Viella Historical Research
10
Disaster Narratives
in Early Modern Naples
Politics, Communication and Culture
edited by
Domenico Cecere, Chiara De Caprio,
Lorenza Gianfrancesco, Pasquale Palmieri
Translated by Enrica Maria Ferrara
viella
Copyright © 2018 - Viella s.r.l.
All rights reserved
First edition: November 2018
ISBN 978-88-6728-645-4
This research was carried out thanks to the Programme STAR 2013 Linea 1,
financially supported by Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and
Compagnia di San Paolo.
The essays in this volume have been translated from Italian into English
by Enrica Maria Ferrara, except for Lorenza Gianfrancesco’s.
The index of names and the bibliographic revision are by Carmen Gallo,
Annachiara Monaco, Gennaro Schiano and Valentina Sferragatta.
Cover illustration: Nicolas Perrey, Stato del Monte Vesuvio doppo l’ultimo incendio de’
16 di decembre 1631, from Gianbernardino Giuliani, Trattato del Monte Vesuvio e de’
suoi incendi, in Napoli, appresso Egidio Longo, MDCXXXII.
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Contents
Domenico cecere, chiara De caprio,
Lorenza Gianfrancesco, pasquaLe paLmieri
Disaster narratives and texts. A meeting ground
for different cultural domains
7
I. Textual Configurations, Narrative Structures and Lexicon
chiara De caprio
Narrating Disasters: Writers and Texts Between
Historical Experience and Narrative Discourse
19
francesco montuori
Voices of the “totale eccidio”: On the Lexicon
of Earthquakes in the Kingdom (1456-1784)
41
rita fresu
“The Water Ran with Such Force”.
The Representation of Floods in the Early Modern Era:
Textual Configurations, Conceptual Models, Linguistic Aspects
73
II. Communities in Fear: Reporting Disasters in Chronicles and Petitions
pierLuiGi terenzi
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
francesco senatore
Survivors’ Voices: Coping with the Plague of 1478-1480
in Southern Italian Rural Communities
93
109
III. Communication, Dissent and Propaganda
Domenico cecere
Moralising Pamphlets: Calamities, Information
and Propaganda in Seventeenth-Century Naples
129
6
Disaster Narratives
GiancarLo aLfano
The Portrait of Catastrophe: The Image of the City
in Seventeenth-century Neapolitan Culture
147
Lorenza Gianfrancesco
Narratives and Representations of a Disaster
in Early Seventeenth-century Naples
163
siLvana D’aLessio
On the Neapolitan Plague of 1656: Expedients and Remedies
187
IV. A City Under Siege: Rituals and Saints’ Protection
in Early Modern Neapolitan Culture
pasquaLe paLmieri
Protecting the Faithful City: Disasters and the Cult of the Saints
(Naples, 1573-1587)
207
Giovanni GuGG
The Missing Ex-Voto: Anthropology and Approach
to Devotional Practices during the 1631 Eruption of Vesuvius
221
Indexes
239
Contributors
255
II
Communities in Fear: Reporting Disasters in Chronicles and Petitions
pierLuiGi terenzi
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila in the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Centuries*
1. Introduction
The earthquake that hit L’Aquila on 6 April 2009 was the latest in a series of
seismic events that have occurred over the centuries. From its founding around
the mid-thirteenth century at the northern edge of the Kingdom of Naples, the city
has in fact been destroyed five times by earthquakes. In this contribution we will
deal with three of them, which occurred, respectively, on 3 December 1315, on 9
September 1349, and from the end of November 1461 to March 1462.
These earthquakes had devastating effects on the population and on physical
structures.1 Damage, fatalities, and psychological and social repercussions have
already been highlighted in broader studies, but these could not deal with the specific
case in question or expound upon the issue of disasters in L’Aquila.2 Despite the
important role of earthquakes in the history of the city, there has in fact been a
lack of historiographical focus specifically on this theme.3 With this study, we want
firstly to fill this gap but also provide answers to the questions raised in this volume
and offer a perspective not centred on the Kingdom’s capital, Naples.
* Dedicated to Alessandro Angelucci († 2016).
1. Basic information in Emanuela Guidoboni and Alberto Comastri, Catalogue of
Earthquakes and Tsunamis in the Mediterranean Area from the 11th to the 15th Century, Rome,
INGV-SGA, 2005, Nos. 168, 194, pp. 325-332.
2. Besides the above-mentioned catalogue, see the contributions of Bruno Figliuolo,
Il terremoto del 1456, 2 vols., Altavilla Silentina, Studi Storici meridionali, 1988-1989, vol.
I, pp. 154-176; “La paura del terremoto tra Medioevo e Rinascimento”, in Storia e paure.
Immaginario collettivo, riti e rappresentazioni della paura in età moderna, ed. by Laura Guidi,
Maria Rosaria Pelizzari and Lucia Valenzi, Milan, Franco Angeli, 1992, pp. 164-175; “Il
fenomeno sismico nel bacino del Mediterraneo in età rinascimentale”, Studi storici, 43 (2002),
pp. 881-919; “I terremoti in Italia”, in Le calamità ambientali nel tardo Medio evo europeo:
realtà, percezioni, reazioni, ed. by Michael Matheus, Gabriella Piccinni, Giuliano Pinto and
Gian Maria Varanini, Florence, Firenze University Press, 2010, pp. 319-335.
3. The first study on these earthquakes is dated and descriptive: Giovanni Vittori, “Stato
dell’Aquila degli Abruzzi nei grandi periodi sismici del 1315, 1349, 1461-62”, Bullettino della
Deputazione abruzzese di storia patria, 8 (1896), pp. 228-236. A more recent account is provided
by Maria Rita Berardi, “I terremoti nel periodo medievale”, in Breve storia dell’Aquila, ed. by
Fabio Redi, Pisa, Pacini, 2008, pp. 73-80.
