ABSTRACT
The orders of regular clergy, monks and friars alike, played a relatively unimportant part in the life of the late medieval Church. By the fourteenth century all the regular clergy were part of the clerical establishment rather than constructive critics, openly or tacitly, of its abuses. Organizational problems bulked large, particularly in the monasteries, which had to face the problems of the agricultural recession, when their lands were giving declining returns. Contemplation was the hallmark of the Carthusian tradition, and the English houses of the late Middle Ages were active in the transmission of devotional literature. The devotional life of the house was sustained by the resources of an exceptionally good library, and its members retained a reputation for strict observance. The early development of the order was slow, but increased in momentum under Henry VII, in whose reign some further foundations were made and some older houses were transferred to the new order.
