The same writer further informs us that this convent of Dominicans was surrendered by the prior and eleven brethren on the 30th of Sept. 1539, 30th of Henry VIII. Its site, as we further learn, was granted, about six years after, to John Eyre Esq. with land there in the tenure of John Kempe. This John Ayre, (our author adds) on the dissolution had 37 messuages, 9 gardens, in the tenure of divers persons, given him by the said king in his 36th year, and messuages and tenements called Bishops Stath, and an house called the Steward’s Hall, with other messuages and lands here, belonging to the see of Norwich. The site of this convent the said John Eyre conveyed to a priest, from whom it came to Thomas Waters, of —, who had Edward Waters, and a daughter married to George Baker. The said Edward’s son in law, Sir John Bolls, of Scampton, in Lincolnshire, Bt. sold it to one Killingtree, since which time it seems to have passed through a great many hands. The said site at present is thought to be partly the property of the corporation, and partly that of the Carey family. About the garden of the chief mansion of that family are several scattered remains of this ancient edifice. We shall next endeavour to acquaint the reader with the character of that religious order, or fraternity for whose use this convent was originally erected, and in whose occupation it ever after continued.
The Dominicans, although their settlement at Lynn was not anterior to that of the Franciscans, yet they appear to have found their way to England a good many years before them: for we are told, that Dominic, just before his death, sent Gilbert de Fresney, with twelve of the brethren into England, where they founded their first monastery at Oxford in 1221, and soon after another at London. In the latter place they became in time so popular, and so much in favour with the corporation, that, in 1276, the mayor and aldermen, as we are told, gave them two whole streets by the river Thames, where they erected a very commodious convent, whence that place is still called Black-Friars, for so they were called in this country, [508] perhaps from the colour of the habit. They were also called Friars preachers, or preaching friars, from preaching being their chief object, employment, or profession; and Dominicans, from the name of their memorable founder; an epitome, or outline of whose history and character we shall here subjoin. It will enable the reader, it is hoped, or, at least, help him in some measure, to form a pretty correct estimate of the merits and demerits of these predicant friars; as it may be very confidently and safely expected that they resembled their leader, according to the old adage “Like master like man.”
Dominic, commonly called Saint Dominic, the father of the Dominicans, was a Spaniard. He was surnamed de Guzman, being descended from an ancient and noble family of that name. Having finished his studies at Palencia, he was made canon, and afterwards archdeacon of Osma in Castille, and then professor of Theology at Placentia. But this he quitted to go to preach after the manner of Francis, which he did in several parts of Spain, giving proof in the meantime of great charity towards the poor and afflicted. Coming into France with the bishop of Osma, he greatly distinguished himself by preaching against the Albigenses, and there he formed the design of instituting an order of preachers. Fulk bishop of Thoulouse brought him to the council of Lateran, in 1215, that he might be examined by the pope. His holiness approving of the scheme of Dominic, the latter consulted with his followers, when they agreed to adopt the rules of St. Austin, but with several additions. They resolved to have no estate in lands, but only revenues. They were then sixteen in number, and the bishop of Thoulouse gave them their first church, that of St. Romanus in that city; and near it he built cloisters, with cells over them, where they might study and sleep. Pope Honorious III. confirmed the order in 1216, exempting them from paying tithes of their possessions, and ordering that they should depend upon the diocesan for episcopal functions; and the prior to be chosen by the free votes of the brethren: so that the Dominicans, at their first institution, were not beggars, nor exempt from episcopal jurisdiction, but canons regular.
Next year Dominic sent out his followers in pairs, after choosing a superior, to whom he gave the tide of abbot; but all the succeeding ones were called masters, and the superiors of particular houses priors. He sent four to Spain, four to France, and two more to study there. Hearing of the death of that ferocious and bloody crusader, Simon de Montfort, at the siege of Thoulouse, Dominic went thither to comfort the brethren. Thence, in 1218, he went into Spain, and founded two monasteries, one at Madrid, and the other at Segovia. Thence he went to Paris, where he found thirty brethren: thence he proceeded to Bologna, where Arnauld, who joined him at Rome, had been very successful, and had formed a large society. Going to Parma, he there met St. Francis, of whom he seemed to entertain a very high opinion, when, after conferring together, they agreed not to accept of church livings: which might suggest to Dominic the idea of that profession of poverty which he afterwards imposed upon those of his order. [511]
In 1220 he made some new and more rigorous regulations respecting the nuns. In the same year he held the first chapter general of his order at Bologna, when it was resolved that the preaching friars should profess perfect poverty, and make that the fundamental principle of their order. It was now agreed that these chapters should be held every year, at Paris and Bologna alternately. At the second chapter general at Bologna eight provincials were chosen to superintend the preachers in the eight provinces of Spain, France Lombardy, Romagna, Provence, Germany, Hungary and England. Presently after this, August 26, 1221, Dominic died in the 51st year of his age. [512] Lest his order should be hurt by the maxims of worldly prudence, he forbad, under the curse of God and his own, the introduction of temporal possessions into the order. The second year after his death he was canonized, and so reached the very summit of ecclesiastical dignity and fame.
These preaching friars, as we are told, were so zealous at the first, and considered preaching as so essential to their institution, that they were not satisfied if they did not exhort some, at least one person, every day.
Each of them carried with him a copy of the gospel of Matthew, and of the seven canonical epistles, according to the express order of Dominic: but that could redound to the credit of neither him nor them, while they lived in open violation of the most important precepts and the very spirit of those sacred writings. Had they made them, indeed, the ground of their religion, and the rule or guide of their lives, they would have been a blessing to the world in their day, and their memory would have been revered by all good men, to the latest posterity. But they preferred their own rule to that of the New Testament, and the persecuting and murderous ferocity of Dominic to the forbearance and meekness of Christ, and so became the oppressors instead of the benefactors of their species. In short we know not of any material benefit which the former inhabitants of this town derived from the Clough Lane convent, [513] or the incessant labours of its preaching friars. The reader however, on this point, as well as all others, must judge for himself.
Section V.
Account of the Convent of the Austin Friars, or Hermits of the order of St. Augustin, in Hogman’s Lane, or Hopman’s Way, now St. Austin’s Street, with a sketch of that religious order.
This house must have been once a large, respectable, and stately edifice, inferior to none, and in some respects superior to most, and probably to all others in this town; especially in point of fitness for the accommodation of illustrious personages, or those of princely dignity, who might happen to come this way. It accordingly became the abode, or place of residence of the king and queen, the prince of Wales, the king’s mother, and the royal retinue, during their visit or stay here in 1498. Had there been any other house then in the town better adapted for their reception, it would, no doubt, have been chosen in preference, or instead of this, on so unusual and important an occasion. But however commodious, respectable, or stately a structure, this Augustinian convent then was, it has long ago disappeared, and not a stone of it has been left upon another. A gateway, or the arch of a gateway, filled up with brick, but once, perhaps, the principal entrance into the hallowed premises, is all that now remains, or is recognised as having ever belonged to it. Thus our firmest fabrics, though they may endure for ages, are doomed to perish like the very mortals by whose hands they were constructed.