A concise and accessible history of four of the monastic orders in the middle ages. In 1274 the Council of Lyons decreed the end of various "new orders" of Mendicants which had emerged during the great push for evangelism and poverty in the thirteenth-century Latin Church. The Franciscans and Dominicans were explicitly excluded, while the Carmelites and Austin friars were allowed a stay of execution. These last two were eventually able to acquire approval, but other smaller groups, in particular the Friars of the Sack and Pied Friars, were forced to disband. This book outlines the history of those who were threatened by 1274, tracing the development of the two larger orders down to the Council of Trent, and following the fragmentary sources for the brief histories of the discontinued friaries. For the first time these orders are treated comparatively: the volume offers a total history, from their origins, spirituality and pastoral impact, to their music, buildings and runaways. FRANCES ANDREWS is Professor in Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews.

The first account of the dissolution of the monasteries for fifty years--exploring its profound impact on the people of Tudor England "This is a book about people, though, not ideas, and as a detailed account of an extraordinary human drama with a cast of thousands, it is an exceptional piece of historical writing."--Lucy Wooding, Times Literary Supplement Shortly before Easter, 1540 saw the end of almost a millennium of monastic life in England. Until then religious houses had acted as a focus for education, literary, and artistic expression and even the creation of regional and national identity. Their closure, carried out in just four years between 1536 and 1540, caused a dislocation of people and a disruption of life not seen in England since the Norman Conquest. Drawing on the records of national and regional archives as well as archaeological remains, James Clark explores the little-known lives of the last men and women who lived in England's monasteries before the Reformation. Clark challenges received wisdom, showing that buildings were not immediately demolished and Henry VIII's subjects were so attached to the religious houses that they kept fixtures and fittings as souvenirs. This rich, vivid history brings back into focus the prominent place of abbeys, priories, and friaries in the lives of the English people.

The mendicant Orders had a profound impact on urban society, life and culture from the thirteenth century onwards. Being engaged in extensive and ambitious pastoral activities they depended on outside support for their material existence. Their influence extended into ecclesiastical as well as secular affairs, leading to the creation of a network of connections to different social groups and on occasion even an involvement in politics. The role of the mendicants in a medieval capital has not yet been systematically studied. A first attempt to study a city of this scale is here made for London.

"Though the book is primarily about medieval towns in Britain, many parallels are drawn with contemporary towns and cities all over Europe, from Ireland to Russia and from Scandinavia to Italy. It is written in the belief that medieval urban archaeology should be a Europe-wide study, as are the fields of architecture and urban history."--BOOK JACKET.

Their task was to locate a lost grave in an obliterated church. The ‘Looking For Richard’ team of historians and researchers spent many years amassing evidence. Now for the first time they reveal the full story of how that evidence took them to a car park in Leicester.