Every tailor, or base mechanic may keep us shut up in his prison.' Worst
of all was the abominable ingratitude that sold the illuminated vellums
to ignorant painters, or to goldsmiths who only wanted these 'sacred
vessels' as receptacles for their sheets of gold-leaf. 'Flocks and
fleeces, crops and herds, gardens and orchards, the wine and the
wine-cup, are the only books and studies of the monks.' They are
reprehended for their banquets and fine clothes and monasteries towering
on high like a castle in its bulwarks: 'For such things as these,' the
supplication continues, 'we, their books, are cast out of their hearts
and regarded as useless lumber, except some few worthless tracts, from
which they still pick out a mixture of rant and nonsense, more to tickle
the ears of their audience than to assuage any hunger of the soul.'
A great religious revival began with the coming of the Mendicant Friars,
who, according to the celebrated Grostete, 'illumined our whole country
with the light of their preaching and learning.' The Franciscans and
Dominicans reached England in 1224, and were established at Oxford within
two years afterwards, where the Grey Friars of St. Francis soon obtained
as great a predominance as the Dominicans or Black Friars had gained in
the University of Paris. St. Francis himself had set his face against
literature. Professor Brewer pointed out in the _Monumenta Franciscana_
that his followers were expected to be poor in heart and understanding:
'total absolute poverty secured this, but it was incompatible with the
possession of books or the necessary materials for study.
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