The mendicant orders of religious were those who originally traveled and worked among various towns or cities performing charitable good works and offering prayers for the citizenry in exchange for their "daily bread" or sustenance, which they then often received from the citizenry. These orders included the Franciscans, Dominicans, and perhaps the Augustinians.
The mendicants differed from the monastic orders (such as the Benedictines) in that the monastics usually lived and worked for their sustenance while enclosed in one particular monastery living a more contemplative lifestyle, rarely venturing forth among the citizenry.
The correct term for them, however, is not monks. The distinction is important. Members of the orders the above author mentioned, are called friars or mendicants. They will typically take the vow of poverty.