chagnacino (Cagnacino) family, Ferrara, 72, 176n45 Christian materiality, pinzochere and, 32 Clare, Saint (Clare of Assisi); in Adoration of the Host at Corpus Christi, 63, 64; Clare’s Form of Life, 46; in Entombment of Christ at Corpus Christi, 57, 58, 60–61; holding a book, 172n80; images on Corpus Christi document box, 53–54, 54; miracle of defeating the Saracens, 60, 64; needlework by, 92; Pope Urban IV and, 42; as Protector of the Poor Clares, 128, 131–132, 131; in Vigri’s breviary, 88, 103, 106–109, 118; vision of Tree of the Cross rising from Virgin Mary’s body, 33–34 Clare’s Rule, Pope Innocent IV on Saint Francis and, 41 Clement VI, Pope, 55, 191n28 Codigoro, Eufrosina (Poor Clare nun), 147–148 Communion, for Poor Clares, 55 confession, by Poor Clares, 55 convents, as aristocratic boarding schools, 137 Cossa, Francesco del, 63, 64 Costa, Lorenzo, 144 Costabili Collection, Ferrara; Costabili, Giambattista, 20; Entombment of Christ (Corpus Christi altarpiece) to, 58; fifteenth-century works from, 21; Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, 111, 187n81; sale of artworks from Corpus Christi (Corpus Domini), 32–33 Council of Basel ( 1436), 75 Cremona; Corpus Domini/Santa Chiara Novella, 70, 166n117; nuns from Corpus Christi, Ferrara, 70; Poor Clare convent at, 39, 53, 132–133, 166n117, 192nn38–39 Cristoforo da Bologna, 33 Crivelli, Taddeo, 121, 126; Christmas Eve Vision, 122, 123 crucifix that spoke to Caterina Vigri, 82, 180n100 crucifixes in pinzochere inventory, 30, 32, 33 cutwork (reticella), 88, 92, 92, 183n32 damask (damasco) ecclesiastical vestments, 28 David, Gerard; Baptism of Christ, 143, 196n102 Desiderio da Settignano, 34 devil; in Sette Armi Spirituali, 78–82; in Speculum Humanae Salvationis, 77, 79; Vigri on forms of, 81–82; Vigri on obedience and resistance to, 77–78, 180n90; Vigri’s visions of, 41, 56, 67, 75, 76 Devotio Moderna, 23 devotional drawing, 127–128, 131, 132 devotional prints, 78, 116, 187n80, 189n101, 189n103

Index

document box, Corpus Christi, 53–54, 54, 162n61 Dominicans; Convent of Le Vergini, Venice and, 68; Corpus Domini, Venice and, 39, 64; G. Dominici and, 24, 39; Santa Maria degli Angeli, Ferrara and, 151; Savonarola and, 19, 152, 155 Dorothea da Modena, (Poor Clare nun) 69, 174n13, 174n15 Dorothy, Saint; ‘Madonna and Child with Saints Dorothy and Margaret, 148, 149, 198n132; ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’, 149, 150 Dufay, Guillaume (musician), 115, 188n94 ecclesiastical and liturgical linens; burse, 28, 29, 96; corporal designs, Vigri’s breviary and, 96–97, 102, 103, 106, 154; corporals, 28, 29, 92, 96, 97, 184n39, 189n1; in pinzochere inventory, 27–28, 30; Pope Niccolò V on sale of, 53 education for women; Battista da Montefeltro and, 165n107, 177n54; Bianca Maria d’Este and, 73, 141; Cappello da Auletta, Guglielmo, librarian and tutor, 73; Caterina Vigri and, 67, 71, 175n29; Cecilia Gonzaga and, 73, 175n29; of Corpus Domini, Bologna nuns, 75; donzelle (ladies-in-waiting), 71; at the d’Este court, 73; in Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino, 71– 74, 157n4; Giacomo de Bisio as tutor, 177n55; Guarino Guarini as tutor, 177n56; notaries in Ferrara and, 72; Sette Armi Spirituali and, 85; Taddeo di Pio da Carpi and, 68, 174n12; Violante da Montefeltro Malatesta and, 133; Vittorino da Feltre as teacher, 177n54 ‘Elisabetta’, abbess of San Paola, Mantua, 55, 170n58 enclosure; laws of, convent budget and, 56–57; laws of, conversion of Bernardina’s house to convent and, 41; laws of, enforcement of, 138; nuns and nonprofessed residents’ rebellion against, 44; of Poor Clares’ convent at Corpus Christi, 166n2 Entombment of Christ (Corpus Christi altarpiece), 57–63; Corpus Christi processions and, 62–63; as ‘Franciscanization’ of entombment theme, 18, 42; imagery and composition of, 58–62, 171nn75–77, 172n82, 172n84, 172n88; possible attributions, 58, 62; provenance of, 57–58 Este, Alda d’, 43–44, 168n18, 168n24 Este, Alfonso I d’; burial at Corpus Christi, 151, 152; Corpus Christi and, 18, 120; marriage of, 142; Santo Spirito convent demolished by, 151; testament of 1520, 152, 198n138 Este, Alfonso II d’, 152, 169n31 Este, Baldassare d’, 196n113; Crucifixion with Stories of the Passion, 58–59, 59 Este, Beatrice d’, 135, 140 Este, Bianca Maria d’; bequest to Corpus Christi by, 141, 178n57, 195n89; education of, 73; patronage of Corpus Christi, 18, 119, 141, 142, 192n32 Este, Borso d’; Entombment altarpiece and, 62; letter on Vigri’s departure for Bologna to, 17; Margherita as sister to, 73; patronage of Corpus Christi by, 41, 53; Sant’Andrea patronage by, 160n24; social class distinctions under, 71–72; taxes on Romei and, 134 Este, Ercole I d’; Casa Romei legal issues and, 135; Corpus Christi processions and, 63; Court chapel developed by, 144, 196n104; as father of Isabella

