London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the Greyfriars was a

Conventual Franciscan The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-West of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

by Newgate in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Franciscan religious house to be founded in the country. The establishment included a

conventual The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

church that was one of the largest in London; a '' studium'' or regional university; and an extensive library of logical and theological texts. It was an important intellectual centre in the early fourteenth century, rivalled only by

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in status. Members of the community at that time included

William of Ockham William of Ockham, OFM (; also Occam, from la, Gulielmus Occamus; 1287 – 10 April 1347) was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, apologist, and Catholic theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small vil ...

, Walter Chatton and

Adam Wodeham Adam of Wodeham, OFM (1298–1358) was a philosopher and theologian. Currently, Wodeham is best known for having been a secretary of William Ockham and for his interpretations of John Duns Scotus. Despite this associational fame, Wodeham was an inf ...

. It flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth century but was dissolved in 1538 at the instigation of Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553. ...

was founded in the old conventual buildings, and the church was rebuilt completely by

Sir Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

Christ Church Greyfriars Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate Street, was a church in Newgate Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Established as a monastic church in the thirteenth century, it became a parish church af ...

after the original church was almost completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. The building now standing on the site, designed by

Arup Group Limited Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

, is currently occupied by Merrill Lynch. It was named after the

friars A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

' practice of wearing grey

habits A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

History

The Franciscan Order first arrived in England in September 1224, on the Tuesday after The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. They settled in London in the summer of 1225, after John Iwyn, a wealthy businessman, bought a plot of land for them in the parish of St Nicholas in the Shambles (butchers' quarter).Page pp502–507 The land was just inside the city wall, which at that time was next to open country. Three years later, Joce Fitz Piers gave the Grey Friars his property in Stinking Lane. Over the next 130 years Londoners and others made 25 further donations of land to the friars, ending with Queen

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

's donation of a tenement in 1353 or 1354. In 1229 King Henry III gave the ''Conventual Franciscans'' of London oak to build their house. By 1243 there were eighty friars in residence, and by 1258 they had extended the site on the North and Westside. The original church was built with money provided by

William Joynier Sir William Joynier was a rich 13th-century merchant and Sheriff of the City of London who served as Mayor of London from 1239 to 1240. Biography In 1204 Joynier was instructed to investigate the condition of Newgate Prison and Holborn Bridge ...

(

mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

in 1239), who built the chapel and also gave two hundred pounds towards the cost of other buildings. Historian Charles Lethbridge Kingsford, who published the London Greyfriars' register and wrote a history of the site in the same volume, concludes from the sums of money spent on building work in this period that the friary would have been "of a modest kind". Further work began on the church towards the end of the 13th century. Henry le Walleis (d. 1302), another mayor of London, is supposed to have built the nave, and given timber for the altars. In 1301–1302 Queen Margaret ( Marguerite of France, born 1282, second wife of

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal ...

) spent 60 marks on land in the parish of St Nicholas for the Grey Friars. The Choir was built on this site. She funded the construction of the church, spending 2,000 marks on the work before her death in 1318, at which point it was still unfinished. Queen

, the wife of Edward II (r. 1327–1377), was responsible for completing the work, spending around £700. The total expenditure on the new church was about £2700, a huge sum. There were six chapels within the church, eight other altars and many statues and images of saints (at least eight are documented, in addition to those in the chapels and on the altars). The church became a favourite burial place for those of high rank and status. Margaret was buried there, as was Isabella, widow of Edward II]; the heart of Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III, was buried there as well. Built in the

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style, it was completed in 1348, and was the second-largest in medieval London, measuring long by across. The monastery was dissolved in 1538 by Thomas Chapman, an agent of

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

. On 12 November the house signed a deed of surrender, probably composed by Chapman. The Friars were made to confess that "the perfeccion of Christian liuyng dothe not conciste in ... weryng of a grey cootte, disgeasing our selffe aftyr straunge fassions, dokynge, nodyngs and bekynge, in gurdyng our selffes wythe a gurdle full of knots, and other like Papisticall ceremonyes" After the Surrender, some of the houses on the site were converted for private use, and the church was closed and used as a store-house for treasure looted from the French. In 1547, the king gave the church, the buildings called "le Fratrye," "le Librarye," "le Dorter," and "le Chapterhouse," and the ground called "le Great Cloyster," and "le Little Cloyster" to the

. The church, which had suffered damage and looting,"The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches" Tucker,T: London, Friends of the City Churches, 2006 now called Christ Church was to be the church of a new parish formed by joining St Nicholas and St Ewen. It was re-opened on 30 January 1547. It was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

(''

Blue Coat School A bluecoat school is a type of charity school in England, the first of which was founded in the 16th century. Most of them have closed; some remain open as schools, often on different sites, and some of the original buildings have been adapted ...

