‘Equip Yourself to Inflict Vengeance […] Thus it will be Recognised that You are the Founder of Peace’: Laudation and Attempted Persuasion through a Sermon for the Emperor Sigismund

This essay concerns a previously unexamined sermon by the Franciscan preacher Giovanni Coltellini da Bologna (c. 1355-1437) delivered in the presence of the Emperor Sigismund following the imperial coronation in 1433. The text provides insight into contemporary papal-imperial relations, the desires of the papacy, and the place of Coltellini’s hometown of Bologna within these, as well as developments in sermon style and technique. At the same time, however, its existence raises intriguing questions concerning the actual delivery of the sermon, the reason behind the selection of Coltellini (a previously well-known figure within Bologna, but one who had disappeared from the public eye for fifteen years), the roles of ecclesiastical ambassadors, and the use of preaching and sermons outside of a liturgical context. A further defining feature of the sermon is its heavy reliance on John of Salisbury’s Policraticus, a work on political theory, rather than on scriptural or classical sources. The possible reasons for this novelty are explored. The essay concludes that the sermon was commissioned by, and Coltellini appointed to represent, the papal government rather than the city of Bologna, with a twofold objective: an attempt to persuade Sigismund of the merits of Bologna as part of papal efforts to transfer the Council of Basel to that city; and to convince the new Emperor of his obligations towards the practical (and military) defence of the Church, by which it is understood to mean the papacy.