L’affare della Tomba di David (Gerusalemme, XV secolo): i frati minori e i loro protettori europei tra sequestri, ritorsioni ed embargo

Since 1300s the only latin clergy allowed to live in Jerusalem ‒ considered to be the center of the world and the heart of Christianity ‒ were the Franciscan friars. This paper analyzes some episodes occurred to the Franciscans in Jerusalem in the mid-fifteenth century, which involved several European powers. It attempts as well to highlight the importance of the Near East in the dynamics of European governments, with regard both to Mediterranean trades, both to the symbolic importance of Jerusalem, which had and still has many practical implications.