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Religious Poverty, Mendicancy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Michael D. Bailey
Affiliation:
Michael D. Bailey is assistant professor of history at Iowa State University and Mellon Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania.

Extract

The idea and the ideal of religious poverty exerted a powerful force throughout the Middle Ages. “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff,” Christ had commanded his apostles. He had sternly warned, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for someone who is rich to enter into the kingdom of God.” And he had instructed one of the faithful, who had asked what he needed to do to live the most holy sort of life, “if you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give your money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Beginning with these biblical injunctions, voluntary poverty, the casting off of wealth and worldly goods for the sake of Christ, dominated much of medieval religious thought. The desire for a more perfect poverty impelled devout men and women to new heights of piety, while disgust with the material wealth of the church fueled reform movements and more radical heresies alike. Often, as so clearly illustrated by the case of the Spiritual Franciscans and fraticelli in the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the lines separating devout believer from condemned heretic shifted and even reversed themselves entirely depending on how one understood the religious call to poverty. Moreover, the Christian ideal of poverty interacted powerfully with and helped to shape many major economic, social, and cultural trends in medieval Europe. As Lester Little demonstrated over two decades ago, for example, developing ideals of religious poverty were deeply intermeshed with the revitalizing European economy of the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries and did much to shape the emerging urban spirituality of that period.

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Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 2003

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References

2. Matthew 10:9–10, 19:24, and 19:21 respectively; quotes taken from the New Revised Standard Version. All other translations in this article are my own.

3. On Spiritual Franciscans generally, see now Burr, David, The Spiritual Franciscans: From Protest to Persecution in the Century after Saint Francis (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001)Google Scholar. Specifically on the issue of poverty, see Burr, David, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty: The Origins of the Usus Pauper Controversy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Lambert, Malcolm, Franciscan Poverty: The Doctrine of the Absolute Poverty of Christ and the Apostles in the Franciscan Order, 1210–1323, 2nd ed. (St. Bonaventure, N.Y.: Franciscan Institute, 1998).Google Scholar

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7. Again the Franciscans are the most obvious example. See above, n. 3.

8. A central argument of Little, Religious Poverty, see esp. 99–169.

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18. The text of Ad nostrum may be found in Friedberg, Emil, ed., Corpus iuris canonici, 2 vols. (18791881; reprint Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1959), 2: col. 1183–84Google Scholar; Cum de quibusdam in ibid., 2: col. 1169. Summaries of both in McDonnell, , Beguines and Beghards, 523–38Google Scholar; Lerner, , Heresy of the Free Spirit, 46–48 and 78–84Google Scholar; and Leff, Gordon, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent c. 1250–c. 1450, 2 vols. (Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1967), 1:314–15.Google Scholar

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21. For an overview of the general course of this conflict, see Lawrence, C. H., The Friars: The Impact of the Early Mendicant Movement on Western Society (London: Longman, 1994), 152–65Google Scholar; Swanson, R. N., “The ‘Mendicant Problem’ in the Later Middle Ages,” in The Medieval Church: Universities, Heresy, and the Religious Life, Essays in Honour of Gordon Leff, ed. Biller, Peter and Dobson, Barrie, Studies in Church History, Subsidia 11 (Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell, 1999), 217–38.Google Scholar

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23. The central argument of Patschovsky, “Straßburger Beginenverfolgungen.”

24. Degler-Spengler, , Beginen in Basel, 33Google Scholar; Schmitt, , Mort d'une hérésie, 128–29Google Scholar; Degler-Spengler, Brigitte, “Die Beginenstreit in Basel, 1400–1411: Neue Forschungsergebnisse und weitere Fragen,” in Il movimento francescano della penitenza nella societá medioevale, ed. D'Alatri, Mariano (Rome: Istituto storico dei Cappuccini, 1980), 95105, at 101Google Scholar; Neidiger, Bernhard, Mendikanten zwischen Ordensideal und städtischer Realität: Untersuchungen zum wirtschaftlichen Verhalten der Bettelorden in Basel, Berliner historischen Studien 5, Ordensstudien 3 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1981), 126–32Google Scholar; Patschovsky, Alexander, “Beginen, Begarden und Terziaren im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert: Das Beispiel des Basler Beginenstreits (1400/04–1411),” in Festschrift für Eduard Hlawitschka zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Schnith, Karl Rudolf and Pauler, Roland, Münchner historischen Studien, Abteilung mittelalterliche Geschichte 5 (Kallmünz: Lassleben, 1993), 403–18, at 408Google Scholar; Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 5051.Google Scholar

25. Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS A IX 21, fol. 91r–v. The edition of the tract in Schmitt, Mort d'une hésérie, 205–7, is unreliable. A superior edition is now available in Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 131–32.Google Scholar On dating of the work, see Patschovsky, , “Beginen, Begarden und Terziaren,” 404Google Scholar, and Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 4749.Google Scholar

26. Preserved in Mulberg's Tractatus contra beguinas et beghardos. I cite here from the recent edition in Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 133–73, which is based on Basel, Öffentiliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS A IX 21, fols. 91v–109v.Google Scholar

27. Degler-Spengler, , Beginen in Basel, 3334Google Scholar; Patschovsky, , “Beginen, Begarden und Terziaren,” 412Google Scholar; Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 5255 and 5859.Google Scholar

28. Bishop Marquard of Constance's summons of August 1, 1405, is found in Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I 1k, fols. 486r–488v, while his decision of November 28, 1405 protecting the tertiaries is found in ibid., fols. 380v–389r. A brief version of Odo of Colonna's letter, dated November 10, 1405, is found in Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I li, fol. 29v. Full versions are in ibid., fols. 105v–108v, and Basel, MS E I 1k, fols. 480r–484r.

29. Degler-Spengler, , Beginen in Basel, 3738Google Scholar. A detailed account of all twenty-two houses of lay religious in Basel is found in ibid., 92–108.

30. Degler-Spengler, , Beginen in Basel, 3639.Google Scholar

31. Buchsman, , Positio (Heusinger, Johannes Mulberg, 131).Google Scholar

32. As mentioned above, female beguines rarely, if ever, seem to have actively begged. The most thorough study of beguine forms of life and activities, focusing on the region around Lake Constance just to the east of Basel, is Wilts, Andreas, Beginen im Bodenseeraum (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1994).Google Scholar Attacks on “lay mendicancy” were perhaps made because active lay begging was more easily condemned than the passive reception of alms, or perhaps to link such attacks on beguines more emphatically to criticism of the mendicant orders. As will be seen below, the later Dominican author Johannes Nider, in his defense of lay poverty, was careful to separate the issue of alms from that of full mendicancy (see below, esp. n. 82).

33. “Licet de patrimomo crucifixi uiuere sit altario seruientibus debitum, nec non aliena stipe sustentari, ordinibus mendicantibus sit a iure concessum, mendicitate tamen se transigere est tam clerici quam laycis ualidis uniuersaliter illicitum,” and “de mendicitate uiuere sit aliis clericis, aliis scilicet a mendicantibus ordinibus et laycis ualidis uniuersaliter illicitum.” Mulberg, , Contra beguinas (Heusinger, Johannes Mulberg, 141, 142).Google Scholar

34. Mulberg, , Contra beguinas (Heusinger, Johannes Mulberg, 161–66).Google Scholar The decision of the Mainz council to which Mulberg refers is found in Mansi, Joannes Dominicus, ed. Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, 53 vols. (17581798, 19011927; reprint Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 19601961), 25: cols. 635–38.Google Scholar Editions of material related to beguines in Strassburg are found in Patschovsky, , “Straßburger Beginenverfolgungen,” 126–98.Google Scholar On the decision from Heidelberg, see Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 5658.Google Scholar

