Arnald of Sarrant (french: Arnaud de Sarrant) was a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friar and author. A native of

Sarrant Sarrant () is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France. Geography History The Philip IV of France (1268 –1314), better known as the Fair or Iron King, set up a charter of customs, which protected the inhabitants and set th ...

and a

master of theology Master of Theology ( la, Theologiae Magister, abbreviated MTh, ThM, or MTheol) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a PhD program or as a stand ...

, he served as the minister provincial of

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January ...

from around 1361 until 1383. On 19 August 1373,

Pope Gregory XI Pope Gregory XI ( la, Gregorius, born Pierre Roger de Beaufort; c. 1329 – 27 March 1378) was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pope ...

sent him to Castile in the aftermath of the

Castilian Civil War The Castilian Civil War was a war of succession over the Crown of Castile that lasted from 1351 to 1369. The conflict started after the death of king Alfonso XI of Castile in March 1350. It became part of the larger conflict then raging betwe ...

(1351–1369) to reform the friaries of the Franciscans and

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

. Under his authority on this mission were Diego de Palencia, Juan Gonsalvo de Ceuta and Juan de Úbeda.Noel Muscat, ed
''Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor''
369-1374 Section 1: Saint Francis and His Companions (TAU Franciscan Communications, 2010), pp. 7–8. Arnald was the author of ''The Kinship of Saint Francis'' (''De cognatione sancti Francisci'') and probably also of the ''

Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor The ''Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor'' ( la, Chronica XXIV Generalium Ordinis Fratrum Minorum) is a medieval chronicle written in Latin around 1370, possibly by the Franciscan friar Arnaud de Sarrant, though Ral ...

'', which was completed by 1374. According to Bartholomew of Pisa, who used the ''Kingship'' for his ''Book of Conformities'', Arnald "was a man of praiseworthy life and talent, who transcribed everything he could find about blessed Francis."

References

{{reflist 14th-century French Catholic theologians French Franciscans Franciscan writers Franciscan scholars