94
Pierluigi Terenzi
The main issues addressed will be three: the ways in which the earthquake was
interpreted by contemporaries; the reactions prompted by the seismic event; the
material and social effects. These basic themes will be addressed in five sections,
the first two of which will be devoted to secular and religious interpretations of
the earthquake, and the following three to responses to the catastrophe, its sociopolitical consequences, the damage suffered and the reconstruction undertaken.
In addition, these points will be ‘intersected’ by two constant thematic lines: the
importance of politics, which is evident in all interpretations and accounts of the
earthquakes, and the relationship between sources and disaster, particularly in the
work of the chroniclers.
Before we proceed, an introduction to the latter is appropriate in order to
establish a frame of reference. Buccio di Ranallo wrote a chronicle in verse, in the
vernacular, of the history of L’Aquila from its founding to 1362. This constitutes the
best source of information on the earthquakes in the fourteenth century and offers
much food for thought in relation to the author’s vision due to its strong moralistic
perspective.4 Regarding the earthquake of 1461-1462, there are three chroniclers
to be considered. The merchant Francesco d’Angeluccio wrote a memoir in the
vernacular concerning the years 1436-1458, which is composed of brief narrative
blocks offering essential information and few comments.5 The Franciscan Observant
Alessandro de Ritiis wrote a chronicle in Latin prose spanning the period from 1370
to 1495, in which he referred to the earlier chroniclers and added new sections and
some comments.6 Finally, Cola di Buccio devoted his chronicle to the early 1460s,
specifically because they were marked by wars, earthquakes and other calamities.
Unfortunately, his work has not survived, but its content was used by the eighteenthcentury scholar Antonio Ludovico Antinori in order to provide an account of the
earthquake of 1461-1462.7 Without the original, this work will primarily serve
as a source of information, not least because Cola provided far more details than
the other chroniclers. The different approaches and motivations of the chronicles
will be taken into consideration in this analysis, which will regard the authors as
representative members of the society of which they were part.8
4. Buccio di Ranallo, Cronica, ed. by Carlo De Matteis, Florence, SISMEL, 2008 (from
here on BdR). The account of the earthquakes is found at st. 240-247 (1315) and 806-819
(1349).
5. Francesco d’Angeluccio, Cronaca delle cose dell’Aquila, ed. by Antonio Ludovico
Antinori, in Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevii, Milan, 1742, vol.
VI, cols. 883-926 (from here on FdA). For the earthquake, see cols. 899-903.
6. “La «Chronica civitatis Aquile» di Alessandro de Ritiis”, ed. by Leopoldo Cassese, part
I, Archivio storico per le province napoletane, 27 (1941), pp. 151-216 (from here on AdR). For
the earthquake, see pp. 207-210.
7. Sections attributed to Cola di Buccio in Antonio Ludovico Antinori, Annali degli
Abruzzi, Bologna, Forni, 1972, vol. XV, pp. 607-640 (from here on CdB).
8. For in-depth studies of the chronicles, see Chiara De Caprio, “La scrittura cronachistica
nel Regno: scriventi, testi e stili narrativi”, in Le cronache volgari. Atti della VI settimana di
Studi Medievali (Roma, 13-15 maggio 2015), ed. by Giampaolo Francesconi and Massimo
Miglio, Rome, Istituto Storico per il Medioevo, pp. 227-268; and the essay by the same author
in this book.
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
95
2. The political causes of the earthquake
In the late Middle Ages, earthquakes were explained by means of religious or
natural causes, which were not necessarily mutually incompatible.9 When they were
regarded as God’s interventions, some types of social behaviour (usury, blasphemy,
etc.) and minority groups (Jews, heretics, etc.) were indicated as their cause.10 In the
case of L’Aquila, the explanations placed politics at the centre, identifying the origin
of divine retribution in the specific conduct of political leaders.
For Buccio di Ranallo, aggression towards the surrounding territory and
internal political conflicts were the factors that spurred God’s reaction. In 1315
L’Aquila was punished with the earthquake for the “granni peccati facti li
giorni giuti” [“serious sins committed in the past”];11 by revisiting the chronicle
retrospectively, we can identify these sins firstly with the capture of the castle
of Machilone in 1299. On that occasion, breaking some pacts (not specified by
Buccio), the citizens of L’Aquila destroyed the town centre and deported the women,
impoverishing them. The municipal authorities had promised to accommodate
them in a monastery, but this was instead given to the nuns of Machilone, who
were “jentili donne” [“noblewomen”].12 In one fell swoop, the government had
taken three initiatives that Buccio regarded as execrable: betraying the trust of
another community, attacking it by force of arms, and mistreating poor women
and disregarding their needs to benefit wealthier women. These actions were
contrary to the values that the chronicler expressed in his work, which was filled
with references to good government, peace, institutional correctness and the moral
conduct of the citizens. Buccio dismissed as un-Christian all political behaviour
that was opposed to these values, stigmatising the choices made by rulers as sinful
actions that had spurred God’s reaction.
Buccio also attributed the earthquake of 1349 to the attacks against the
surrounding countryside and its people. The earthquake occurred after the difficult
period of the Black Death of 1348, which played a fundamental role in the chain of
events because it determined the social scenario from which military aggression
stemmed.13 The population decline had in fact the effect of concentrating more
wealth in the hands of the survivors, as Buccio himself observed.14 According to
9. Some examples in Arno Borst, “Das Erdbeben von 1348: Ein historischer Beitrag zur
Katastrophenforschung”, Historische Zeitschrift, 233/3 (1981), pp. 529-569: 541-546. For the
Renaissance, we must remember Giannozzo Manetti, De Terremotu, ed. by Daniela Pagliara,
Florence, SISMEL, 2012.
10. Jussi Hanska, Strategies of Sanity and Survival: Religious Responses to Natural Disasters
in the Middle Ages, Helsinki, Finnish Literature Society, 2002, pp. 102-105; Jacques Berlioz,
Catastrophes naturelles et calamités au Moyen Âge, Florence, SISMEL, 1998, pp. 46-52.
