Pataria

The murder of Arialdo da Carimate, part of the conflict of the pataria

The pataria was an eleventh-century movement focused on the city of Milan in northern Italy, which aimed to reform the clergy and ecclesiastic government within the city and its ecclesiastical province, in support of Papal sanctions against simony and clerical marriage. Those involved in the movement were called patarini (singular patarino), patarines or patarenes, a word chosen by their opponents, the etymology of which is unclear. The movement, associated with urban unrest in the city of Milan, is generally considered to have begun in 1057 and ended in 1075.

The Pataria also came to oppose the power of the Papacy and its moral corruptions. The Patarines were declared a heretical sect.^[1] They are considered by some as a precursor to the Protestant Reformation.^[2]

History[]

Early in the year 1057, a preacher named Ariald arrived in the city of Milan and began to preach against the Milanese clerics' custom of marrying.^[3] It is possible that he took advantage of the absence at this time of the Archbishop of Milan, Guido da Velate, who was in Germany in August at the Council of Tribur.

The Milanese clergy grew concerned by Ariald's attempt to whip up the city against them, and sent envoys to Pope Stephen IX in Rome. On hearing this, Ariald travelled to Rome himself. Pope Stephen IX was sympathetic to Ariald's position, and sent two envoys to Milan, Hildebrand of Sovana (later Pope Gregory VII) and Anselm of Baggio (later Pope Alexander II). Ariald also returned to Milan, and now began to criticise the Milanese clerics' practice of simony, resulting in urban unrest. Ariald's close associate Landulf Cotta was attacked, and later died from his injuries.

In 1059 Ariald travelled to Rome again to seek advice; Pope Stephen IX again sent envoys to Milan, this time Peter Damian and again Anselm of Baggio, but this did nothing to quell the unrest in the city. In 1063, Landulf Cotta's brother Erlembald went to Rome where he obtained a papal banner from the newly elected Pope Alexander II in support of the Pataria movement. In 1066, Pope Alexander II finally excommunicated Archbishop Guido. Guido used this excommunication however to whip up the citizens' anger against the Paterenes at a public meeting, and Ariald was first chased out of the city of Milan, and then assassinated, in June 1066.

However, when Ariald's body was found in May 1067, it quickly became the object of a cult, and popular opinion in Milan swung back behind the Pataria.^[4] Archbishop Guido was forced out of the city, leaving it under the control of Erlembald, and Alexander II formally proclaimed Ariald to be a saint in 1068.

Archbishop Guido resigned in 1068, in favour of his associate Gotofredo da Castiglione, who was also supported by Emperor Henry IV. The papacy and the Pataria however supported a different candidate as archbishop, Attone, and Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Gotofredo in 1074.

Rioting in Milan led to the murder of Erlembald in 1075, and after this point the Pataria movement lost much of its energy. The controversy over the appointment of the archbishop of Milan continued, however, and contributed to the political tensions between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII.

Medieval historiography[]

There are several contemporary and nearly-contemporary sources for the Pataria, each of which offers different and sometimes contradictory perspectives.^[5] These include:

Andrew of Strumi's Life of Saint Ariald^[6]
Bonizo of Sutri's Liber ad amicum
Arnulf of Milan's Deeds of the Archbishops of Milan
Landulf Senior's History of Milan

Modern historiography[]

As Paolo Golinelli has emphasised, modern debates about the Pataria have often centred on whether the Pataria was primarily a religious movement, or whether it was instead the religious expression of social tensions within the city and region of Milan.^[7] The Italian historian Gioacchino Volpe, for instance, argued in 1907 that the Pataria was a class conflict between the elites of Milan and the lower-status population. This interpretation was also supported by Ernst Werner in 1956.^[8] For Hagen Keller, the Pataria is best understood as part of the history of the emergence of the Italian commune.^[9]

More recently, historians such as Herbert Cowdrey have emphasised the movement's essentially religious nature.^[10] Many historians have associated the movement with wider reforming trends in the Church. For William North, the Pataria was 'the longest... and most violent of the popular responses to the call for ecclesiastical reform in the eleventh century'.^[11] In his article on religious change in the eleventh century, R.I. Moore discussed the Pataria extensively as a major part of the 'appearance of the crowd on the stage of public events', which he sees as being brought into being by religious reform (itself however a response to social change).^[12]

In a recent article, Piroska Nagy has suggested a new path of interpretation by analysing the collective emotions of the movement.^[13]