'') was founded for orphans in some of the old friary buildings in 1553 by

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

Burials

* John Clinton, 6th Baron Clinton *

John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham, KG (c. 1433–1501) of Nutwell in the parish of Woodbury and of Hartland, both in Devon, was an English peer and politician. He served as Lord High Treasurer of England and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was ...

(c. 1433–1501) *

Elizabeth Barton Elizabeth Barton (1506 – 20 April 1534), known as "The Nun of Kent", "The Holy Maid of London", "The Holy Maid of Kent" and later "The Mad Maid of Kent", was an English Catholic nun. She was executed as a result of her prophecies against the m ...

(1506?–1534), executed Catholic nun * Beatrice of England (1242–1275), was a Princess of England as the daughter of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence * Thomas Brandon (diplomat) *

William FitzWarin Sir William FitzWarin (died c. 1299) was an English soldier active during the First War of Scottish Independence. He was the constable of Urquhart Castle (1296-1297) and after the English defeat at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1 ...

and his wife, Maria de Ergadia *

Francis Bigod Sir Francis Bigod (4 October 1507 – 2 June 1537) was an English nobleman who was the leader of Bigod's Rebellion. Family Francis Bigod was descended from the Bigod Earls of Norfolk and from the Barons Mauley of Mulgrave Castle near Whitby, Yo ...

, was the leader of Bigod's Rebellion. * Elizabeth Bourchier (died 1557) * Richard Hastings, Baron Welles *

Robert de Lisle, 1st Baron Lisle Robert de Lisle, 1st Baron Lisle (20 January 1288 – 4 January 1344) was an English peer. He saw military service in Scotland, and fought at the Battle of Boroughbridge. After his wife's death, he joined the Franciscan order. He was the owner of ...

* William Gage (15th-century landowner) * Margaret de Vere * John Devereux, 1st Baron Devereux *

John de Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham (of Kent) John de Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham (died 1355) lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was an English nobleman.Richardson, Douglas. ''Magna Carta Ancestry.'' Baltimore, MD: GPC, 2005. 902. He was the eldest son and heir of Henry de Cobham, 1st Baron C ...

John de Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham John Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham (c. 1316–January 1408), lord of the manor, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was the son of John de Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham (of Kent), John Cobham, 2nd Baron Cobham, and Joan Beauchamp, daughter of John Beauchamp, ...

Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, KG (1 August 1474) was an English politician. Early life and family Walter Blount was born about 1416, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Blount (1378–1456) and Margery Gresley and grandson of Sir Walter Bloun ...

*Sir William Blount (c.1442-1471) *

Edward Blount, 2nd Baron Mountjoy Edward Blount, 2nd Baron Mountjoy (1464 – 12 October 1475) was an English peer. Edward Blount was born in 1464 in London, the second son of Sir William Blount (c. 1442–1471) and Margaret de Echyngham. He inherited his title on the death o ...

John Blount, 3rd Baron Mountjoy John Blount, 3rd Baron Mountjoy (c. 1450 – 12 October 1485) was an English peer and soldier. Life John Blount was born circa 1450 in Rock, Worcestershire, the second son of Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, by his first wife, Helena Byron, th ...

* James Blount *

*Sir Ralph de Spigurnell, Admiral of the Fleets * Eleanor Percy, Duchess of Buckingham *

Walter de Beauchamp (Steward to Edward I) Walter de Beauchamp (died 1303/06), ( Latinised to ''de Bello Campo'') of Beauchamp's Court, Alcester in Warwickshire and of Beauchamp Court, Powick in Worcestershire,Burke was Steward of the Household to King Edward I from 1289 to 1303. He was ...

Buildings

Arup plan

Notes

References

* * (hosted by British History online) * Leland, "List of manuscripts in the Library of the Grey Friars", ''Collectanea'', iv., 49–51. * (hosted by British History online)
History of Newgate

External links

London Greyfriars
at the ''Logic Museum''. (LogicMuseum dot com) {{coord, 51.5162, -0.0996, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Monasteries in London

1225 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 13th century 1538 disestablishments in England Former buildings and structures in the City of London