ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book attempts to redress the balance, by examining key episodes and developments in the history of a number of religious orders in east central Europe in the period. It examines the nature and extent of the impact of religious orders on lay society in the late medieval period. The contributions from Maria Crciun and Carmen Florea, both dealing with material from Transylvania, together build a compelling case for the central role played by the mendicant orders in the development, expression and practice of lay piety. The book deals with material from the later seventeenth century and the eighteenth century, and because of this emphasizes slightly different aspects of the relationship between religious orders and society in east central Europe. Their success lay in transforming the emotions of a Catholic society while leaving essentially intact its structures of power.
