Spread of the Order
Monasteries were traditionally founded away from centres of population, but Dominic sent his friars to the urban centres, especially to the university cities, where the heterodox ideas were being taught, debated and spread. Communities of friars were established in the major European cities, especially the university cities, e.g. Bologna, Paris, and later Cologne, in Germany, and then Louvain, in the Low Countries. Paris was probably the greatest of the mediaeval universities. It was closely associated with the Dominicans; Albert the Great (1206-1280), Thomas Aquinas (c1225-1274) and Meister Eckhart (c1260-c1328) held chairs of theology there. It attracted students from all over Europe, including some from Scotland. Among these were Dominicans, who went from there to Oxford and Cambridge, then to Scotland. There was from the beginning an international dimension to the Order. Friars from any part of Europe could be sent to any other part, to study or teach. Latin, the language of the Western church, transcended political and linguistic boundaries. The friars brought with them the thought and ideas which were available in the intellectual centres in Europe. The Order soon arrived in England, first in the university cities, in Oxford in 1221, the year of Dominic's death, and Cambridge in 1238, and then in the major English urban centres. In Britain, Dominicans were known as the Black Friars, and their priories as Blackfriars.
A Preaching Friar