11. BdR, st. 240.
12. Ibid., st. 197-199.
13. Ibid., st. 763-801. For a synthesis, Pierre Toubert, “La Peste Noire dans les Abruzzes
(1348-1350)”, Le Moyen Âge, 120/1 (2014), pp. 11-26.
14. BdR, st. 789-790. In this regard, see the essays by Rinaldo Comba and Paolo Pirillo
in La peste nera. Dati di una realtà ed elementi di una interpretazione. Atti del XXX Convegno
storico internazionale (Todi, 10-13 ottobre 1993), Spoleto, CISAM, 1994.
96
Pierluigi Terenzi
the chronicler, this had negative repercussions on social behaviour, for luxury and
meanness replaced the piety and decency that had characterised the period of the
epidemic. Pomp was primarily evident in weddings, which became the strongest
indicator of recovered vitality after the plague. Marriages degenerated into unions
that had previously been unthinkable, however, such as those between old men
and young girls, and men and women of the clergy who abandoned the cloth.15
More generally, Buccio believed that enrichment determined a moral worsening
of the citizens of L’Aquila: “la iente fo mancata, e l’avarizia cresciuta” [“people
had died and avarice had grown”].16
This negative development of social dynamics culminated in a new-found
aggressiveness directed outwards. Buccio pointed out that the attacks of 1349 were
not wanted by the community or by the government but by Lalle Camponeschi, a
nobleman who had been victorious in a clash between factions that had begun in the
1330s, and who had obtained the title of Count of Montorio.17 From the beginning
of the 1340s, Lalle had been the leader of the city and the decision-maker on its
internal and external political affairs, thereby overshadowing the authority of the
institutions. His power was such that, according to Buccio, those who manifested
their opposition to the attacks against the surrounding territory risked death.18
Buccio’s insistence on the distinction between the community and Camponeschi,
as well as other elements of the count’s personal power,19 suggest that the military
action fell within Lalle’s projects as the head of a single faction rather than as the
leader of the whole community. The castles attacked were probably the refuges
of his opponents, whom the count wanted to prevent from seizing power in the
town. The population decline due to the plague had presumably affected the area
that supported Lalle, against whom timid opposition was being manifested, as
indicated by Buccio. All this increased the risk that those who had left would
return to the city and cause the fall of the count.
According to Buccio, the political choices made by Lalle in his own interest
and in the interest of his faction fell back on the whole community, which was
already guilty of having resumed their immoral ways. The chronicler thus
used the earthquake to reinforce the moralistic prescription of his chronicle,
establishing a direct connection between political actions and divine reactions.
Such a connection, in its factional-political connotation, was proposed once again
in the fifteenth century by Bishop Amico Agnifili in the homilies delivered after
the earthquake of November 1461. In that period King Ferrante, who had come
15. BdR, st. 794-796.
16. Ibid., st. 800.
17. On Lalle, see Peter Partner, Camponeschi, Lalle [I], in Dizionario biografico degli
italiani, vol. 17, Rome, Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 1974, pp. 574-576; on the clashes of
factions, see Pierluigi Terenzi, “Conflits urbains et politique monarchique en Italie méridionale.
La ville de L’Aquila à la fin du Moyen Âge”, in Factions, Lineages and Conflicts in European
Cities in the Late Middle Ages, ed. by María Asenjo González and Andrea Zorzi, Florence,
Firenze University Press (forthcoming), pp. 175-190.
18. BdR, st. 802-805.
19. On which see Berardo Pio, “Il tiranno velato fra teoria politica e realtà storica”, in Tiranni
e tirannide nel Trecento italiano, ed. by Andrea Zorzi, Rome, Viella, 2013, pp. 95-118: 106-112.
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
97
to power in 1458, faced the rebellion of several subjects who believed him to be
illegitimate and wanted the return of the Angevin dynasty.20 In L’Aquila, Count
Pietro Lalle Camponeschi – a descendant and political heir of Lalle – led the city
to rebellion in January 1460, with the blessing of the bishop himself.21 Almost two
years later, however, the prelate had changed sides and addressed the citizens of
L’Aquila in this way after the earthquake:
povirille non videte questo è lu juditio de Deo, che è venuti supra vuy perché state contra
la Eclesia; […] quisto non n’è nigente, ancora aspetate de pezo da vinire, se non ve
remendate di quisti vostri errori et che dagati piena obidientia allo santo patre.22
The bishop reprimanded the citizens of L’Aquila for siding against the Church,
which at that time supported the Aragonese dynasty. With the city physically and
psychologically on its knees, Agnifili sought to exploit the earthquake in order
to influence local politics against the project of Pietro Lalle, who was leading
the Angevin faction in the entire Abruzzo region. The political explanation
of the earthquake thus took a new connotation marked by the immediacy and
concreteness of its goals. In fact, the connection between human behaviour and
earthquake was normally established a posteriori by those who relayed the events,
often to promote better behaviour in society or in its leaders, as Buccio himself
did. In contrast, Amico, who was directly involved and was not a judgemental
commentator, used the earthquake as a tool for a political strategy to be pursued
in the immediate future.
3. Divine intervention and the specificity of the earthquake
According to many authors, human behaviour provoked divine retribution
in the form of various calamities.23 The chroniclers of L’Aquila once again put
forward different aspects of this interpretation, such as the apocalyptic meaning
that Buccio evoked by using the term ‘piaga’ for the years 1315 and 1349.24 In his
and Alessandro de Ritiis’s chronicles, however, we can gather some peculiarities
regarding the punitive nature of the earthquake and the possibilities of a positive
intervention on God’s part.
20. Emilio Nunziante, I primi anni di Ferdinando d’Aragona e l’invasione di G. d’Angiò
(1458-1464), Naples, Giannini, 1898.
