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

Monastic Orders

by Frances Andrews

A concise and accessible history of four of the monastic orders in the middle ages.

In 1274 the Council of Lyons decreed the end of various 'new orders' of Mendicants which had emerged during the great push for evangelism and poverty in the thirteenth-century Latin Church. The Franciscans and Dominicans were explicitly excluded, while the Carmelites and Austin friars were allowed a stay of execution. These last two were eventually able to acquire approval, but other smaller groups, in particular the Friars of the Sack and Pied Friars, were forced to disband.

This book outlines the history of those who were threatened by 1274, tracing the development of the two larger orders down to the Council of Trent, and following the fragmentary sources for the brief histories of the discontinued friaries. For the first time these orders are treated the volume offers a total history, from their origins, spirituality and pastoral impact, to their music, buildings and runaways.

FRANCES ANDREWS teaches at the University of St Andrews and is the author of The Early Humiliati (CUP 1999).

Genres: History

270 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 2014

Reviews

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work is an Encyclopedia of informational wealth regarding four medieval orders. If you have a passionate interest in this topic and the early lives of these individuals, and their corresponding social communities during those years of centuries past, then this book will make a fine addition to your library. Information regarding each of these mendicant orders is quite interesting. The author delivers a more 'historical' rather than 'personal' view of the Orders in focus. The 'personal' from the times included within these pages eludes the grasp of historians; monks, friars and the like led fairly private lives in most cases. The 'Further Reading' section at the conclusion of this study contains a plethora of additional resources to keep those researching for years to come.

- Also of possible interest:

The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Court of the Great Khan Moengke, 1253-1255

The Coming of the Friars by Augustus Jessop

Into Great Silence (2 Disc Collector's Edition) [2006] [DVD] - Philip Gröning
Run time: 2 hours and 49 minutes
Writer/Director Philip Gröning's award-winning documentary about life in the Grande Chartreuse monastery, the mother house of the legendary Carthusian Order in the French Alps.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think it was Andrews' intent, but what I learned from this is that the friars were selfish, greedy and self-centered. Concerns that frequently came up were--their habits are too like ours, their church is too near us, etc. They seemed to care less at times about God than about losing revenue. And please note I'm not speaking of the "other" friars--they were often the targets of these concerns.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, interesting and nicely written.

The lack of records on the Sack and Pied Friars must have been frustrating.

I couldn't find Peter O'Dwyer's 'The Irish Carmelites' in the bibliography, which seemed a strange omission.