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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Judging from some Italian cities, such as Gubbio, the locations of mendicant churches often tended to be positioned near, as in just inside, one of the city gates. It would seem as if one might expect to find these mendicants begging at the apposite gate. I realize that not all mendicant churches are so positioned but if one thinks of Siena, the Dominican, Franciscan and Augustinian churches are each near very separate gates of the city. Best, Sharon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hal Cain" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 7:26 AM Subject: Re: [M-R] beggars and saints' charity > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Ann Ball wrote: > >> But wouldn't mendicant orders all be religious, so their beggins would >> not be of the common type of person who was just a poor person, widow, >> leper, etc.? > > I think that's a bit too much of a generalization. > > I agree with you that (humanly speaking) groups or communities tend to > favour their own; but it's hard to be in a religious community, exposed to > a yearly cycle of readings in the divine office and the mass, and totally > miss out on the message of the Good Samaritan (that *anyone* who needs > help should be given it; likewise, from the Prodigal Son, that mistakes > should be forgiven -- though Paul Chandler's contra-example from here in > Melbourne may give us pause; exceptio probat regulum). > > Historiographically speaking, I seem to find myself among the > revisionists: forget the "story" that's been told, where's the evidence? > How does it run? I suspect the answer is various. So the next questions > have to be: time? place? orders (since we mentioned mendicants)? persons? > For half the "medieval" period, mendicant orders didn't exist. Did they > make a difference? > > As for the "city gates" aspect, my general idea of medieval towns is that > there was a market square, or the like, from which at times beggars may > have been hunted out pretty smartly; but the city jurisdiction ended at > the gates. Therefore, outside the gates was a safer place for beggars; > besides, by definition, gates were points where traffic of people coming > into and going out from the town was concentrated. > > Hal Cain > Joint Theological Library > Parkville, Victoria, Australia > [log in to unmask] > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.6/257 - Release Date: 10/02/2006 > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html