21. On Pietro Lalle see Terenzi, L’Aquila nel Regno, pp. 219-264.
22. “Poor you, you do not see that this is God’s judgement, which has come upon you
because you are against the Church; […] this is nothing, expect even worse, if you do not correct
these errors of yours and do not give full obedience to the holy father” (Dispacci sforzeschi da
Napoli, vol. IV, 1° gennaio-26 dicembre 1641, ed. by Francesco Storti, Salerno, Carlone, 1998,
doc. 231, pp. 393-395).
23. Hanska, Strategies, pp. 116-143.
24. BdR, st. 240 e 807. For a comparison, see Christian Rohr, “Writing a Catastrophe.
Describing and Constructing Disaster Perception in Narrative Sources from the Late Middle
Ages”, Historical Social Research, 32/3 (2007), pp. 88-102. See also Figliuolo, Il fenomeno
sismico, p. 885.
98
Pierluigi Terenzi
When comparing the ways in which Buccio treated the plague and the
earthquake of 1348-49, it emerges clearly that the chronicler regarded only the
latter as God’s retribution. He implicitly attributed a divine origin to the plague,
too, through the use of biblical language (“general plague”), but at the same time he
remarked that the plague came from the East, where it resulted in a larger number
of fatalities.25 Thus, if an act of God had been at its origin, this was not directed
at L’Aquila, where the population had not behaved in such a way as to justify it.
The city was not subject to the divine punitive act but to one of its consequences
– the spreading of the disease – due to natural causes. Such a vision perhaps
stemmed from knowledge of the ways in which contagion spread and the gradual
effect of the plague on the population, which was not suddenly hit all at once. The
earthquake was instead a violent, sudden, unpredictable and uncontrollable blow.
Its shattering nature caused it to be more easily considered as a blow struck by God
on the community in order to stir people’s conscience. In Buccio, the quality of
the catastrophe, so to speak, led to a more varied interpretation of divine actions,
unlike the most widespread religious explanations of the time, which attributed
any calamity to God.
Buccio also expressed this differentiated perception with regard to the divine
intervention that mitigated the effects of the plague. During the epidemic, God
made sure that the mortally ill would suffer only for a few days,26 while he saved
a substantial part of the population from contagion. The latter point was decisive,
according to the chronicler, because the return to immoral behaviour in defiance
of this divine grace led to the earthquake of 1349. The chronicler even imagined
God’s thoughts:
Io li agio perdunato e vengo puro fenenno,
canpaili dalla mortauta e pietate li avenno;
un’altra piaga mànnoli, che sse venga amonenno.27
In Buccio’s vision, God intervened in two ways regarding the catastrophes:
punitive, through the earthquake; protective, by containing the plague. The
variation of judgement on the topic of divine intervention was not original
per se, because it characterised different interpretations that originated within
the ecclesiastical milieu. Nonetheless, this variation emphasized the positivity
or negativity of the effects of the catastrophe, depending on whether or not
the population adopted the right behaviour that God wanted to obtain through
punishment.28 Buccio instead focused more on the quality of the intervention
itself than on its result, even though he emphasised that failure to acknowledge
divine grace led to a new earthquake.
The same perspective was adopted by Alessandro de Ritiis, although his
interpretation was more traditional. In fact, the friar-chronicler attributed both
25. BdR, st. 764.
26. Ibid., st. 781.
27. “I have forgiven them and they offend me, / I saved them from mortality and they received
pity; / I am sending them another plague, so that they are admonished” (Ibid., st. 807).
28. Berlioz, Catastrophes, pp. 27-29.
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
99
the earthquake and the plague to the divine hand, even though he was not explicit
with respect to the second. This can be inferred by examining two passages in
which the chronicler mentions the earthquake that hit the Kingdom in 1456,
using biblical terminology.29 The first actually concerns the earthquake of 1456:
“Aquila igitur non fuit tribulata terremotu predicto, quia tunc erat pestis in Aquila,
unde deus benedictus noluit afflicto afflictionem addere”.30 The second passage,
which was positioned after the account of the strong tremors that took place at the
beginning of 1462, was instead an admonishment to the city: “Et sic quod evasit,
Aquila, in anno 1456 tempore terremotus regni et pestis, nunc duplicatum est tibi
flagellum, igitur cave et time deum ne deterius tibi contingat”.31
Both the plague and the earthquake were afflictions or scourges wanted by
God, who in 1456 nonetheless decided to spare L’Aquila from the earthquake
because the city had already been hit by the epidemic. Ignoring this grace, the
citizens of L’Aquila continued to behave badly and prompted the divine reaction.
Like Buccio, De Ritiis associated the earthquake with failed acknowledgement
of grace, but for the friar, divine action could be more independent and varied.
God could in fact intervene to safeguard the population even in a calamity that
He had caused, like the earthquake of 1461. In his account of the first tremors,
De Ritiis noted that the earthquake “creditur fuisse a deo inspiratum, quia
parum damnum fecit”.32 Conversely, regarding the stronger tremors of January
1462, he reported that some friars thought that it was a “Scourge of God”.33 The
positive function and the negative one could manifest themselves within the same
typology of catastrophe and also by God’s will. Moreover, De Ritiis proposed
a correspondence between the intensity of the earthquake and the quality of the
intervention. The latter could be classed as negative in case of strong tremors, and
positive in case of light ones. God’s mitigating intervention was thus extended to
earthquakes, which took on a plurality of meanings: besides being a punishment,
they could also be a warning.
Finally, God could intervene positively, regarding the calamity that He had
caused, by means of a miracle, also with the aim of encouraging better behaviour.
