Abstract

One of Moorman's projects was the collection of materials for a biographical register of the friars in medieval England. This study takes a prosopographical sample from the custody of York and explores four themes: first, information about admission to the order and the spiritual formation of the novitiate, shining light upon the friars’ social background; secondly, an examination of the custody's schools of theology and the friars’ route to the priesthood, taking into account the order's three-tier educational system offered to the local school, the custodial school, and the studium generale or university; thirdly, the friars’ contribution to the life of the local church, especially through their twin ministries of preaching and hearing confessions in their own cities and their preaching tours to the towns and villages some miles from the friary; fourthly, the friars’ integration into the local civic and ecclesiastical communities and the various roles which they played. Friars assisted bishops and were frequently sent beyond the confines of their local community to discharge a range of duties

Keywords: Acolyte, Assisi, Beverley, Boston, confessor, custos, custody, deacon, Doncaster, Grimsby, limitatio, limiter, Lincoln, minister general, minister provincial, novitiate, ordination, preacher, priest, Scarborough, subdeacon, York