Who are the friars of the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

"Friars" were members of the Franciscan Order, established by Francis of Assisi. They often called themselves the "Little Brothers" or "Fratres minores" in Latin, whence the English "friars".

Answer 2

Friars belonged to the "mendicant" Orders which first came to England in the 13th century. Their ethos was to live lives of poverty among the poor.

Like monks, they made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, meaning that they could have no money or possessions of their own, they could have no relationships with women and they must obey their superiors and the Rule of their particular Order.

Unlike monks, they worked mainly in the streets of towns and cities, acting as a kind of medieval Salvation Army. They preached, gave food and clothes to the poor, treated the sick and had continual contact with ordinary people (in contrast to monks, who were supposed to have no such contact).

"Mendicant" means that friars existed entirely by begging. This is how they obtained their food, clothing, shoes and everything they needed to survive. Unlike monks, they spent no time in growing food so without begging they would have starved to death.

From this description you can see that friars can only be classed among the lowest members of medieval society, despite the fact that they belonged to the Church, which as an institution was extremely wealthy.