To expand and collapse the navigation please click on the headings
Go to other Related Subject areas
Who were the friars?
Origins
The Franciscan friars settled in Shrewsbury in 1245. At first the friars were keen to express their vows of poverty by taking down a stone refectory put up for them by a townsman. Later stone buildings, such as that in the foreground, were permitted. Aft...
By the early 13th Century many monasteries had lost sight of their original ideals and were seen to be rather too interested in accumulating wealth. Pope Innocent III lent his support to the followers of Francis of Assisi and of Dominic de Guz who were working amongst the poor and who treated the idea of living in poverty more seriously than the monks. From this emerged the two greatest orders of mendicant (begging) friars the Franciscans and Dominicans.
Suburban missionaries
This view shows the ruins of the 13th Century friary in the early 19th Century. Another early image suggests that some of the missing upper storey may have been timber framed. (Image courtesy of Shropshire Archives)
The Dominicans and Franciscans both concentrated their work in the expanding towns of the age. In particular they settled outside the town walls, partly because land was available there, but also because the poorest communities usually lived there and the numbers of people living there were growing rapidly. In Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth and Ludlow the friaries were to be found in just such places.
Impact of the friars
Photograph of the site of the Carmelite Friary in Ludlow (Image courtesy of Shropshire Archives).
Both the Franciscans and Dominicans, known as Grey friars and Blackfriars, from the respective colours of their woollen hooded tunics, stressed the importance of education and some of the leading intellectuals of the age were friars. The Dominican specialised in rooting out heresy and were obvious people to run the “Inquisition” when it was set up in 1233. In later years other orders of friars appeared such as the Augustinians who concentrated on preaching.
The popularity of the friars was due to their great preaching (friary churches were usually large halls with small aisles so people could easily see and hear the preacher) and their willingness to forsake the comforts of the monasteries to live amongst ordinary people. That closeness was at times unfortunate and the drunken, womanising Friar Tuck of Robin Hood fame indicates that the friars misdeeds were just as visible as their good works. Despite this friars remained generally popular and influential in towns until the dissolution of the monasteries in England and Wales by Henry VIII. The orders of friars remain in existence today around the world.