One of the enduring ironies of medieval history is the fact that a group of Italian lay penitents, begging in sackcloths, led by a man who called himself simple and ignorant, turned in a short time into a very popular and respectable order, featuring cardinals and university pro…
In this work, the author provides a grand narrative of the rise of learning in the Franciscan Order from 1209 to 1310. It explores how the quintessential Franciscan virtue of simplicity gradually lost its place to learning, while studying came to be considered an integral part o…
One of the enduring ironies of medieval history is the fact that a group of Italian lay penitents, begging in sackcloths, led by a man who called himself simple and ignorant, turned in a short time into a very popular and respectable order, featuring cardinals and university pro…