35. Lawrence, , The Friars, 222–23.Google Scholar For the reform movement in German lands, see the excellent surveys by Hillenbrand, Eugen, “Die Observantenbewegung in der deutschen Ordensprovinz der Dominikaner,” in Reformbemühungen und Observanzbestrebungen, 219–71Google Scholar; Neidiger, Bernhard, “Die Observanzbewegungen der Bettelorden im Südwestdeutschland,” Rottenburger Jahrbuch für Kirchengeschichte 11 (1992): 175–96Google Scholar; and Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 1138.Google Scholar Older but still essential is Löhr, Gabriel M., Die Teutonia im 15. Jahrhundert: Studien und Texte vornehmlich zur Geschichte ihrer Reform, Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Dominikanerordens in Deutschland 19 (Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1924).Google Scholar An important new study on the issues of property and wealth in several religious orders is Mixson, James D., “Professed Proprietors: Religion, Property and the Origins of the Observant Movement” (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 2002).Google Scholar

36. Hillenbrand, , “Observantenbewegung,” 226–27.Google Scholar

37. A position shared by the principal Dominican reform leader in Italy, Giovanni Dominici. On the early observant position on poverty, see Neidiger, Bernhard, “Der Armutsbegriff der Dominikanerobservanten: Zur Diskussion in den Konventen der Provinz Teutonia (1389–1513),” Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 145 (1997): 117–58, at 120–23Google Scholar; Egger, Franz, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Predigerordens: Die Reform des Basler Konvents 1429 und die Stellung des Ordens am Basler Konzil 1431–1448 (Bern: Peter Lang, 1991), 8283Google Scholar; and Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 33.Google Scholar

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39. Kaeppeli, Thomas, ed., Registrum litterarum fratris Raymundi de Vineis Capuani, magistri ordinis 1380–1399, Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Historica 19 (Rome: Institutum historicum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1937), 160.Google Scholar

40. When St. Catherine's was successfully reformed thirty years later by Johannes Nider, the observants again faced resistance from the Nuremberg town council; Kern, Theodore von, “Die Reformation des Katharinenklosters zu Nürnberg im Jahre 1428,” Jahrbuch des historischen Vereins im Mittelfranken 31 (1863): 120, esp. 3–6.Google Scholar The following year, when Nider came to Basel and reformed the Dominican priory there, the wealthy female house of Klingental successfully resisted reform, thanks in part to the sisters' powerful relations on the Basel town council. See Hillenbrand, , “Observantenbewegung,” 236Google Scholar; Weis-Müller, Renée, Die Reform des Klosters Klingental und ihr Personenkreis, Basler Beiträge zur Geschichtswissenschaft 59 (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1956), 1516.Google Scholar

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44. Jacobus de Subiago de Mediolano, Relatio defactis in causa Iohannis Mulberg et conventus Predicatorum in Basilea contra fratrem OFM super beghinis, Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I li, fols. 458r–469r, at fols. 458r and 459v–460r.

45. Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I li, which contains a miscellany of documents relating to the campaign against the beguines, yields several documents favorable to Mulberg stating that he directed his actions only against abuses and errors, and “non contra terciam regulam” (fol. 7v), and that he did not oppose the third rule “in se, nec modus vivendi eiusdem” (fol. 8v). Mulberg himself, in an appeal of his case to Rome on August 8, 1405, maintained that he did not intend to attack the Franciscan order or even their tertiaries per se, but only “ritum tamen beghinatus, beghardorum, [et] lolhardorum ab ecclesia sancta reprobatum”: Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I 1k, fol. 491r.

46. Schmitt, , Mort d'une hérésie, 155–58Google Scholar; Degler-Spengler, , “Beginenstreit in Basel,” 101Google Scholar; Patschovsky, , “Beginen, Begarden und Terziaren,” 407Google Scholar; Heusigner, , Johannes Mulberg, 46.Google Scholar

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48. Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 7879.Google Scholar

