Michael J. P. Robson

This is a single volume overview of the Franciscan Order, from the group's foundation in the early thirteenth century through to its ultimate division into Observant, Conventual and Capuchin branches in the early sixteenth century. As such, it's a useful introduction a broad swathe of history, with hefty footnotes and a bibliography well worth mining, but the very nature of such a work requires that Robson must sometimes be overly concise. Franciscan women particularly suffer because of this, with even the redoubtable Colette of Corbie receiving less than a page and Clare of Assisi a paragraph of consideration. The proofreading also seems very hasty at times (errors like "which was reviving the conditions of the halcyon days of the order in the middle of the thirteenth century 1450" shouldn't have crept in), some of the sources seem to have been used overly trustingly, and I felt that another revision pass would have helped to strengthen this book immensely. A good place to start, but not something to rely on, I think.… (mere)