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 Co
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Android
Cookbook
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
FOR ANDROID DEVELOPERS

Ian F. Darwin
 SECOND EDITION

Android Cookbook
Problems and Solutions for
Android Developers

Ian Darwin
Android Cookbook
by Ian F. Darwin
Copyright © 2017 O’Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.
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Revision History for the Second Edition

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The O’Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Android Cookbook, the cover image of
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licenses or the intellectual property rights of others, it is your responsibility to ensure that your use
thereof complies with such licenses and/or rights.

978-1-449-37443-3
[LSI]
To Dennis M. Ritchie (1941–2011), language pioneer
and co-inventor of Unix, who showed us all where
the braces go, reminded us to keep it simple, and
gave us so much more…
 Table of Contents

Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

1. Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Understanding the Android Application Architecture 1
1.2 Understanding the Android Activity Life Cycle 3
1.3 Learning About Android Releases 5
1.4 Learning the Java Language 7
1.5 Creating a “Hello, World” Application from the Command Line 8
1.6 Creating a “Hello, World” App with Apache Maven 13
1.7 Choosing an IDE for Android Development 15
1.8 Setting Up Android Studio 18
1.9 Installing Platform Editions and Keeping the SDK Updated 21
1.10 Creating a “Hello, World” App Using Android Studio 25
1.11 Converting an Eclipse ADT Project to Android Studio 30
1.12 Preserving History While Converting from Eclipse to Android Studio 34
1.13 Building an Android Application with both Eclipse and Android Studio 36
1.14 Setting Up Eclipse with AndMore (Replacing ADT) 39
1.15 Creating a “Hello, World” Application Using Eclipse 46
1.16 Installing the Eclipse Marketplace Client in Your Eclipse 51
1.17 Upgrading a Project from Eclipse ADT to Eclipse AndMore 53
1.18 Controlling Emulators/Devices Using Command-Line ADB 57
1.19 Sharing Java Classes from Another Eclipse Project 59
1.20 Referencing Libraries to Implement External Functionality 62
1.21 Using New Features on Old Devices via the Compatibility Libraries 67
1.22 Using SDK Samples to Help Avoid Head Scratching 68
1.23 Taking a Screenshot/Video from the Emulator/Android Device 70
1.24 Program: A Simple CountDownTimer Example 76
1.25 Program: Tipster, a Tip Calculator for the Android OS 79

v
2. Designing a Successful Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
2.1 Exception Handling 101
2.2 Requesting Android Permissions at Runtime 104
2.3 Accessing Android’s Application Object as a “Singleton” 106
2.4 Keeping Data When the User Rotates the Device 109
2.5 Monitoring the Battery Level of an Android Device 111
2.6 Creating Splash Screens in Android 113
2.7 Designing a Conference/Camp/Hackathon/Institution App 117
2.8 Using Google Analytics in an Android Application 119
2.9 Setting First-Run Preferences 122
2.10 Formatting Numbers 123
2.11 Formatting with Correct Plurals 127
2.12 Formatting the Time and Date for Display 130
2.13 Simplifying Date/Time Calculations with the Java 8 java.time API 132
2.14 Controlling Input with KeyListeners 134
2.15 Backing Up Android Application Data 137
2.16 Using Hints Instead of Tool Tips 144

3. Application Testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

3.1 Setting Up an Android Virtual Device (AVD) for App Testing 148
3.2 Testing on a Wide Range of Devices with Cloud-Based Testing 154
3.3 Testing with Eclipse and JUnit 155
3.4 Testing with Android Studio and JUnit 158
3.5 Testing with Robolectric and JUnit 4 163
3.6 Testing with ATSL, Espresso, and JUnit 4 166
3.7 Troubleshooting Application Crashes 170
3.8 Debugging Using Log.d() and LogCat 173
3.9 Getting Bug Reports Automatically with Crash Reporting 175
3.10 Using a Local Runtime Application Log for Analysis of Field Errors or
Situations 178
3.11 Reproducing Activity Life-Cycle Scenarios for Testing 181
3.12 Keeping Your App Snappy with StrictMode 186
3.13 Static Code Testing with Android Lint 187
3.14 Dynamic Testing with the Monkey Program 189
3.15 Sending Text Messages and Placing Calls Between AVDs 191

