The Other Friars: The Carmelite, Augustinian, Sack, and Pied Friars in the Middle Ages (review)

This book is a very welcome addition to contemporary historical studies of religious orders. For too long a time generalizations, long out of date, about the Carmelites and the Augustinian Friars have been repeated even in scholarly studies about the medieval mendicant orders. Frances Andrews of the University of St. Andrews, known for her book The Early Humiliati (Cambridge, UK, 1999), has taken up the daunting challenge of exploring the medieval history of the orders whose existence were put in jeopardy by the Second Council of Lyons (1274). The Austin Friars and the Carmelites were saved from extinction by Boniface VIII in 1298; however, the existence of the other two orders in the subtitle of this book, the Pied and Sack Friars, was gradually terminated by the council. These two mendicant orders that the Church chose to terminate were a small but fascinating part of that extraordinary evangelical awakening that began in the late twelfth century, flourished in the thirteenth, and endures till this day.

Andrews has a remarkable capacity for mastering the widespread primary and secondary literature on the "Other Orders," literature that is often hidden in out-of-the-way locations. Moreover, Young has perused up-to-date studies that appear in footnotes and in sections at the back of the book that she calls "Further Reading." Nonspecialists and scholars of the friars will find these bibliographical aids for each order very helpful.

The longest portion of this book is dedicated to a study of the Augustinian or Austin Friars—102 pages. With far fewer resources at hand, about half of that space is devoted to the Friars of the Sack, with only six pages concerned with the Pied Friars or, as they were also known, the Friars of Blessed Mary of Areno. Not only does the author pay less attention to the Carmelites than to the Austin Friars but also she seems to be more sure of her materials concerning the latter order. Perhaps her previous work on the Humiliati has given her more exposure to Italian sources that are bountiful for the Humiliati and the Austin Friars. Some scholars may regret that the author who accrues a massive amount of detail on the Austin and Carmelite Friars has chosen to forgo some footnoting of her sources. The "Further Reading" sections are meant to supply for this lack.

Some comments on the chapters dedicated to the Carmelites are in order. The date of the Carmelite "formula of life" should be 1206–14, not 1205–14 (p. 11). Moreover, Teresa of Avila called for a return to what she thought was the "primitive rule" of Albert of Jerusalem while, in fact, Teresa was unaware of the formula vitae approved by Albert (p. 67). John de Vesci should be William de Vescy (p. 23). An important second edition of Joachim Smet, The Carmelites, appeared in 1988 (p. 233). A final comment on the author's treatment of the Carmelites: She has, it seems to me, unfortunately followed another scholar's lead in speculating about forerunners of the Carmelites in the twelfth century. There is no evidence that the small group of Carmelites who petitioned Albert for the formula vitae had roots that went back any further than about 1200 A.D. The search for twelfth-century Carmelite prototypes seems to me misspent. Despite these few comments, Andrews deserves very high praise for a meticulous study of what, previous to her work, has been a much neglected portion of a distinguished historical movement initiated by Dominic and Francis.