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Poverty and Devotion in Mendicant Cultures 1200-1450, a new book edited by Constant J Mews, Anna Welch, Routledge, London and New York, 2016.Ever since the time of Francis of Assisi, a commitment to voluntary poverty has been a controversial aspect of religious life. This volume explores the interaction between poverty and religious devotion in the mendicant orders between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. While poverty has often been perceived more as a Franciscan than as a Dominican emphasis, this volume considers its role within a broader movement of evangelical renewal associated with the mendicant transformation of religious life.At a time of increased economic prosperity, reformers within the Church sought new ways of encouraging identification with the person of Christ. This volume considers the paradoxical tension between voluntary poverty as a way of emulating Christ and involuntary poverty as situation demanding a response from those with the means to help the poor. Drawing on history, literature and visual arts, it explores how the mendicant orders continued to transform religious life into the time of the renaissance. The papers in this volume are organised under three headings, prefaced with an introductory essay by the editors: Poverty and the Rule of Francis, exploring the interpretation of poverty in the Franciscan Order; Devotional Cultures, considering aspects of devotional life fostered by mendicant religious communities, Franciscan, Augustinian and Dominican; Preaching Poverty, on the way poverty was promoted and practiced within the Dominican Order in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance.Table of Contents&#160;Part I: Poverty and the Rule of FrancisConstant J. MewsApostolic ideals in the mendicant transformation of the thirteenth century:From sine proprio to holy povertyRiccardo SaccentiThe decree Exivi de Paradiso and its implications for mendicant povertyCampion Murray ofmThe understanding of paupertas in The Tree of the Crucified Life of JesusAntonio MontefuscoReligious dissent in the vernacular: The literature of the Fraticelli in late fourteenth-century Florence&#160;Part II : Devotional CulturesAnna WelchFrom preacher to mystic: Changing interpretations of Francis of Assisi in thirteenth-century sourcesClaire RenkinA Feast of Love: Visual images of Francis of Assisi and Mary Magdalen and late medieval mendicant devotionEarl Jeffrey RichardsThe prayer Anima Christi and Dominican popular devotion: Late medieval examples of the interface between high ecclesiastical culture and popular pietyMarika RäsänenSt Thomas Aquinas’ relics and lay devotion in the fourteenth century southern Italy&#160;Part III : Preaching PovertyAnne HollowayPerforming poverty: the vices and virtues of the Order of PreachersJohnny Grandjean Gøgsig Jakobsen"Beggars in silky robes and palaces": Friars Preachers preaching and practising poverty in medieval Northern EuropeLidia NegoiIdeas of poverty in late medieval Dominican preaching materials from Catalonia and AragonPeter Howard"Where the poor of Christ are cherished": Poverty in the preaching of Antoninus of Florence&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;