‘Fifty years ago’, wrote Dr A. G. Little in 1942, ‘I wrote a book about the Grey Friars in Oxford. Since then I have often urged Cambridge friends to write the history of the Grey Friars in Cambridge. My efforts have not been successful.’

As a matter of fact the present volume was planned and even begun no less than twenty-three years ago when the author was an undergraduate at Cambridge. Various things combined to prevent any progress being made, and it was not until quite recently that the work could be undertaken in earnest. When things were well under way the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge, did me the honour of inviting me to deliver the Birkbeck Lectures in Ecclesiastical History, and the most important part of the material collected in this book was given as a course of six lectures in Cambridge in the autumn of 1948.

Many people have helped from time to time in the production of this book. I should like to express my gratitude to Professor G. R. Potter of Sheffield for kindly looking through the manuscript and giving me the advantage of his experience and knowledge.