239 d’Este, 139–140; as patron of the arts, 139, 144; Poor Clares of Corpus Christi and, 139–140; Romei and, 134; Santa Maria degli Angeli rebuilt by, 151–152; Savonarola and, 142 Este, Ercole II d’, 140, 152 Este, Ginevra d’, 73–74 Este, Ippolito II d’, 137, 152 Este, Isabella d’, 18, 141–142, 145 Este, Leonello d’; as brother of Margherita d’Este, 73–74; burial at Santa Maria degli Angeli, 151; Corpus Christi bequests and, 57; liege gifts for marriage of, 72; marriage of, 70 Este, Leonora d’ (Poor Clare nun), 148 Este, Lucia d’, 73–74 Este, Margherita d’ (Margherita d’Arimino/Margherita Malatesta); daughter of Stella dei Tolomei, 178n62; education with Caterina Vigri, 67, 72, 75; as friend of Vigri, 17, 67, 72, 73, 75; as widow entitled ‘Illustrissima’, 73–74; as wife of Galeotto Roberto Malatesta, 73, 178nn61–62 Este, Margherita Gonzaga d’, 74 Este, Meliaduse d’, 168n18, 177n55 Este, Niccolò d’, coup ( 1476) by, 143 Este, Niccolò III d’; arranged marriages for daughters of, 73; liege gifts for marriage to Ricciarda Saluzzo, 72; new administrative elite and, 174n10; patronage of Corpus Christi by, 25, 27, 37, 135; pilgrimages, 32, 160n25; Santa Maria degli Angeli and, 151–152 Este, Obizzo III d’, 42–43 Este, Parisina Malatesta d’; as patron of art and music, 72; support of Observant Franciscans, 38; as wife of Niccolò III d’Este, 26, 38, 72, 165n106, 177n47 Este, Polissena d’, 134, 135, 138, 193n55 Este, Verde d’, 43–44, 168n19, 168n24 Eucharistic devotion; Corpus Christi altarpieces and, 41, 57, 64, 65, 144, 154, 173n96; foundation of Corpus Christi convents, 39, 166n118; pinzochere inventory and, 28, 30, 32; relics and, 18; Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata drawing, 128; symbols for, Vigri’s breviary and, 96–97, 98; Vigri’s breviary and, 96–98, 102, 103, 128, 141; Vigri’s Man of Sorrows and, 115 Eufrosina, Sister (Poor Clare nun), 145, 147–148 Eugenius IV, Pope; Bulls of 1431 Vinea Domini, 41,166n3; Ad statum singulorum and reform, 41, 166n4; on Corpus Christi, Ferrara, 41, 45, 54–55, 56; Bull of 1446 on religious practices, 56–57, 178n70 Facio, Bartolomeo, 87; Die Viris illustribus, 143 Faenza, Emilian crucifixes from, 82 fasting, by Poor Clares, 55 female convent culture, sixteenth-century, research on, 19 Ferrara, bishops Francesco dal Legname, 17 Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano: antiphonary purchased by, 74; asceticism and influence, 161n58; church inventories for, 28, 30; Corpus Christi bequests and, 57; infant Christ sculptures in inventory of, 35; saints’ relics not in inventories of, 31; San Guglielmo convent reforms and, 45; Vigri’s vision on death of, 70 Pietro Boiardi, 23–24, 25, 27, 74, 162n66

