ABSTRACT

Chapter 3 examines the early twelfth-century marble bas relief of an enthroned bishop that is now embedded in the narthex wall of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan as a revival of Saint Ambrose's spatial theology of the porta coeli. This relief commemorated the life of the reform-minded Archbishop Jordan of Clivio (1112–20), who completed the construction of the narthex and was buried at the basilica of Ambrose. Like Ambrose before him, Jordan of Clivio also barred the gates of the Milanese Church to a wayward emperor to inspire imperial penitence and reformation. Jordan's variation of Ambrose's porta coeli theology expanded the authoritative reach of the archbishop of Milan beyond the sacred zone of the local church.