If the late Mr. Brewer had done
no more than bring to light the remarkable series of documents which
that volume contains, he would have won for himself the lasting
gratitude of all seekers after truth.
The Dominicans had been settled in Oxford just two years when the
first band of Franciscan brethren landed in England on the 11th of
September, 1224. They landed penniless; their passage over had been
paid by the monks of F?camp; they numbered in all nine persons, five
were laymen, four were clerics. Of the latter three were Englishmen,
the fourth was an Italian, Agnellus of Pisa by name. Agnellus had
been some time previously destined by St. Francis as the first
_Minister_ for the province of England, not improbably because
he had some familiarity with our language. He was about thirty years
of age, and as yet only in deacon's orders. Indeed, of the whole
company _only one was a priest_, a man of middle age who had
made his mark and was famous as a preacher of rare gifts and deep
earnestness. He was a Norfolk man born, Richard of Ingworth by name
and presumably a priest of the diocese of Norwich. Of the five laymen
one was a Lombard, who may have had some kinsfolk and friends in
London, where he was allowed to remain as warden for some years, and
one, Lawrence of Beauvais, was a personal and intimate friend of St.
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