7 - The seven custodies

Summary

The friars’ merits, the rapid expansion of the order in England and the torrent of vocations were trumpeted by Eccleston and others. Their good example begat vocations and this, in turn, led to the division of the English province into custodies. Initially there were four custodies, apart from London. The number was later augmented to seven with custodies flourishing at Cambridge, Bristol, London, Newcastle, Oxford, Worcester and York. The custody of Salisbury was relatively short-lived and was suppressed around the middle of the thirteenth century, being absorbed into the custody of London, although it does feature in the Registrum Anglie. Eccleston testifies that:

After this, when the number of places had already grown and the brothers (iam locis et fratribus) had greatly increased both in merits and in number (meritis quam numero), it seemed expedient to divide the province into custo-dies. The province was therefore divided into custodies at the first provincial chapter at London, and each of the custodies was noted for some particular mark of sanctity.

The office of the custos, an office embedded in the evolution of the order, was mentioned in the Regula bullata, which was confirmed by Honorius III on 29 November 1223.

The friars’ vocation differed significantly from that of the monk, who entered a monastery and remained there for life, apart from stints at a dependent priory, at the appointment of the abbot. In contrast, Salimbene de Adam introduced himself as a friar, a priest and a preacher who had lived in different provinces of the order and had seen numerous things in many provinces. For instance, he spent eight years in the Tuscan province: two years in Lucca, two in Siena and four years at Pisa. He informs readers of the places where he had lived and for how long. The office of custos is found in the Regula bullata on 29 November 1223.

Provinces and custodies

Some countries, such as Italy, France and Germany, had more than one province. By 1230 five of the thirty-two provinces were French (Aquitaine, Burgundy, France, Provence and Touraine). England and Ireland, in contrast, had only a single province, although there was some movement of friars across the Irish Sea. The Scottish province survived for no more than five or six years before it was suppressed and reunited with England during the general chapter of Rome in 1239.