49. Löhr, , Teutonia, 1.Google Scholar

50. An overview of the Dominican reform in Italy can be found in Creytens, R. and d'Amato, A., “Les actes capitulaires de la congregation Dominicaine de Lombardie (1482–1531),” Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 31(1961): 213306, here 214–29.Google Scholar On Dominici's appointment as vicar, see Creytens, Raymond, “Les vicaires généraux de la congrégation Dominicaine de Lombardie (1459–1531),” Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 32 (1962): 211–84, at 216.Google Scholar The office of vicar was a special position created by the master general of the order and answerable directly to him. Houses under the supervision of a vicar effectively removed from the control of the provincial. The office thus roused much opposition. In 1391 the chapter general had sought to eliminate all observant vicars, but Raymond of Capua had resisted. See Raymond of Capua, Opuscula litterae (Rome, 1895), 122Google Scholar; also Creytens, and d'Amato, , “Les actes capitulaires,” 216–17.Google Scholar Thereafter in 1397, 1405, 1410, 1421, 1426, and 1428, chapters general continued to seek to abolish the office. See Reichert, Benedictus Maria, ed., Acta capitulorum generalium Ordinis Praedicatorum ab anno 1380 usque ad annum 1498, Monumenta Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Historica 8 (Rome: Institutum historicum Fratrum Praedicatorum, 1900), 100, 128, 140, 168, 198, and 207.Google Scholar

51. Egger, , Belträge zur Geschichte des Predigerordens, 83.Google Scholar

52. Hillenbrand, , “Observantenbewegung,” 232.Google Scholar

53. Mortier, Daniel Antonin, Histoire des Maîtres Généraux de l'Ordre des Frères Prêcheurs, 8 vols. (Paris: Picard, 19031920), 4:145.Google Scholar

54. Mortier, , Histoire des Maîtres Généraux, 4:142–43.Google Scholar

55. Löhr, , Teutonia, 45Google Scholar; Neidiger, , “Armutsbegriff,” 128–29.Google Scholar In fact strict communal poverty had already ceased to be an issue by 1419 with the reform of the Bern convent; see Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 33.Google Scholar

56 Nider, Johannes, De reformatione status cenobiticiGoogle Scholar 2.12, Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS B III 15, fols. 186v–248v, at fol. 220v. For brief overviews of this work, see Hillenbrand, , “Observantenbewegung,” 222–24Google Scholar, or Schieler, Kaspar, Magister Johannes Nider aus dem Orden der Prediger-Brüder (Mainz: Kirchheim, 1885), 397401.Google Scholar A more extended analysis of the treatise, and Nider's reform thought in general, may be found in Bailey, , Battling Demons, 7589.Google Scholar

57. As noted briefly in Patschovsky, , “Beginen, Begarden und Terziaren,” 408.Google Scholar

58. The most complete overview of the council is Helmrath, Johannes, Das Baster Konzil: Forschungsstand und Probleme (Cologne: Bohlau, 1987).Google Scholar For more detail on the Dominicans in Basel, including Nider, see Egger, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Predigerordens. On Nider as a professor in vienna, see Frank, Isnard Wilhelm, Hausstudium und Universitätsstudium der Wiener Dominikaner bis 1500, Archiv für österreichische Geschichte 127 (vienna: Bohlau, 1968), 214–16Google Scholar, and Tschacher, , Der Formicarius des Johannes Nider, 7174.Google Scholar

59. Haller, Johannes and others, eds., Concilium Basiliense: Studien und Quellen zur Geschichte des Concils von Basel, 8 vols. (18961936; reprint Wiesbaden: Kraus, 1971), 8:109.Google Scholar

60. Haller, , Concilium Basiliense, 1:227–28Google Scholar; Koller, Heinrich, ed., Reformation Kaiser Siegmunds, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Staatschriften des späteren Mittelalters 6 (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1964), 216 and 218.Google Scholar