4. Inter-/Intra-Process Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

4.1 Opening a Web Page, Phone Number, or Anything Else with an Intent 194
4.2 Emailing Text from a View 196
4.3 Sending an Email with Attachments 199
4.4 Pushing String Values Using Intent.putExtra() 201
4.5 Retrieving Data from a Subactivity Back to Your Main Activity 202

vi | Table of Contents
 4.6 Keeping a Background Service Running While Other Apps Are on Display 205
4.7 Sending/Receiving a Broadcast Message 207
4.8 Starting a Service After Device Reboot 208
4.9 Creating a Responsive Application Using Threads 209
4.10 Using AsyncTask to Do Background Processing 210
4.11 Sending Messages Between Threads Using an Activity Thread Queue and
Handler 218
4.12 Creating an Android Epoch HTML/JavaScript Calendar 220

5. Graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
5.1 Using a Custom Font 227
5.2 Drawing a Spinning Cube with OpenGL ES 230
5.3 Adding Controls to the OpenGL Spinning Cube 234
5.4 Freehand Drawing Smooth Curves 237
5.5 Taking a Picture Using an Intent 242
5.6 Taking a Picture Using android.media.Camera 244
5.7 Scanning a Barcode or QR Code with the Google ZXing Barcode Scanner 248
5.8 Using AndroidPlot to Display Charts and Graphs 251
5.9 Using Inkscape to Create an Android Launcher Icon from
OpenClipArt.org 254
5.10 Using Paint.NET to Create Launcher Icons from OpenClipArt.org 259
5.11 Using Nine Patch Files 267
5.12 Creating HTML5 Charts with Android RGraph 270
5.13 Adding a Simple Raster Animation 274
5.14 Using Pinch to Zoom 278

6. Graphical User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

6.1 Understanding and Following User Interface Guidelines 282
6.2 Looking Good with Material Design 283
6.3 Choosing a Layout Manager (a.k.a. ViewGroup) and Arranging
Components 287
6.4 Handling Configuration Changes by Decoupling the View from the Model 288
6.5 Controlling the Action Bar 291
6.6 Adding a Share Action to Your Action Bar 295
6.7 Building Modern UIs with the Fragment API 299
6.8 Creating a Button and Its Click Event Listener 304
6.9 Enhancing UI Design Using Image Buttons 305
6.10 Using a FloatingActionButton 306
6.11 Wiring Up an Event Listener in Many Different Ways 309
6.12 Using CheckBoxes and RadioButtons 314
6.13 Using Card Widgets 318
6.14 Offering a Drop-Down Chooser via the Spinner Class 320

Table of Contents | vii

 6.15 Handling Long-Press/Long-Click Events 323
6.16 Displaying Text Fields with TextView and EditText 324
6.17 Constraining EditText Values with Attributes and the TextWatcher
Interface 325
6.18 Implementing AutoCompleteTextView 328
6.19 Feeding AutoCompleteTextView Using a SQLite Database Query 330
6.20 Turning Edit Fields into Password Fields 332
6.21 Changing the Enter Key to “Next” on the Soft Keyboard 333
6.22 Processing Key-Press Events in an Activity 336
6.23 Let Them See Stars: Using RatingBar 337
6.24 Making a View Shake 341
6.25 Providing Haptic Feedback 342
6.26 Navigating Different Activities Within a TabView 346
6.27 Creating a Loading Screen that Will Appear Between Two Activities 347
6.28 Adding a Border with Rounded Corners to a Layout 349
6.29 Detecting Gestures in Android 351
6.30 Creating a Simple App Widget 358

7. GUI Alerts: Menus, Dialogs, Toasts, Snackbars, and Notifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

7.1 Alerting the User with Toast and Snackbar 364
7.2 Customizing the Appearance of a Toast 366
7.3 Creating and Displaying a Menu 367
7.4 Handling Choice Selection in a Menu 369
7.5 Creating a Submenu 370
7.6 Creating a Pop-up/Alert Dialog 372
7.7 Using a Timepicker Widget 374
7.8 Creating an iPhone-like WheelPicker for Selection 376
7.9 Creating a Tabbed Dialog 379
7.10 Creating a ProgressDialog 382
7.11 Creating a Custom Dialog with Buttons, Images, and Text 383
7.12 Creating a Reusable “About Box” Class 385
7.13 Creating a Notification in the Status Bar 389