As reported by the three fifteenth-century chroniclers, in the suburban church of
Santa Maria di Collemaggio, the seat of the Celestine monks, the main chapel
collapsed. Yet, consecrated hosts housed in a tabernacle below the chapel
remained intact, protected by bricks that combined to form a little hut. This fact
was regarded as a miracle and the rediscovered hosts were carried in procession.34
29. On this earthquake, see Figliuolo, Il terremoto del 1456.
30. “L’Aquila was not afflicted by that earthquake, because at that time there was the
plague in L’Aquila, thus the blessed God did not want to add affliction to the afflicted” (AdR,
p. 204).
31. “You saved yourself, L’Aquila, in the year 1456 at the time of the earthquake in the
kingdom and the plague, now the scourge on you has doubled, thus be careful and fear God so
that nothing worse happens to you” (Ibid., p. 208).
32. “It was believed to have been inspired by God, for it caused little damage” (Ibid., p.
207).
33. Ibid., p. 208.
34. Ibid., p. 207; FdA, col. 899; CdB, pp. 619-620.
100
Pierluigi Terenzi
The divine intervention was not ‘cost-free’, however, for the rediscovery of the
hosts occurred only after a monk had demonstrated that he had kept his vow of
fasting. This aspect, which is recalled by Cola di Buccio, refers to the relationship
between human actions and divine reactions after the earthquake, which we are
about to examine.
4. Social relations and political consequences
Immediately after an earthquake, especially if it was one of great intensity, the
population was overcome by panic, the wish to escape, and a sense of impotence.
Since all this also applied to L’Aquila, we will not examine it in depth, referring
instead to the available literature on this topic.35 Accordingly, the next pages will
deal with the social and religious reactions of the community and the political
consequences of the earthquake.
The religious response was one of the most important reactions of a community
after an earthquake and other disasters, and it came in various forms, such as
individual and collective penances, and processions.36 It brought the community
back together around the need to avert the recurrence of the event or the worsening
of its effects. Although what happened in L’Aquila in this matter did not differ
from other cases, it is possible to highlight some peculiar characteristics.
Firstly, a strong connection between human behaviour and divine reaction was
also established in relation to the aftermath of the earthquake. Buccio di Ranallo and
Alessandro de Ritiis, as mentioned earlier, stigmatised the ungrateful and irreverent
attitude of the citizens of L’Aquila towards God, with respect to some calamities
that hit or spared the city. In 1315 the citizens of L’Aquila had not kept the promises
they had made in order to prevent the tremors from continuing; in 1349 and in 1461
they did not acknowledge the grace received.37 These attitudes contrasted with the
need to take the right path indicated by God through earthquakes in order to avoid
more occurrences such as this.38 The miracle of the hosts in Collemaggio reinforced
this strong connection, demonstrating that if a Christian had kept his promises – as
the monk who fasted did – God’s intervention would be positive.
The same logic applied to penances and processions, which represented the
typical way of invoking divine forgiveness. These practices also took place in
L’Aquila, but unlike other cases, they were not directed at the patron saints but at
God and, in the fifteenth century, at the Virgin.39 However, what is striking is the
particular intensity of these practices. In 1315 the citizens of L’Aquila did “penetenza
la sera e la domane, frustannose ciascuno colli frustati in mane”.40 In 1462 the
35. Berlioz, Catastrophes, pp. 20-26; Figliuolo, “La paura”.
36. Hanska, Strategies, pp. 48-100.
37. Respectively: BdR, st. 241 and 807; AdR, pp. 204 and 208.
38. Borst, “Das Erdbeben”, pp. 542-543.
39. On patron saints, see Hanska, Strategies, pp. 42-45; on the Marian cult, see Figliuolo,
“La paura”, pp. 173-174.
40. “Penance day and night, all self-flagellating with whips in their hands” (BdR, st. 243).
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
101
preacher Timoteo da Verona ordered that at ten o’clock every evening everybody
kneel down and recite the Hail Mary. In this case, the involvement of society was
so extensive that the chroniclers regarded it as an extraordinary event determined
by the authority of the preacher.41 The population even went beyond the preacher’s
instructions, holding large processions for several days, which involved all sectors
of society. At the sight of such devotion, those responsible for the guilds decided
to close the shops and take part in the processions. In a cultural context dominated
by trade and craft like L’Aquila, such a measure was extremely indicative of the
religious fervour that permeated those days. Moreover, this movement reached
such extraordinary proportions that, as Cola noted, as people joined the processions
towards Collemaggio, less than a quarter of the citizenry remained in town.42
The earthquake had even more important effects in political terms, especially
with respect to conflicts. Regarding 1315, Buccio observed how “tucte le genti
giano sì divoti e contriti, liali l’uno a l’altro com’ fussero romiti”.43 This image
of the population contrasted with what the chronicler had described before the
earthquake, when continual unrest permeated society. The seismic event thus
had the positive effect of cementing the unity of the citizens of L’Aquila, an
improvement that corresponded to the pacification of “nimistate granni” [“great
enmity”]44 in the aftermath of the earthquake itself. These were conflicts that, from
the end of the thirteenth century, had set the urban districts against one another,
determining a widespread unrest that generated strong internal instability. This
pacification was so important that came to be mentioned in the city statutes, along
with reference to the earthquake.
A set of norms was formulated before 1315, the year of its recognition on
the part of King Robert of Anjou. Subsequently, two chapters on “pax tempore
terremotus” [“peace at the time of the earthquake”]45 were added. Since the
manuscripts of the statutes date to the early fifteenth century, we can be sure
that this referred to the earthquake of 1315 thanks to an explicit reference made
in a letter of 1317.46 In it, Robert wrote that, shaken by the terrible event, the
citizens of L’Aquila had managed to set aside hatred and rancour, and had
reached harmony. They had then begged him to validate the agreements because
they provided for the granting of an amnesty for all the crimes perpetrated until
the stipulation of the peace treaty itself. Royal validation was needed because
a simple treaty drawn up by a notary was not enough to prevent penal justice,
administered by a royal representative, from taking its course, and those guilty
of murder and injury would be convicted.47 Satisfied with the peace, the king
41. FdA, col. 902; AdR, p. 209; CdB, pp. 637-638.
42. CdB, p. 640.
43. “All the people went about pious and contrite, loyal to one another, as though they
were hermits” (Ibid., st. 245).
