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The Provision of Books

M.B. Parkes

in The History of the University of Oxford: Volume II: Late Medieval Oxford

During the medieval period, the provision of books in the Oxford University depended primarily on the personal initiative of the masters and students. Books were regarded not merely as instruments ... More

During the medieval period, the provision of books in the Oxford University depended primarily on the personal initiative of the masters and students. Books were regarded not merely as instruments for study, but also as a portable form of capital, and many scholars made the investment when they could afford it, thus, the loss of one's book must have been an economic disaster. There was also clear evidence showing that scholars also copied texts for themselves. The first signs of organization or corporate enterprise in the provision of books for the purposes of study at Oxford are to be found in the activities of Franciscan and Dominican friars. The increase in the numbers of books brought about the change in the ways in which the collections were kept.Less

THE STATE OF THE CLERGY

FELICITY HEAL

in Reformation in Britain and Ireland

This continues the study of the pre-Reformation Church, focusing on the ordinary clergy, first the regulars and then the seculars. It highlights the relative strength of English monasticism, but ... More

This continues the study of the pre-Reformation Church, focusing on the ordinary clergy, first the regulars and then the seculars. It highlights the relative strength of English monasticism, but stresses particularly the importance of the friars and the observant movement. Parish clergy are compared across the British Isles and the relationship between wealth and proper performance of duties is debated.Less

Mass Communication

D. L. d'Avray

in Medieval Marriage: Symbolism and Society

This chapter shows that marriage symbolism was communicated to a lay public via sermons. The model sermon collections, which ensured that much the same messages were repeated again and again in ... More

This chapter shows that marriage symbolism was communicated to a lay public via sermons. The model sermon collections, which ensured that much the same messages were repeated again and again in popular preaching, together amounted to a powerful medium capable of reaching the masses. The friars (above all the Franciscans and Dominicans) are especially important in this regard. Only for the period after these mendicant orders had established themselves (say from the mid-13th century) can one speak with confidence of mass communication. Manuscripts of model sermons were far more numerous than most scholars realize. The large numbers still surviving can be shown to be a small remnant only: an enormous loss-rate can be demonstrated. Franciscan and Dominican copyists themselves played a large part in producing manuscripts of model sermons to the standard of professional copyists (whom they also used). After a detour to demonstrate these points, important in their own right for book history and manuscript transmission, the marriage teaching of the model sermons is analyzed. Marriage in the literal sense was presented by preachers in a very positive light, and the marriage symbolism was built on this foundation.Less

‘To a Lord for a Lettre Leue to Haue’: Lordly Conscience and the Friars in B 20 1

SARAH WOOD

in Conscience and the Composition of Piers Plowman

This chapter draws on variety of antimendicant sources, from chronicles to Wycliffite polemic, to examine Conscience's struggle with the friars at the end of Piers Plowman. Langland here returns to ... More

This chapter draws on variety of antimendicant sources, from chronicles to Wycliffite polemic, to examine Conscience's struggle with the friars at the end of Piers Plowman. Langland here returns to the theme of retainership central to the debate between Meed and Conscience in passus 3–4 by highlighting the act of patronage by which the friar gains admittance to Unity. The language of retainership used by Conscience in discussing the problems represented by the friars highlights the connection between their corruption of the divine law at the end of the poem and Meed's corruption of the secular law at the beginning. But Conscience ultimately proves ineffectual at the poem's conclusion. He is here transformed into one of those very lords whose consciences, according to antimendicant polemic, are led astray by their friar-confessors.Less

Henry of Ghent—Authority, Obedience, and Resistance

M. S. KEMPSHALL

in The Common Good in Late Medieval Political Thought

This chapter examines Henry of Ghent's moral and political philosophy. It discusses the ramifications of the controversy over Ad fructus uberes where disputes between secular masters and mendicant ... More

