The Grey Friars in Oxford

by A. G. Little

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[PART I.] HISTORY OF THE CONVENT.
[CHAPTER I.] EARLY YEARS.
Arrival and first settlement of the Franciscan Friars at Oxford		[1]
Their early poverty and cheerfulness		[3]
Oxford Friars as peacemakers and Crusaders		[7]
Relations to the University and to the earliest Colleges		[8]
Their strict observance of the Rule		[10]
[CHAPTER II.] PROPERTY AND BUILDINGS.
First settlement of the Friars was within the City Wall		[12]
They acquire the houses of William, son of Richard de Wileford (1229), and Robert, son of Robert Oen		[13]
Increase of the area in 1244-1245		[14]
Grants from the King, Thomas de Valeynes, and others		[15]
The island in the Thames, 1245		[16]
Messuage of Laurence Wych, Mayor of Oxford, 1246		[17]
Friars of the Sack settle in Oxford		[17]
Their property granted to the Minorites by Boniface VIII, Clement V, and Edward II, 1310		[18]
Grants from various persons, 1310		[19]
Inquisitiones ad quod Damnum, concerning properties belonging to Richard Cary and John Culvard, 1319		[19]
Grants by Walter Morton (1321) and John de Grey de Rotherfield (1337)		[20]
To what classes did the donors belong?		[20]
Buildings of the Grey Friars, absence of information about		[21]
Original houses and chapel		[21]
School built by Agnellus		[21]
The stricter Friars oppose the tendency to build		[22]
Building of the new Church of St. Francis		[22]
Its site and appearance		[23]
William of Worcester’s description of it		[24]
Monuments and tombs in the Church		[24]
Grave of Roger Bacon		[26]
Cloisters, Chapter-house, Refectory, and other buildings		[27]
Conduit and Gates		[28]
[CHAPTER III.] FRANCISCAN SCHOOLS AT OXFORD.
Learning necessary to the Friars		[29]
The first readers or lectors to the Franciscans at Oxford		[30]
Nature of the office of lector, as understood by Grostete and Adam Marsh		[31]
The lector and his socius		[33]
Later lectors were ordinary Regent Masters in Theology		[34]
Appointment to the office of lector		[34]
Special regulations concerning the lectors		[36]
System of instruction in theology recommended by Grostete		[36]
Lectures by the Friars		[37]
Controversy with the University about theological degrees in 1253		[38]
Controversy between the University and the Dominicans		[39]
Study of Arts (philosophy) before Theology, insisted on by the University		[41]
Roger Bacon on the need for some preliminary training for the Friars		[42]
Extortion of graces by external influence; ‘wax-doctors’		[42]
Career of a student Minorite		[43]
On the numbers of Friars sent to Oxford		[43]
Course of study before ‘opposition’		[44]
‘Opposition’ and ‘Responsion’		[45]
The degree of Bachelor of Divinity		[46]
Exercises before ‘Inception’		[47]
‘Vesperies’ and Inception		[48]
Questions disputed on these occasions in the thirteenth century		[49]
How far were the statutable requirements as to the period of study really carried out?		[49]
Expenses at Inception		[50]
Necessary Regency		[52]
Conditions on which dispensations were granted		[52]
Maintenance of Franciscan students at the University		[53]
What proportion took degrees		[54]
Relative numbers of the various Religious Orders at Oxford		[54]
[CHAPTER IV.] BOOKS AND LIBRARIES.
Absence of privacy in a Franciscan Friary		[55]
Books of individual Friars		[56]
The two libraries, and their contents		[57]
Grostete’s bequest of books		[57]
Extant MSS. formerly in the Franciscan Convent		[59]
Alleged illegal detention of books by the Friars in 1330		[60]
Richard Fitzralph’s statements		[60]
Richard of Bury, on the libraries of Mendicant Friars		[61]
Dispersion of the books of the Oxford Franciscans		[61]
Leland’s description of the library in his time		[62]
[CHAPTER V.] PLACE OF OXFORD IN THE FRANCISCAN ORGANIZATION.
Learned Friars as practical workers among the people		[63]
Their Sermons		[64]
Educational organization throughout the country		[64]
Relations of the Franciscan School at Oxford to the other Franciscan Schools of Europe		[66]
English Franciscans teach in foreign Universities		[67]
Oxford as the head convent of a custodia		[68]
Provincial Chapters held at Oxford		[69]
[CHAPTER VI.] RIVALRY BETWEEN THE ORDERS: ATTACKS ON THE FRIARS.
Rivalry between the Friars Preachers and Minors: proselytism		[71]
Politics and Philosophy		[72]
Peckham and the Oxford Friars		[73]
Evangelical Poverty		[75]
Contrast between theory and practice		[78]
Attack on the Friars by Richard Fitzralph		[79]
Charge of stealing children		[79]
Wiclif’s early relations to the Friars		[81]
His attack on them in his later years		[82]
Charges of gross immorality made not by Wiclif, but by his followers		[83]
The University and the Friars; summary of events in 1382		[84]
Unpopularity of the Friars in the fifteenth century		[85]
Foreign Minorites expelled from Oxford		[86]
