Observantine friars made ideal peacemakers because they were sufficiently "outside" secular society and "possessed the zeal and emaciated physical appearance of traditional holy men, yet were not quite strange enough to alienate sophisticated urban audiences" (101).
Her third chapter, "The Poisoned Word," describes Bernardino's own astute adaptation of the
Observantine spirit.
[25] Elm has recently edited a volume of synthetic essays on the
observantine movements of virtually all the religious orders of the late Middle Ages, with considerable emphasis on Italy.
The monastic
Observantine movement made important progress in France especially after 1494, through the work of such religious reformers as Olivier Maillard, Jean Cleree, Jean Raulin and Jan Stan-donck.