Thomas of Eccleston is celebrated as the first friar to record the deeds of the Franciscans, or Friars Minor, in England, from their arrival in 1224 until the close of his narrative in 1257/58. He wrote about the friars whose life he shared, and he recounted the order’s settlement in the cities and major boroughs. He assiduously collected materials for his chronicle, and he dipped into his resources to find anecdotes to chart the friars’ deeds and to illustrate their virtues, which greatly enriched the Church.

Thomas of Eccleston and Franciscan history

Thomas acquired the toponym de Eckleston from John Bale, who does not cite any evidence. Somewhat earlier John Leland summarised Thomas’s life and his treatise. He believed that Eccleston had studied at Oxford and that he

Leland’s account carries added weight due to the fact that on the eve of the Dissolution of the friaries in 1538/39 he had consulted the anonymous Catalogus quoque illustrium Franciscanorum in the Oxford Greyfriars.

Eccleston’s chronicle is the chief source of information regarding the friars’ arrival in England and their early expansion. Much of it consists of notes and anecdotes. His stature within the community of chroniclers has long been recognised. He was fêted as the chronicler of the Franciscans’ arrival and their impact on English soil.