240  Ferrara, Cathedral of; Adoration of the Host (altarpiece), 63; Giraldi’s psalter and hymnal for, 121; Infant Christ Sculpture, 34; library of, 74, 178n64; stalls for seating, 39, 166n113 Ferrara, churches, convents and pinzochere houses Battuti Bianchi, hospital and oratory, 25, 169n31 Bernardina Sedazzari’s Pinzochere house: architecture, 24–26; artworks: Dream of the Virgin (Radix Sancta), 33; Gesù Bambino, 34–37; ecclesiastical vestments, 27–28, 30; inventory of 1426, 27–37, Appendix I; leaders of, 26–27; legal status after Sedazzari’s death, 37, 135; location of, 25; needlework, 28–29; Observant Franciscan friars as advocates, 38; Paola Malatesta Gonzaga as patron, 38; relics and devotional objects, 30–37; Verde Pio da Carpi as patron, 37–38 church inventories of Ferrara and the Comacchio ( 1432–45), 28 convent libraries before c. 1460 in, 74 convents, Napoleonic suppression and inventories of, 19, 20, 58 Corpus Christi (now Corpus Domini, Poor Clares convent): abbesses, 38, 42, 55, 56, 64, 68, 72, 132–134, 137, 140, 148; architecture: 46-57, 119, 169nn34–35, 169n40, 170n42, 189n1; Casa Romei joined with, 135, 136, 137; expansion, 119, 132; third cloister, 137, 196n61; archives of, 67, 120, 173n4, 174n7, 189n6; artworks in, 57–65; Adoration of the Host, Entombment of Christ; Annunciation with God the Father, 171n71; Baptism of Christ (Bruges), 143–144; Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, 145, 146; bequests, 23, 27–28, 30, 53, 56, 57, 140–141, 176n42, 178n57, 195n89; budget, vows of poverty and, 56–57Caterina Vigri (See Vigri, Caterina); community growth, 68–70, 132–133; Crucifix that spoke to Vigri, 82; Cult of Observants Bernardino of Siena and James of the Marches, 120, 148; devotional drawing by nuns at, 54, 127–128, 131, 132; educated, elite women at convent of, 86; Enclosure, 138, 194n64; Este d’ burials, 120, 151–152; fire in 1665, relics saved from, 47, 162n68, 169n38Illuminata Bembo (See Bembo, Illuminata); Lectio Divina and library, 74–75; literacy and copying of vernacular texts at, 75, 90, 132; needlework and lace, 91–92; Observant Reform and, 148; patronage: of Eleanora d’Aragona, 139–145; Isabella d’Este, 145–148; Lucrezia Borgia, 119, 142–143; pupils attending, 137, 194n62; Romei’s palace bequeathed to, 18, 119, 134–135; strength and stability of, 133 San Francesco, 25, 47, 140, 169n31 San Guglielmo (Poor Clares): architecture, 42, 43, 167nn7–8, 168n21, 169n32; artworks: fresco decoration at, 44–45, 44, 45; late fifteenth-century altarpieces for, 144; community size, 68; men and servants living in, 168n16; needlework, 28, 42; property increases at, 42, 167nn13–15; reforms and dispensations at, 44–46 San Silvestro, 24, 25, 74 Santa Anna, hospital of, 57, 120 Santa Chiara, Adoration of the Eucharist in, 65 Santa Maria degli Angeli, 120, 151–152

Index

Sant’Agostino, 26, 27, 170n48 Sant’Andrea, 23, 25, 160n24 Santo Spirito: artworks from, 165n111, 198n136; convent demolished (1512), 20, 151, 198nn134–135; library of, 38, 75, 178n69; location, 25; Romei’s bequest and burial in, 134, 193n48 Ferrara, City Bernardino of Siena preaching in, 39 book trade in, 91 Casa Romei. See also Romei, Giovanni: architecture, 134–138, 136, 137, 193n57; artworks in, 137, 138–139, 138, 139; bequest to Corpus Christi, 119, 134–135; devotional niche, 194n68; legal status after Giovanni Romei’s death, 135; location of, 193n56; woodcuts or stencils in studiolo of, 137, 194n60 Palazzo Schifanoia, frescoes, Cossa and, 63, 64 stationery suppliers in, 91 Via Campofranco, 46, 47, 52, 119 Via Franceschini, San Guglielmo on, 167n7 Via Montebello, Franciscan convent in, 198n134 Via Pergolato, 119 Via Praisolo, 24, 25, 31, 46, 48–49, 51, 119 Via Savonarola, 119 wealthy section of, 25 Fidelfo, Francesco, 141 Fioretti di San Francesco (Little Flowers of Saint Francis), 75 Flaminio, Giovanni Antonio, 71, 82, 175n28 Flemish art, 64, 143–144, 146. See also Netherlandish art Florence; Le Murate (Benedictine convent), 68; ‘Paradiso’, Brigittine convent of, needlework by nuns at, 28; San Domenico nel Maglio, needlework by nuns at, 28; San Lorenzo, 34; San Marco, 180n92; Santa Maria degli Angeli (Camaldolese order), 121, 190n11; Santisssima Annunciata (Servite order), 121 Foligno, Santa Lucia, 116 Forli; Madonna del Fuoco from, 111; Santa Chiara, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 68–69, 174n13 Form of Life (Clare’s), 54–55, 56 Francesca Bussa Ponziani, 36 Francesca de Franza (Poor Clare nun), 68 Franceschina da Cremona (Santa Chiara Novalla abbess), 133, 175n19, 192n38 Francesco da Codogoro (Ferrarese illuminator), 71 Francesco da Fiesso (Ferrarese notary), 74 Francesco da Rimini, 44, 168n23 Francesco of Savona, 148, 197n131. See also Sixtus IV, Pope Francheschino (Ferrarese illuminator), 71 Francis, Saint; in Adoration of the Host, 63, 64; Allegory of Obedience and, 77, 78; Canticle of Brother Sun, 113; Commemoration, in Vigri’s breviary, 104–105; on Corpus Christi document box, 53–54, 54; crucifix that spoke to, 82; in Entombment of Christ, 58, 59–60, 61, 172n78; on Mary Magdalen, 106; Speculum perfectionis (Mirror of Perfection), 113; as Vigri source, 81; in Vigri’s breviary, 88, 111–113, 112, 118 ‘Franciscan Crown of the Seven Joys’, 115. See also Gaude Virgo Mater Christi Franciscan miscellany ( 1352–1467), devotional drawing by Corpus Christi nuns and, 127–128, 191n28

