Mendicant Cultures in the Medieval and Early Modern World: Word, Deed, and Image eds. by Sally J. Cornelison, Nirit Ben-Aryeh Debby, and Peter Howard (review)

The stated purpose of this book is to “revisit, revise, and enhance our understanding of the ways in which words, deeds, and images shaped and represented mendicant religious culture in italy and abroad” (p. xii). The eleven articles are focused on the time between the early thirteenth and the seventeenth centuries, primarily in italy but not confined to the birthplace of Francis. The book offers a smorgasbord of information about mendicant theologians and preachers, church leaders, missionaries (in particular William of rubruck’s mission to the Mongols), medieval women, sacred places, and religious objects. We get a significant glimpse of the many aspects that make up the various mendicant cultures of the dominican and Franciscan world of the later Middle ages and beyond.