The Coming of the Friars

Originally published in 1975, this book helps students understand why the Movements of the 12th century remained much more enclosed and monastic or turned to heresy; How much thenew orders of Friars owed to the earlier movements and to what extent they arose from the personal inspiration of Saint Francis and Saint Dominic. The introduction is arranged to help the documents to speak for themselves: it opens with a direct confrontation with Francis then goes back to search the religious experience of the 10th to 12th centuries for movements and especially well documented individuals who can help explain the development of fashions and ideas. There are sections on precursors, both monks and heretics, and on the papal policies towards these movements, and the introduction closes with a chapter on Dominic and an epilogue on the impact of the Friars.

Part 1: Introduction 1. Prologue 2. St. Francis 3. The Preparation 4. The Preparation: The Heretics 5. The Preparation: Papal Policy 6. St. Dominic 7. The Coming of the Friars Part 2: Documents 1. St. Francis’s Testament 2. The Rule of the Friars Minor 3. St. Francis’s Seventh Admonition 4. St. Francis’s Fourth Letter 5. From the First Life of St. Francis by Thomas of Celano 6. From the Writings of Leo, Rufino and Angelo, Companions of St. Francis 7. From Thomas of Spalato, Historia Pontificum Salonitanorum et Spalatinorum 8. A Sermon of Bernard of Tiron 9. Peter the Venerable’s Preface to his Tract Against the Petrobrusians 10. St. Bernard of Clairvaux on Henry of Lausanne 11. John of Salisbury’s Account of Arnold of Brescia 12. Waldo’s Profession of Faith 13. Walter Map on the Waldensians 14. The Council of the Cathar Church of Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, 1167 15. Rainer Sacconi on the Rites and Churches of the Cathars, 1250 16. The Fourth Lateran Council, 1215, Canons X, XIII 17. From Jordan of Saxony, On the Origin of the Order of Preachers 18. From the Acts of the Canonisation of St. Dominic 19. The Foundation Charter of Prouille, 1211 20. Letters of St. Dominic 21. From Jordan of Saxony’s Letters to Sister Diana Dandolo 22. From the Ancient Constitutions of the Order of Friars Preachers 23. From the Chronicle of Burchard, Prior of Ursberg 24. From the Letters of Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre 25. From Jordian of Giano, Chronica Fratris Jordani 26. From Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora

Rosalind Brooke