Augustian friars

Augustinian (or Austin) friars were founded by Pope Alexander IV in 1256 from a number of small hermit communities in Italy. They were given the rule of St Augustine of Hippo (see augustinian canons) which the Dominicans, whose constitution they largely followed, also observed. In England, where their first community was founded at Clare, by the dissolution they were found in nearly 40 places, usually substantial towns or ports, such as Grimsby, Hull, and King's Lynn, as well as Oxford and Cambridge.