Table of Contents

1. Introduction; The soft wax; Dawn?; 2. The image in life; The image Francis sought to present; The impression Francis made on contemporaries; 3. The image after death; The early official image in writing; Elias' letter; The papal bull of Canonisation; Thomas of Celano's First Life of St Francis; 4. The official image in stone - the Basilica of St Francis at Assisi; I. The creation of the Basilica; The achievement of brother Elias; Progress of the building and its date; Furnishing the Basilica; II. The inspiration of the Basilica; Gregory IX; Innocent IV; Sources of inspiration; The functions of the double church; Conclusion - the image; 5. The authority of St Francis: expositions of the rule; The Exposition of the Four Masters; Hugh of Digne; The bull Ordinem vestrum; The sources and characteristics of Hugh's Exposition of the Rule; The bull Exiit qui seminat; 6. Reminiscences: the convergence of unofficial and official images in writing; The writings of Leo, Rufino, and Angelo; The image of St Francis as presented by Leo, Rufino and Angelo; The anonymous of Perugia; Thomas of Celano's Second Life of St Francis; The Legend of the Three Companions; The sources of the Legend of the Three Companions and its date; The image of St Francis presented by the Legend of the Three Companions; The Sacrum Commercium; 7. Visual images; The Pescia altar panel; The Pisa altar panel; The Assisi altar panel; The Bardi altar panel; Matthew Paris; Kalenderhane Camii; 8. The official image in speech and writing; Sermons; St Bonaventure; The Legenda Maior of St Bonaventure; The Miracles of St Francis; 9. The official visual image: the decoration of the Basilica; Introduction; The decoration of the Lower Church; The decoration of the Upper Church; The stained glass windows in the Upper Church; The decoration of apse and transepts; The north transept; Cimabue; The Four Evangelists; The decoration of the sanctuary walls; The decoration of the nave of the Upper Church; The St Francis cycle; Dating the decoration of the nave; Nicholas IV; 10. The rediscovery of St Francis's body; Excavations; Reconstruction of St Francis's interment; 11. Epilogue: Angela of Foligno's image of St Francis.

Promotional Information

A reappraisal of the image of St Francis as it was recorded in literature, documents, architecture and art.

About the Author

Dr Rosalind Brooke is a senior member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. Her publications include The Coming of the Friars (1975) and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages (with C. N. L. Brooke, 1984).

Reviews

' ... superb, beautifully illustrated and altogether peerless ...what deserves to rank as one of the classic texts of Franciscan scholarship, not just of the twenty-first but to any other century.' Tablet