44. Ibid., st. 244.
45. Statuta civitatis Aquile, ed. by Alessandro Clementi, Rome, Istituto Storico Italiano
per il Medioevo, 1977, chaps. 540-541.
46. Archivio di Stato de L’Aquila, Archivio Civico Aquilano, V 42, fol. 11r-v.
47. On these aspects see Terenzi, L’Aquila nel Regno, pp. 376-391.
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Pierluigi Terenzi
conceded the dispensation, which concerned the population in its entirety and not
just the small groups directly involved. For this reason, the charters adopted the
royal provision, which extended peace between two adversaries to their respective
relatives and ordered the captain, who was the royal officer stationed in the city,
to ensure that all the agreements were respected “et maxime paces factas tempore
terremotus” [“and especially peace treaties made at the time of the earthquake”].
The earthquake thus entered collective memory, not only due to its physical and
psychological impact, but also because it put an end to long feuds and found legal
recognition for its role as a ‘peacemaker’.
5. The emergency and the damage
After an earthquake, society obviously reorganised itself in practical terms too.
In case of strong earthquakes, emergency measures concerned primarily housing
and the clearing of the rubble. In L’Aquila each family found shelter in temporary
accommodation “made of blankets and cloth” placed “especially in the main
square”, in the cathedral square.48 In any case, such accommodation was relatively
long lasting: at least four weeks in 1315, nine in 1349, and four (not continuous)
months in 1461-1462. In addition, in 1349 it was arranged for the rubble to be
removed from the streets due to the efforts of the populations of the surrounding
territory.49 Unfortunately we cannot know whether these interventions were ordered
or coordinated by civic institutions or by the political leaders of the city.
We know, instead, that the authorities acted promptly to restore places and
objects with a significant practical function for the community, such as the defence
and organisation of social life, but which at the same time held a symbolic value.
These measures and their promptness were due to particular motives, however.
In 1349, in order to replace the collapsed city walls, Lalle Camponeschi
had fences built “de bon lename grosso multo bene chiovati”.50 This measure
was decided upon only after part of the population had begun to leave the city,
believing “che mai deiase Aquila ravetare”.51 The image of the destroyed city was
such that, because of the high number of collapsed or damaged buildings, “multi
omini crediano no fosse più avetata”.52 Discouragement was amplified by the
collapse of the city walls, a symbol of the very existence of the community as an
aggregation of people in a defined physical space. The reconstruction of the walls
simultaneously served to provide the city with a means of defence, to recreate
the urban environment and to keep the community together, offering a tangible
symbol of the city’s identity in contrast to its abandonment by the population.
However, like in the military actions preceding the earthquake, there was
a personal political implication. Buccio observed that “foroci gra’ desasci, ca
48. AdR, p. 207.
49. BdR, st. 813.
50. “Made of good strong timber, very well nailed together” (Ibid., st. 819).
51. “That L’Aquila would never be repopulated again” (Ibid., st. 817).
52. “Many men believed that it was no longer inhabited” (Ibid., st. 816).
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
103
stevamo inzerrati”,53 creating a contrast with the positive acceptance of the
reconstruction of the city walls managed by the count. Extending our view
to the political situation of that time, we may say that the construction of
temporary walls had also the aim of preserving Lalle’s power. Depopulation
would in fact weaken his power base, which would hardly be reconstituted in
the new situation. Emigration would reinforce the network of small centres in
the territory, making it impossible to reorganize the meshwork of consensus
for his faction and favouring instead his adversaries, who, in the surrounding
territory, found refuge and the possibility of exercising power. Once again,
this would lead to a new phase of conflict and the risk for Lalle of losing his
leadership and his life.
Nothing comparable to this occurred after the earthquake of 1461-1462, not
least because the personal power of the faction leader Pietro Lalle Camponeschi
was stronger and more focused on the needs of the community. In that situation,
the measures taken for the restoration of places and objects of public interest had
a collective connotation and probably involved the institutions as well. By way of
introduction, however, it is necessary to say that the fifteenth-century chroniclers
were more interested in physical damage than Buccio. What was most striking for
Francesco, Alessandro and Cola was the effect of the earthquakes on public buildings,
especially ecclesiastical ones. Cola offered detailed information on the individual
damage suffered by, amongst other buildings in the town and the surrounding
territory, over thirty churches, the bishop’s palace and a couple of hospitals, which
were affected to varying degrees.54 These were key locations of public life which
could not escape the attention of observers. The other two chroniclers indicated only
the most important ones, however, providing a few more details on the cathedral
and on the churches of Collemaggio and San Bernardino.55 It was not by chance that
these were the city’s three major ecclesiastical focal points, animated, respectively,
by the secular clergy, the Celestines, and the Franciscan Observants. Corresponding
to these focal points were the four patron saints of L’Aquila: Maximus and George
(cathedral), Celestine V and Bernardino of Siena.56
That said, it is necessary to note that the chroniclers paid equal attention to
the bells, which were objects of great significance for the life of the community.
They were an instrument of organisation of society because they marked the time
for social life, religious and lay ceremonies, work, institutional activity, justice,
etc. Bells had also a symbolic meaning, which reflected the identity of the city
and – like the walls – the very existence of the community.57
53. “There was a great deal of inconvenience, because we remained locked inside” (Ibid.,
st. 819).
54. CdB, pp. 610-618. For a list of the buildings affected, see Guidoboni and Comastri,
Catalogue, p. 735.
55. FdA, col. 899; ADR, p. 207.
56. On these themes, see Raffaele Colapietra, Spiritualità, coscienza civile e mentalità
collettiva nella storia dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Deputazione abruzzese di storia patria, 1984.
