ABSTRACT
Cathedral-building in the Middle Ages was a process which engaged a number of different people, groups and institutions. Bishops and Chapters are the first to be mentioned, although the laity – whether noble or not – may also have contributed. In 11th and 12th century Northern Italy a particular set of circumstances seems to have emerged: on the one hand, the role of the bishops was weakened as a result of the reform of the Church, on the other, we begin to encounter more self – conscious citizens, who increasingly organised themselves into communes.
The rebuilding of some cathedrals in northern Italy was started as these new circumstances were beginning to bite, during an interregnum, in the period between bishops. This indicates that the construction of a cathedral was increasingly regarded as the task of the commune in its proper sense: a commune that embraced all its members, clergy and laity, as equal patrons. The process of building also created an opportunity to redefine the role of and the relationship between the major ecclesiastical and secular institutions. Finally, it facilitated and perhaps even encouraged the establishment of new institutions such as the communes themselves, or the incorporation of some of their members into specialist organisations, like guilds.
In the light of these aspects, the construction of the well-known cathedrals of Modena and Piacenza will be reconsidered.