8. Other GUI Elements: Lists and Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

8.1 Building List-Based Applications with RecyclerView 395
8.2 Building List-Based Applications with ListView 399
8.3 Creating a “No Data” View for ListViews 403
8.4 Creating an Advanced ListView with Images and Text 405
8.5 Using Section Headers in ListViews 409
8.6 Keeping the ListView with the User’s Focus 413
8.7 Writing a Custom List Adapter 414
8.8 Using a SearchView to Search Through Data in a ListView 418

viii | Table of Contents

 8.9 Handling Orientation Changes: From ListView Data Values to Landscape
Charting 420

9. Multimedia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
9.1 Playing a YouTube Video 425
9.2 Capturing Video Using MediaRecorder 426
9.3 Using Android’s Face Detection Capability 429
9.4 Playing Audio from a File 432
9.5 Playing Audio Without Interaction 435
9.6 Using Speech to Text 437
9.7 Making the Device Speak with Text-to-Speech 438

10. Data Persistence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

10.1 Reading and Writing Files in Internal and External Storage 442
10.2 Getting File and Directory Information 446
10.3 Reading a File Shipped with the App Rather than in the Filesystem 451
10.4 Getting Space Information About the SD Card 453
10.5 Providing a Preference Activity 454
10.6 Checking the Consistency of Default Shared Preferences 459
10.7 Using a SQLite Database in an Android Application 461
10.8 Performing Advanced Text Searches on a SQLite Database 464
10.9 Working with Dates in SQLite 470
10.10 Exposing Non-SQL Data as a SQL Cursor 472
10.11 Displaying Data with a CursorLoader 475
10.12 Parsing JSON Using JSONObject 478
10.13 Parsing an XML Document Using the DOM API 480
10.14 Storing and Retrieving Data via a Content Provider 482
10.15 Writing a Content Provider 483
10.16 Adding a Contact Through the Contacts Content Provider 487
10.17 Reading Contact Data Using a Content Provider 490
10.18 Implementing Drag and Drop 492
10.19 Sharing Files via a FileProvider 496
10.20 Backing Up Your SQLite Data to the Cloud with a SyncAdapter 501
10.21 Storing Data in the Cloud with Google Firebase 510

11. Telephone Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517

11.1 Doing Something When the Phone Rings 517
11.2 Processing Outgoing Phone Calls 521
11.3 Dialing the Phone 525
11.4 Sending Single-part or Multipart SMS Messages 527
11.5 Receiving an SMS Message 529
11.6 Using Emulator Controls to Send SMS Messages to the Emulator 531

Table of Contents | ix
 11.7 Using Android’s TelephonyManager to Obtain Device Information 532

12. Networked Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

12.1 Consuming a RESTful Web Service Using a URLConnection 544
12.2 Consuming a RESTful Web Service with Volley 547
12.3 Notifying Your App with Google Cloud Messaging “Push Messaging” 549
12.4 Extracting Information from Unstructured Text Using Regular
Expressions 558
12.5 Parsing RSS/Atom Feeds Using ROME 559
12.6 Using MD5 to Digest Clear Text 564
12.7 Converting Text into Hyperlinks 565
12.8 Accessing a Web Page Using a WebView 566
12.9 Customizing a WebView 567
12.10 Writing an Inter-Process Communication Service 568

13. Gaming and Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575

13.1 Building an Android Game Using flixel-gdx 576
13.2 Building an Android Game Using AndEngine 580
13.3 Processing Timed Keyboard Input 587

14. Social Networking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589

14.1 Authenticating Users with OAUTH2 589
14.2 Integrating Social Networking Using HTTP 593
14.3 Loading a User’s Twitter Timeline Using HTML or JSON 596

15. Location and Map Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

15.1 Getting Location Information 599
15.2 Accessing GPS Information in Your Application 601
15.3 Mocking GPS Coordinates on a Device 603
15.4 Using Geocoding and Reverse Geocoding 606
15.5 Getting Ready for Google Maps API V2 Development 607
15.6 Using the Google Maps API V2 612
15.7 Displaying Map Data Using OpenStreetMap 618
15.8 Creating Overlays in OpenStreetMap Maps 621
15.9 Using a Scale on an OpenStreetMap Map 623
15.10 Handling Touch Events on an OpenStreetMap Overlay 624
15.11 Getting Location Updates with OpenStreetMap Maps 627