57. Silvia Mantini, “Voci di Dio, voci degli uomini: campane e suoni tra ordinamenti e
identità (secc. XIV-XVI)”, in Dal fuoco all’aria. Tecniche, significati e prassi nell’uso delle
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Pierluigi Terenzi
In L’Aquila this set of circumstances was reinforced by a particular attachment
to these objects, which had also represented the political-military establishment
of the city in the northern area of the Kingdom. In 1321, L’Aquila besieged Rieti
and regained possession of its bell, which was called Reatinella and became the
symbol of its superiority. Over the course of the fourteenth century, an actual
system of bells was set up in the government building: the Reatinella marked
the various moments of lay life, including the assemblies of the select councils;
the big bell summoned the general parliament and called the population to arms;
the bell of the clock tower marked the hours; the bell of justice or of sentence
signalled the execution of a person condemned to death.58
Based on these premises, it is no wonder that the three chroniclers paid a great
deal of attention to what happened to two of these bells on the occasion of the 1461
earthquake: the clock-tower bell fell and lodged itself into the ground without
breaking, whereas the bell of justice broke. The practical and symbolic centrality
of the former was confirmed by its prompt reactivation, which already occurred
on 9 January 1462.59 Remaking the latter required more time, not least because it
had to be recast three times before it could be rung again in March 1464.60 Both
restorations carried a meaning that was beyond practical. Francesco d’Angeluccio
associated the restoration of the clock-tower bell with the resumption of normal
everyday life, which coincided with the return of the population to their homes.
The bell of justice was instead returned to its function when the rebellion against
Ferrante was over and the city was gearing itself towards peace. Both cases were
strong signs of the reconstruction of the social and political body, and of public
life, after the earthquake but also after the war.
The symbolic function of the bell of justice was even stronger, however. Cola
di Buccio noted that “caustic observers resorted to moral causes by saying that
the bell was not exercised too much by judges”.61 For some, the breaking of the
bell was a sign of bad judicial administration marked by a virtual lack of activity.
It is important to underscore that criticism did not emphasise a generic lack of
justice but rather the specific inactivity on the part of those who should have
exercised it. Reading between the lines, it is therefore possible to attribute to it a
political meaning: although it is impossible to identify the “caustic observers”, it
is likely that they were opponents, or at least critics, of Count Camponeschi. In
fact in those years, it would appear that Pietro Lalle exercised his power also by
conditioning the judicial administration. In 1485, Ferrante used this motivation to
justify the arrest of the count, who, according to the king, obstructed justice by
preventing his amici from being punished and having the innocent condemned.62
campane dal Medioevo all’età moderna, ed. by Fabio Redi and Giovanna Petrella, Pisa, Pacini,
2007, pp. 371-389.
58. Maria Rita Berardi, I monti d’oro. Identità urbana e conflitti territoriali nella storia
dell’Aquila medievale, Naples, Liguori, 2005, p. 162 n. 55.
59. AdR, p. 208; FdA, col. 901.
60. AdR, p. 208; FdA, col. 906.
61. CdB, p. 615. These are obviously Antinori’s words, based on Cola’s text.
62. On this event, see Terenzi, L’Aquila nel Regno, pp. 253-264.
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
105
Should this hypothesis be confirmed, the earthquake of 1461-1462 was once again
exploited for political ends, albeit in a manner and with a strength that could not
be compared with those of Bishop Agnifili.
6. Aspects of the reconstruction
The reconstruction was not often mentioned in the chronicles due to the slow
and gradual progress of the operations. Only in case of exceptional measures did
news of a reconstruction make its way into a chronicle, as happened with Antonio
di Buccio, a follower of Buccio di Ranallo. He reported that in 1366, the bishop
promised to have the interdict lifted for those who would offer “dui jornate a
Santu Massimo […] per la Ecclesia refare”, thereby achieving his goal.63
Despite the scarcity of information available, primarily from documentary
sources, we can highlight some aspects of the reconstruction. First of all, in
L’Aquila, too, the institutions – especially the ecclesiastical ones – took some time
to initiate and complete the restorations.64 While the cathedral was refurbished in
fifteen years, the work at the church of Collemaggio had not as yet been completed
by 1374. This is attested by the deed of sale for land sold by the monks in order
to pay the master builders employed in the reconstruction of the church, “diruta
impetus magni terraemotus”.65 The difficulty in raising money slowed down the
work and was a problem shared by many ecclesiastical bodies, which utilised
several resources in order to cope with it. In some cases they took advantage
of bequests, but more often they sold their lands and properties. The church of
San Bernardino instead benefitted from substantial financing from the city and
royal coffers, as well as from numerous donations, so that work could already
resume in 1464. However, we must consider that at the time of the earthquake,
the church was still being built.66 This information opens a window onto the way
in which the reconstruction of the ecclesiastical bodies was organised: each of
them had to provide for itself by gathering funds and aid wherever and however it
could. For this reason, in the mid-fourteenth century, faced with difficulties in the
reconstruction of the cathedral, the Bishop turned to the Pope. In 1353, Innocent
VI wrote to all the faithful that they would gain an indulgence if they gathered
alms for the cathedral.67
Moving on to the secular world, at least for the fifteenth century we can glean
the existence of a minimum of organisation, but no coordination on the part of the
government. Instead, there was the activation of clientelistic connections amongst
63. “Two days to St Maximus […] to rebuild the church” (Antonio di Buccio, Delle cose
dell’Aquila, ed. by Antonio Ludovico Antinori, in Muratori, Antiquitates, coll. 711-824: col.
735, st. 198).
64. On the slowness of the reconstruction, see Borst, “Das Erdbeben”, pp. 549-552.
65. “Dilapidated due to the great force of the earthquake” (Guidoboni and Comastri,
Catalogue, pp. 455-456).
