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MEDIZEVAL I!NSTOR. 
Tug Dominicans, or Black Friars. St Dominic (1170-1221), 
DENT their founder, was a Spanish priest of noble family who 
determined after a visit to southern France, the home 
af the Albigensian heresy, to dedicate his life to the 
work of preaching and teaching. He had already 
zathered round him a community of helpers when he 
met St Francis and determined to adopt the rule of 
poverty for his followers also, Like the Franciscans, 
they too spread with great rapidity over Western 
Europe, 
Tup The “Coming of the Friars” was a most important 
WORK OF event in the social as well as the religious history of the 
Frrars times. The object of the monks had been to withdraw 
from the world, and every reformation of the monastic 
Orders had aimed at bringing about a more complete 
separation from the world. The friars went among the 
people, ministering to the poor and sick and teaching 
the ignorant. The monks were bound to individual 
poverty, but the monasteries had become wealthy 
bodies. The friars at first were bound to poverty as 
Orders as well as individuals. 
The social work of the friars was important, and 
almost equally important was their intellectual work. 
Here the Dominicans led the way, as St Francis 
had discouraged learning. ‘But the Franciscans soon 
followed and both Orders gained great influence at the 
Universities, The greatest theologians and philo- 
sophers of the thirteenth century belonged to the 
Mendicant Orders, 
Turır With the growth of their popularity and influence 
ORG. the friars departed from their early traditions, The 
rule of poverty was evaded or relaxed ; the Mendicant 
Orders became wealthy bodies, and within their ranks