241

Index

Franciscan tertiaries; communities founded by Angelina of Montegiove, 23; Eremiti of San Girolamo of Fiesole and, 187–188n82; Lucrezia Borgia inscribed as, 142; Sedazzari’s residence as community for, 23 Franco-Flemish art; d’Este taste for, 146; MalinesMechlin figurines and, 155; ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’, 148, 149, 150 ‘French’ religious dolls, from Isabella d’Este, 145–146, 155, 197nn125–127 Galasso di Matteo Piva, 58, 61, 171n73 Galeotto della Mirandola, 141 garment construction; in Vigri’s breviary, 92. See also needlework Garofalo, Benvenuto Tisi, 21 Gaude Virgo Mater Christi, 115–116, 188nn91–92 Gentile da Fabriano, 128 geographic origins, of Corpus Christi novices, 68–69, 69 German nuns, 19, 20, 87, 116 Germany, Saint Walburg, Eichenstatt, nuns’ drawings from, 87 Gesù Bambino (infant Christ child) sculptures, 27, 30, 34–35, 36 Giles of Assisi, as source in Vigri’s writings, 75 Giotto, Assisi fresco by, 128 Giovanni da Prato (Observant Franciscan preacher), 120 Giovanni di Paolo ‘delle’ Gabelle’, 72, 177n50 Giraldi, Guglielmo, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127 Girolamo da Carpi, 137 gold leaf, in Caterina Vigri’s breviary, 91 Gonzaga, Family of Mantua; Carlo, 74; Cecilia, 73, 175n29, 177n53; Francesco, 37, 145; Gianfrancesco, 38; Margherita, 72, 74 Gonzaga, Paola Malatesta; on Observant Reform at San Guglielmo, Ferrara, 45, 46; patronage of Corpus Christi, Ferrara, 38, 53, 54; Santa Paola/Corpus Domini, Mantua and, 38, 39, 64, 121 Gothic style; architecture, 135; handwriting (script), 94, 96, 128, 190n14, 191n28; painting and illumination, 59, 89, 90, 144 Gregory IX, Pope, 57, 75 Guarini, Guarino, 67, 71, 73, 177n56 hands, work performed by, Poor Clares and, 55 healing the sick, infant Christ sculptures and, 37 Helen of Rhodes (Poor Clare nun), 69–70, 175n19, 175n21 Hieronymus Vita et Transitus, 111 Holy Scriptures, 75, 77, 81–82 illuminators; anonymous Bolognese, Poor Clare Nun before the Crucifix, 83; Guglielmo Giraldi, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127, 184n42; Taddeo Crivelli, 91, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127, 184n42 Incarnation of Christ; in Casa Romei frescoes, 138; discussed by Francesco of Savona and James of the Marches, 148; in Vigri’s breviary, 64, 97, 98, 154 infant Christ child (Gesù Bambino) sculptures, 27, 30, 34–35, 36 infant Christ child painted images; at Santa Chiara, Assisi, 84; in Vigri’s breviary, 92, 96, 98–100, 102 inks, for Corpus Christi nuns, 91

interior piety, Sette Armi Spirituali focus on, 76 inventories, pinzochere, Italian fifteenth-century, 161n50 Italian Wars ( 1494–1530), mystical holy women and, 142 Jacobus of Modena (Archbishop), 69 Jacopone da Todi’s Lauds, 75, 77 James of the Marches (Observant Franciscan preacher), 56, 74, 119; ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’ and, 148, 149, 197n130, 197n131 Jerome, Saint; Battista da Montefeltro’s devotion to, 73, 187n75; Caterina Vigri’s devotion to, 73, 75, 110, 140, 154, 186n72, 187nn73–4; images in Vigri’s breviary, 110–111, 110, 118, 186n71, 187n76; lost image from Corpus Christi of, 111, 187n81 John Cassianus, Collationes patrum, 75, 179n77 John of Capistrano (Observant Franciscan Reformer); Declaration on the First Rule of Saint Clare, 55, 170n58, 178n70; influence at Corpus Christi, Ferrara, 18, 55, 56, 119, 154, 170n58; reform of San Guglielmo and, 18, 45 John the Evangelist, 61, 63 Joseph, Saint, 95, 184n36 Joseph of Arimethea, 59 Kalendar, in Vigri’s breviary, 88, 92, 94–95, 117 Kempe, Margery, 36 lace; Corpus Christi production of, 88, 92, 94–95, 117. See also needlework ladies-in-waiting (donzelle), education of, 71 Lambertini, Giovanna (Poor Clare nun), 68, 174n8 Last Judgment, Vigri’s vision of, 76, 85 laundry, in Poor Clare convents, 50–51 Lendinara, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 70 libraries; at Cathedral, Ferrara, 74, 178n64; at Corpus Christi, Ferrara, 74, 75, 132, 179n72; at Corpus Domini, Bologna, 74, 106; at d’Este court, Ferrara, 72, 73, 75, 179n72; at San Silvestro, Ferrara, 74; at Sant’Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, 74, 178n67; at Santo Spirito, Ferrara, 38, 151; Vigri’s Sette Armi Spirituali and, 85 Libro Devota, 67. See also Vigri, Caterina, Sette Armi Spirituali Ligorio, Pirro, 46, 169n31 Lippo di Dalmasio; Madonna del Pomo, 84, 85 Lippo Memmi; Madonna and Child, 85 litanies, penitential, in Vigri’s breviary, 96, 184n37 literacy, 55, 67, 71, 74, 75. See also education for women liturgical objects, in inventory of Bernardina’s possessions ( 1426), 27–28, Appendix I Louis of Toulouse, Saint, in Entombment of Christ, 58, 60 Lucia, Sister, ricettario (painting manual) by, 91 Lucida dalle Calce (Corpus Christi abbess), 133 Ludovico Sforza ‘il Moro’ (Duke of Milan), 135 Machiavelli, Gabriella (Corpus Christi abbess), 133 Malatesta family; Battista da Montefeltro, of Urbino, 38, 73, 165n107, 170n58, 187n75; Domenico ‘Novello’, of Cesena, 133; Galeotto Roberto Pandolfo, of Rimini, 73, 134; Maddalena (Poor Clare nun), 56, 68, 133; Margherita d’Este, of Ferrara/Rimini, 72, 73, 75; Sigismondo, of Rimini, 74; Violante da Montefeltro (Corpus Christi abbess), 133–134

