Known for speaking with the birds, for professing poverty, receiving the stigmata and for initiating the Franciscan order, Francis of Assisi is one of the most radical and inspiring figures in Christianity.
In this outstanding and celebrated biography, the distinguished medievalist Jacques Le Goff paints a fascinating picture of the life of Francis of Assisi. Locating Francis in the feudal world of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and exploring the social and political changes taking place at the time, Le Goff assess the dramatic influence of the saint on the medieval church and celebrates his role in the spiritual revival of the Catholic Church.
This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Foreword by Sean L. Field.
Foreword to the Routledge Classics Editon Sean L. Field
List of Plates
Preface to the French Edition
Chronology
Selected Writings of Saint Francis of Assisi
1. Francis of Assisi Between the Renewal and Restraints of Feudal Society
2. In Search of the True Saint Francis
3. The Vocabulary of Social Categories in Saint Francis of Assisi and his Thirteenth-Century Biographers
4. Franciscanism and Cultural Models of the Thirteenth Century.
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Jacques Le Goff (1924-2014) was one of the foremost historians and intellectuals of his generation. He was Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His books include The Medieval World (1997), History and Memory (1996), Medieval Civilization 400-1500 (1990), and The Medieval Imagination (1988).
'Le Goff transformed views of the Middle Ages from a dark and backward time to a period that laid the foundations for modern western civilisation.' - The Guardian
'The richness, imaginativeness and sheer learning of Le Goff's work... demand to be experienced.' - Times Literary Supplement
'Le Goff is one of the most distinguished of the French medieval historians of his generation' - New York Review of Books
'Le Goff seems to have presaged so many of the new ways of making history: exploring religious cultures, paying attention to the period’s fantasies and fears, reflecting on time and sound. Above all, he inspired as a teacher, communicator and writer.' - History Today
'Praise for this work on its first appearance was unstinting, and that it should now be available in an excellent translation by Christine Rhone should inspire similar reactions among a wider audience. ... a short, powerful and rewarding study of one of the most striking of medieval figures.' - Church Times
