Preaching the Crusades: Mendicant Friars and the Cross in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, Series Number 28) - Hardcover

Maier, Christoph T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521452465 ISBN 13: 9780521452465

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1994

Synopsis

This study describes the way in which the Franciscan and Dominican orders became involved in preaching the cross and examines their contribution to the crusading movement of the thirteenth century. The papacy used large numbers of trained preachers from these orders in order to provide the crusades with a well-organised and efficient propaganda back-up throughout Europe unknown before the thirteenth century. The book explains how the propaganda campaigns were organised and how the recruitment of crusaders took place. It also challenges the traditional pacifist view of the founder saints of the two orders by showing them to be supporters of the crusades themselves.

About this title

Review:

'... a very useful and highly readable volume ... Maier brings to the fore the difficulty posed by the conflicting demands for resources for the different theatres of crusading, and the need to target and regionalise preaching ... a valuable and effective discussion of how crusades were preached and paid for in thirteenth-century Europe.' R. N. Swanson, The Heythrop Journal

'... this is a valuable work, not least ... in its illustration of the mechanisms by which very particular pieces of information could be circulated to the more remote reaches of Christendom.' Reformation

Book Description:

This study describes the way in which the Franciscan and Dominican orders became involved in preaching the cross and examines their contribution to the crusading movement of the thirteenth century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0521452465
• ISBN 13: 9780521452465
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 210