Vincenzo Tedesco

The proposed research aims to investigate the ways in which the preaching of the Franciscan friars in the 15th century influenced the demonization and condemnation of heretics and witches. Specifically, I intend to analyze an autograph manuscript of one of the major exponents of the Franciscan observance, Bernardino of Siena, whose influence on the society of the time has been widely underlined by scholars. This is a source – almost entirely unpublished – preserved at the Budapest University Library which was discovered and brought to the attention of scholars in 1964 by Cesare Cenci, but which has not received due attention from historiography since then. The study of this manuscript, dated to the 1420s, before many great cycles of sermons held by Bernardino in various cities, allows us to understand the first phases of the evolution of the Franciscan friar's thought as regards the themes of heresy, magic and the so-called superstitiones.

Website address: 

https://dicam.unime.it/it & https://unime.academia.edu/VincenzoTedesco