The Friars and How They Came to England - Being a Translation of Thomas of Eccleston's "De Adventu F. F. Minorum in Angliam"; Done Into English With an Introductory Essay on the Spirit and Genius of the Franciscan Friars #264999

The Friars Minor, or Franciscan Friars, as they are popularly called, arrived in Eng land in the year 1224. They came at a moment when events were swiftly moving towards a decisive crisis in our national history. The feudal system, assailed on the one side by the Crown, and on the other by the rising burgher class, was passing away, ending a noble history in a not altogether inglorious death; for feudalism had saved Europe from barbaric licence and had laid the foundations of civilised society, and it left behind it a legacy of noble deeds and beautiful thought which we do well to cherish. But its day was over.