Introduction

Summary

The history of the English Dominicans has been too little studied, in part because much documentary evidence has been lost. The present book is the first comprehensive history of the Province for a century. Its value lies not only in covering developments that have taken place since 1921, and in drawing on recent research for its account of earlier periods, but in offering a critical re-evaluation of the evidence from a fresh perspective. The book adopts an inclusive approach where earlier studies were often weakened through being limited to a particular region or individual, or by focussing more on the earliest growth of the Province than on later developments, by inattention to opponents of the friars, or by neglect of their relations to lay supporters.