16. Accelerometer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631

16.1 Checking for the Presence or Absence of a Sensor 631
16.2 Using the Accelerometer to Detect Shaking 632
16.3 Checking Whether a Device Is Facing Up or Down 636

x | Table of Contents
 16.4 Reading the Temperature Sensor 637

17. Bluetooth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639

17.1 Enabling Bluetooth and Making the Device Discoverable 639
17.2 Connecting to a Bluetooth-Enabled Device 641
17.3 Accepting Connections from a Bluetooth Device 644
17.4 Implementing Bluetooth Device Discovery 645

18. System and Device Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

18.1 Accessing Phone Network/Connectivity Information 647
18.2 Obtaining Information from the Manifest File 648
18.3 Changing Incoming Call Notification to Silent, Vibrate, or Normal 649
18.4 Copying Text and Getting Text from the Clipboard 652
18.5 Using LED-Based Notifications 652
18.6 Making the Device Vibrate 653
18.7 Determining Whether a Given Application Is Running 654

19. All the World’s Not Java: Other Programming Languages and Frameworks. . . . . . . . . 657
19.1 Learning About Cross-Platform Solutions 658
19.2 Running Shell Commands from Your Application 659
19.3 Running Native C/C++ Code with JNI on the NDK 661
19.4 Getting Started with SL4A, the Scripting Layer for Android 667
19.5 Creating Alerts in SL4A 669
19.6 Fetching Your Google Documents and Displaying Them in a ListView
Using SL4A 673
19.7 Sharing SL4A Scripts in QR Codes 676
19.8 Using Native Handset Functionality from a WebView via JavaScript 678
19.9 Building a Cross-Platform App with Xamarin 680
19.10 Creating a Cross-Platform App Using PhoneGap/Cordova 685

20. All the World’s Not English: Strings and Internationalization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
20.1 Internationalizing Application Text 690
20.2 Finding and Translating Strings 693
20.3 Handling the Nuances of strings.xml 695

21. Packaging, Deploying, and Distributing/Selling Your App. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701

21.1 Creating a Signing Certificate and Using It to Sign Your Application 701
21.2 Distributing Your Application via the Google Play Store 705
21.3 Distributing Your Application via Other App Stores 707
21.4 Monetizing Your App with AdMob 708
21.5 Obfuscating and Optimizing with ProGuard 714
21.6 Hosting Your App on Your Own Server 717

Table of Contents | xi
 21.7 Creating a “Self-Updating” App 718
21.8 Providing a Link to Other Published Apps in the Google Play Store 720

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725

xii | Table of Contents

 Preface

Android is “the open source revolution” applied to cellular telephony and mobile
computing. At least, part of the revolution. There have been many other attempts to
provide open source cell phones, most of them largely defunct, ranging from the
Openmoko Neo FreeRunner to QT Embedded, Moblin, LiMo, Debian Mobile,
Maemo, Firefox OS, and Ubuntu Mobile to the open sourced Symbian OS and the
now-defunct HP WebOS. And let’s not forget the established closed source stalwart,
Apple’s iOS, and the two minor players (by market share), Microsoft’s Windows
Phone, and the now-abandoned BlackBerry OS 10.
Amongst all these offerings, two stand out as major players. Android is definitely
here to stay! Due to its open source licensing, Android is used on many economy-
model phones around the world, and indeed, Android has been estimated to be on as
many as 90% of the world’s smartphones. This book is here to help the Android
developer community share the knowledge that will help make better apps. Those
who contribute knowledge here are helping to make Android development easier for
those who come after.

About Android
Android is a mobile technology platform that provides cell phones, tablets, and other
handheld and mobile devices (even netbooks) with the power and portability of the
Linux operating system, the reliability and portability of a standard high-level lan‐
guage and API, and a vast ecosystem of useful applications. Android apps are mostly
written in the Java language (using tools such as Eclipse and Android Studio), com‐
piled against the Android API, and translated into bytecode for an Android-specific
VM.
Android is thus related by OS family to other Linux-based cell phone projects.
Android is also related by programming language to BlackBerry’s older Java ME
phones, and to Java and the wider realm of Java Enterprise applications. Not to men‐
tion that all current BlackBerry devices can run Android applications, and, in fact,

