Francesco Reale

This research project aims to develop a preliminary definition of the process through which the Dominican Order constructed its own historiographical identity, as undertaken by members of the Order themselves during the 16th and 17th centuries. This is an area of inquiry that has remained largely unexplored and seeks to investigate the dual relationship between the Order of Preachers and the writing of history in general, and of its own history in particular.  Following an initial phase of cataloguing historiographical works both manuscript and printed—1 will proceed to classify them by genre and conduct a thematic analysis. In particular, I examine the development of historiography in relation to the institutional dynamics of the Order, especially with regard to the exercise of its various charisms (theological teaching/preaching, inquisitorial function, spiritual direction and auricular confession, missionary engagement). In the background, the reconstruction of the biographies of Dominican historiographers contributes to defining the context in which these individual works came into being, to understanding the role that historical writing played in the lives of professed friars, and, more broadly, to examining the relationship between the institution and those who undertook the task of recounting its history.