It was in 2021 when the 13th century Greyfriars building, that had stood empty for many years in a small Lincoln city street, first captured my interest. Loving all things medieval, I was excited when the re-imagining project started. It has been a long journey to get the necessary funding, and after my last post which showed pre-renovation archaeology taking place, I was delighted to visit the building once again a few weeks ago.
The founding of the Greyfriars was inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, and as I walked around the remains of the original infirmary, with the light streaming in through the windows, it was hard not to wonder what life would have been like for the first monks who lived there. The Greyfriars arrived in Lincoln at around 1230, with the building of Lincoln’s friary starting in 1237. Franciscans travelled and preached in the streets, roughly dressed in their grey habits and barefoot, extreme poverty was required of them. The first monks to arrive in England in 1224 were so dishevelled that they were mistaken for thieves, but their humility and insistence on caring for the poor meant people flocked to them and the order spread rapidly; they were a welcome change to the corrupt clergy of the time. It’s not hard to imagine their gaunt appearance, with hands calloused from travel and caring for the sick, and soft voices that spoke English with an Italian lilt, fiercely compassionate and with radical humility. I hope this renovation will allow these forgotten voices to come to life again.
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Janet Stock 