The twelfth century was marked by a general enthusiasm for two phenomena: scholastic learning and voluntary poverty. The division of society into clergy and laymen maintained itself in response to these two enthusiasms.
“The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Gives Life”: The Rise of Learning in the Franciscan Order, 1210-1310
March 14, 2012 By
Retroactive Heresy: The influence of early Christian heresies on the identification and reaction to heretical sects
February 20, 2012 By
The medieval Church viewed itself as Defender of the Faith, the destroyer of the unbelievers, the wrong believers. These heretics were to be reviled and feared as perverters of God’s word. The perverters of orthodoxy were, ultimately, not to be distinguished from one another, but rather known by catchphrases.
The monastic response to Papal reform: Summi Magistri and it reception
December 4, 2011 By
This is a question which has dogged the history of the interaction between Rome and the Black monks, and it brings a second question in its wake – what were the medieval Popes trying to do with monasticism?
The Medieval Friaries of London
November 14, 2011 By
The five friaries under review are the houses that lasted up to the Dissolution in 1538: the Dominican Black Friars, the Franciscan Grey Friars, Carmelite White Friars, Augustinian Austin Friars and the house of Crossed or Crutched Friars
The Friar of Carcassonne
October 15, 2011 By
The Friar of Carcassonne: Revolt against the Inquisition in the Last Days of the Cathars By Stephen O’Shea Douglas and McIntyre, 2011 ISBN 978-1-55365-551-0 Publisher’s Synopsis: The dramatic story of a courageous friar who battled king, pope and Inquisition in his search for justice. Nearly a century had passed since the French region of Languedoc […]
Getty Museum acquires 13th century Bible
September 7, 2011 By
The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired the Abbey Bible, a 13th-century Italian book that is considered to be an important example of Gothic era illuminated manuscripts. The medieval Bible is named for a previous owner, who was a celebrated collector of Italian manuscripts. Produced for the use of a Dominican monastery, the Abbey Bible […]
Adelard of Bath and Roger Bacon: early English natural philosophers and scientists
September 5, 2011 By
Adelard of Bath and Roger Bacon: early English natural philosophers and scientists Hackett, Jeremiah M. Endeavour, Vol. 26(2) 2002 Abstract The image of Roger Bacon as a ‘modern’ experimental scientist was propagated as historical truth in 19th century scientific historiography. Twentieth century criticisms attacked this tradition, arguing that Bacon was primarily a medieval philosopher with ‘medieval’ scientific […]
Sisters Between Gender and the Medieval Beguines
September 3, 2011 By
Sisters Between Gender and the Medieval Beguines Stoner, Abby Ex Post Facto: Journal of the History Students at San Francisco State University, Vol.5:2 (1995) Abstract The Beguines of northern Europe have been called the first women’s movement in Christian history. This group of religiously dedicated laywomen, who took no permanent vows, followed no prescribed rule, supported themselves […]
“Neoplatonic Influence in the Writings of Robert Grosseteste”
August 21, 2011 By
“Neoplatonic Influence in the Writings of Robert Grosseteste” Hendrix, John Shannon (Roger Williams University) School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation Faculty Papers (2008) Abstract Robert Grosseteste was appointed the first chancellor of Oxford University in 1221. He lectured in theology there from 1225 to 1230, and became the first reader to the Greyfriars or Franciscans in […]
Conversion Anxieties in the Crown of Aragón in the Later Middle Ages
August 1, 2011 By
Conversion Anxieties in the Crown of Aragón in the Later Middle Ages RODRIGUEZ, JARBEL Al-Masa ̄q, Vol. 22, No. 3, December (2010) Abstract The conversion of Christians to Islam caused significant anxiety in the Crown of Arago ́n in the later middle ages. Some of this fear was caused by genuine concern over the eternal salvation […]
The Letters of Eljigidei, Hülegü, and Abaqa: Mongol Overtures or Christian Ventriloquism?
