Kammerer:Der dominikanische Drittorden

The volume is the first comprehensive study of the Dominican Third Order in the German-speaking world during the late Middle Ages. While research has established that the Order of Preachers had a so-called Third Rule for the integration of laypeople (e.g., Beguines) since 1405, there were gaps in the further history of this integration that this work aims to fill. For the first time, the legitimization efforts with which the Dominicans propagated their Third Rule are analyzed in depth, as well as the introduction of the Third Rule in women's communities with regard to the agency of women. Furthermore, the use of the Third Rule for monastic servants reveals an aspect of Dominican religious life that has been neglected by research. Additionally, the study addresses the advancing but not straightforward "monasticization" of the Third Order. The Third Order is interpreted as part of complex regulatory processes in the religious landscape of the late Middle Ages, which were unstable because the newly introduced rule was modified in response to new problems. This volume is of interest to anyone researching the connections between monastic, religious, and social history.