Order and Disorder: The Poor Clares between Foundation and Reform (The Medieval Franciscans, 8)

In Order and Disorder: The Poor Clares between Foundation and Reform, Bert Roest provides an up-to-date and comprehensive history of the Poor Clares from their early beginnings until the sixteenth century. With recourse to the available secondary literature and a wealth of primary sources, this book shows how the early history of the Poor Clares cannot be reduced to Franciscan initiatives, and that the institutionalization of the order was characterized by prolonged conflicts and a series of important papal interventions. The work also provides insight in the expansion of the order, the complexities of religious reforms, and the significant cultural production of the women involved.

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).