162 



C|e §Iack ^xxns of Miltsljiu. 



By Rev. C. F. R. Palmee. 



^^IX years after the great mendicant order of friar-preachers— 

 Black Friars, or Dominicans — was founded at Toulouse, it 

 was introduced, in the year 1221, into England. The patronage 

 which Henry III. bestowed on these friars was very powerful in 

 promoting their work. This king summoned friar-preachers into 

 the royal councils, and entrusted weighty matters of state to them, 

 chose the guides of his conscience out of their numbers, and gave 

 munificent aid towards the establishment of those convents, which 

 they erected in his time. Within twenty-four years the order had 

 spread throughout more than two-thirds of the dioceses of England 

 and Wales, all of which it eventually entered, being distributed in 

 fifty-two principal convents of brethren, and one community of 

 sisters. It was probably through the influence of Henry III. that 

 the friars first gained their footing in the diocese of Salisbury. 



Wilton. 



The friar-preachers entered the town of Wilton (once the episcopal 

 city) in Wiltshire, in or before the year 1245. They secured five or 

 six acres of land here, and began to erect a Church and convent, 

 which were in progress for more than twenty-six years. A small 

 churchyard was also laid out for the burial of the dead. The grounds 

 appear to have been enclosed only with wattled thorns. Several 

 benefactors lent a helping hand to the new religious community, 

 amongst whom were Henry III., William Lungespre, Roger de 

 Sifrewaster, and W^illiam de Mauduit, the last three being men of 

 note in the surrounding country. William Lungespre gave eight 

 beams to the friars " ad fabricam ecclesie sue,^' and the king issued 

 his mandate, July 10th, 1245, to Adam Coks, out of whose bailiwick 