This chapter examines Henry of Ghent's moral and political philosophy. It discusses the ramifications of the controversy over Ad fructus uberes where disputes between secular masters and mendicant friars had always involved discussion of the standard which should be used to compare the relative worth of the active and the contemplative lives. The issuance of Ad fructus uberes introduces questions of more immediate significance for the government of the church. It notes that Henry's discussion of the relative merits of the active and contemplative lives, the exercise of papal dispensation, and the limits to obedience and resistance, all made extensive use of a notion of the common good. It observes that Henry's conclusions had repercussions which went much further than ecclesiology.Less

The Bulging Circuit 1 of Florence

Peter Biller

in The Measure of Multitude: Population in Medieval Thought

This chapter takes one city around 1300, Florence, and asks, ‘How was demographic thought represented here, in one place?’ It catalogues the results, first of all what we find in the vernacular ... More

This chapter takes one city around 1300, Florence, and asks, ‘How was demographic thought represented here, in one place?’ It catalogues the results, first of all what we find in the vernacular didactic works, secondly in the ‘Bologna connection’, and thirdly in the books and writings of the friars at Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce.Less

Friars as Confessors—The Author’s Criticisms

Michael Haren

in Sin and Society in Fourteenth-Century England: A Study of the Memoriale Presbiterorum

The attitude of the author to friars as confessors is conveyed internally in some dozen asides, where he interrupts his main theme to castigate their laxity or rapacity. One such example is his ... More

The attitude of the author to friars as confessors is conveyed internally in some dozen asides, where he interrupts his main theme to castigate their laxity or rapacity. One such example is his condemnation of the friars’ aggressive competition in exploiting the deficiencies of the secular clergy. While ‘almost all’ modern confessors err in the matter of canonical penances, the criticism is particularly directed to regular confessors who serve and dwell in the courts of princes and magnates. Within the context that has been argued for it, the Memoriale Presbiterorum represents on the question of friars as confessors the first evidence of a hostility that subsequently becomes an overt feature of Bishop Grandisson’s regime.Less

The Formative Years, 1219–1244

Neslihan Şenocak

in The Poor and the Perfect: The Rise of Learning in the Franciscan Order, 1209-1310

This chapter traces the history of the Franciscan Order, from 1219 through the end of the minister generalship of Haymo of Faversham in 1244. In September 1219, Brother Pacifico arrived at the gates ... More

This chapter traces the history of the Franciscan Order, from 1219 through the end of the minister generalship of Haymo of Faversham in 1244. In September 1219, Brother Pacifico arrived at the gates of Paris hoping to find a place in that city for his brothers in religion, the Friars Minor. This arrival marks the beginning of a history of the rise of learning in the Order of the Friars Minor. The Friars Minor originated in central Italy, made up largely of laymen in pursuit of a penitential life in apostolic poverty and simplicity. Paris was one of the earliest settlements in France, and one of the earliest settlements outside Italy. The reasons behind the choice of Paris, however, remains a mystery. In 1240, Haymo of Faversham was elected as Fransican minister general. His term in office was marked with so many “firsts,” signaling a new era in the history of Franciscanism. For instance, Haymo was first minister general educated in Paris. It was also during his tenure that the first commentary, known as the Commentary of Four Masters (Expositio regulae quatuor magistrorum), was composed by four friar-scholars from the Paris convent.Less

The Educational System around 1310

Neslihan Şenocak

in The Poor and the Perfect: The Rise of Learning in the Franciscan Order, 1209-1310

Franciscan educational organization experienced rapid change throughout the thirteenth century paralleling the Order's spectacular expansion in both recruits and new provinces, changes in the ... More

Franciscan educational organization experienced rapid change throughout the thirteenth century paralleling the Order's spectacular expansion in both recruits and new provinces, changes in the university curricula, and the diverse roles the friars assumed in the ecclesiastical world. This chapter presents a snapshot of the Franciscan educational system around 1310, tracing the steps of a virtual friar from novitiate all the way to the master of theology in Paris. It demonstrates the striking difference between the Franciscan educational organization and that of the Dominicans, thus weakening the notion that the Franciscans can be assumed, in the absence of evidence, to have copied the Dominicans. It is evident, however, that the Franciscan educational system and terminology was often borrowed, though modified in the process of adoption, from the secular university system.Less

