§ 21.
After the beginning of the fourteenth
century the foundation of monasteries practically
ceased, although the Carthusian order at a later date
enjoyed some popularity, which was enhanced by
royal patronage. Religious houses no longer afforded
the only career possible to those who were unfitted
for the limited professions open to the medieval
layman. With the growth of a well-to-do middle class
came the tendency to devote benefactions which at
an earlier date would have been given to monasteries
to parish churches. From the reign of Edward
II
onwards chantries and colleges of chantry-priests in
parish churches were founded in great numbers. In
one respect, however, the regular life kept in touch
with national progress. The orders of friars found
their way to England in the thirteenth century. In
1221 Dominicans (Friars preachers or black friars)
settled at Oxford: about 1224 houses of Franciscans
(Friars minor or grey friars) were established at
Canterbury and London: Hulne priory in Northumberland
and Aylesford priory in Kent were founded
for Carmelites (white friars) about 1240: Clare
priory in Suffolk was founded for the order known
later as Austin friars in 1248. Of the lesser orders
the most important was the Trinitarian, whose most
famous house was St Robert's at Knaresborough.
Although the general plan of a friary was similar to
that of a monastery, the lives of monks and friars were
totally different. The friar was a wanderer who lived
on alms: his circuit was bounded by a special province,
and he was not confined to the limits of a single house.
The favourite places for friaries were thus the larger
towns. No less than seven houses of friars were
founded in Cambridge: there were six each in
London and Oxford: Bristol, Lincoln, Lynn, Newcastle,
Northampton, Norwich, Stamford, Winchester and
York contained houses of all the four chief orders. An
order of nuns, known as the Poor Clares from their
foundress St Clare, was an off-shoot of the Franciscan
order, and had five houses in England. The influence
gained by these new bodies served to turn popular
attention from the older orders. Not merely were
the friars the revivalist preachers of the age, in
antagonism to the conservative spirit of the monks
and secular clergy
[3]; but the great learning of many of
their leading members earned them distinction and
no little weight in the universities of Europe. The
moral dangers of their life, their independence of
episcopal control and their unchecked influence
among the common people brought about an early
decline from the ideals of their founders; but their
achievements during the first century of their existence
are one of the most remarkable episodes in
religious history.
