Anselmo da Baggio became bishop of Lucca in 1057 and remained bishop even after he was elected Pope, when he took the title Alexander II (1061–73). He was a leading member of the Gregorian Reform movement, and the most illustrious of the patrons of the church of San Martino in Lucca (Figure 20.1).1 Little of the 11th-century architecture of San Martino survives, but the written sources provide plenty of evidence for Anselmo’s patronage. Chronicles and inscriptions celebrate this period as the golden age of San Martino, and present Bishop Anselmo I as the man who renewed the building and chose for it a Romanising style – ‘grande sed augusto’.2 The realisation of this project was not without difficulties however, primarily as the result of persistent opposition from the canons of San Martino.
The purpose of this paper is to use the written sources to examine the late 11th-century reorganisation of Lucca Cathedral. These sources cast light on how a number of churches in Lucca co-operated in ensuring liturgical provision across the city. They also say something as to the nature of the relations between those churches. During the immediately ‘pre-gregorian’ period, the church of San Frediano at Lucca had become a centre for religious reform, with a large community of canons who lived communally and led a life of strict observance (Figure 20.2). Indeed, Alexander II brought canons from San Frediano to Rome in order to reform the Lateran, at the request of Peter Damian. Lucca’s own cathedral canons seem to have been more resistant to reform, however. Most were drawn from influential families within Lucca, closely allied to the city’s temporal authorities, wherein clerical marriage was commonplace and correspondingly harder to uproot. In this context Anselmo moved only very gradually to promote the vita comune, and discourage simonia and concubinato. But his election to the papacy took him away from Lucca for long periods, and in 1073 Anselmo died in Rome.
Anselmo I’s initial attempts to reform Lucca Cathedral created difficulties for his nephew, and the next-in-line to the bishopric, however, the homonymous Anselmo II (later sainted as Sant’Anselmo da Lucca). Anselmo II pursued a more radical policy, in line with Pope Gregory VII’s more confrontational methods, so strengthening resistance within the opposition. In 1081 Anselmo II was pushed out of Lucca, dying in exile in 1086. Meanwhile the canons elected their own (schismatic) bishop, Pietro. Though the sources gloss over this and celebrate the reformist initiatives in Lucca as an unalloyed triumph, which from a 12th-century perspective, the perspective of success, they may have appeared to be, it would be more accurate to describe the last third of the 11th century in Lucca as a time of crisis.
Success eventually came with Rangerius, who was elected bishop of Lucca in 1097. It was Rangerius who wrote a poetic biography of Anselmo II entitled the Vita metrica Sancti Anselmi Lucensis episcopi,3 which gives prominence to Anselmo II’s predecessor, Anselmo I (Pope Alexander II), in recording the events of the late 11th century, as well as a polemical treatise on institutional conflict – De anulo et baculo. Rangerius is also considered by many scholars to be the author of a number of documents that describe the liturgical organisation of Lucca Cathedral during this period.4 It is for this reason that Rangerius is considered to be Anselmo I’s true successor, and the effective creator of his reputation as bishop and reform-minded architectural patron.
Documents inform us that, before Anselmo’s intervention, the curtis aecclesiae consisted of several churches (Figure 20.3 and colour plate XX). These included the church of Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata, which, with its baptismal font, has long been considered the first cathedral of Lucca (Figure 20.4). Excavations on the site have revealed a complex sequence of archaeological phases. The 4th-century basilica episcopalis, was followed by a second building in the 8th or 9th centuries, which in turn seems to have been extended westwards in a probably 10th-century third phase. It was in relation to this latter phase that archaeologists discovered the bases of two towers, composed in the manner of a westwerk.5 These western towers faced the town, and could also, perhaps, have acted as a fortified entrance to the curtis aecclesiae. Both the church and its baptismal font were subsequently rebuilt in the 12th century. Meanwhile, the church of San Martino was described as the cathedral from 724 onwards, and extended to porticalia, a schola and a chapel, known as Santa Maria ad Praesepem, were recorded until 1021 on its north side.
