Franciscan Poverty and Franciscan Economic Thought (1209-1348) (The Medieval Franciscans, 21)

Why would a group of men in the Middle Ages who professed to have nothing to do with money or ownership offer some of the most advanced reflection about those same things? Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Abbreviations 11 Introduction 13 0.1 Past Approaches 14 0.1.1 From Economics to Franciscan Economic Thought 14 0.1.2 From Franciscan History to Franciscan Economic Thought 25 0.1.3 Going Further 34 0.2 Pairing Franciscan Poverty and Franciscan Economic Thought 35 0.2.1 Questions 35 0.2.2 Method 36 1 Defining Franciscan Poverty 38 1.1 Francis of Assisi: Milieu and Early Life 39 1.1.1 The Catholic Church in the 12th Century: Reform 39 1.1.2 Assisi in the 12th Century: Merchants 40 1.1.3 The Poverello 43 1.2 Founding of the Order of Friars Minor 46 1.2.1 A Group around Francis 46 1.2.2 A Gospel Life with Papal Approval 48 1.2.3 Ordo Fratrum Minorum 50 1.3 Poverty and the Rules 52 1.3.1 The Earlier Rule: Chapters 8 and 9 53 1.3.2 Rule of 1223: Chapters IV, V, and VI 60 1.3.3 Francis, His Father, and Being a ‘Lesser Brother’ 65 1.3.4 The Testament 69 1.4 Poverty and the Pope 72 1.4.1 The Problem of the Testament 73 1.4.2 Quo Elongati 76 1.5 Use versus Ownership 82 2 Developing Franciscan Poverty 83 2.1 The Franciscans after Francis 83 2.1.1 Leadership and Change within the Order 84 2.1.2 Ordinem Vestrum and Quanto Studiosius 86 2.1.3 Reactions and Legislation 92 2.2 The Friars Minor and Conflict in the Church 94 2.2.1 Players and Prelude 95 2.2.1.1 The Dominicans 95 2.2.1.2 The University of Paris 97 2.2.1.3 The Secular Masters 99 2.2.2 Episodes 101 2.2.2.1 William of Saint-Amour, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure at Paris 101 2.2.2.2 Thomas of York at Oxford 105 2.2.2.3 Gerard of Abbeville and Bonaventure at Paris 108 2.2.3 Comparisons and Contrasts 112 2.2.3.1 John Peckham and Robert Kilwardby in England 112 2.2.3.2 John Peckham and Bonaventure in Paris 115 2.2.3.3 Conclusions 118 2.3 Franciscan Poverty Post-Conflict 121 2.3.1 Centrality 121 2.3.2 Renewed Reflection 127 2.3.3 Divisions with the Dominicans 132 2.3.4 Papal Approval 136 2.4 Franciscan Poverty Defined and Decreed 144 3 Expressions of Franciscan Economic Thought 145 3.1 Exiit Qui Seminat and Its Aftermath 146 3.1.1 Moderation and Innovation 146 3.1.2 A New Debate 152 3.1.3 Usus Pauper and Procurators 158 3.2 Peter of John Olivi’s Economic Thought 165 3.2.1 Contracts and the Just Price 168 3.2.2 Usury and Investment 171 3.3 John Duns Scotus’ Economic Thought 177 3.3.1 Justice, Contracts, and the Gift 180 3.3.2 Influence of Exiit Qui Seminat 186 3.4 Franciscan Poverty in Franciscan Economic Thought 190 4 Continuation of Franciscan Economic Thought 192 4.1 Divisions and Divides 193 4.2 Complaints to the Pope 200 4.3 The Clementine Solution 212 4.4 The Role of Superiors 223 4.5 Gerald Odonis’ Economic Thought 230 4.5.1 Transfers and Authority 232 4.5.2 Usury and Use 238 4.6 Developments in Poverty, Developments in Economic Thought 243 5 The Redefinition of Franciscan Poverty 244 5.1 Problems in Provence 245 5.2 The Inquisition 249 5.3 John XXII 264 5.3.1 Undoing Exiit Qui Seminat 264 5.3.2 Reconsidering Use 270 5.3.3 Common Ownership 274 5.3.4 Fractures 280 5.4 William of Ockham’s Revised Thought 285 5.4.1 State of Affairs 285 5.4.2 Questions of Right 293 5.4.3 Economic to Political 301 5.5 Reflection Reoriented 305 Epilogue: The Reprise of Franciscan Economic Thought 306 E.1 The Legacy of Gerald Odonis 307 E.2 Observance within an Observance 311 E.3 Francesc Eiximenis’ Political Thought 315 E.4 Bernardine of Siena’s Economic Thought 322 E.5 Franciscan Poverty and Franciscan Economic Thought 327 Bibliography 329 Primary Sources 329 Secondary Sources 339 Index 354 "When Francis of Assisi started to use his family's resources for religious purposes, his father took him to court. It was there that Francis dispossessed himself of everything and began a new life that soon inspired others to follow. Within a century, members of this Order of Friars Minor were among the first to dedicate complete treatises to discussions of buying, selling, and the whole of human exchange that is known as economics. The natural question to ask - and the one proposed here - is whether there might be a connection between the two, between Franciscan poverty and Franciscan economic thought?"-- Provided by publisher