Michael F. Cusato, O.F.M., and Michael J. P. Robson. Testimony, Narrative and Image: Studies in Medieval History, Hagiography, and Art in Memory of Rosalind B. Brooke. The Medieval Franciscans, 20. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2022. 446 pp., 33 color ill.

The ever-intriguing “Franciscan question” is really several questions in one. What were the intentions of the historical St. Francis (ca. 1181–1226) for his band of brothers? To approach this truth as nearly as we can, how should we interpret the oldest primary sources on the life and ideas of the Poverello? How was the Franciscan vocation received and reinterpreted over the two centuries following his death, in the visual arts as well as text?