For a History of Martyrdom as a Value of Franciscan Self-Consciousness (13th-15th Centuries). Observations in the Margin of 'The Martyrdom of the Franciscans'
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6093/1593-2214/10118Keywords:
Middle Ages, 13th-15th Centuries, Franciscan Order, Martyrdom, CrusadesAbstract
The essay, after a concise survey of the most recent international Franciscan historiography, summarises the approach of Christopher MacEvitt's book. While acknowledging the merits of the volume in opening up new heuristic perspectives, a critical reading of MacEvitt's thesis is proposed. An analysis of texts produced by authors such as Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, Gilberto di Tournai, Fidenzio da Padova, the commentators of the Franciscan rules, and of other contexts: the Crusades, the Custodia di Terrasanta and the fifteenth-century observance – sources and institutions little considered in the book in question – could have led to different results. In the light of these sources, the presence of martyrdom as a Franciscan value since the 13th century should be reconsidered, re-dimensioning the caesura and explanatory reasons proposed by MacEvitt when he emphasises a focus on martyrdom that would have arisen in Franciscan sources only in the 14th century.
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