Publisher's Synopsis
Drawing on a variety of sources from England, France, the Low Countries, Italy, and Iberia, the contributors to this volume add new perspectives on the agency of the poor, the influence of gendered forms of devotion, parallels in Christian and Jewish representations of the deserving and undeserving poor, and the effect of mendicant piety on the status of the involuntary poor. A broader implication of the volume as a whole is that medieval studies of poverty and wealth need to pay more attention to the role of rulers, ruling elites, and public policy in shaping the experiences of the poor.
