Chronicler of a distant custody: Friar manuel da Ilha and his narrativa da Custódia de Santo Antônio do Brasil (1621)

Abstract

In the midst of a burgeoning Franciscan historiography, in the first few decades of the 17th century, friar Manuel da Ilha, chronicler from the province of Saint Anthony of Portugal, wrote a historical narrative about the custody of Saint Anthony of Brazil (1621). This article seeks to explore this work along with the guidelines that oriented the Franciscan historiography during that period, such as the growing efforts to back those reports with existing documents or the frequent interest in describing episodes of rivalry with other religious orders. The analysis focuses on the connections established between the Order of the Friars Minor and the Crown, both in its more conceptual or abstract meaning and the reality experienced in the frontiers of the Portuguese Empire.