Order and Disorder: The Poor Clares between Foundation and Reform

Bert Roest, Ph.D. (1965) teaches Medieval History at the Radboud University Nijmegen. He has published books and numerous articles on the medieval Franciscans and the Poor Clares, including Franciscan Literature of Religious Instruction before the Council of Trent (Brill, 2004).

• Introduction ... 1 1 Clare of Assisi, Cardinal Ugolino and the Emergence of a Damianite Order ... 11 The Emergence of Clare’s San Damiano Community ... 11 The Wider Context ... 17 Attempts at Regularization: The Initiatives of the Papal Legate Ugolino of Ostia ... 21 2 Damianites, Minoresses, Poor Clares ... 37 The Franciscans and the Damianites after the Death of Francis ... 38 The Rule of Innocent IV ... 48 The Rule of Clare of Assisi ... 51 Franciscan Order Policies after the Death of Clare ... 54 Isabelle of France and the Minoresses ... 60 Urban IV and the Creation of the Ordo Sanctae Clarae ... 62 How Uniform was the Order of Poor Clares? ... 67 3 The Expansion of the Order Until c. 1400 ... 75 Cautionary Remarks . 75 Expansion Estimates ... 78 Italy ... 80 The Iberian Peninsula ... 88 France . 104 Minoresses in France, England and Italy ... 122 The German Lands (Including the Alsace Region) and the Low Countries ... 128 Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Greece and the Middle East ... 145 Attempts at a Typology of Clarissan Houses ... 154 Maps ... 161, 162, 163 4 Implementing Reforms ... 165 Tordesillas ... 167 The Colettines ... 169 Clarissan Reforms Under the Observantes Sub Vicariis in Italy ... 176 Observant Reforms in Alsace, Germany and Austria ... 187 The Ave Maria Reform ... 195 The Annonciade and the ‘Argentan’ or ‘Leonist’ Observance ... 199 The Regular Observance in Spain . 202 Spanish Conceptionists ... 208 Order Expansion During the Era of Observant Reforms ... 209 The Clarissan Expansion in the Northern Low Countries: A Case Study ... 211 Closing Remarks ... 224 5 Aspects of Community Life ... 227 Socio-Economic Realities ... 227 Social and Religious Aspects of Community Life ... 248 The Position of the Abbess ... 260 The Novitiate ... 269 Wayward Nuns ... 275 Size and Shape of Monasteries ... 279 6 Forms of Literary and Artistic Expression . 283 Preconditions: Literacy and Scribal Activities ... 283 Poor Clares as Authors in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries ... 297 Poor Clares and Minoresses as Target Audience ... 301 The Impact of the Observant Reforms ... 304 Epistolography ... 312 Autobiographical Writings and Texts of Religious Instruction ... 317 Writings on the Rule ... 321 Observant Chronicles and Saints’ Lives ... 325 Prayer Texts and Devotional Poetry ... 335 Works of Passion Meditation ... 337 Teaching and Preaching ... 339 Performances, Music and the Visual Arts . 342 Epilogue ... 347 The Sixteenth Century: A Century of Crisis? . 347 Ongoing Expansion ... 359 Some Tentative Conclusions ... 364 Bibliography ... 371 Index of Places and Convents ... 425 Index of Names and Subjects ... 431