Local tradition holds that the title ‘Cathedral’ moved from Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata to San Martino, though no documents survive to corroborate the tradition. In addition, the curtis aecclesiae ran to a rectory (canonica) – known to have been on the north side of the cathedral from 941 – the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, – founded in 818 and recorded until 1055 – a hospital from the early 11th century, and a domus episcoporum – this last probably positioned between Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata and San Martino. Finally, a church dedicated to San Salvatore stood behind the Cathedral and arguably first housed the Volto Santo, though this was demolished in 930.6
Four important sources, all now in the Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana in Lucca, enable us to reconstruct Lucca’s late-11th-century liturgy. The first is the Sermo in dedicatione aecclesie. This was copied into the 12th-century cathedral passionary, known as P+, and has been edited by Pietro Guidi.7 The text was probably composed by Bishop Rangerius (1097–1112), and records the modifications that were made to the building and to the liturgy over the second half of the 11th century (Figures 20.5 and 20.6).8 The second is the Ordo officiorum of the Cathedral of Lucca, written in the late-13th-century but witness to more ancient uses of the Cathedral as well as to the city at large.9 This text, as was usual, is divided between temporale and santorale, and describes a liturgy in Lucca that for the most part follows the Roman liturgy as practised in secular churches.10
The third source is a simple list of twelve altars in the cathedral, together with their relics, which was casually transcribed alongside other notes, in MS 124 in the Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana. The original list offers a rare insight into devotion within the cathedral at a critical moment, and can be dated to between 1065 and 1109. The list reads:
[I] |
Altare ante Vultum in honore XII Apostolorum, Cornelii et Cipriani atque Concordii, Gregorii martyris Spoletini. |
[II] |
Ante crucem Veterem: Blasii, Valentini, Remigii et Xmilium Martyrum |
[III] |
Supra porticum: Eadmundi |
[IV] |
In angulo septentrionali: corpus Lucinae, Cristinae et Felicitatis. |
[V] |
Iuxta: Agathae et Agnes |
[VI] |
Deinde: Mariae et Teclae |
[VII] |
Altare Maius: Martini, Hilarii et Prosperi. |
[VIII] |
In confessione: corpus Reguli. |
[IX] |
Dehinc: Michaeli et utriusque Iohannis. |
[X] |
Iuxta Agnelli, Zenonis et Stephani pontificis |
[XI] |
Prope: corpora sanctorum Iasonis et Mauri et Ilariae matris eorum |
[XII] |
In capella: Apolenaris et Pancratii et Dionisii |
Finally, the Sermo in traslatione corporum sanctorum martirum Reguli, Iasonis et Mauri atquae Hilariae, recorded in Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana MS 47, describes the cathedral between 1109 and 1112.11 This is also likely to have been written by Bishop Rangerius, and refers to the closure of the crypt and the translation of relics within the cathedral.12
Thus it can be seen that the renovation of the Cathedral under Anselmo I (Alexander II) was followed by a new dedication recorded in the Sermo in dedicatione aecclesie. This followed a standard text for the rededication in its first part, but goes on specifically to describe the situation in Lucca.13 The dedication was performed in the presence of twenty-two bishops and a ‘clericorum multitudinem infinitam’, while the account explains that Anselmo enlarged the Cathedral, and centralised all solemn masses in the one church. Until then, it seems that solemn masses were split on a seasonal basis, and were celebrated in Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata between Easter until November, and in San Martino from November to Easter (colour plate XX).14
The Ordo officiorum of Lucca Cathedral confirms this division and describes in detail the ancient liturgical system of Lucca as it applied to both the Cathedral and the rest of the city. As in Rome, Lucca enjoyed a liturgia stationale, which extended to seven churches over the week following Easter. This was organised as a penitential procession that visited a precise sequence of churches where a Mass would be celebrated each day. On Easter Sunday, the first statio, the solemn Mass was celebrated in Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone and Reparata. On Monday the Mass was celebrated in San Martino. The procession then left the curtis aecclesiae to visit San Donato on Tuesday, Santa Maria Forisportam on Wednesday, San Pietro on Thursday, San Frediano on Friday and, finally returned to the curtis aecclesiae on Saturday, where a Mass was celebrated in San Martino, closing the circle.15 This procession went out from the holy precinct so that the sacrum radiated and unified the whole of Lucca. The Ordo is copied in a late-13th-century hand, but it reflects earlier practice, documented for San Frediano as early as 687 and known to have been in use for all six ecclesiae sedales until 1173. The Gregorian sources of this liturgy are clear and serve to underline a hierarchy among the churches.16
Thus, the seasonal trasmigratio between Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata and San Martino was inserted into this Easter path. Indeed, the first statio of the Easter week in Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata overlapped with the beginning of the liturgical season for that church. Since the texts indicate that the liturgy was split between two churches before Anselmo I became bishop, one for summer and one for winter, we might suppose that the city operated a system of twin cathedrals, for in addition to the seasonal division, we can detect a functional division. San Martino was the canons’ cathedral while Santi Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata housed baptisms, and perhaps functioned as the bishop’s cathedral (with the domus episcoporum nearby).
The debate about the nature and authority of twin cathedrals remains an open one, and it is not my purpose here to say anything about the form, function or symbology of this phenomenon.17 I simply wish to consider the liturgical praxis for the Church of Lucca that the documents describe so well. The shared liturgical organisation tells us something about the relationship between the buildings, and offers a reason as to the silence of the sources concerning the supposed movement of the Cathedral church from San Giovanni, Pantaleone e Reparata to San Martino.