Conspiracies against Henry IV; part taken by the Oxford Franciscans		[87]
Relations between the Conventual and Observant Franciscans		[87]
[CHAPTER VII.] ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FRIARS’ MANNER OF LIFE AND MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD: BENEFACTORS.
On the loss of Franciscan Records		[89]
Mendicancy as a means of livelihood		[91]
Procurators and limitors		[92]
Career of Friar Brian Sandon, legal syndicus of the Oxford Friary in the sixteenth century		[93]
Charges of immorality against the Friars		[94]
Their worldly manner of life before the Dissolution		[96]
Poverty of the Convent		[97]
Sources of income		[97]
Annual grants from the King and others		[97]
Frequency of bequests to the Friars		[100]
List of benefactors		[102]
Some other sources of income		[110]
Classes from which the Friars were drawn		[111]
Motives which led men to enter the Order		[111]
[CHAPTER VIII.] THE DISSOLUTION.
Attitude of the Grey Friars towards the Reformation in its intellectual, religious, and political aspects		[112]
The Royal Divorce		[114]
Visitation of Oxford University in 1535		[116]
Suppression of the Friaries in 1538		[116]
Condition of the Grey Friary		[117]
Expulsion of the Friars; their subsequent history; Simon Ludford		[119]
Houses and site of the Grey Friars		[120]
Dr. London tries to secure the land for the town		[121]
Lease and sale of the property		[121]
Notes on its subsequent history		[123]
Total destruction of the buildings		[124]
[PART II.] BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF INDIVIDUAL FRIARS.
[CHAPTER I.]
Custodians and Wardens		[125-133]
[CHAPTER II.]
Lectors or Regent Masters of the Franciscans		[134-175]
[CHAPTER III.]
Franciscans who studied in the Convent at Oxford, or had some other connexion with the Town or the University		[176-294]
APPENDICES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
[A.] Documents relating to the acquisition of land property by the Grey Friars.
1.	Grant of a house by William, son of Richard de Wileford	[295]
2.	Grant of a house by Robert, son of Robert Oen, 1236	[296]
3.	Royal license to enclose their possessions and throw down part of the old City Wall, 1244	[296]
4.	Island in the Thames acquired by Henry III, 1245	[297]
5.	Grant of the same island to the Friars, 1245	[297]
6.	Grant of two messuages by Thomas de Valeynes, 1245	[298]
7.	Grant of a messuage by Laurence Wych, Mayor of Oxford, 1246	[299]
8.	License to enclose their new possessions; the City Wall to be repaired, 1248	[299]
9.	Royal grants to the Friars of the Sack, 1262, 1265	[300]
10.	Grants to the Friars Minors from various persons, 1310	[301]
11.	Property of the Friars of the Sack conferred on the Friars Minors, 1310	[301]
12.	Re-grant of the same property to them, 1319	[302]
13.	Inquiry held at Oxford in 1319 as to the advisability of allowing John Culvard to grant a parcel of ground to the Friars Minors	[303]
14.	Grant of a parcel of ground by John de Grey de Rotherfield	[305]
[B.] Miscellaneous Documents.
1.	Food for the Friars Minors and others, 1244	[307]
2.	Adam Marsh as royal nuncius, 1247	[307]
3.	For the same, 1257	[308]
4.	The Church of the Minorites used as a Sanctuary, 1284-5	[308]
5.	Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1289	[308]
6.	Decree of the General Chapter at Paris, 1292	[309]
7.	Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1323	[309]
8.	‘Receptor Denariorum’ of the Grey Friars, 1341	[310]
9.	Goods and chattels of Friar John Welle, S.T.P., 1378	[311]
10.	Expulsion of foreign Minorites, 1388	[312]
11.	William Woodford; confirmation of his privileges by Boniface IX, 1396	[312]
12.	Appointment of a lecturer to the Convent at Hereford, c. 1400	[313]
13.	Decree of the General Chapter at Florence, 1467	[314]
14.	Recovery of debt from a Sheriff, 1488	[315]
15.	Documents relating to the lease of a garden at the Grey Friars to Richard Leke, 1513-1514	[316]
16.	Extracts from the Will of Richard Leke, 1526	[318]
17.	An ex-warden called to account, 1529	[318]
[C.] Controversy between the Friars Preachers and Friars Minors at Oxford, 1269		[320]
[D.] Supplications and Graces from the Registers of Congregation.
John David, 1450/1, 1454/5		[336]
John Sunday, 1453/4		[336]
Richard Ednam, 1462, 1463		[336]
Walter Goodfeld, 1506-1510		[337]
John Thornall, 1525		[338]
Thomas Kirkham, 1527		[338]
INDEX		[341]

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CORRIGENDA.

[P. 6], n. 5, for tempora, read temporalem.

[P. 33]. There was no house of Grey Friars at Evesham. Simon de Montfort was buried by the monks of Evesham (see Rishanger). The Miracula Symonis de Montfort, however, bears evident traces of Franciscan influence.

[P. 49], n. 3, for Church, Quarterly Review, read Church Quarterly Review.

[P. 54], l. 11, for because, read became.

[P. 56], n. 5 for quos, read quas.

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