61. Lerner, , Heresy of the Free Spirit, 172.Google Scholar

62. On De secularium religionibus, see Engen, Van, “Friar Johannes Nyder.” On both De secularium religionibus and De paupertate perfecta seculariumGoogle Scholar, see Bailey, , Battling Demons, 6473.Google Scholar For manuscript copies of both treatises, see Kaeppeli, Thomas, ed., Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum medii aevi, 4 vols. (Rome: ad Santa Sabina, 19701993), 2:511–12. Additional copies of De paupertate perfecta secularium are found in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 18195, fols. 243r–259v, and Nuremberg, Germanisches National-museum, Hs. 101 221, fol. 266v (excerpt). Additional copies of De secularium religionibus are found in Emmerich, Stadtarchiv, MS 13, fols. 20r–23v (excerpts from chapters 1 and 4), and Melk, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. mell. 1833, fols. 161r–167r (Johannes von Speyer, Excerpta ex tractatu magistri Ioannis Nider de eremetis et anachoretis = De secularium, chapters 11 and 12). Here I have relied on the copies in Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS B III 15, fols. 1r–54r.Google Scholar

63. On dating, see Bailey, , Battling Demons, 152.Google Scholar

64. On use of treatises at Basel, see Miethke, Jürgen, “Die Konzilien als Forum der öffentlichen Meinung im 15. Jahrhundert,” Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 37 (1981): 736–73, esp. 753–55.Google Scholar In this sense, De paupertate perfecta secularium was similar to another treatise produced by Nider at approximately this same time; see Bailey, Michael D., “Abstinence and Reform at the Council of Basel: Johannes Nider's De abstinencia esus carnium,” Mediaeval Studies 59 (1997): 225–60, at 235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

65. “pro defensione LoIhardorum, Beghardorum siue Beginarum, tam in reguli tercia sancti Francisci quam extra existencium.” Buchsmann, , PositioGoogle Scholar (Heusinger, , Johannes Mulberg, 132).Google Scholar

66. A phrase used in various documents collected in Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I li, fols. 19v–20r, 21v–22r, 23r–v, and 25r. The distinction is also drawn sharply throughout the treatise strongly opposing Mulberg's actions by Jacobus de Mediolano, Relatio de factis in causa Iohannis Mulberg.

67. As per the decisions by Cardinal Odo Colonna (Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Univerität, MS I li, fol. 29v and 107r, or MS I 1k, fol. 482r) and Bishop Marquard of Constance (Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, MS E I 1k, fol. 381r).

68. In chapter 3 of De secularium religionibus (fols. 4v–5v), Nider “solvit dubium utrum fratres et sorores de tercia regula sancti Francisci condempnetur per ea que contra beguinas et beghardos fulminata sunt, et ponit opinionem quod non.” In chapter 4 (fols. 5v–7v), he then “solvit aliud dubium et ostendit quod non omnes beghardi vocati et beguine vocate comdempnantur per iura allegata in secundo et tercio capitulo, sed triplex genus talium vivit licite in seculo.”

69. Nider explicitly mentions his earlier arguments from De paupertate perfecta secularium in De secularium religionibus, fol. 2r.

70. Nider, De paupertate, fol. 23v.

71. “Repondetur quod paupertas existencium in ordine perfeccior est per se … quam cuiuscumque singularis persone extra ordinem et extra collegium existentis.” Ibid., fol. 26r.

72. Ibid., fol. 26v.

73. Ibid., fols. 27v–28r. Nider cites Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles 3.130 and 3.133. In fact, he seems to be referring to 3.132 (S. Thomae Aquinatis opera omnia, ed. Busa, Roberto, 7 vols. [Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1980], 2:103–4).Google Scholar

74. Neumann, , Rheinisches Beginen- und Begardenwesen, 130–31.Google Scholar

75. Tremp, Kathrin Utz, “Zwischen Ketzerei und Krankenpflege – Die Beginen in der spätmittelalterlichen Stadt Bern,” in Zwischen Macht und Dienst: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Gegenwart von Frauen im kirchlichen Leben der Schweiz, ed. Bietenhard, Sophia (Bern: Stämpfli, 1991), 2752, esp. 38–42.Google Scholar

76. Nider cites Genesis 3:19, “in sudore vultus tui vesceris pane,” as well as Job 5:7, “homo ad laborem nascitur” (De paupertate, fol. 28v). He also cites many early religious authorities on the value of labor, including Jerome, Ad rusticum monachum, Cassian, De institutis monachorum 1.4, and the Rule of Saint Benedict (ibid., fol. 29r).

