Mendicant orders in medieval Transylvania in written sources
Starting with the 13th century, the mendicant orders began to intensify their activity. The preacher or dominican monks were among the first mendicants tospread towards eastern Europe, settling down in Transylvania as well. Shortly after, the brothers of St. Francis followed. By the next century the mendicant network encompassed also the brothers of St. Augustine’s order, those of St. Paul the First Hermit. This paper aims to emphasize – by means of documents – their institutional importance, from both the perspective of the papal authority and the one of the Hungarian royalty, and their activity from the perspective of mendicant orders exercising their beliefs and misionary activism in Transylvania between the 13th-15th century.
Keywords: mendicant orders, Transylvania, written sources, middle ages.