Entrʼacte I: Ace of Clubs (1896–1924)

Neil Gould

in Victor Herbert: A Theatrical Life

In the early twentieth century Herbert was very much involved in the clubs of New York. The clubs represented recognition of professional achievement as well as refuge from the stresses of an urban ... More

In the early twentieth century Herbert was very much involved in the clubs of New York. The clubs represented recognition of professional achievement as well as refuge from the stresses of an urban environment. It was a place where men of like mind and ability could enjoy each other's company. Clubs at this time included the Lambs, the Friars, the Lotos Club, the Society of Arts and Science, the American-Irish Historical Society, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Friends of Irish Freedom, the Bohemians, and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) that Herbert help found.Less

Among Friends

Tom McInally

in George Strachan of the Mearns: Seventeenth-century Orientalist

After leaving the East India Company’s employment for the second time, Strachan was dependent on the goodwill of the Carmelite friars; staying with them in their convent in Isfahan. Drawing on the ... More

After leaving the East India Company’s employment for the second time, Strachan was dependent on the goodwill of the Carmelite friars; staying with them in their convent in Isfahan. Drawing on the Order’s archives, the circumstances under which Strachan entrusted his library to them for safe return to Europe are described. The extent of Strachan’s friendship with Pietro Della Valle is explored showing that after his return to Europe, the Roman traveller believed his friend had travelled to India and died there. A number of recently discovered manuscripts which belonged to Strachan are quoted which suggest that the Scotsman had become a member of the scholarly debating circle centred on the Iranian court headed by Shah Abbas’ son-in-law, the mathematician and philosopher, Mīr Dāmād. The importance of such an association helps explain Strachan’s decision to remain in the East.Less

Ordering Cities: Urban Convents and Friars, 1570–1808

in Building Colonial Cities of God: Mendicant Orders and Urban Culture in New Spain

This chapter examines the changing status of mendicant orders in New Spain between the late sixteenth and the end of the eighteenth century, focusing on their institutional presence in cities. It ... More

This chapter examines the changing status of mendicant orders in New Spain between the late sixteenth and the end of the eighteenth century, focusing on their institutional presence in cities. It investigates how the orders became almost exclusively urban communities by the late eighteenth century and analyzes their urbanization based on foundations of convents and numbers of friars. This chapter also discusses the challenges and difficulties experienced by the orders from states-sponsored reforms that sought to convert orders into what the crown thought they should be.Less

Clare of Assisi and the Tree of Crucifixion

Sara Ritchey

in Holy Matter: Changing Perceptions of the Material World in Late Medieval Christianity

This chapter examines Clare of Assisi's focus on the crucifixion of Christ—his “suffer[ing] on the tree of the cross”—as part of her pursuit of poverty. It considers Clare's devotional persuasion ... More

This chapter examines Clare of Assisi's focus on the crucifixion of Christ—his “suffer[ing] on the tree of the cross”—as part of her pursuit of poverty. It considers Clare's devotional persuasion over the men in the Franciscan order, the Friars Minor, and how her prayer life, developed during her struggle to observe poverty, influenced later meditations written by and for Franciscan men of the First Order. Focusing on Clare's innovative meditation as described in her letters to Agnes, a certain princess from the kingdom of Bohemia, this chapter suggests that Clare's struggle to achieve poverty and acceptance of Francis of Assisi's Rule shaped her spiritual direction and her goals for communal religious life. In the prayers she shared with her sisters in Prague, she focused on Christ's crucifixion as the one event that had utterly altered the rules of the material world. The chapter concludes by discussing Bonaventure of Bagnoregio's Lignum vitae (Tree of Life), in which he also uses a tree of crucifixion in an attempt to conform the self to Christ.Less