Palestine, Egypt and North Africa

Abstract

PALESTINE IN THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY The Franciscans' position in the Holy Land in the early seventeenth century was a difficult one. The friars, as Father Custodian Francesco Manerba complained to Clement VIII, suffered constantly from ‘injuries and affronts, lies and beatings’ and from ‘the haughty attitude’ of both Arabs and Turks. Journeying abroad, they were harassed by enemies, both Muslim and Christian, while at home, at any time, day or night, they had to face Muslims who would appear at the convent door demanding wine, vinegar, candles or clothes. Palestine Orthodox frequently complained of Franciscan transgressions to Turkish authorities in Istanbul. Patriarch Theophanes III charged the Franciscans with forbidding the Orthodox to hang lamps in the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and with needlessly closing the well outside the church. The sultan's government, siding with the Orthodox, ordered the Latins to desist, and in obvious reference to the Franciscans, instructed the kadi of Jerusalem to ‘record and report those who display obstinacy and opposition’. Affairs became critical when, in 1611, the Armenians demanded possession of the Rock of the Anointing in the church of the Holy Sepulchre as well as a chapel in the church of Bethlehem. The Franciscans first appealed to ambassador Harlay-Sancy in Istanbul to intercede for their rights, and then unwisely tried to argue that the Armenians had no rights at all in Jerusalem and should be packed off to Cyprus.