Joël Chandelier, Aurélien Robert, (dir) Ecole Française de Rome 2023
École française de Rome Collection 597
The mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, but also the Hermits of St. Augustine and the Carmelites) played a major role in the production of knowledge in the late Middle Ages. Authors of numerous works in all fields of culture, they also made a major contribution to the dissemination of manuscripts and ideas, and to the deepening of disciplines, thanks to the teaching and debating facilities housed in their convents. Yet, while these orders have been widely studied for their contributions to theology, their role in the development of so-called secular knowledge, i.e. knowledge not linked to their religious vocation, has been less frequently addressed. As much producers as transmitters of knowledge, the Beggars made a decisive contribution to the redefinition and growth of the disciplines taught in universities or practiced in the courts. Focusing on Italy, the intellectual and cultural laboratory of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, this volume seeks to understand their importance in several key areas of early Modern culture, including the liberal arts, natural sciences, literature, rhetoric and geography.
