The, present article intends to show the ideals and formation of early Franciscans. There are two groups of historians who have different opinions about the early formation of the Franciscan Order. One of the groups (P. Sabatier) tried to build up the opinion that in early years, Franciscans were a society of people free from the hierarchical order. It was not the intention of St. Francis that this society would become a big systematic order under the patronage of the Church. The others (J. Jorgensen and Fr. Cuthbert) opposed this opinion and maintained that St. Francis and his followers were faithful to the Pope and the Church from the very beginning and they intended to form a new order living in honest poverty. The reason for the different opinions is the different historical materials on which historians based for their authority. The historical material for P. Sabatier's ppinion was the "Speculum Perfectionis". The materials for J. Jorgensen and Fr. Cuthbert's opinions were the First and the Second Legend of Thomas of Celano. These historical materials were written by authoritative witnesses who were Franciscans and who were themselves influenced by the division of the Franciscans into two parties, namely conventuals and spirituals. K. Esser tried to find out the real form of early Franciscanism refering to the historical materials which had no relation to the conventuals and spirituals. In this way, I have tried to show in this article, eight materials which were chronicles or letters written by people who were not Franciscans. Through these materials and the Bull which was written for the early Franciscans and also the letters written by St. Francis himself, I can come to the conclusion that Franciscans were not merely a group of lay men and women but a real religous order which had the same elements as other religous orders had. The differences were that they practiced their ideals strictly and they had some new elements. They had mobility and could enter into secular society. Their preaching and honest poverty were the elements which startled the people. Their unity was such that they had their own rules besides the strict obedience to their leader and through him to the Pope.