242  Malines-Mechlin figurines, 146–147, 147, 155, 197nn125–127 Mandato di Procura ( 1455), Bologna, 174–175nn18–19, 192n40 Mantegna, Andrea, 58, 62, 63, 171n76 Mantua churches and convents; Franciscan library in, 74; miraculous Gesù Bambino, 37; nuns from Corpus Christi, 68, 174n13; Santa Paola/Corpus Domini, 39, 53, 55, 64, 121, 170n41; women’s education in, 71–74 Marco of Bologna (Observant Franciscan Reformer), 68 Margaret, Saint, 148, 149, 150 Marie of Savoy, breviary of, 98 Mariscotti, Antonio, 61 Martin V, Pope, 25, 37, 41, 53, 164n99 Martino, Johanne (Flemish painter), 144 Mary Cleofa, Saint, in Entombment of Christ, 58, 60 Mary Magdalen, 59, 63, 106, 108, 118 Mascheroni, Bartolomeo di Giovanni, 26, 27, 37 Mascheroni, Lucia; as beneficiary of Sedazzari’s testament, 27, 37, 164n98; non-professed presence at Corpus Christi, 26; residence in Sedazzari’s House of pinzochere, 23, 26; Vigri’s relationship with, 26–27 Master of the Vienna Passion, 148, 149, 150 Maurelius (bishop-martyr patron), 31, 95, 162n66 Meditationes Vitae Christi, 77, 100, 145, 185n46 Mezzavacca family of Bologna; Chiara, 69, 174n19; Gabriel, 38, 69, 165n108, 174n17; Gabriella, 69; Paola, 69, 174n8, 174n19 Michel of Ulm, 116, 188–189n100 Milan, Santa Chiara, 39, 128, 192n32 ‘Miraculous Image of the Madonna of San Giacomo della Marca’, 148, 149, 150 Modena, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 68, 70, 174n13 Mona, Domenico; Saints Francis and Clare Adoring the Eucharist, 65 Mondini, Francesca (Poor Clare nun), miraculous cure of, 121 Monteluce, Perugia, Poor Clares at, 64 Mosti, Adelaide (Corpus Christi abbess), 133 Multscher, Hans, Man of Sorrows, 116 Napoleon, suppression of the monasteries under, 19, 20, 58 needlework; altar hangings, made by nuns, 170n50; designs, Corpus Christi nuns’ use of, 132; designs, Vigri’s breviary and, 88, 90, 91–92, 92, 96–97, 112, 114, 114, 118, 184n40; by pinzochere of Corpus Christi, 28; by Poor Clares, 55 Neri di Bicci, production of bambini, 35 Netherlandish art, 58, 61, 143–144, 148. See also Flemish and Franco-Flemish art Niccolò V, Pope, 53, 56, 68, 174n7 Nicodemus, in Entombment of Christ, 62 Nicolo Nigrisolo & Compagni (Ferarrese stationers), 91 nobility, new (zentilhomini nuovi), and old (zentilhomini antiqui), 71 Nogarola, Isotta, 110, 187n75 Nonnenarbeiten, 19, 20, 87, 88. See also German nuns Novelli, Clemenza (Corpus Christi abbess), 133

