Black Friars, St Andrews

Black Friars, St Andrews

The Dominican order (or black friars) arrived in St Andrews during the fifteenth century. There are references to a Dominican place or house in St Andrews in the 1440s. This was then developed into a fully established friary at the start of the sixteenth century, occupying a prime location on South Street. To support the new foundation funds were diverted from the black friars’ sites in Cupar and St Monans – a move that was justified on the basis that St Monans was merely a poor fishing village and Cupar was increasingly impoverished, while the presence of a university in St Andrews meant it was a suitable place for educated men. The Dominicans played a significant role in St Andrews during the early sixteenth century, preaching regularly, engaging with education, and taking part in major heresy trials. In 1559 the Dominicans’ buildings were attacked by Protestant activists and the friars ‘violently expelled’. The black friars’ site was later handed over to the St Andrew burgh council with the intention that it should support education, care for the poor and sick, and fund the new Protestant ministry.

sacredlandscapesoffife

1440

Bess Rhodes

Site

55

20/05/2021

10/05/2023 09:49:59 pm

(1) Bess Rhodes, Riches and Reform: Ecclesiastical Wealth in St Andrews, c.1520-1580 (Leiden, 2019), pp. 20-21, 101-102. (2) Bess Rhodes, ‘Augmenting Rentals: The Expansion of Church Property in St Andrews, c.1400-1560’ in Michael Brown and Katie Stevenson, eds, Medieval St Andrews: Church, Cult, City (Woodbridge, 2017), p. 229.

cm x cm x cm

current,56.33888627216681,-2.797993049571233;

Black Friars, St Andrews

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/blackfriars-chapel-st-andrews/

TEXT

Building

117

1560

Catholic

St Andrews and St Leonards