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494 Antonio Mursia

who could now count on a garrison capable of stemming the social
and economic tensions existing within the city. The presence of the
Observants in Barcelona was, moreover, functional in reducing the
influence of the Jews, toward whom Matthew always showed a con-
stant commitment in order to convert them to the Christian faith .
57
While the Observant was in Barcelona, the city council of Vic, per-
haps on the advice of the rulers themselves, resolved to invite Matthew
to preach in the city. Moreover, as had already happened in Sicily, in
Spain too the friar from Agrigento turned his attentions to urban cen-
ters where social tensions were most pronounced. It was in the crown’s
interest, in fact, to recover that political stability, necessary for the good
government of the kingdom. Strong, thus, in the support of the sover-
eigns, Matthew was able to arrive in Vic in the second half of August .
58
His sermons were the basis for the reconciliation of many families torn
apart by a long trail of cross-cutting murders. The offended parties thus
pledged to forgive the murderers, swindlers, thieves and those who had
been guilty of more or less serious crimes against them. It was a for-
giveness, theirs, that was celebrated publicly, through the drafting of
the instruments of peace, or acts drawn up by a notary public, which
formally sanctioned the newfound understanding .
59
Between the last months of 1427 and the first months of 1428, Mat-
thew visited several cities in the domains of the Trastámara. It is thus
known that he was in Gerona, Huesca and Jativa, where it is likely that
he preached, once again, on the most holy name of Jesus and the proper
use of money . Even in Valencia, where the Franciscan returned for
60
Lent, he succeeded in breaking through the population. The instru-
ments of peace, drawn up in this city by the notary Jacopo Ferdinando,
testify how, in a few days, eighty-five murders were forgiven . This was
61
an event of exceptional magnitude, carefully planned by Matthew,

57 The king had to support Matthew’s ideas. Thus, on July 4, Alfonso issued a
measure forcing all Jews to listen to the sermons of the Sicilian Franciscan. For
this A. Amore, La predicazione del B. Matthew cit., pp. 298-299. Furthermore, see
P. Evangelisti, Fede, mercato, comunità cit., pp. 642-646. On the anti-Jewish pro-
paganda carried out by Matthew of Agrigento, on more cautious positions stands
V. Mulè, Note sulla predicazione del beato Matthew da Girgenti agli ebrei di Sicilia,
in N. Grisanti, I Craparotta (a cura di), Francescanesimo e cultura nella provincia
di Agrigento cit., pp. 205-216.
58 Cf. A. Amore, La predicazione del B. Matthew cit., p. 270.
59 There, p. 270. See also E. Longpré, S. Bernardin de Sienne, cit., 30 (1937),
pp. 188-191.
60 Cf. Dietari del capellá d’Anfos el Magnànim, editado por J. Sanchisi Sivera,
Acción Bibliográfica, Valencia 1932, p. 130, and J. Rubió i Balaguer, El beat Mateu
d’Agrigento cit., p. 116.
61 Aca, Real Cancilleria, Registros 3170, cc. 110v-111r. (cf. A. Amore, La predica-
zione del B. Matthew cit., pp. 302-303), and then, Id., Nuovi documenti cit., pp. 15-
16.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XX - Dicembre 2023
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