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484 Antonio Mursia

that was pregnant with religious, political, economic and social con-
cepts, matured in the context of the Italian Minorite dialectic.
Here, on the basis first of all of the reflections proposed by Evange-
listi, we want to intervene to try to reconsider the activity conducted
by Matthew in northern Italy and in the domains of the Catalan-Ara-
gonese crown during the first half of the fifteenth century. Although
Rotolo published a bulky biography, it seems to be useful to go back
to the issue to try to place Matthew’s activity within a precise political
project carried out by the Aragonese sovereign. Documentary sources,
published since the mid-twentieth century, had already made it pos-
sible to summarily reconstruct the movements of the friar from Agri-
gento and also to clarify, in part, the relations that bound him to the
Trastámara. The rereading of the documentation, conducted on the
basis of a better knowledge of Matthew’s sermons , now seems to allow
8
us to be able to better frame the Franciscan’s intervention in the do-
mains of the Catalan-Aragonese crown. In fact, his return to Sicily
from northern Italy, as well as his presence in the Iberian Peninsula,
arose not only from the will of the Observants, who were interested in
expanding their presence in Europe, but also and above all from the
intentions of Alfonso V, who took advantage of the work of Matthew
and his confreres to pacify urban societies, normalize relations be-
tween the crown and the city’s ruling classes and, therefore, instruct
the latter in a solidaristic use of their wealth.

2. From Sicily to northern Italy

About Matthew’s origins there is no certain information; all that is
known is that he was born in Agrigento, between the 1370s and 1380s,
possibly to a family of Catalan origin, whose surname was Gimena .
9
There were, in fact, several Catalan kinship nuclei, belonging mainly
to the merchant class, settled in the city at the end of the 14th century.
Their presence was part of a very complex urban context, marked by
strong social tensions that had sharpened during the 1390s. During

8 On sermons, in addition to the works already mentioned in the previous notes,
see also the contribution of C. del Popolo, Un quaresimale del beato Matthew di
Agrigento, «Giornale italiano di filologia», 57 (2005), pp 35-70.
9 As for Matthew’s surname, it is learned from the bull of election to the bish-
opric of Agrigento, where it is stated: «Dilecto filio Matheo de Gimena», as well as
again from the privilege by which he was granted thirty onze after renouncing the
Sicilian episcopal chair. Both documents can be found published in Bullarium
Franciscanum, Nova Series, 1, Ad Claras Aquas, Quaracchi 1929, p. 293. It has
been assumed that the surname Gimena was a corruption of the Catalan surname
Guimerà. For this, cf. V. Martínez Colomer, Historia de la Provincia franciscana de
Valencia de la Regular Observancia de San Francisco, s.e., Valencia 1803, p. 19.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XX - Dicembre 2023
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)