Within two years after the death of Francis of Assisi, Thomas of Celano composed The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi, a portrait of the newly canonized Umbrian:

A translation of the First Life of St Francis or Vita Prima of 1228, this text is in three parts. The first is devoted to the purity of St Francis's life and hi

The nature of mendicancy as it developed among various religious orders during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries is the subject of considerable debate. In