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The Friars
The friars
differed from the monks
in certain ways. The brethren by their
profession were bound, not to any locality or house, but to the
province, which
usually consisted of the entire number of houses in a country. They did not, consequently, form individual
families in their various establishments, like the monks in their
monasteries. They also, at first,
professed the strictest poverty, not being allowed to possess even
corporate
property like the monastic Orders. They
were by their profession mendicants, living on alms, and only holding
the mere
buildings in whey they dwelt.
The Franciscan, or
Grey Friars
St. Francis the founder of the
Grey
Friars was contemporary with St. Dominic, and was born at Assisi,
in the province of Umbria
in Italy,
in A.D. 1182. These
friars were called
Franciscans from their founder ; “Grey Friars” from the colour of their
habit ;
and “Minorites” from their humble desire to be considered the least of
the
Orders. Their rule was approved by
Innocent III in A.D. 1210 and by the General Council of
the Lateran in A.D.
1215. Their dress was made of a course
brown cloth with a long pointed hood of the same material, and a short
cloak.
They girded themselves with a knotted cord and went barefooted. The Franciscan Friars first found their way
to England
in A.D. 1224, and at the general destruction of
Regular life in England
in the sixteenth century they had in all about sixty-six establishments. A reformation of the Order to primitive
observance was made in the fifteenth century and confirmed by the
Council of
Constance in A.D. 1414. The
branches of
the Order with adopted it became known as “Observants” or “Recollects.”
This
brand of the Order was represented in England
by several houses built for them by King Henry VII although they are
supposed
to have been brought into England
in the time of Edward IV.
The whole Order in England was
divided into seven “Custodies” or “Wardenships,” : the houses being
grouped
round convenient centres such as London, York, Cambridge, Bristol,
Oxford, Newcastle,
and Worchester. Harpsfield says that the
“Recollects” or “Observants” had six friaries, at Canterbury,
Greenwich, Richmond,
Southampton, Newark,
and Newcastle. <>
The Minoresses, or
Nuns of St. Clare
The
Minoresses were instituted by
St. Clare, the sister of St. Francis of Assisi,
about A.D. 1212, as the branch of the Franciscan Order
for females. The followed the Rule of the
Friars Minor and
were thus called “Minoresses,” or Nuns of St. Clare, after their
foundress. They wore the same dress as
the Franciscan Friars, and imitated them in their poverty, fro which
cause they
were sometimes known as “Poor Clares.” They
were brought to England
somewhere about A.D. 1293, and established in London,
without Aldgate, in the locality now known as the Minories. The Order had two other houses, one at
Denney, in Cambridgeshire, in which at the time of the general
dissolution
there were some twenty-five nuns ; and the
other at Brusyard in Suffolk,
which
was a much smaller establishment. The
nuns at Denney had previously been located at Waterbeche for about
fifty years,
being removed to their new home by Mary, countess of Pembroke, in A.D.
1348.
English
Monastic Life by
F.A. Gasquet. (pages 234 & 237-238.)
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Franciscan Houses in England (Gasquet doesn't give a lot of
information in his index. All that is
available is listed here. For more English
Religious Houses, see the index page):
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Brusyard
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Poor Clares
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Suffolk.
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Burshyard
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Poor Clares
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Suffolk.
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Denney
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Poor Clares
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Cambridge.
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London,
(Note 2: For London, see
also Clerkenwell and Haliwell), the Minories
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Poor Clares
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Middlesex.
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London
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Poor Clares
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Middlesex.
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Waterbeach
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Poor Clares
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Cambridge.
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Aylesbury
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Bucks.
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Becmachen, or Bermarche
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Isle of Man.
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Bedford
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Beds.
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Beverley
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Yorks, E. R.
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Bodmin
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Cornwall.
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Boston
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Lincoln.
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Bridgnorth
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Salop.
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Bridgwater
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Somerset.
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Bristol
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Somerset.
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Bury St. Edmunds
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Suffolk.
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Cambridge
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Cambridge.
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Canterbury
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Kent.
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Cardiff
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Glamorgan.
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Carlisle
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Cumberland.
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Carmarthen
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Carmarthen.
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Chester
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Cheshire.
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Chichester
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Sussex.
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Colchester
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Essex.
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Coventry
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Warwick.
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Doncaster
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Yorks, W. R.
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Dorchester
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Dorset.
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Dunwich
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Suffolk.
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Exeter
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Devon.
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Gloucester
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Gloucester.
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Grantham
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Lincoln.
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Greenwich
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Kent.
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Grimsby
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Lincoln.
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Hartlepool
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Durham.
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Hereford
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Hereford.
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Ipswich
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Suffolk.
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Lancaster
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Lancaster.
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Leicester
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Leicester.
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Lewes
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Sussex.
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Lichfield
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Stafford.
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Lincoln
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Lincoln.
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Llanvaise, near Beaumaris
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Anglesea.
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London
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Middlesex.
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Lynn
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Norfolk.
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Maidstone
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Kent.
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Newark
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Notts.
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Newcastle-on-Tyne
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Northumberland.
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Northhampton
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Northants.
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Norwich
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Norfolk.
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Nottingham
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Notts.
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Oxford
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Oxford.
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Plymouth
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Devon.
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Pontefract
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Yorks, W. R.
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Preston
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Lancaster.
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Reading
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Berks.
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Richmond
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Yorks, N. R.
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Richmond
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Surrey.
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Salisbury
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Wilts.
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Scarborough
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Yorks, N. R.
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Shrewsbury
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Salop.
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Southampton
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Hants.
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Stafford.
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Stafford.
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Stamford
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Northants.
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Ware
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Herts.
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Winchelsea
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Sussex.
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Winchester
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Hants.
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Worcester
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Worcester.
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Yarmouth
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Norfolk.
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York
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Yorks.
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