Index

Obedience, Vigri’s personification of, 77; Allegory of Obedience, 78; images of, 180n90 Obizzi family, Ferrara, 72 Observant Franciscan reform in Ferrara; Albert of Sarteano preaching and, 70; Bernardino of Siena and, 18, 32, 38, 56, 61–62, 75, 93, 95, 114; Cult of Bernardino of Siena at Corpus Christi and, 75, 114–115, 120, 189n3; Cult of James of the Marches and, 119–120, 148–149, 155; diffusion of Vigri’s Sette Armi Spirituali and, 120–127; Eucharistic artworks at Corpus Christi and, 57–65; foundation of San Bernardino, Ferrara, 143; reform of the Urbanist convent of San Guglielmo and, 42–46; spread of Observant piety to Bologna, 38, 74, 75, 162n61, 173n4; spread of Observant piety to Cremona, 70, 121, 133, 143 Ordelaffi, Leonarda Campeggi (Corpus Christi abbess), 56, 120, 133, 140 Osanna, Beata (Mantua), 145 oxellate, bordering linen altar-cloths, 28 Padua, 39, 54, 58, 62, 74, 82 paintings, Bishop Tavelli’s terminology for, 32 Pallavicini, Innocenza (Corpus Christi abbess), 133, 192n39 paper suppliers, for Corpus Christi nuns, 91 Parma, Santa Chiara, 70, 133 paste-down initials, Sette Armi Spirituali and, 121, 190n10 patens, in pinzochere inventory, 30 patron saints, depicted in Ferrarese church art, 32 Paul, Saint, 75, 81, 97–98, 101–102, 102, 118 Perugia, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 70 Pesaro, Poor Clare convent at, 39 Petronio, Saint, in Vigri’s breviary, 95 Pico della Mirandola family; Bianca Maria d’Este, 73; Galeotto, 73; Gianfrancesco, 142; Maddalena, 142, 195n89 Piero della Francesca, 58, 171nn75–76 Pietro di Brasavoli, 134 pigments, for Corpus Christi nuns, 91 pinzochere (beguines) in Ferrara; artworks, cult objects and relics, 27–36, 162n64; Bernardina’s house, 25– 27; Caterina Vigri and, 72, 96, 117; conventualization of, 39, 41; Gesù Bambino as devotional object, 36–37; inventory of possessions, Appendix I; lifestyle as urban hermits, 23 Pio da Carpi family; Alberto I, 165n102; Camilla, 64–65, 165n102; Luchina, 174n12; Marco di Pio, 37, 165n102; Margherita ‘grande’ d’Este, 165n102; Romei’s palace bequeathed to Corpus Christi and, 134; Taddea de’ Roberti (widow of Marco), 37; Taddea di Marco di Pio, born c. 1418, 165n102 Pio da Carpi, Taddea di; as abbess of Corpus Christi from 1431, 56, 68, 174n12; conflict with Caterina Vigri, 56; as daughter of Verde di Pio, 68, 174n12; as Poor Clare nun in Mantua, 38, 56; possible patron of Adoration of the Host, 64 Pio da Carpi, Verde di; as daughter of Giberto da Carpi, 38, 165n103; foundation of Corpus Christi and, 23, 24, 37, 38, 153; possible patron of Adoration of the Host, 64, 172n92; as wife of Ludovico Alidosi, vicar of Imola, 37–38, 165n103

243

Index

plague, 25, 38–39 Pomposa, Abbey of, 82 Poor Clares in Ferrara; Caterina Vigri at Corpus Christi and, 67–80, 87–118; Clare of Assisi in Vigri’s breviary, 88, 106–109; Corpus Christi as an Observant convent, 41; Corpus Christi’s reputation for piety, 17, 18, 19, 39; demographic growth at Corpus Christi, 68–70, 132–134, Appendix II; Illuminata Bembo at Corpus Christi and, 68, 89, 125–126; image of Saint Clare as protector of, 127–132; interpretation of poverty and, 18–19, 88, 106–108; Observant friars of Santo Spirito and, 38, 57, 68–69, 151; Poor Clares Form of Life and, 53–57; Prima Regola (First Rule) of Clare, 18, 54–55, 107; Urbanist San Guglielmo and Observant reform, 42–46; vows of poverty and, 56–57 Prague, hospital in, and funding Poor Clares, 57 Primadizzi, James (Observant Reform preacher), 54, 56, 119 Proculo, Saint, in Vigri’s breviary, 95 Pseudo-Bonaventura; Meditations on the Life of Christ, 75 Radix Sancta (Dream of the Virgin), in pinzochere house, 33–34 Rangoni, Theresa (Corpus Christi abbess), 133 Ravenna; nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 68, 69; Vigri’s breviary kalendar from, 95 Recchis, Antonio di (Antonio da Ferrara); Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, 44, 45 red earth or bole (terrarossa), Vigri on working with, 90, 183n20 Reggio, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 70 Relevations di Beata Giuliana of Milano, 120 relics, 18, 30–32; at convent of Corpus Christi, 47, 120, 162n68, 169n38, 190n8; pinzochere ancona compared with reliquary tabernacle, 31, 31; at pinzochere house, 30–31, Appendix I; of Saint Bernardino of Siena, 120, 190n8; of Thomas Becket in Padua, 101 religious dolls. See infant Christ child (Gesù Bambino) sculptures; Malines-Mechlin figurines resin or pitch (pegola), Vigri on working with, 90, 183n20 Rhodes, nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 69–70 ricettario on colours and inks ( 1485), 91 river transportation, in northern Italy, 68, 70, 175n22 Rizzarda (Ricciarda) da Saluzzo, 72, 74, 151 Roberti, Ercole dei’; The Adoration of the Shepherds, 141; The Dead Christ, 141 Roberti family, Ferrara, 37, 38, 72, 165n102 Rome, infant Christ sculptures; Santa Maria in Aracoeli, 34; Sant’Ambrogio della Massima, 34–35 Romei, Giovanni (Ferrarese banker); bequest to Corpus Christi, 18, 119, 134; burial at Santo Spirito, 134, 193n48, 193n52; life and marriages, 134–135; Polissena d’Este and disputed will, 135, 193n48. See also Ferrara, City, Casa Romei Rossetti, Biagio, 151, 162n66 Saint Clare as Protector of Poor Clares, 127–128, 131 Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, 111, 187n81 Salome, Saint, in Entombment of Christ, 58, 60

