A Female Apostle in Medieval Italy: The Life of Clare of Rimini

"Clare of Rimini (c. 1260-c. 1326) led a remarkable life, preserved in the Life of the Blessed Clare of Rimini. It is probably the earliest known saint's life written directly in Italian, and one of the few such lives to be composed before its subject's death. It tells the story of a controversial woman, set against the background of her roiling city, her star-crossed family, and the tumultuous political and religious landscape of Italy in the age of Dante. A Female Apostle in Medieval Italy lets twenty-first-century readers enter Clare's world by presenting each chapter of the Life in English translation and then using that translation as a springboard to explore issues from political power to marriage and sexuality, from gender roles to religious change, from pilgrimage to urban structures, and from sanctity to heresy. The result is a gradually deepening understanding of life in a medieval Italian city"--