medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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Received: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:31:53 AM EDT
From: The Medieval Review <[log in to unmask]>
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Subject: TMR 12.10.29 Thompson, Francis of Assisi (Godet-Calogeras)
Thompson, Augustine, O.P. <i>Francis of Assisi: A New Biography</i>.
Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2012. Pp. x, 299.
$29.95. ISBN-13: 9780801450709.
Reviewed by Jean-François Godet-Calogeras
Saint Bonaventure University
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Augustine Thompson is a Dominican already known for his work on
religion in the Middle Ages, in particular his <i>Cities of God: The
Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325</i> (University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005). He now presents a
biography of Francis of Assisi. His book is divided into two sections:
"The Life" (1-145) and "Sources and Debates" (147-278). It ends with a
bibliography on the writings of Francis, the medieval sources for
Francis, the sources for Clare, and modern scholarship (279-291),
along with an index (293-299).
The author divides the life of Francis into eight parts: When I Was in
My Sins, 1181-1205 (Francis' words in his Testament are <i>cum essem
in peccatis</i>); The Penitent from Assisi, 1206-1209; The Primitive
Fraternity, 1209-1215; Expansion and Consolidation, 1216-1220; Francis
Returns Home, 1220-1221; Rules and Retirement, 1221-1223; The Way of
the Cross, 1223-1225; From Penitent to Saint, 1225-1226.
Rather than using footnotes or endnotes, Thompson prefers to deal with
all the questions he encountered in the book's second section. After
dealing with the "Franciscan Question" (153-170), he offers his
"sources and debates" to each chapter of the first part. From all the
works mentioned and the bibliography included in the book, it is clear
that he has examined and critiqued a lot of material, and certainly
all the modern scholarship in Franciscan studies.
The life of Francis, as told by Augustine Thompson, reads well. He
calls it <i>A New Biography</i> because, in his own words, it is "not
just a recent biography, but one that also presents a new portrait of
the man known as Saint Francis of Assisi" (vii). How new? It is true
that too many tales of Francis' life have for too long repeated the
same "legends." However, I find Thompson's statement in the first page
of his introduction that "even academic writers on Francis seem to
rely on the same set of stories mostly put together in the same way"
(vii) highly exaggerated. He makes one exception for Raoul Manselli.
What about the work of a Giovanni Miccoli, a David Flood, a Grado
Merlo, a Jacques Dalarun, to mention just a few? And what about André
Vauchez's recent book <i>François d'Assise: Entre histoire et
mémoire</i> (Paris: Fayard, 2009) that our author calls "the best
current scholarly biography of Francis" (171)? As interesting and
researched this book might be, it is not the first one trying to reach
the historical reality beyond the legends and the hagiography. That
each author, despite scientific methodology, has a bias is true, and
Augustine Thompson is no exception: what one sees depends on where one
stands. But it is exactly here, in the way of using and interpreting
the sources, that I would have liked less subjectivity. In other
words, I would have preferred to read more deductions from the sources
rather than references to sources that validate some preconceived
judgments or interpretations.
I also would have liked more and better use of the writings of Francis
himself, whether he wrote them alone or with other members of his
<i>fraternitas</i>. That would help to better situate Francis in his
right and foremost context. A striking example is Thompson's handling
of the text know as the Early Rule or <i>Regula bullata</i> (Chapter
6). Contrary to the fundamental studies of David Flood (1967) and
Kajetan Esser (1974), our author is the only one to assert that
Francis wrote that text not only by himself but in one single period
of time "during the winter and spring of 1221" (92), even though he
recognizes that it is "a composite document made up of disparate
material composed at different times" (93). Unfortunately he brings
no historical evidence to support his assertion that the Early Rule is
Francis' "working paper." He could have been clearer.
Another point where the sources could have found a better use is the
question of Francis' so-called resignation (80-82). In 1220, Francis
certainly could not resign from an office that had not previously
existed and will not be mentioned until the promulgation of the Later
Rule or <i>Regula bullata</i> in 1223, the office of general minister.
And we do not know if Brother Peter or Brother Elias ever used the
title of general minister during Francis' lifetime since we do not
have any of their writings during that period of time. But Francis
himself mentions the general minister in his Letter to the Order and
in his Testament. The question of Francis' "resignation" could have
benefitted from our study, "Francis of Assisi's Resignation: An
Historical and Philological Probe," in <i>Charisma und religiöse
Gemeinschaften im Mittelalter</i>, eds. G. Andenna, M. Breitenstein,
G. Melville (Muenster: LIT Verlag, 2005), 281-300.
I believe Augustine Thompson when, in his introduction, he states, "As
I have worked on this biography, my respect for Francis and for his
vision has increased" (viii). His work carries a lot of data, but I
would not necessarily consider it an "authoritative" (dust jacket)
biography of Francis because the historical method used could
certainly be improved, particularly in comparison to the work of André
Vauchez, expected to be published soon in English: <i>Francis of
Assisi: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Saint</i> by Yale
University Press.
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