Abstract

The essay attempts to contextualise the long interdict that burdened Volterra from 1301 to 1318, following the capture of the castle of Montecastelli by the city’s army. This ecclesiastical censure made it easier for Pope Boniface VIII to bypass the prerogatives of the canons of the cathedral and directly elect a bishop: he was thus able to make an important family in the city (the Belforti) the referents of the Guelph party. Subsequently, the interdict became a weapon of political pressure, used by the bishop to prevent the town council from pursuing a policy contrary to Pisa and Emperor Henry VII.