The Story of LondonWheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
History
The Story of London
Wheatley, Henry B. (Henry Benjamin)
London (England) -- History
house had; and having a very large extent of ground within its liberty,
the same was shut up with four gates, and all the inhabitants within it
were subject to none but the King, the superior of the monasteries and
justices of that precinct; so that neither the Mayor nor the sheriffs,
nor any other officers of the City of London, had the least jurisdiction
or authority therein. All which liberties the inhabitants preserved some
time after the suppression of the monastery.' Thomas Lord Wake is said
to have intended to bring Dominican nuns into England, and he had the
King's license for this purpose, but he does not appear to have carried
out his intention. The nuns of Dartford, in Kent, are supposed to have
been of this Order at one time.
_Grey Friars._--The Italian, St. Francis, was the founder of this Order,
whose rule he drew up in 1209. It was approved of by Pope Innocent III.
in 1210, and by the Lateran Council in 1215. His followers were called
Franciscans from their founder, Grey Friars from their clothing, and
Minor Friars from their humility.
Nine Grey Friars landed at Dover in the eighth year of Henry III.
(1223-1224), five of them settled at Canterbury, and there founded the
first house of the Order in England. The remaining four established
themselves in London, lodging for fifteen days with the Dominicans in
Holborn. These four, we learn from a Cottonian MS. (Vitellius, F. xii.,
13, fol. 45) were (1) Richard Pugworth, an Englishman, priest and
preacher; (2) Richard Senonef, English, clerk acolyte, a youth; (3)
Henry Detrews, by nation a Lombard, lay brother; (4) Monachetus, also a
lay brother.
These four men founded the great London house of Grey Friars. They
removed to Cornhill, where they erected cells, made converts, and
acquired the goodwill of the Mayor and citizens. John Ewin, mercer,
appropriated to the use of the friars a piece of ground within Newgate.
Here a noble building was erected by the help of numerous distinguished
persons, which contained a church, a chapter house, a dormitory, a
refectory, an infirmary, etc. The district was long known as Greyfriars,
and afterwards as Christ Church or Christ's Hospital.
The habit of the friars was a loose garment of a grey colour reaching
down to their ankles, with a cowl of the same, and a cloak over it when
they went abroad. They girded themselves with cords and went barefoot.
In connection with the Franciscans were the nuns of the Order of St.
Clare, founded at Assisi by St. Clare about 1212. The nuns observed St.
Francis's rule and wore the same coloured habit as the Franciscan
Friars. They were called Poor Clares and also Minoresses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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