Salutati, Coluccio, 68 Sancia of Naples, Queen, 54, 169n37 Santo Bambino sculptures, 34–35, 163n85 satin (raso) ecclesiastical vestments, 28 Savonarola, Girolamo, 19, 53, 141–142 scribal work (copying) in Ferrarese convents, 17, 38, 55, 71, 74–75, 90–91, 106, 116, 132 Sedazzari, Bernardina da Giorgio; conversion of house to convent, 41; Corpus Christi’s legal status after death of, 37, 135; Corpus Christi’s reliquary panel and, 31–32; family of, 161n53; independence of, 24–26, 164n100; inventory of bequest to Corpus Christi, 27–28, 30; psalter in Vigri’s breviary and, 96; residence separate from her sister, 158n5; studies of bequests to, 23; Vigri’s relationship with, 26 Sedazzari family, Venice and Ferrara; Giovanna da Giorgio, 23, 158n5; Gregorio, 24 ‘Sermon XX’, Vigri’s ( 1452), on devotional purpose of art, 89–90 servants; education of, 71; d’Este, 72; of San Guglielmo nuns, 42, 43, 45, 168n16 ‘Seven Joys of the Virgin’, 115. See also Gaude Virgo Mater Christi Sforza, Anna, 140 Sforza, Bianca Maria Visconti, 70 Siena, Santa Maria La Scala, hospital of, 39 Silvester da Forli (Santo Spirito friar), 56, 69 Simone dei Crocifissi, 33; Dream of the Virgin, 34 Sixtus IV, Pope, 133, 148. See also Francesco of Savona social class or status; in Ferrara, Florence or Venice, 71–72 Song of Songs, as Vigri source, 75, 81 Speculum Humanae Salvationis; Christ Tempted on the Mountain, 77, 79 Squarcione, Francesco, 58, 62, 172n87 Stigmata, feast of, 112 Stigmatization of Saint Francis, 127–128 Strozzi, Ercole, 142 Strozzi, Tito, 134, 141 Superbi, Samaritana (Poor Clare nun), original cohort at Corpus Christi and, 68 Swaddled Christ child, 35, 36, 52, 83, 85, 93, 99, 100, 110, 185n47 Taddeo di Crivelli, 91, 121, 122, 123, 126, 157n4, 183n27 Tamisaris family; Catarina de, 24 Lucia Zumignani de, 24, 159n13 Third Order Franciscans; Bridget of Sweden and, 75; Gaude Virgo Mater Christi and, 115; plaid veil or wimple and, 107; Virgin Mary’s appearance to friar (1420), 188n92 Thomas Becket, in Vigri’s breviary, 101, 101 Thomas the Apostle, Saint, in Vigri’s breviary, 105 Tiepolo, Lucia, 24, 159n18 Tolomei, Stella dei, 73, 178n62 Tomaso of Celano; Vita secunda (Second Life), 75 Treviso; nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 68; Poor Clare convent at, 39 Tura, Cosmé; Saint Christopher, 144, 196nn111–112 Uccello, Paolo, 87 Urban IV, Pope, rule of, 42

244  Urbanist (or Conventual) Franciscans; San Francesco, Ferrara, 71–74; San Guglielmo, Ferrara, 18, 23, 28, 41–46, 68, 144–145 Urbino, women’s education in, 71–74 valessio silk, 28, 30, 162n60 Van der Weyden, Roger; Adoration of the Eucharist, 64 Varani family; Camilla Battista da, 133; Cleopatra, 133, 137; Corpus Christi oratory and, 137, 171n71 Vasari, Giorgio, 19, 87, 182n3 Vele, Master delle; Allegory of Obedience, 78 vellum suppliers, for Corpus Christi nuns, 91 velvet (velluto) ecclesiastical vestments, 28 Vendegino, Francesco, 144 Venice; Bernardina Sedazzari in, 24; Canonici Collection, 190n13; Convent of Le Vergini, 68; Corpus Domini, 24, 39, 64; nuns joining Corpus Christi from, 69, 70; relics, 30, 32, 162n68 Verona, Santa Chiara, 39, 68, 69, 174n13 The Versified Legend of the Virgin Clare ( 1255), 33–34 vestments, ecclesiastical. See ecclesiastical and liturgical linens Vienne, France, Sant’Antonio in, 77, 160n25 Vigri, Caterina, life; as abbess of Corpus Domini, Bologna, 17; aesthetic philosophy, 88, 90; artworks attributed to, 35, 163n87, 182n6; Bembo’s biography of, 20, 37, 52, 70, 72, 89–90, 99, 101, 106, 123, 164n97; Crucifix that spoke to, 82–83, 83, 180n100; doubting the Sacrament, 116; early life as pinzochere, 17–18, 26–27; education of, 71–75, 178n60; father’s reputation and character, 72; friendship with Margherita d’ Este, 17, 67, 72, 73, 75; handwriting of, 175n29; humility about artistic skills, 89–90, 182n15, 183n19; miracles, 49–50, 70, 121; as mistress of novices, 17, 85, 153; musical talent, 72, 177n51; mysticism, 17, 33, 81, 83, 85, 90, 99, 106, 110, 112, 115, 120, 121, 128, 154, 183n24; portraits and possible selfportraits, 82, 83, 123–126, 124, 125, 126; reputation for piety, 68, 70; visions, 70, 76, 81–82, 83–85, 119, 121 Vigri, Caterina, literary works; Dodici Giardini, 20, 57, 67, 69, 75; Laudi e Lettere, 20; Rosarium Metricum, 20, 33, 67 Vigri, Caterina, Man of Sorrows; attribution of, 89, 188n89; dating of, 188n90; devotional practice and, 114–116; iconography in, 116, 188n99 Vigri, Caterina, Sette Armi Spirituali (‘Libro Devota’); on admiration for a friar at Santo Spirito, 57; on admiration for Lucia Mascheroni, 26; author portraits, 121, 122–123, 122, 123, 190n15; author’s purpose writing for novices, 67, 76; autobiographical references, 26, 41, 56, 57, 70, 76, 81, 83, 84; on Bernardino of Siena, 75, 120; copies, 18, 88, 120–121, 140, 190nn13–14; on difficulty accepting abbess’s authority, 56; on diffidence, 77, 78–79; on diligence, 77–78; on humility and poverty, 57; image of Saint Francis’s yoke of obedience, 78; imagery

