The Dominicans in the British Isles and Beyond

A New History of the English Province of the Friars Preachers

Richard Finn

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9781009193917
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Religion

The history of the Dominicans in the British Isles is a rich and fascinating one. Eight centuries have passed since the Friars Preachers landed on England's shores. Yet no book charting the history of the English Province has appeared for close on a hundred years. Richard Finn now sets right this neglect. He guides the reader engagingly and authoritatively through the medieval, early modern and contemporary periods: from the arrival of the first Black Friars – and the Province's 1221 foundation by Gilbert de Fresnay – to Dominican missions to the Caribbean and Southern Africa and seismic changes in church and society after Vatican II. He discusses the Province's medieval resilience and sudden Reformation collapse; attempts in the 1650s to restore it; its Babylonian Exile in the Low Countries; its virtual disappearance in the nineteenth century; and its unlikely modern revival. This is an essential work for medievalists, theologians and historians alike.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Epigraph
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction: A Province 'so Curiously Ignored'
• Chapter 1 The Makings of an English Multinational: 1221-1348
• Chapter 2 From the Black Death to the Tudor Suppressions: 1348-1559
• Chapter 3 An Unorganised Mission: 1559-1655
• Chapter 4 A European Foundation: 1655-1827
• Chapter 5 Apostolic Missioners: 1661-1850
• Chapter 6 The Remakings of an Observant Province: 1850-1913
• Chapter 7 'Jarrett's Jam': The Reshaping of the Province, 1914-1963
• Chapter 8 From 'Acute Agony' to 'Rebirth': 1964-2021
• Conclusion: A Dog, a Donkey, and a Pig
• Select Bibliography
• Index