77. Nider, De paupertate, fol. 29v.

78. “Sic ergo patet quod religiosi et secula[r]es qui sine furtu, sine concupiscencia alienarum rerum, et sine turpi cura vitam habere possunt, undecumque ex precepto apostoli laborare non tenentur.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 30r. He gives no exact citation, but is probably drawing on Aquinas, Summa contra gentiles 3.135. See Aquinas, , Opera omnia, 2:105.Google Scholar

79. Nider, De paupertate, fol. 31r. He refers to Augustine, De opere monachorum, probably chapters 9–10 (Migne, J. P., ed. Patrologiae cursus completes, series Latina, 221 vols. [Paris: Migne, 18411864], 40: col. 555–56)Google Scholar, and to Aquinas, probably his Contra impugnantes paupertatem 2.4, “Utrum religiosus propriis manibus laborare” (Aquinas, , Opera omnia, 3:537–39).Google Scholar

80. “Utrum voluntarie pauperes devoti qui aut oraccioni aut leccioni aut psalmis aut eciam verbo dei … privatim possint excusan a labore manuum?” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 31v.

81. “mellius est dare eleemosynas sanctis pauperibus quam quibuscumquam aliis.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 35r. He cites Aquinas' commentary on Jerome, Ad vigilancium hereticum. This is found in Aquinas, Contra impugnantes paupertatem 2.6 (Aquinas, , Opera omnia, 3:543).Google Scholar

82. “Mendicitas propter Christum assumpta non solum non est reprobanda, sed maxime laudanda.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 42v. Again, probably referring to Aquinas, Contra impugnantes paupertatem, 2.6 (Aquinas, , Opera omnia, 3:543–45). It should be noted, as mentioned above, that female beguines, who were clearly Nider's main, although not exclusive, focus in this treatise, rarely if ever actually begged, although communities of beguines often did receive a considerable amount of alms (see above, n. 32). The careful distinction of mendicancy from mere receipt of alms seems another example of the purely theoretical nature of Nider's treatise.Google Scholar

83. Nider cites Henry, Quodlibet 13.7. See Decorte, J., ed., Henrici de Gandavo quodlibet XIII, Henrici de Gandavo opera omnia 18 (Leuven: University Press, 1985), 205–40.Google Scholar

84. “Qui voluntariam paupertatem pro Christo accipit omnibus temporalibus a se abdicatis, melius facit mendicando victum querere quam manibus laborando.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 46v. Unfortunately, he gives no indication of which of Bernard's many works he is using.

85. “Duplex est mendicitas. Una que est effectus paupertatis necessie et coacte, alia que est effectus paupertatis voluntarie propter deum assumpte. Prima non est meritoria, et ideo perfeccius est vivere de labore manuum quam mendicare primo modo. Secunda autem est meritoria, et ideo perfeccius est vivere de mendicitate illa quam de labore.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 46v.

86. “Dico ergo quod ut in pluribus ad maiorem perfeccionem possent pervenire voluntarie pauperes, si in parte vel in toto viverent de eleemosynis. … Et hec sit prima conclusio.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 47r.

87. “Secunda conclusio est quod si aliquibus paucis horis possent aquirere totum victum suum honesto labore, plus valeret eis ad perfeccionem consequendam vivere de labore manuum quam totum victum habere per mendicacionem sive per eleemosynas sibi datas et nunquam operari.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 47r.

88. “Tercia conclusio est quod si non possunt totum victum neccessarium paucis horis et honesto labore non implicando aquirere, possunt tamen aquirere partem, tunc plus valeret ad perfeccionem consequendam ut in pluribus quod partim viverent de labore manuum, partim de eleemosynis, quam quod nunquam laborarent.” Nider, De paupertate, fol. 47v.

89. Wilts, , Beginen in Bodenseeraum, 152–53, 238–39.Google Scholar