FRIAR (from the

See also:

• LAT

Lat. (rater, through the Fr.

See also:

• FRERE, JOHN HOOKHAM (1769-1846)
• FRERE, PIERRE EDOUARD (1819-1886)
• FRERE, SIR HENRY BARTLE EDWARD (1815-1884)

frere)  , the English generic naive for members of the mendicant religious orders . Formerly it was the title given to individual members of these orders, as Friar Laurence (in Romeo and Juliet), but this is not now common . In England the chief orders of friars were distinguished. by the colour of their habit: thus the Franciscans or Minors were the Grey Friars; the Dominicans or Preachers were the Black Friars (from their black mantle over a white habit), and the Carmelites were the White Friars (from their white mantle over a brown habit): these, together with the Austin Friars or Hermits, formed the four great mendicant orders—Chaucer's " alle the ordres foure." Besides the four great orders of friars, the Trinitarians (q.v.), though really canons, were in England called Trinity Friars or Red Friars; the Crutched or Crossed Friars were often identified with them, but were really a distinct order; there were also a number of lesser orders of friars, many of which were suppressed by the second council of Lyons in 1274 . Detailed information on these orders and on their position in England is given in separate articles . The difference between friars and monks is explained in article MONASTICISM . Though the usage is not accurate, friars, and also canons regular, are often spoken of as monks and included among the monastic orders . See Fr . Cuthbert, The Friars and how they came to England, pp . 11-32 (1903) ; also F . A . Gasquet, English Monastic Life, pp . 234-249 (1904), where special information on all the English friars is coveniently brought together .

(E . C .