In 2016, scholars were reminded of one of the Franciscan family’s leading women and chief proponents of reform during the fifteenth century: Saint Colette of Corbie (1381–1447). She came to light through Brill’s publication of Joan Mueller and Nancy Bradley Warren’s A Companion to Colette of Corbie, a collection of seven essays examining numerous issues relevant to the career and afterlife of this reformer of (primarily) the Order of Saint Clare. It had been twenty-two years since the publication in 1994 of the last major study of Colette, Élisabeth Lopez’s Culture et sainteté: Colette de Corbie (1381–1447). The goals of Mueller and Warren were to fill in some of the gaps that remain in the study of Colette and to propel forward more academic discussion of the saint.

The first essay is Warren’s “The Life and Afterlives of St. Colette of Corbie: Religion, Politics, and Networks of Power.” It examines not only the efforts from the fifteenth century to the present to downplay the active and authoritative role in reform that Colette actually had in favor of one more in line with traditional modes of female sanctity, but also, and chiefly, the network of women (secular and religious) who supported her. We gain valuable insight into how and why influential women from the opposing Burgundian and Armagnac camps of the Hundred Years’ War chose to favor the Colettine reform. Monique Sommé’s “The Dukes and Duchesses of Burgundy as Benefactors of Colette de Corbie and the Colettine Poor Clares” considers how these principal supporters of the reform—Margaret of Bavaria, John the Fearless, Isabelle of Portugal, Philip the Good, Margaret of York, and Charles the Bold—did so through their advocacy, the foundation of convents, and donations. Jane Marie Pinzino’s “But Where to Draw the Line? Colette of Corbie, Joan of Arc and the Expanding Boundaries of Women’s Leadership in the Fifteenth Century” is an insightful comparison of these two contemporary charismatic women of late medieval France who managed to exercise extraordinary leadership roles despite their gender. Ludovic Viallet’s “Colette of Corbie and the Franciscan Reforms: The observantia in the First Half of the Fifteenth Century” establishes the context in which the origins of the Colettine reform must be understood. The saint’s reform coincided with that of the Observant Franciscans (led by figures such as Bernardino of Siena and John of Capistrano), with which it had much in common as they all sought stricter observance of their respective rules. Yet Colette’s reform diverged from the Observants’ in that, in order to safeguard its autonomy and make sure it remained within the established Franciscan hierarchy, she rejected any move that might subordinate it to the Observant vicars.

Joan Mueller’s “Colette of Corbie and the ‘Privilege of Poverty’” considers thoroughly the matter at the very heart of the Colettine reform: how Colette in the fifteenth century worked toward reintroducing the uncompromising life of poverty envisioned by Clare of Assisi for the nuns of her order during the thirteenth century. Andrea Pearson’s “Imaging and Imagining Colette of Corbie: An Illuminated Version of Pierre de Vaux’s Vie de Colette” is an analysis of the miniatures depicting scenes from the saint’s life found in a fifteenth-century manuscript copy of the earliest hagiography. Pearson argues cogently that these illuminations—several of which are reproduced here, and in color—were, like the text itself, intended to present Colette as an ideal candidate for canonization. They therefore highlight her virtues and spiritual experiences that fit with accepted modes of female sanctity, all the while neutralizing some of the more controversial aspects of her career, such as the considerable traveling she did in order to promote her reform. Lastly, Anna Campbell’s “Colette of Corbie: Cult and Canonization” explains convincingly the delays that led to Colette’s canonization 360 years after her death, and why Pope Pius VII’s canonization of her in 1807 was so historically significant. Those responsible for the Companion to Colette of Corbie did indeed achieve their goals satisfactorily. This volume belongs on the shelves of all scholars interested in Franciscan history, monastic reform in late medieval Europe, and the roles of women in Christian history.