66. Berardi, I monti d’oro, pp. 185-208.
67. Guidoboni and Comastri, Catalogue, p. 455.
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Pierluigi Terenzi
the members of the élite and also the engagement of civic groups belonging to the
so-called locali: the latter were the basic administrative units created at the time of
the city’s founding, roughly corresponding to the parishes of other towns. Before
discussing these, we must note that all of the reconstructions began after 1463, in
conjunction with L’Aquila’s return to the submission to the Aragonese. After the
war, human and economic resources could be directed towards the restoration of
buildings, which was also conditioned by the political situation.
Already in May 1462, still in the period of rebellion, the government and
Count Camponeschi sent an important signal to the castle of Sant’Eusanio in the
surrounding countryside, which was amongst the buildings hit hardest by the
earthquake. They granted the inhabitants of the castle permission to “edificare,
fundare, componere et construere aliud castrum” in its countryside, but they did
not go further.68 Work began only in June 1464, when a wealthy member of the
city’s élite hired a master builder from Lombardy. This was probably one type of
credit granted to the communities of the countryside, which was used by several
citizens to strengthen their clientelistic relations and which constituted a building
block of the relationship between the city and the surrounding territory.69 We do
not know how many localities were subject to this phenomenon, but the case of
Sant’Eusanio proves that the earthquake offered some members of the élite, too,
the opportunity to strengthen their power.
Regarding the reconstructions in the city, the locali served as operating units.
For example, the men in Coppito restored a dormitory located in that district,
while those in Civitatomassa had about 63m of the city walls reconstructed.70 It
does not seem that these measures were requested or coordinated by the municipal
government but rather spontaneously carried out by locali. This underscores
the fact that the original internal subdivision of the city continued to have an
important role even two centuries after its founding, as already indicated by
other corroborative evidence such as the sharing of the tax burden and of military
service. Over the course of the fourteenth century, the four districts amongst
which the locali were distributed emerged as the primary organisational units of
the administration, primarily as a criterion for the subdivision of the magistracies.
However, the locali endured as a basic identity-making element on which the
other two levels, neighbourhood and city, were superimposed, forming an original
composite identity.
7. Conclusions
Overall, the interpretations, reactions, and consequences of earthquakes in
L’Aquila in the late Middle Ages were similar to those of other areas in Italy
and Europe, but some peculiarities have emerged from the analysis. Firstly, the
68. “Establish, found, design and build another castle” (news and text in Colapietra,
Spiritualità, pp. 191-192).
69. Terenzi, L’Aquila nel Regno, pp. 451-466.
70. Antinori, Annali, vol. XVI, p. 80.
Earthquakes, Society and Politics in L’Aquila
107
attention paid by chroniclers to the phenomenon must be highlighted. For Buccio
di Ranallo, it was the only disaster that constituted a divine punishment directed
at the citizens of L’Aquila, but this peculiarity will have to be considered in depth
through systematic comparisons with other chroniclers and an overall assessment
of the Cronica. However, we can remark that the earthquake constituted an event of
particular importance in the chronicle’s framework because it offered an occasion
to strengthen the moralistic message by emphasising a cause-effect connection
between human behaviour and divine reactions. The same connection was also
established to moralistic ends by Alessandro de Ritiis, albeit not as the piece of
a puzzle in a narration deliberately conceived for that purpose. Instead, it was
merely an aspect of the event narrated, which means that the friar was more akin
to many lay chroniclers focused on the ‘evenemential’ account, like Francesco
d’Angeluccio. In both, the earthquake was important as an event with a particular
impact on the society but did not have social repercussions more significant
than a war or a rebellion. It is not by chance that they were more interested
in the physical damage than in the effects on society, while they underscored
some phenomena that impressed them due to their exceptional character, such
as practical difficulties and processions. Regarding Cola di Buccio, without the
original text it is not necessary to concern ourselves with an assessment of his
relationship with the narration of the disaster, which in any case was amongst the
motives that led him to write.
The second point to be highlighted is that, for Buccio and Amico Agnifili,
the cause of divine wrath was not the moral conduct of the population or of some
minority categories but certain precise political choices by the leaders of the city.
On this basis, both exploited the earthquake to precise political ends: in particular,
the bishop did so in order to achieve an immediate change in the situation.
The third aspect is precisely the centrality of politics, in which personal
power has more weight than the institutions. This centrality has been evident not
only in the interpretations but also in the handling of the emergency and in the
pacifications, especially in the case of Lalle Camponeschi. Through the collation
of information on his power and evidence of his action after the earthquake,
the personalistic and factional nature of the restoration of the city walls in 1349
becomes clear. The social and political reconfiguration due to the earthquake
and the plague, which unfortunately is impossible to clearly understand but can
only be inferred, was one of the main driving forces of the count’s reaction as a
faction leader. The fact that the political situation was conditioned by factions is
also indicated by pacification, the outcome of which after 1315 was juridically
important for the community through its inclusion in the statutes and through
royal recognition.
Finally, regarding the municipal institutions, it is necessary to highlight
their overall weak commitment when faced with the earthquake. Concerning
the earthquake of 1315, Buccio ascribed to them a measure of blame but did
not mention any intervention to manage the emergency or any attempt to initiate
reconstruction and recover minimal living conditions. In 1349, the municipal
institutions were ‘replaced’ by Count Lalle, who nonetheless acted on the
motivations that we know. The absence of the institutions in Buccio’s narration
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must have corresponded to reality if we consider that, for other calamities, the
chronicler duly mentioned the interventions of the government and the decisions
of the councils, as he did in many other places in the chronicle. In the fifteenth
century, although the recovery of the bells was probably decided and managed
by the government, the chroniclers did not make it explicit, limiting themselves
to presenting the fait accompli. If the intervention of the institutions was weak,
other approaches were adopted to deal with the earthquake: self-management,
the initiative of the locali, the clientelism of the élite and not least the personal
power of the Camponeschis were all elements that determined the ‘recovery’ of
the citizens of L’Aquila after the seismic events.