The Custody of the Holy Land ruled by the «povera famiglia del Observantia». The fabrication of the historiographical self-understanding

The essay analyzes the history of the conquest and the subsequent government of the Custody of the Holy Land by the «fratres de familia»: the Observant branch of the Franciscan Order. Firstly, the discussion focuses on the modern handbooks concerning the history of the Franciscan Order. Secondly, the analysis examines the medieval and early modern Franciscan sources where the «fratres» legitimize their presence in the Custody establishing a particular line of continuity with the previous institutional experience ruled by the friars of the Community. However, this historiographical approach highlights the polymorphism and the continued tensions among the different forms of the European Observances, unified and set up as Ordo Minorum with the bulla Ite vos (1517).

This publication is part of the activities of the project ‘HOLYLAB – A global economic organization in the early modern period: The Custody of the Holy Land through its account books (1600–1800)’, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (Grant Agreement 101001857).