Michael Robson and Patrick Zutshi's newly published collection of essays on the Franciscan order encapsulates a small – but growing – interest in an otherwise neglected aspect of the late medieval English Church: an examination of monasticism in the wake of English Reformation revisionism. Whilst historians such as James Clark have written sensitively about monastic preaching and scholarship on the eve of the sixteenth century, most revisionist and post-revisionist scholars – and Eamon Duffy in particular – have pushed monasticism to the margins. This slim volume, with its wealth of study into the medieval Friars Minor, goes some way to redressing that imbalance, unveiling aspects of Franciscan life on the brink of religious upheaval.
The Franciscan order in medieval England and beyond pays homage to the late Bishop John Moorman, whose histories of the Franciscan order continue to dwarf all other forays into the subject. As the foremost English historian of this mendicant order, Bishop Moorman was as fascinated with Francis himself as he was with his followers. Indeed, Moorman's studies of the development and institutionalisation of the order are rivalled only by his ruminations on the Franciscan question, that field of study concerned with the historical Francis, spearheaded by the French historian Paul Sabatier. This volume picks up where Moorman left off, seeking to tease out the threads of his work – to pursue his lines of enquiry armed with the historical discoveries of the last three decades. According to the preface, this collection ‘commemorates Moorman's outstanding contribution to the history of the Franciscan order and reflects on his legacy to the world of scholarship’.
The collection begins with Robson himself, offering a brief, yet useful, grounding in the main biographical elements of Moorman's career. Robson traces the three principal strands of Moorman's scholarship: an interest in the historical life of Francis, the history of the order up until its schism under Leo x, and the history of the friars in medieval England. Another essay on Moorman follows, as Petà Dunstan examines the origins of Moorman's interest in Francis during his time as a student. From that point on, the focus of the collection shifts away from Moorman and to the Franciscans themselves, engaging with Moorman's legacy in a more implicit way.
The second section provides snapshots into the lived experiences of late medieval English Franciscans. Its chapters draw out the specificities of Franciscan life – financial support, pastoral practices or visual depictions of Franciscans, all within the context of one particular church, custody or manuscript. Patrick Zutshi's contribution investigates depictions of mendicants in a manuscript of Nequam's Florilegium. Jens Röhrkasten and Christian Steer continue along lines of enquiry forged in their previous work, investigating respectively the economic foundations of the Franciscan custody of Cambridge and the characteristics of Franciscan graves in London.
It is within this section that we find two of the most successful essays of the collection: Robson's exploration of Moorman's biographical register of medieval English Franciscans and Bert Roest's foray into the homiletics of the English Franciscan order in the later Middle Ages. The latter makes use of a wide variety of sources in order to enrich our understanding of Franciscan preaching and catalogues that material with sensitivity. Robson's entry is the only study of the collection to begin directly with one of Moorman's projects, taking a prosopographical sample of the register consolidated by Moorman. Using material specifically from the custody of York, Robson deftly unveils aspects of admission to the order and the novitiate, the schools of theology and training, the friars’ pastoral care and the role assumed by Franciscans within the larger institution of the Church. Within the collection, his essay most clearly exposes the value of Moorman's work; he exploits the bishop's gargantuan effort in compiling a biographical register of English Franciscans for a period of over three centuries and opens the door for countless further prosopographical studies. Indeed, Robson's work is successful primarily because it sparks curiosity in what lies beyond its boundaries: it shows the possibilities that spring from Moorman's work, yet to be realised.
The third and final section moves on to the intellectual lives of medieval Franciscans, both in England and in mainland Europe. This includes studies of the Oxford Franciscans, particularly Adam Marsh, Roger Bacon and Robert Grosseteste, a discussion of English Franciscan historiography, and explorations of the controversies surrounding Jacopone da Todi and apostolic poverty. A surprising omission from this collection is a discussion of the Franciscan question, one of Moorman's main preoccupations. The closest engagement with that subject can be found in this third section, with Neslihan Şenocak's article on the ideal of il poverello in a report by English friars on observance of the Rule.
This collection undeniably displays historical rigour and a wealth of source material, with its in-depth investigation into the realities of individual friars and friaries. Its chapters show us the rich tapestry of the particularities of Franciscan life, but the collection as a whole fails to answer the questions that drove its creation. The lack of historiographical analysis in a volume that aims to engage with the historical output of the pre-eminent English scholar of the Franciscan order runs counter to purpose and detracts from the value of individual entries. The only real connection to Moorman's work is through a similarity of subject matter, in that all the essays are concerned with late medieval Franciscans; indeed, many essays rely on Moorman only superficially. A more concerted assessment of the strengths, deficiencies and opportunities of Moorman's work throughout each entry could have provided a more concrete structure and better assessed the bishop's contribution to the field. The reader comes away from this volume with no better understanding of Moorman's legacy, of how he made his mark on Franciscan history and where we have deviated from his conclusions.
None the less, this volume remains an important contribution to the field of medieval Franciscan history, a subject matter typically overlooked in favour of the turbulent religious period to follow. The depth and rigour of its individual analyses make this collection a useful addition to the bookshelves of any scholar of the medieval Church, and of the Franciscans in particular. It remains, however, an opportunity somewhat squandered: historians would be richer for the broader conclusions that this collection might have offered about the nature of Franciscan life in medieval England and the role of Moorman's scholarship in guiding future questions.
