La storiografia italiana sui Capitoli canonicali secolari

Italian historiography seems to have had little interest until the mid-20th century in the study of canons, especially those who were not regular, in contrast to what happened especially in Ger- many. Since the last century, the situation has changed, both due to the research of foreign scholars and the growing interest of Italians, starting with the I Settimana della Mendola, which also valued the reform phase of the clergy’s common life. A negative prejudice continues to weigh on secular canonries, reinforced by the institution’s recurrent crises in the final centuries of the Middle Ages, which has slowed down a geographically broad study of the composition, religious functions and political role of the countless secular chapters covering the Italian territory.