transition from communal government to the signoria political structure in the 15th century. As the confraternities became absorbed into the social and political structure of the signoria and as the plague disappeared, the driving forces that promoted flagellation also faded away. While personal mortification of the flesh remained an acknowledged choice of personal worship in the Roman Catholic Church, public flagellation was no longer promoted, nor a common public display, by the time of the Renaissance. See also Benedetto Bonfigli Confraternal Mercy and Federico Barocci’s Madonna Del Popolo: An Iconographic Study Black Death Confraternities Flagellation Gonfalone Notes References Aberth, John. "The Black Death. The Great Mortality of 1348-1350. A Brief History with Documents. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005. Cossar, Roisin. “The Quality of Mercy: Confraternities and Public Power in Medieval Bergamo.” Journal of Medieval History 27:2. 139-157. June 2001. Science Direct. George Mason University Library, Fairfax, Virginia. 16 Feb. 2008. Fenley, Laura. Confraternal Mercy and Federico Barocci’s Madonna Del Popolo: An Iconographic Study. Master of Arts Thesis. College of Fine Arts. Texas Christian University, May 2007. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Microform 1441427. George Mason University Library, Fairfax, Virginia 14 Feb. 2008 . Confraternities