Epigrafe di S. Maria Maggiore di Assisi

The inscription of Santa Maria Maggiore in Assisi is considered one of the earliest documentary sources for the history of Saint Francis. Carved on a stone slab dated to either 1216 or 1226, it mentions Bishop Guido and Brother Francis, raising complex chronological and interpretative issues. Scholars have debated the meaning of the dating formula, especially the term decimi, proposing different historical reconstructions. Later artistic and textual traditions reused the inscription to strengthen the association between Francis and the church’s restoration. Overall, the epigraph reveals how material evidence was reinterpreted over time to legitimize Francis’s role within Assisi’s ecclesiastical institutions.