VI - Prologue

Summary

Quia enim intentionis nostre fuit loqui de generalibus ministris ordinis beati Francisci, cum tempus occurreret oportunum, et Helias, qui fuit unus ex illis… grandem materiam historie continebat, ideo me prius volui expedire de ipso, ut eius deposita sarcina facilius historiam prosequerer inchoatam.

Anélite of intellectuals and administrators had succeeded in drawing from Gregory IX the reluctant admission that Elias was unfit to rule the Friars Minor. His deposition gave them a great opportunity and also a great responsibihty. The immediate problem was a practical one. They must choose a General worthy of the trust imposed upon him, able to unite and lead the brethren in St Francis footsteps. At the same time they must insure against the risk of mistake: should an unsuitable man be elected in the future the consequences for the Order must be minimised. They therefore initiated legislation aimed at limiting the powers of the executive, correcting the tendencies fostered by Elias of which they disapproved, and generally at overhauling and reforming the organisation and regulation of the brotherhood. The years 1239–42 are of crucial significance in the history of the Order. The changes made were the most rapid and sweeping since St Francis' death and they had a vitality that won for them a permanent place in the Order's constitution. These years cannot, however, be studied fruitfully in isolation, and so this study is continued up to the time of St Bonaventure, partly in order to put them into a wider context, partly because the enactments that made them important do not survive independently and can only be studied with the help of the Constitutions of Narbonne, promulgated in 1260.