Index

related to devotional prints, 79–80, 79, 80; initial of Poor Clare nun and Crucified Christ, 82–83, 83; mystical visions of Christ in, 17; on obedience personified by queen or empress, 77; object metaphors for Christ, 80–81; religious metaphors paraphrased or cited in, 75; on resisting the devil and obeying God, 77–78; on Saint Anthony of Vienne, 77; on Saint Paul, 102; seven spiritual weapons or virtues, 76–77; teaching novices and, 76–86; title as ‘Libro Devota’, 67; tortures and temptation by devils, 77, 79–80; trust in God, 79; vision of the Last Judgment, 76; vision of Virgin Mary and Christ child, 85; visions of battles with the devil, 56, 77; visions of contemporary events in Ferrara and Bologna, 70; visual similes and metaphors, 67, 77 Vigri family, Bologna and Ferrara, 71–72, 174n10; Antonia, 170n42, 174n13; Bartolomea, 53, 64, 176n42; Bonaventura, 53, 176nn41–42; Giovanni, 71–72, 176nn41–42, 176n46; Nascimbene, 176n42 Villa, Angiola Camilla (Corpus Christi abbess), 132, 133 Villa, Paolo, 132 viole, Vigri’s, 72, 177n52 Virgin Mary; appearance to Franciscan friar ( 1420), 188n92; community portraits with, 128; in Entombment of Christ, 59, 171n77; painting, Corpus Christi oratory and, 171n71; in Sette Armi Spirituali, Crivelli/Giraldi workshop and, 121, 122, 123; as symbol of Caterina’s mystical experience, 83–85; Virgin Amolyntos, 162n66 Visconti, Bianca Maria, 133 Visconti, Giorgio ‘Scaramuzza’, 135 Vittorino da Feltre, 73, 175n29, 177n53 whitework embroidery, Poor Clares’ devotion to, 92 William of Aquitaine, Saint, in San Guglielmo altarpiece, 145, 167n8 women artists; research on, fifteenth- and sixteenthcentury, 19–20 woodcuts, devotional; sold in Padua in 1440s, 54, 188nn99–100, 189nn101–103; source for Caterina Vigri’s drawing, 88, 90, 116; source for Corpus Christi fresco, 145, 154; source for nun-artists, 128 wooden infant Christ child; cult object at Corpus Christi, 34, 35, 36–37; in pinzochere inventory, 30. See also infant Christ child (Gesù Bambino) sculptures wooden statuettes from Malines/Mechlin area, 146–147, 147, 155, 197nn125–127 word-initials, in Vigri’s breviary, 93, 96, 97, 103, 105, 105, 113, 118 Zanino da Cremona, 64 Zantarino da Rimini, 44, 168n23 Ziglioli, Giovanni; Baptism of Christ, 143, 144, 196n102 Zoppo, Marco, 62, 171n76, 172n88

V I S U A L A N D M AT E R I A L C U LT U R E , 13 0 0 -17 0 0

Caterina Vigri (later Saint Catherine of Bologna) was a mystic, writer, teacher and nun-artist. Her first home, Corpus Domini, Ferrara, was a house of semi-religious women that became a Poor Clare convent and model of Franciscan Observant piety. Grounded in archival research and extant paintings, drawings, prints and art objects from Corpus Domini, this volume explores the art, visual culture, and social history of an early modern Franciscan women’s community. It reconstructs 100 years of community growth, architecture, artworks and patronage. Vigri’s intensely spiritual decoration of her breviary, as well as convent altarpieces that formed a visual program of adoration for the Body of Christ, exemplify the Franciscan Observant visual culture. After Vigri’s departure, it was transformed by d’Este women patrons, including Isabella da Aragona, Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia. While still preserving Observant ideals, it became a more elite noblewomen’s retreat. Kathleen Giles Arthur is Professor of Italian Renaissance Art (emerita) at James Madison University (Virginia), author of studies on fifteenth-century women artists, including Caterina Vigri (St. Catherine of Bologna) and selfportraitist Maria di Ormanno degli Albizzi, as well as Florentine art and patronage around the time of the Black Death.

ISBN: 978-94-6298-433-2

AUP. nl 9 789462 984332