This issue takes a look at the good and bad in medieval communities: students, religious groups, ethnic minorities, confraternities, and guilds. Who was excluded, and why? What did these organizations offer, and how did people benefit from membership in religious and lay groups? We examine “the other” in the Armenian minority living in medieval Byzantium. We look at desirable and undesirable religious and secular communities, from the respectable lay confraternities, to the much-maligned monastic order of Sarabites, to the strange development of fringe groups such as flagellants. We look at economic organizations in the Middle Ages as we explore the world of masons and guilds, discovering what membership entails and the various strategies employed to fight off competition. Lastly, we look at community shared through cuisine as we explore the world of Parsi cooking.