To my family for giving me life and love “THE LETTER KILLS, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE.”: THE RISE OF LEARNING IN THE FRANCISCAN ORDER, 1210-1310 The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by NESLIHAN ŞENOCAK In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY in THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BILKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA September 2001 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Paul Latimer Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Cadoc D.A. Leighton Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Dr. Eugenia Kermeli Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Asst. Prof. Thomas Winter Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. --------------------------------- Assoc. Prof. Gümeç Karamuk Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences --------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Kürşat Aydoğan Director ABSTRACT The historiography of medieval Franciscan education has been dominated by two general approaches that appear unjustifiable. The first has been to assume that the Franciscan educational organization was a later copy of the Dominican organization, and therefore to use Dominican evidence to fill in the gaps in the Franciscan picture. The second indefensible approach has been largely to ignore the fact that Franciscan educational organization went through an evolution. The foremost aim of this thesis is to present the story of the rise and institutionalization of learning in the Franciscan Order of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, without taking refuge in the much fuller evidence that exists for the Dominican system, but with an emphasis on the chronological development both of the Franciscan educational system itself and of attitudes to it within the Order. Included in this study are discussions of some controversial topics such as the intention of the founder with regard to education, the position of the Spirituals, and the problems that possession of books and libraries caused. In order to compensate for the absence of Dominican evidence, a wide range of sources has been employed in the research. The resulting picture of the Franciscan involvement in education appears to be quite different from that of the Dominicans in its organization, scope, speed of growth and in the effects on the internal harmony of the Order. iii ÖZET Ortaçağ Fransisken tarikatındaki eğitim faaliyetleri üstüne şimdiye dek yapılan çalışmalarda, doğruluğu tartışmalı olan iki genel yönelim göze çarpmaktadır. Bunlardan ilki, Fransisken tarikatındaki eğitim-öğretim organizasyonunun Dominican tarikatı örnek alınarak geliştirildiği, dolayısıyla Dominiken kaynaklarının Fransisken tablosundaki boşlukları doldurmak için kullanılabileceği düşüncesidir. İkinci yönelim ise Fransisken organizasyonunun bir evrim sürecinden geçtiğini gözardı etmek yolundadır. Bu tezin asıl amacı, Fransisken tarikatının kuruluşundan ondördüncü yüzyılın başlarına dek geçen sürede öğrenimin tarikat içindeki yükselişinin ve kurumsallaşmasının öyküsünü, Dominiken kaynaklarına başvurmadan ve zaman içindeki değişimleri vurgulayarak anlatmaktır. Hem eğitim-öğretim sisteminin kendisi, hem de tarikat mensuplarının bu konudaki görüş ve düşünüşleri belli bir evrim süreci geçirmiştir. Bu çalışmada, tarikatın kurucusunun eğitim-öğretime yönelik görüşleri, Spiritüellerin bu konuda aldıkları tavır, tarikatta kitap kullanımı ve biriktirilmesinin yolaçtığı sorunlar gibi tartışmalı konular da ele alınmıştır. Dominiken kaynaklarına başvurulmamasının yolaçtığı kaynak sıkıntısını gidermek için, araştırma sırasında geniş bir yelpazeden Ortaçağ kaynakları kullanılmıştır. Sonuçta ortaya çıkan tabloda, Fransisken eğitim-öğretim sisteminin Dominiken organizasyonundan kapsam, gelişim hızı ve tarikatın içi uyuma yaptığı etkiler açısından çok farklı olduğu görülmektedir. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing a dissertation in Turkey concerning a Christian order in the Middle Ages would, until recently, have been impossible. Unfortunately, the European Middle Ages have been little studied in Turkey, because of an almost total absence of primary sources, or even up-to-date secondary sources, since medieval history has not received much attention from university history departments and thus university libraries have not acquired the relevant books. Bilkent University stands out as a unique institution in Turkey in presenting the opportunity for the serious study of medieval history. Hence, to start with, I would like to express my gratitude to the founder and honorary chair of the department, Prof. Dr. Halil Inalcik, and to the Rector of Bilkent University, Prof. Dr. Ali Doğramacı, for giving this and many other invaluable opportunities to Turkish students of history. I am enormously indebted to my professors of European History Dr. Paul Latimer, Dr. Cadoc D.A. Leighton and Dr. David Thornton. It is they who have, over the years, shaped my mind and skills in the task of conducting research and writing history. Dr. Latimer has been an excellent supervisor by being generous with his time, and with his gentle and constructive suggestions and criticisms. I would like to thank also to the staff of v the department of Book Acquisition of Bilkent Library for their efforts in tracking down numerous sources. I have also received a great deal of help from some other institutions and individuals. I am deeply grateful to the foundation of Nostra Aetate, administered by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome, for making possible my fourteen-month stay in Rome, especially to Mons. Michael Fitzgerald and Fr. Khaled Akadesh for their friendliness and firm belief that dialogue between religions starts with the defeat of ignorance. I am much indebted to Fr. Alvaro Cacciotti, the president of the School of Higher Medieval and Franciscan Studies at the Pontificio Ateneo Antonianum in Rome for his warm and constant support during my studies there. I owe many thanks to the Quaracchi Fathers, particularly Fr. Cesare Cenci and Fr. Romain Mailleux for their help and warm welcome, and to Dr. David d’Avray for his gentle help and contributions in the early stages of the writing process. I am also very much indebted to the warden, Rev. Peter Francis, and the whole staff of St Deiniol’s Library, Hawarden, for providing me with an excellent environment for writing the main part of this dissertation, by granting me the Bishop John R.H. Moorman scholarship. A great many people have given me the emotional and mental support greatly needed in such an undertaking. I would like to thank particularly David MacLarnon, Eren Kademoglu, Grazyna Bastek, John Whelan, Anne Isba, Marian and Kenneth Strachan, Mark Nixon and Marilyn Keenan. I owe an enormous vi debt to my long-standing friends Aslıgül Gök, Çağlar Kıral and Okan Toker for their friendship, love and faith in my rather uncommon interests. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my mother and father, Nevin and Erdogan Senocak, and my brother Erhan Senocak for their love and compassion. It is to them that this dissertation is dedicated. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 PART ONE: The Rise of Learning I. The Mind of St Francis and the Study of Theology................................................. 19 II. How Did the Friars Minor Become Shoolmen? ..................................................... 43 III. From Zelanti to Bonaventura ................................................................................ 85 IV. The Education Organisation around 1260: A Reconstruction at the time of Narbonne Constitutions .......................................................................... 114 PART TWO: The Institutionalization of Learning V. Spirituals and Learning: Was There Really a Clash?........................................... 154 VI. A Snapshot of Educational Organisation around 1310....................................... 180 VII. Books and Libraries in the Franciscan Order .................................................... 217 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 245 Bibliography.............................................................................................................. 261 viii ABBREVIATIONS JOURNALS AND SERIES AF Analecta Franciscana AFH Archivum Franciscanum Historicum ALKG Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte, 7 vols, (Berlin, 1885-1900).