The mendicant friars, especially the Dominicans and the Franciscans, made an enormous impact in thirteenth-century Spain influencing almost every aspect of society. In a revolutionary break from the Church’s past, these religious orders were deeply involved in earthly matters while preaching the Gospel to the laity and producing many of the greatest scholars of the time. Furthermore, the friars reshaped the hierarchy of the Church, often taking up significant positions in the episcopate. They were prominent in the establishment of the Inquisition in Aragon and at the same time they played a major part in interfaith relations between Jews, Muslims and Christians. In addition, they were key contributors in the transformation of urban life, becoming an essential part of the fabric of late medieval cities, while influencing policies of monarchs such as James I of Aragon and Ferdinand III of Castile. Their missions in the towns and their educational role, as well as their robust associations with the papacy and the crown, often raised criticism and lead to internal tensions and conflict with other clergymen and secular society. They were to be both widely admired and the subjects of biting literary satire. As this collection demonstrates, the story of medieval Spain cannot possibly be fully told without mention of the critical role of the friars.
This book explores how the Spanish kingdoms were highly influenced by the arrival of the Dominican and Franciscan friars in the thirteenth century.
Preface, Contributors, Abbreviations, Figures and Maps, Introduction,
1.
Dominicus Hispanus,
2. Ramon de Penyafort and his Influence,
3. The Mendicant
Orders and the Castilian Monarchy in the reign of Ferdinand III,
4. Ramón
Martí, the Trinity, and the Limits of Dominican Mission,
5. Narrative and
Counter-Narrative: Dominican and Muslim Preaching in Medieval Iberia,
6. The
Poor Clares of Alcocer and the Castilian Crown (13th to 15th Centuries),
7.
Friars and Nuns: Dominican Economy and Religious Identity in Medieval
Castile,
8. Networks of Dissent and the Franciscans of the Crown of Aragon,
9. Faction, Politics and Dominican Inquisitors in the Fourteenth-Century
Crown of Aragon,
10. Sutzura e viltat carnal. The place of sin and lust in
the treatises of the Franciscan Francesc Eiximenis (circa 1400),
11.
Valencian Dominicans beyond the Convent of Santo Domingo,
12. Ferdinand of
Antequera and Santo Domingo El Real de Toledo: Patronage, Advice and Spritual
Favour (c. 1390-1416), Index
Francisco García-Serrano is Professor of Medieval History at Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus. He has published extensively examining the importance of the mendicant orders in medieval Spain.
