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  • The Friars: The Impact of the Mendicant Orders on Medieval Society by Clifford H. Lawrence
  • Anne Holloway
Lawrence, Clifford H. , The Friars: The Impact of the Mendicant Orders on Medieval Society, London and New York, I. B. Tauris, 2013; paperback; pp. x, 245; R.R.P. £22.50; ISBN 9781780764672.

Since its first publication in 1994, The Friars: The Impact of the Early Mendicant Movement on Western Society has provided a succinct and lucid introduction to the rise of the medieval mendicant orders. It provides an excellent basis for anyone starting out or simply interested in the field. Revised and reissued under a slightly altered title, The Friars: The Impact of the Mendicant Orders on Medieval Society is still one of the best syntheses on the subject available.

C. H. Lawrence delivers both a wide-ranging and in-depth view of the mendicants by positing in the first chapter the problem that the mendicants were the solution to, and the difficulties and challenges that would face them as religious orders within twelfth-century society. He argues that the end of the twelfth century saw Church and society in crisis, in particular as a consequence of rampant heresy and the rise of the cities. Visionaries, heretics, and extremes of poverty were both the symptom of and the ignition for the decline of existing social and religious structures that were unwilling to change. Lawrence argues that the different Orders arose to fill this gap; beginning with St Francis and the foundation of the Friars Minor, before moving onto Dominic and the Order of Preachers. It is from these two that the spiritual and organisational inspiration informed and influenced the other mendicant orders: the Servites, the Crutched Friars, the Carmelites, and the Austins. Each represents a slightly different discussion about the role of poverty, money, conversion, and reform.

The second part of the book moves from the stories of the Orders and the main themes that they embody to the different areas of society in which they participated, how they impacted on these, and were changed in turn. Lawrence covers their activities within the towns and their preaching, the way they took the universities by storm, and the corresponding impact they had not just on their formation, but also on theology and the development of scholastic thought. He also tracks the mendicants' political engagement with the courts and the role they played within papal service. This itself covers a diverse range of topics from the anti-mendicant movement, the inquisition, diplomacy, and conversion of the Far East. Each of these interactions equally affected the structure and integrity of the Orders themselves, driving them to complacency and reform in turn.

Essentially the structure of The Friars has remained the same in this. What changes there are, are best reflected in the alteration of title. No longer is the book solely about the impact of a mendicant movement, but rather the contribution of the mendicant orders, with their calling to the apostolic life and their different interpretations of this. This shift in perspective breaks down what had previously been a trajectory that was inevitable and more unitary [End Page 212] than reality could be. It is also more contained, playing down the impact of the Orders on the West as a whole, but rather looking at the thirteenth century as a period of change and innovation, especially in terms of religious practice that began to enter all aspects of life.

Despite the revisions there are still some fundamental issues that time is only accentuating, especially because of the interest that has been generated in the last decade about the mendicant orders. Since 1994, a great deal of research has been done not only on the individual orders themselves, but also on the social context from which they arose. Unfortunately, in this new edition, this social context has not been updated. Also not updated is the select bibliography, which now overlooks some of the very important recent work on the mendicants. This is particularly the case within studies of heresy and the inquisition, even though there have been quite significant changes within the field regarding the composition of the Cathar heretics, and the role...

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