Name[]

The name Pataria likely comes from from the members of the movement assembling in Pataria or ragmen’s quarter of the city (pates is a dialectal word for “rag”), however the name was appropriated by Cathars who claimed it means "to suffer", as to say they suffered for their faith.^[14]

References[]

^ "Patarine | medieval reform group | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
^
Reddy, Mike Megrove (2017). "The forms of communication employed by the Protestant Reformers and especially Luther and Calvin" (PDF). Pharos Journal of Theology. 98.
The Pre-Reformers: All groups that spoke out against the church were regarded as "heretical" groups. In the same light, the present-day church considers those individuals that questioned the church "doctrine" and "teachings" as heretics. McCallum (2002:n.p.) states that there were eight heretical groups of pre-reformers between the 12th and 15th centuries during the various European regions. McCallum 2002:n.p. mentions them as follows:
Flagellants were in 1259. They marched with only loincloths through the streets crying out to God to show mercy on them (McCallum 2002:n.p.). In 1349 they were condemned.
Then there was a variety of lay groups known as Beguines who had no specific set of forms (McCallum, 2002;n.p.). They were followers of Lambert le Begue who was a stammerer.
In the 12th century Tanchelm preached in the diocese of Utrecht. He denied the author of the pope and the church and attacked the structure of the Catholic Church (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
Peter of Bruys in the 12th century also rejected christening of infants. He rejected prayers for the dead, the Eucharist veneration of the cross and ecclesiastical ceremonies (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
In the first half of 12th century Henry of Lausanne preached in what is known as France. His followers were known as the Henricans. The clergy were condemned for the love of wealth and power by Henry of Lausanne (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
The Adamists engaged in behaviour that was socially unacceptable and indulged in the practice of nude worship.
Arnold of Brescia wanted the church to follow Christian ideals (McCallum 2002:n.p.). He attacked the bishops for their dishonest gains. He was hanged in 1155 and his body was burned.
The Pataria, in Northern Italy were in reaction to the corruption which was taking place in the church. McCallum (2002:n.p.) states that the self-indulgent practices within the Roman Catholic Church were also opposed by other smaller movements.
^ La Pataria : lotte religiose e sociali nella Milano dell'11. secolo. Golinelli, Paolo. [Novara]: Europia. 1998. ISBN 88-16-77105-4. OCLC 883745329.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link), p. 13: "Inizia, tra la fine del 1056 e i primi del 1057, la Pataria milanese
^ La Pataria : lotte religiose e sociali nella Milano dell'11. secolo. Golinelli, Paolo. [Novara]: Europia. 1998. ISBN 88-16-77105-4. OCLC 883745329.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link), p. 18
^ La Pataria : lotte religiose e sociali nella Milano dell'11. secolo. Golinelli, Paolo. [Novara]: Europia. 1998. ISBN 88-16-77105-4. OCLC 883745329.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link), pp. 23-34
^ "Latin edition in the MGH".
^ La Pataria : lotte religiose e sociali nella Milano dell'11. secolo. Golinelli, Paolo. [Novara]: Europia. 1998. ISBN 88-16-77105-4. OCLC 883745329.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link), p. 59
^ Werner, Ernst (1956). Pauperes Christi : Studien zu sozial-religiösen Bewegungen im Zeitalter des Reformpapsttums.
^ Keller, Hagen. "Pataria und Stadtverfassung, Stadtgemeinde und Reform. Mailand im 'Investiturstreit'". Vorträge und Forschungen. 17.
^ Cowdrey, H. E. J. (December 1968). "The Papacy, The Patarenes and the Church of Milan". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 18: 25–48. doi:10.2307/3678954. ISSN 0080-4401. JSTOR 3678954.
^ William North, 'The Pataria: Andrea da Strumi's Passion of Arialdo', in Katherine Jansen et al. (eds)., Medieval Italy, Texts in Translation (2009), p. 337
^ Moore, R. I. (December 1980). "Family, Community and Cult on the Eve of the Gregorian Reform". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 30: 49–69. doi:10.2307/3679002. ISSN 1474-0648. JSTOR 3679002.
^ Nagy, Piroska (2018). "Collective Emotions, History Writing and Change: The Case of the Pataria (Milan, Eleventh Century)". Emotions: History, Culture, Society. 2: 132–152. doi:10.1163/2208522X-02010007.
^ "Patarine | medieval reform group | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.