La Chronica XXIV generalium tra storia e agiografia

Abstract

The article proposes a synthetic framework, as complete as possible, for the Chronica XXIV generalium ordinis Minorum. This well known text has been widely used in Franciscan historiography, but has retained even more attention as an original work in which a mixture of compilation and chronicle are inscribed in a structure intent on organizing an extraordinary collection of hagiographic texts, exempla, historical and annalistic material. Drawing on a larger study of this text published in 2003, the article presents the results of new inquiries on important thematic aspects of the Chronica. The chronicle reflects a difficult situation within the Order at the end of the fourteenth century, when the previous dynamism and unconditional papal support waned and a serious conflict with the head of the Church culminated in the 1420s; at the same time irrepressible internal tensions led to rupture and division.