Un vademecum per la missione. Il Libellus ad nationes orientales di Riccoldo da Monte di Croce

This article analyzes Riccoldo da Monte di Croce’s Libellus ad nationes Orientales in the context of the conversion strategies promoted by the Dominican Order at the end of the 13th century. The hasty drafting and the lack of a univocal judgment on the orthodoxy of non-Chal- cedonian confessions suggest that Riccoldo wrote this work for practical purposes. The author hypothesizes that he conceived it to support the apostolic activity promoted in the East by Boniface VIII. The Dominican would have liked to dedicate a brief status quaestionis to his brothers on the doctrinal positions they would encounter, giving them some rules of conduct.