The life and teaching of Francis of Assisi have fascinated men and women across the centuries and have challenged a stream of biographers, beginning with the vita compiled by Thomas of Celano at the behest of Gregory ix in 1228/1229. This new biography is the work of an accomplished medieval scholar and a Dominican friar, Augustine Thompson op, who brings to his examination of the Franciscan sources a welcome freshness and objectivity which lead him to question some of the hagiographical assumptions about il poverello d'Assisi and the movement which he inspired. The savagery and carnage of the battle of Collestrada in November 1202 left an indelible mark on the memory of Francis, who was later accustomed to extend a greeting of peace to all whom he met on the rural roads and urban streets. Conditions during the Fifth Crusade and the siege of Damietta may have revived the trauma of Francis's experience of the battlefield in Umbria (pp.10, 67, 70, 234). Accounts of his cheerfulness during his subsequent incarceration in Perugia are sensibly viewed as hagiographical excesses. The portrait of Pietro Bernardone is more generous and realistic than the early hagiography which villainises him while lauding his wife, Pica (p. 14). The deaths of Cardinal John of St Paul and Innocent iii left Francis and his fraternity in a somewhat vulnerable position (p. 50) and short of sympathetic and influential allies at the papal court; concerns about opposition to the fraternity are reflected in the advice dispensed by Cardinal Hugolino in Florence. The sixth chapter offers a stimulating examination of the evolution of Francis's regula vitae, the opening words of which echo the text which Innocent iii had approved for the Trinitarians in 1198 (p. 94). Francis was not the sole author of the regula vitae, which clearly benefited from the contribution of a curial prelate with a keener eye for the requirements of canon law (p. 102); Gregory ix identified himself as a contributor to a text some later friars regarded as divinely dictated. Thompson is correct in dismissing some biographical material which has been taken far too literally by some scholars. Thus, doubt is cast on whether Francis brought the alms which he had begged to the table of Cardinal Hugolino; the saint's respect for his esteemed host would have precluded such conduct (pp. 77, 240–1). Francis's writings are allotted a central place in this biography. There are occasional infelicities, such as that Cardinal John of St Paul was ‘a bit patronizing’ (p. 26), the ‘performance of the sacraments’ (p. 32) and the ‘handlers’ of the ailing and dying Francis (e.g. p. 129). The first part of this volume addresses the life of the saint and covers no more than 143 pages and the second is devoted to sources and debates. It has no footnotes. Its endnotes are frequently extensive with accounts of the positions adopted by the leading scholars in the Franciscan cosmos; these notes provide the reader with a valuable guide to the primary and secondary sources. Some of this material might profitably been allocated a place in the first part of the book. For instance, the suggestion that Francis may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder would have enhanced the treatment of this question in the first chapter (e.g. p. 177); its impact is somewhat blunted by its relegation to the endnotes. Thompson concedes that, had Raoul Manselli lived for a further decade, this book would probably not have been written (p. 160). The decision to make use of extended endnotes creates some difficulties; among other things, it is not a format suitable for nuanced comment.