Abdication and Exile
Abdication and Exile
Opera comune, “common work,” was what Cola di Rienzo had called the victory over the barons at Porta San Lorenzo. Cola's actions had shocked and disturbed the loyal knights of Rome. The Anonimo romano reports that after the battle of Porta San Lorenzo, Cola grew “ruddy and fleshy” and turned into a tyrant; yet a span of only two weeks had passed, enough for the legate's rumor mill to grind its meal but hardly long enough for the physical and psychic changes attributed to the tribune. He had become deeply intricated in the politics of the kingdom of Naples. The overall effect of the Black Death on Europe's population was staggering. Fra Angelo had rebuked Cola and told him to ignore his own comfort and to seek the world's good. Cola decided to test fate and to become an agent of history, rather than its victim.
Keywords: opera commune, Cola di Rienzo, Porta San Lorenzo, barons, abdication, exile, Black Death
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