Anatomia di un inquisitore. Frate Pietro da Verona – san Pietro martire

Abstract

This volume investigates the medieval cold case of the murder of inquisitor Peter of Verona (1252), who quickly became Saint Peter Martyr (1253) and the first inquisitor-saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Beyond historiographical myths, the contributions show the developments—sometimes paradoxical—of a death that was instrumental in consolidating the medieval officium fidei. The multidisciplinary approach demonstrates the richness of possible analyses for examining the past through what has survived: papal letters, fragments of inquisitorial trials, painted and sculpted images, account books, notarial documentation, liturgical texts, sermons, objects—weapons of the crime and coins—and bone remains, namely the skull, connected to one who was immediately considered a "martyr of the faith" whose cult, however, struggled to become established.