Mendicant Orders

The Mendicant Orders 1: The Big Picture
What are mendicant orders?
Cultural life between the 8th and 11th centuries largely came out of monastery. Most monks take vows of stability. Early in the 13th century, Francis and Dominic create a new type of monk - brothers. Friars are mobile. It does not have a physical basis but rather a legal basis. A friar takes vows to the constitution rather than a friar. A friar can move anywhere in the world. The Dominicans were created as a vision for preaching, Europe is being urbanized and there is a need for preaching. Monasteries are generally out in the sticks, not great for evangelizing. University theology eventually became dominated by the friars.
But what does mendicant mean? ALL monks take a vow of poverty, the monastery as a collective unit hasn’t taken a vow to be poor, it is on land and they can get a lot of money through various means, so collectively they’re quite wealthy. On the other hand a mendicant is a begger, coming from the latin word to beg. They depend on alms. With monks, you take individual the mendicants take a collective vow of poverty.
Founded
1206: Carmelites
1209: Franciscans
1215: Dominicans
They weren’t authorized until later.
1256: Augustians
1274: recognized by the council of Lyons II
Before Mendicant Orders...
Largely MOST were benedictines, in the dark ages it was the monasteries that kept literacy alive, preserving literature. They copied and copied loads of things, preserving the classics and biblical texts. Conservation attitude. Do not produce new ideas but rather