Episcopal Power and the Late Medieval State: Siena’s Bishops and the Government of the Nine

Abstract

This article seeks to understand the cooperative nature of episcopal-communal relations and the role of bishops in late medieval Siena through an examination of the career of Donosdeo di Bartolomeo Malavolti (r. 1317-1350), whose thirty-three year tenure as Siena’s bishop corresponded with the reign of the government of the Nine (1287-1355). It argues that because of the precarious nature of secular power, the ruling regime regularly turned to Siena’s bishops to maintain its power and legitimacy. When the regime was threatened by earthquakes, famine, or rebellion, order was restored through demonstrations of communal and episcopal solidarity in the form of processions, episcopal Masses, and joint pleas for the Virgin’s clemency. More broadly, episcopal authority was a vital connective political, cultural, and religious force that united the Sienese in times of discord, legitimated communal authority, and played a key role in creating a relatively unified Sienese state.