I am very grateful to Michael Goodich, who has raised some interesting
points about 'the sin of sodomy' and the flagellants of 1260, and the
confraternities of 'disciplinati' which the movement produced. (I haven't
had time yet to check the confraternity statutes, but will do so.)
Here is the crucial passage in a puzzling text the 'Lezenda de Fra Rainero
Faxano' (ed. E. Ardu), pp. 93-98 of *Il Movimento dei Disciplinati* (Centro
di Ricerca e di Studio sul Movimento dei Disciplinati) (Perugia, 1962,
reprinted 1986):
[San Bevignate, a local saint, 'canonized' by the Perugians themselves,
says to Fra Rainero, pp.95-96:]
'Et dico tibi quia propter peccata innumerabilia et turpia, scilicet
sodomitarum, feneratorum et propter corruptionem fidei christiane, scilicet
propter incredulitatem patarenorum, gacarorum*, pauperum Leonis, et aliorum
multorum, volebat Dominus mundum subvertere...'
*one MS reads Gazarorum, another Hereticorum. (Could this be a corruption
of Passagiani? Otherwise, what? I should write to Malcolm Lambert! The
Passagiani are the only possible sect mentioned in "Ad abolendum")
There are four surviving MSS. of the 'Lezenda de Fra Rainero Faxano', none
earlier than the XIVth century, none from Perugia. The text contains local
knowledge of Perugia and its saints, but seems inaccurate otherwise. For
example, the three sins that threaten God's apocalyptical wrath against the
world: sodomy, usury, heresy. Perugia was a citadel of orthodoxy. The
heretical sects mentioned appear to have been non-existent there. Nor was
there a conspicuous amount of banking/usury in the city, or no more than
what one would expect in a town much smaller than, say, Florence. As for
crimes of homosexuality, there is also nothing extraordinary, certainly
nothing noteworthy c.1260. Nevertheless, sodomy is mentioned first; it
gets star billing! (Michael, what do you make of this?)
Gary Dickson
University of Edinburgh
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