Were Friars Paid Salaries? Evidence from Clerical Taxation Records

Abstract

Opinion on the spiritual merits of the friars of late medieval England is much divided. In their own time, the fraternal orders attracted considerable criticism, stemming initially from their fierce battles with the secular clergy with whose ministry they were in direct competition. Indeed, as modern literary and theology scholars have observed, late medieval criticism of the friars was in large part rooted in stereotypes derived from the exegetically-charged debates of the mid thirteenth century. Richard Fitzralph, John Wyclif and even Geoffrey Chaucer drew upon them in their critiques. By contrast, modern historians – certainly in recent years – have been inclined to view late medieval friars in a more positive light, as inspired preachers who earned many friends among the laity, especially the noble, gentry and mercantile classes. It is undeniably true that the great and the good left them generous bequests at their deaths and chose to be buried in their fine churches.