Office And Official

Chapter Summary

This chapter looks at obedience as the first generations of friars treated it during their Order's developmental period, from the first decades of the thirteenth century into the 1260s. It reviews the relevant scholarship on Dominican obedience since it is the adoption of obedience by the early friars that scholars have examined most closely, having relegated questions of obedience among the fourteenth-century friars to the story of decline that is, at best, a placeholder awaiting a more thorough explanation. The chapter follows Dominican obedience into the period when the initial blush of the friars' popularity began to turn a little grey. As regards obedience, the constitutional changes are especially significant on two critical points: the vow professed by friars and the power given to priors to dispense friars from obligations under their rules.

Keywords:Dominican obedience; fourteenth-century; friars