The Black Friars (Dominicans)
The namesake of Blackfriars, the Dominican Order, or the
Black Friars(named for their customary
black mantle and hood), were an order of mendicant friars founded by Saint Dominic in France in 1216 (Dominican Order). Intent on spreading Catholicism, Saint Dominic sent members of his order to England, where, no later than 1247, the order had bases in Oxford and London (Jarrett 2–3). In the wake of the Reformation, members of the order fled the country or remained in England and
either drifted into poverty, or else entered the ranks of the secular clergy(Jarrett 169).