July 27, 2011 By
The Letters of Eljigidei, Hülegü, and Abaqa: Mongol Overtures or Christian Ventriloquism? Aigle, Denise (French Institute for the Middle East – Damascus) Inner Asia 7 (2005) Abstract This paper deals with the Great Khans and Ilkhans’ letters, and with the question of their authenticity. Generally, these letters were written in Mongolian, but very few of […]
Ethics and poetics: the architectural vision of Saint Francis of Assisi
June 26, 2011 By
Ethics and poetics: the architectural vision of Saint Francis of Assisi Caicco, Gregory Paul (McGill University) Phd Philosophy Thesis, McGill University (1998) Abstract Contrary to the view of many interpreters that Francis of Assisi (1181–1226) dabbled in church renovation for a few years following his first conversion experience in 1205, architecture remained a central preoccupation […]
Learning by Doing: Coping with Inquisitors in Medieval Languedoc
May 30, 2011 By
Pope John XXII and the Franciscan ideal of absolute poverty
April 23, 2011 By
Pope John XXII and the Franciscan ideal of absolute poverty By Melanie Brunner PhD Dissertation, University of Leeds, 2006 Abstract: My thesis offers an investigation into Pope John XXII’s view of the Franciscan poverty ideal and his reasons for rejecting the doctrine of the absolute poverty of Christ in the bull Cum inter nonnullos (1323). […]
“Family Life and the Garment of Love: St. Francis and Nicholas Bozon’s ‘Lives of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Agnes’
April 2, 2011 By
The Third Annual Medievalists@Penn Graduate Student Conference – Family Matters Panel I: Sisters In Spirit “Family Life and the Garment of Love: St. Francis and Nicholas Bozon’s ‘Lives of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Agnes’ Courtney E. Rydel (University of Pennsylvania) Courtney is a 5th year PhD candidate who’s research focus is on women […]
Conflicting loyalties: the Irish Franciscans and the English Crown in the High Middle Ages
March 17, 2011 By
Conflicting loyalties: the Irish Franciscans and the English Crown in the High Middle Ages Muller, Anne (Catholic University, Eichstätt) Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Vol. 107C, (2007) Abstract This paper seeks to identify the ways in which religious orders dealt with the problem of conflicting loyalties in the medieval period in Ireland. The English crown […]
Auxiliary Preachers in the Northern Province: Supplementing the Parish Clergy in the Late Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries
February 3, 2011 By
Auxiliary Preachers in the Northern Province: Supplementing the Parish Clergy in the Late Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries Birkett,Helen Marginalia, Vol. 7, (2008) Abstract By the thirteenth century, the prolonged period of economic and demographic growth experienced by Western Europe had brought profound changes to the religious landscape. Itinerant preachers who followed the trade routes between […]
Oaks, Wolves and Love: Celtic Monks and Northern Forests
January 23, 2011 By
Oaks, Wolves and Love: Celtic Monks and Northern Forests Powen Bratton, Susan Journal of Forest History, V.33:1 (1989) Abstract In 1967 Lynn White, Jr., published a controversial paper, “The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis,” which suggested that part of the blame for Western culture’s abuse of nature lay at the door of Christian tradition. […]
“The Bad Behaviour of Friars and Women in the Medieval Catalan fabliaux and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales”
January 11, 2011 By
“The Bad Behaviour of Friars and Women in the Medieval Catalan fabliaux and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales” Méndez, Jerónimo (University of Valencia) BAD BEHAVIOUR Volume 3(1) (2010) Abstract Medieval Catalan narrative works or fabliaux contain many examples of bad behaviour on the part of priests and particularly friars from mendicants orders (usually Franciscans and Dominicans). They perpetrate many deceptions […]
Simon de Montfort and the historians
January 9, 2011 By
The career and personality of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (c. 1208– 1265), the leader of the baronial revolt against King Henry III, provides a striking exemplar of the malleability of historiographical opinion.
Homo religiosus of the late middle ages. The Bernardine’s model of popular religion
January 8, 2011 By
Homo religiosus of the late middle ages. The Bernardine’s model of popular religion Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Wydział Historyczny, Praca doktorska, Poznań (2004) Szulc, Alicja (Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza) Abstract Presented work was guided by the question: if Franciscan Observants in the late medieval period propagated a new model of popular religion, and if it was so, up to […]
The spirituality and mysticism of nature in the early Franciscan tradition
December 30, 2010 By
The spirituality and mysticism of nature in the early Franciscan tradition By Mary E. Share PhD Dissertation, University of South Africa, 2004 Abstract: In this doctoral thesis, The Spirituality and Mysticism of Nature in the Early Franciscan Tradition, I have begun with an attempt to clarify the notions of spirituality and mysticism. The former, was […]
Reading Devotion. Asceticism and Affectivity in Love’s Mirror
December 30, 2010 By
In this article, I will examine the affective elements of Love’s Mirror in an effort to re-evaluate its connections to late-medieval devotional culture.
Luca Pacioli: the Father of Accounting Education
December 19, 2010 By
Luca Pacioli: the Father of Accounting Education Sangster, Alan (Middlesex University Business School, London, UK) Scataglini Belghitar, Giovanna (Balliol College, University of Oxford, UK) Accounting Education, Volume 19, Issue 4 (2010) Abstract Luca Pacioli, was a Franciscan friar born in Borgo San Sepolcro in what is now Northern Italy in 1446 or 1447. It is believed […]
Duns Scotus on Divine Substance and the Trinity
November 20, 2010 By
Duns Scotus on Divine Substance and the Trinity Cross, Richard (Oriel College, Oxford) Medieval Philosophy and Theology 11 (2003) Abstract Charting a course between modalism (the belief that there is just one divine person) and tritheism (the belief that there are three divine substances or Gods) has long been the major problem for Trinitarian theology. […]
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