Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron

A literary echo of many of the same charges made by Richard FitzRalph appears in Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, one of the great works of fourteenth-century literature. Written in the early 1350s, the Decameron is set in the Tuscan countryside where three young men and seven young women retire to await the passing of the black death. In their rustic retreat they amused themselves by recounting a hundred stories. A feature of these stories is the persona of the friar, who is moulded by contemporary criticisms. Although the narrators refer frequently to the mendicants generically, the Franciscans are singled out more than the other groups and always presented in an unflattering light. This portrait depicts a fraternity whose members lacked integrity, discipline and supervision; these friars bear little comparison with their saintly predecessors. The polemic deftly targets each area in which the friars had excelled in the thirteenth century.

Instead of an intelligent and engaging exposition of the Scriptures, the friars promoted superstitions and dubious cults. The devotions which they fostered were designed to attract funds. Friars sought alms for their communities and solicited offerings for the celebration of Masses. They were perceived as promoting the aggrandisement of their churches and enlargement of their premises.