Michael J.P. Robson – författare

Documents assembled from a wide range of sources sheds vivid light on the lives and careers of the Franciscan movement.The Franciscans, frequently known as Greyfriars, were inspired by the charismatic figure of Francis of Assisi (+1226). Pledged to a life of penitence and evangelical poverty, they strove to bring Christianity to life through theirexample and preaching. In the late summer of 1224 they reached England, where they quickly established a presence at Canterbury, London, Oxford and Northampton. Attracting a large number of recruits from the universities, the regular and secular clergy and laymen, they spread rapidly throughout the country, establishing communities in the cities and principal boroughs. The custody of York, with its friaries of Beverley, Boston, Doncaster, Grimsby, Lincoln, Scarborough and York, a regional cluster, began with the friars' arrival in the cathedral cities of Lincoln and York before 1230. The custody reached from Whitby to Spalding. Although several monastic ruins adorn the landscape of northern Lincolnshire and much of Yorkshire, the seven friaries have left little visible trace, and there are few vestiges of the friars' once teeming archives and impressive libraries. However, despite the dispersal of these documents, there are other sources which illuminate the friars' ministry and shine a spotlight upon an individual friar. This biographical register of 1,704 friars draws upon a range of materials, including the wardrobe accounts, the episcopal registers, papal documents the probate registers, urban records, chronicles and diverse sources, illuminating their daily lives and activities, from studying the liberal arts and theology to celebrating Mass andhearing confessions. While some friars are represented by a single entry, other lives are better chronicled, particularly those who were active in the universities, the service of the crown and the local community. MICHAEL ROBSON is a fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.

An indispensable guide to the earliest contemporary account of the Franciscan Order in England.Known as Friars Minor, Franciscans or Greyfriars, the followers of St Francis of Assisi pioneered a new type of religious life, moving beyond the monastic cloister. Their ministry was to bring the Gospel to life through example, preaching, gesture, drama, music and poetry. Founded in 1209, the movement became rapidly popular and spread widely across Europe.By around 1257 there were 49 communities In England, housing some 1,242 friars. The story of the Franciscans' arrival, and the growth of the Order up until c.1257/1258, is related by the chronicler Thomas of Eccleston In his De Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam. The story is not untroubled: for example, Eccleston does not shy away from the painful controversies of the later 1230s, when there were deep divisions about the exercise of authority in the Order. He was disturbed by some developments in the Order and showed his support for caution in the schools and in relation to building, at a time when friars were exposed to searching criticisms. The chronological account is accompanied by exemplum materials which illuminate the friars' preaching and teaching, and by a gallery of virtuous individual friars.This book is the first full-length study of the text, examining it in detail, and providing a careful elucidation.