The Carmelites and Antiquity : Mendicants and their Pasts in the Middle Ages

When the Carmelite friars first settled in Europe in the thirteenth century, they were largely unknown. In order to compete with the more established orders of friars, the Carmelites constructed historical myths to explain their origins and identity. This book examines the development of these traditions, and places them within the more general context of historical writing by religious orders in the later Middle Ages.