The medieval friaries of London : a topographic and archaeological history, before and after the Dissolution
This thesis examines the evidence for the buildings and precincts of the five friaries of late medieval London: Black Friars, Grey Friars, White Friars, Austin Friars and Crossed (or Crutched) Friars. Virtually nothing survives, at least above ground, of these once-famous institutions and so documentary and archaeological evidence form the core of the research. Using a technique of historic map regression â working backwards from the modern Ordnance Survey map and carrying out a succession of âdigital tracings' of historic maps â the early modern street plan of each friary was drawn. Then, evidence from dozens of archaeological excavations (small and large, antiquarian and modern) could be pasted onto the base map of each friary. Finally, documentary evidence was brought in, primarily a series of surveys (âparticulars for grant') by the Court of Augmentations, the Crown body supervising the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and â40s. After setting out the historiography of research into monastic London, five chapters examine the five friaries in turn, discussing the church, cloister, precinct walls and gardens, and illustrating the evidence with a series of reconstructed plans. The chapters
Holder, Nick
medieval History ; medieval archaeology ; Tudor ; London ; Dissolution of the Monasteries ; Reformation ; historical geography ; Court of Augmentations ; friaries ; Thomas Cromwell ; church
The medieval friaries of London : a topographic and archaeological history, before and after the Dissolution. This thesis examines the evidence for the buildings and precincts of the five friaries of late medieval London: Black Friars, Grey Friars, White Friars, Austin Friars and Crossed (or Crutched) Friars. Virtually nothing survives, at least above ground, of these once-famous institutions and so documentary and archaeological evidence form the core of the research. Using a technique of historic map regression â working backwards from the modern Ordnance Survey map and carrying out a succession of âdigital tracings' of historic maps â the early modern street plan of each friary was drawn. Then, evidence from dozens of archaeological excavations (small and large, antiquarian and modern) could be pasted onto the base map of each friary. Finally, documentary evidence was brought in, primarily a series of surveys (âparticulars for grant') by the Court of Augmentations, the Crown body supervising the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and â40s. After setting out the historiography of research into monastic London, five chapters examine the five friaries in turn, discussing the church, cloister, precinct walls and gardens, and illustrating the evidence with a series of reconstructed plans. The chapters
medieval london topographic archaeological history dissolution examines evidence building precinct late_medieval london black grey white virtually nothing survives least ground once famous institution documentary_archaeological evidence form_core research using technique historic map regression work backwards modern ordnance survey map carry succession digital tracing historic map early_modern street plan drawn evidence dozen archaeological_excavation small large antiquarian modern could onto base map finally documentary_evidence bring primarily series survey particular grant court crown body supervise dissolution set historiography monastic london examine turn discuss church cloister precinct wall garden illustrate evidence series reconstruct plan