«Chronicle or History: The Uncertain Literary Genre of a Dissident Story»

This essay examines the literary and historiographical nature of Angelo Clareno’s Chronicae, questioning whether the work should be classified as a chronicle or as a history. It explores the relationship between the narrative structure of the work and the theological conception of history that informs its composition. Particular attention is paid to Clareno’s organization of the history of the Franciscan Order around successive periods of persecution and tribulation. The essay argues that Clareno transforms the memory of Franciscan dissent into a broader historical narrative of the Order’s first century. His work therefore goes beyond the simple recording of events, seeking instead to interpret their historical and providential meaning. The Chronicae emerge as an original form of dissident historiography within the transformations of medieval historical writing.