Religious Poverty and the Profit Economy in Medieval Europe

by Lester K. Little

"In this stimulating and important book Lester Little advances the original thesis that, paradoxically, it was the leading practitioners of voluntary poverty, Franciscan and Dominican friars, who finally formulated a Christian ethic which justified the activities of merchants, moneylenders, and other urban professionals, and created a Christian spirituality suitable for townsmen. Little has synthesized a vast body of specialized literature in Italian, German, French, and English to write an interpretive essay which provides a new perspective on the interaction between economic and social forces and the religious movements advocating the apostolic ideal of voluntary poverty...Little's book is a major contribution, not only to the history of the religious movement of voluntary poverty, but also to the interdisciplinary study of the middle ages." ― Journal of Social History

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval History, Economics, Medieval, Academic, Church History

268 pages, Paperback

Published February 28, 1983

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book that examines the changing European economic system during the 12th-13th centuries (which Little characterizes as the transition from a gift economy to a profit economy) and the spiritual changes that accompanied it. Little suggests that the spiritual reactions of urban-dwellers to cities, trade, and money was deeply ambivalent, and traditional forms of religious life no longer sufficed. Some religious groups responded by avoiding the problem, retreating to the countryside in monasteries or as hermits, and others addressed it. Chief among the latter group were the mendicant friars (the Franciscans and Dominicans). Little then examines the paradox of the situation: it took an order founded on the principle of voluntary poverty in order to provide spiritual solutions to the profit economy.

It's an interesting thesis, but Little's book is too short to support it adequately. While he shows that the mendicants adopted to city life in their rhetoric and theology, he never quite hits on why they did it (or, maybe more precisely, why they did it better than anyone else). There is very little on why the friars were able to fill this gap when lay orders were not, and even less on how the friars themselves viewed such an adaptation. Besides a mention of it's paradoxical nature, very little time is spent analyzing precisely how poverty fit into all of this.

That said, it's definitely a book worth reading. If nothing else, Little does an excellent job illustrating the spiritual difficulties and paradoxes that arose in cities of the time, and he very nicely sketches the multitude of responses.

[Alex Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here Leter K Little traces the development of the profit economy from a gift economy. He highlights how the legend of the usurious Jew comes about when the main stream culture through the wealth of the church comes to occupy the scapegoat of greed so that the church's tides system and the emerging banking system in Europe can be free to operate. As money comes to take the center stage in organizing culture we see a revival through the various groups within and associated with the church as a twist from living well to purposefully making poverty a choice in order to maintain moral purity necessary to mark themselves as being alienated from the "dirty" emerging money economy.

Despite the promise of a dry book this was actually very interesting. Little's writing is clear. I would have liked a little more background on the money economy's emergence but I suppose that is beyond the scope of the book. The emergence of poverty as a religious asset is a reflection of the emergence of money as the central organizing principle. Religion fights to maintain a suprasensible hold on organizing human activity above and beyond money. And this seems to work, at least, in the middle Medieval ages.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bloch posited ~1050 as a pivotal shift from a low, unequally distributed population with low production agriculture, poor communication, irregular trade, and shortage of currency to a period of economic growth, repopulation and movement of peoples. increased agriclulture and manufacturing leading to the growth of ciities and the middle class. What impact did this shift have on society, individuals, ideas, spirituality, behavior?

This isn't a book that can be usefully summed up in a paragraph. It is research and detail heavy and includes many different factors, events, and trends, many of which you probably won't be familiar with unless you're a medieval historian. A lot of it is material and economic history, which is important but probably not exciting to most people; for instance, the role of elevation and river outlets (such as the Rhine enabling trade to the North Sea) in population and economic growth.

You probably picture long-distance trade as caravans taking goods to cities, but did you know that there was a steady cycle of fairs that held the trade network together? Some towns existed because of these fairs. Changing sizes of communities changed the variety of professions available and the relationships between individuals. Improved technology resulted in agricultural surplus, which led to peasant having cash, sometimes sufficient to buy their freedom from obligations. Money was an instrument of social transformation, and many religious authories found this threatening and began to rail agains the evils of money. This led to, among other things, increased suspicion of Jews, who were the primary open moneylenders (Christians were not supposed to lend money at interest: this is usury, a sin which no one seems to mention anymore). Monks were also rich, but that was ok because they weren't involved in dirty cash exchanges but rather landed endowments and gifts.

I haven't even gotten through the first 100 pages with that very meagre summary. There's a whole nother section about clerical reform, heresy, religious councils, ideas on sin, et al. Read it for yourself, or more likely, don't.

[Tamar Nagel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book. Describes the development of mendicant movements alongside shifting societal/ religious attitudes towards money and the idea of profit. Highly engaging read; I especially enjoyed the tracing of Orders from the (sometimes) charismatic founders and the organizational, bureaucratic or hierarchical reality that followed, as well as the reaction to new ideas from the Catholic establishment.

[Theo Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really interesting history about the development of the profit economy, but the writing does not do justice to the thesis. I came out of the book with more questions than answers which perhaps is a good thing as I now want to explore more this period of European history.

[Lashonda Slaughter Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at how changes in the Economic systems of Europe influenced changes in the Catholic Church and society in regards to spirituality, religion, and religious practice.
The book delves into the harsh treatment of Jews throughout Europe, offshoots and heretical groups like the Waldensians and Cathars, and it also looks at the creation of the Dominican and Franciscan orders.

[Derek Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing book about the impact of the advent of money c.1000 A.D.on the spiritual lives of those involved. Strays a little in the middle as the author wanders down roads that are most likely a passion of his but not terribly relevant to the overall scope of the topic.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a medievalist and have no aspirations to be so. It might be more interesting if it's in your field.

[Shay · Rating 5 out of 5]

plot twist of the century: a book with this title was not only suuuuper useful for my paper but just really interesting anyway

[Selina Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Drags a bit at times, and takes a while to get to the really interesting stuff and the meat of his argument. Recommended for aspiring medievalists--not for the casual reader.