As was the case in Milan, so it was in Lucca. Both churches in the twin cathedral complex could operate contemporaneously and throughout the year. It was simply the solemn masses that were divided seasonally. In changing this, so that the major masses would be celebrated in San Martino all year round, Anselmo promoted a new liturgical system focussed on a single cathedral church. For this purpose he restored the Cathedral building, which thereafter became known as the ecclesia matrix.18 Moreover, he introduced a vita comune for the canons, and in 1062, perhaps in mitigation or as an encouragement to accept reform, granted the canons the right to wear mitres in procession.
The plan of Anselmo’s Cathedral remains arguable. Pietro Guidi, Clara Baracchini, Antonio Caleca and Romano Silva believe the cathedral had twin aisles, like Pisa, while Anna Rosa Masetti argued that it consisted of a nave flanked by single aisles, as at Sant’Alessandro in Lucca.19 The list of altars (see above) tells us that there were twelve in total. The high altar was dedicated to San Martino, with an altar ante Vultum and another ante Crucem Veterem.20 There was a crypt beneath the presbytery containing the relics of Saint Regulus (as in Carolingian times), while the church boasted a porch with an altar for Saint Edmund above. The Sermo in traslatione corporis (source 4) also records the relics of Giasone, Mauro and Ilaria, placed in Anselmo’s time on the right side of the church, near the inner face of the façade, and adds that the relics of Lucina were on the left, while again confirming that the relics of St Regulus were in the crypt.
From the middle of the 9th century, clerics began to use written rituals to define the boundaries of the Church, both as an institution and as a community, a process which intensified over the second half of the 11th century. One aspect of this was the establishment of a correspondence between Christian society and the buildings in which it worshipped. Dominique Iogna Prat has shown how, and when, the ecclesia as a building became the mirror of the Ecclesia as an institution.21 During the Gregorian Reform, church buildings increasingly came to be celebrated as if they were themselves the body of a saint. The church as a container came to represent, as a metonym, its contents, as the Gregorian elite strove to create cathedrals that encompassed the whole of Christian society.
Thus it was that in the years when Anselmo was Pope, and chose to remain bishop of Lucca, the town became the focal point of a struggle between the papal reform party and the local clergy, as Rangerius relates in his Vita Metrica. This same Rangerius also wrote the Sermo in dedicatione aecclesiae, in which he described the dedication of a church in the name of a saint as ‘a baptism’ of the building.22 That is a striking simile to use. Michael Lauwers has pointed out that the consecration of a building is a means of advertising and ratifying the authority that built it. It either validates the initial establishment of authority, a transfer of authority, or it reflects a liturgical rearrangement, all of which affect those who staff or use the church in question.23 For Lucca Cathedral we don’t have a consecration sermon, but we do at least have the Sermo in traslatione corporis. What emerges from that is a story in which longstanding relations between social groups were reorganised, not without conflict, and cathedral worship was eventually centralised in a single building with a complex of altars and spaces.
From San Martino the sacrum radiated to the curtis and on into the town, which then, ideally, identified with Lucca’s principal church – the one and only Cathedral. Of the area around the Cathedral, the Sermo states that Anselmo, ‘sub anathemate quoque ex auctoritate divina et apostolica praecepit, ut nullus in circuitu et atrio et canonica ipsius ecclesiae irato animo vim alicui inferat, aut assaltum facere, aut personam capere pr(ae)sumat’, revealing the bishop’s determination to take charge of the curtis and protect it from violation.
Through the newly reformed church (ecclesia/building), the bishop/Pope wanted to project a new concept of the Church as a community, one which would act as a mirror of Christian society in a peaceful city. The building he chose as the new cathedral was the canons’ church, a course of action that was fraught but, if successful, would bring them into body of a reformed Church. The project failed, at least in its 11th-century form, and a few years later, in 1077, Gregory VII excommunicated the still rebellious canons of the cathedral. Resolution only came with Bishop Rangerius, who finally won over the city’s mercantile community, which had previously supported the schismatic Bishop Pietro.24 Rangerius also suppressed the crypt at some point between 1097 and 1112, translating the relics of St Regulus out of the dark (crypt) and into the light (presbytery). For the crypt had been a ‘locus vanitati […] occasionem confabulationis’.25 What had been begun by Anselmo was concluded by Rangerius. The curtis episcopale became the Curtis Ecclesia Sancti Martini, where, in the early 12th century, civic worship of the Volto Santo emerged. So, concluding the Sermo in dedicatione ecclesie, Rangerius was able to state ‘quid valet vobis eorum habere reliquias, quasi quoddam manna reconditum, quorum vitam spernitis, labores aborretis, coronam non curatis? […] Ad pacem unanimitatem redeamus’.26
