The Martyrdom of the Franciscans - (Middle Ages) by Christopher Macevitt (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Martyrdom of the Franciscans shows how, for Franciscans, martyrdom accounts could at once offer veiled critique of papal policies toward the Order, a substitute for the rigorous pursuit of poverty, and a way to symbolically overcome Islam by denying Muslims the solace of conversion.

Book Synopsis

A study of three hundred years of medieval Franciscan history that focuses on martyrdom

While hagiographies tell of Christian martyrs who have died in an astonishing number of ways and places, slain by members of many different groups, martyrdom in a Franciscan context generally meant death at Muslim hands; indeed, in Franciscan discourse, "death by Saracen" came to rival or even surpass other definitions of what made a martyr. The centrality of Islam to Franciscan conceptions of martyrdom becomes even more apparent--and problematic--when we realize that many of the martyr narratives were largely invented. Franciscan authors were free to choose the antagonist they wanted, Christopher MacEvitt observes, and they almost always chose Muslims. However, martyrdom in Franciscan accounts rarely leads to conversion of the infidel, nor is it accompanied, as is so often the case in earlier hagiographical accounts, by any miraculous manifestation.

If the importance of preaching to infidels was written into the official Franciscan Rule of Order, the Order did not demonstrate much interest in conversion, and the primary efforts of friars in Muslim lands were devoted to preaching not to the native populations but to the Latin Christians--mercenaries, merchants, and captives--living there. Franciscan attitudes toward conversion and martyrdom changed dramatically in the beginning of the fourteenth century, however, when accounts of the martyrdom of four Franciscans said to have died while preaching in India were written. The speed with which the accounts of their martyrdom spread had less to do with the world beyond Christendom than with ecclesiastical affairs within, MacEvitt contends. The Martyrdom of the Franciscans shows how, for Franciscans, martyrdom accounts could at once offer veiled critique of papal policies toward the Order, a substitute for the rigorous pursuit of poverty, and a symbolic way to overcome Islam by denying Muslims the solace of conversion.

Review Quotes

"This is a specialized study, but in bringing together elements in Franciscan history and historiography that are usually treated separately, it tells a distinctive, engaging story. It offers a nuanced new reading of the ongoing construction of the order's identities and narratives in complicated and evolving historical contexts...MacEvitt's expertise on the world of the Crusades enables him to situate the experiences of the friars convincingly within the interfaith geopolitics of the Mediterranean and beyond. [H]is book offers a compelling account of the way in which Franciscan acts of martyrdom could take on an actively hostile purpose, that is, to condemn unbelievers eternally."-- "Speculum"

"Christopher MacEvitt convincingly demonstrates how martyrdom functioned as a central tenet of Franciscan identity, and as such his book constitutes an original and substantial contribution to the fields of Christian-Muslim relations and religious institutional history."-- "Bert Roest, Radboud University, Netherlands"

"MacEvitt's book shows us how the reconfigured political landscape of the Islamic world in the high Middle Ages opened the way for a deeper, richer, and more complex engagement between Islam and Latin Christianity than at any earlier point in time....This is a fine book, one that significantly expands our understanding of the history of the Franciscan order, Latin Christian engagement with Islam, and the role of hagiography in shaping mentalities and communities during the Middle Ages."-- "Medieval Encounters"

About the Author

Christopher MacEvitt is Associate Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College and author of The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.