xiii
before it outsourced the remains of its smartphone business, BlackBerry’s last devices
only ran Android.
It’s now generally believed that Android has almost three-quarters of the world
smartphone market, although it has not displaced Apple’s iPad in the tablet market.
Sales figures change all the time, but it is clear that Android is, and will remain, one
of the dominant players in the mobile space.
Android is also available for several specialized platforms. Android Wear brings
Android’s programming model to the smartwatch and wearable environment for uses
such as fitness trackers. Android Auto is designed for controlling the entertainment
units in automobiles. Android TV runs in smart TVs and controllers for not-so-
smart TVs. Finally, Android Things is designed for the embedded market, now
known as “the internet of things” (IoT). Each of these platforms is fascinating, but to
keep the book to a reasonable size, we focus primarily on “regular Android,” Android
for smartphone and tablet applications.

Who This Book Is By

This book was co-written by several dozen Android developers from the Android
community at large. Development occurred in the open, on the Android Cookbook
website, which I built (using Java, of course) to allow people to contribute, view,
review, and comment on the recipes that would make up this book. A complete list
can be found in “Acknowledgments” on page xxi. I am deeply grateful to all the con‐
tributors, who have helped move this book from a dream to the reality that you have
in your hands (or onscreen if you are reading the ebook format). Thank you all!

Who This Book Is For

This book focuses on building Android applications using Java, the native language of
Android applications. It is of course possible to package up a web application as a
mobile app (see Recipe 19.10), but it will be difficult to get the all-important 100%-
correct user experience with all the current features of Android that way.
So. Java. We assume you know the basics of the Java language. If not, see Recipe 1.4.
We also assume you know the basics of the Java Standard Edition API (since this
forms the basis of Android’s runtime libraries) as well as the basics of Android. The
terms Activity, Intent, Service, and content provider, while not necessarily being what
you dream about at night, should at least be familiar to you. But if not, we’ve got you
covered: see Recipe 1.2.
This book differs from the Samples associated with the Android SDK in that it tries to
focus more on how a given piece of technology works, rather than giving you (as
many of the Samples do) a complete, working example that has both been simplified

xiv | Preface
(to use very simple data) and complicated by adding in several “neat” features that are
irrelevant to the problem at hand.

What’s in This Book?

Chapter 1 takes you through the steps of setting up the Android development envi‐
ronment and building several simple applications of the well-known “Hello, World”
type pioneered by Brian Kernighan.
Chapter 2 covers some of the differences in mobile computing that will hit developers
coming from desktop and enterprise software environments, and talks about how
mobile design (in particular, Android design) differs from those other environments.
Testing is often an afterthought for some developers, so we discuss this early on, in
Chapter 3. Not so that you’ll skip it, but so that you’ll read and heed. We talk about
unit testing individual components as well as testing out your entire application in a
well-controlled way.
Android provides a variety of mechanisms for communicating within and across
applications. In Chapter 4 we discuss Intents and broadcast receivers, Services,
AsyncTasks, and handlers.

Chapter 5 covers a range of topics related to graphics, including use of the graphical
drawing and compositing facilities in Android as well as using desktop tools to
develop graphical images, textures, icons, and so on that will be incorporated into
your finished application.
Every mobile app needs a GUI, so Chapter 6 covers the main ins and outs of GUI
development for Android. Examples are given both in XML and, in a few cases, in
Java-coded GUI development.
Chapter 7 covers all the pop-up mechanisms—menus, dialogs, and toasts—and one
that doesn’t pop up but is also for interaction outside your application’s window,
Android’s notification mechanism.
Lists of items are very common in mobile applications on all platforms. Chapter 8
focuses on the “list” components in Android: the ListView and its newer replacement,
the RecyclerView.
Android is rich in multimedia capabilities. Chapter 9 shows how to use the most
important of these.
Chapter 10 shows how to save data into files, databases, and so on—and how to
retrieve it later, of course. Another communication mechanism is about allowing
controlled access to data that is usually in a SQL database. This chapter also shows
you how to make application data available to other applications through something

Preface | xv
as simple but ubiquitous (in Android) as the URL, and how to use various cloud-
based services to store data.
Android started out as an operating system for mobile telephones. Chapter 11 shows
how to control and react to the telephony component that is in most mobile devices
nowadays.
Mobile devices are, for the most part, always-on and always-connected. This has a
major impact on how people use them and think about them. Chapter 12 shows the
coding for traditional networked applications. This is followed by Chapter 13, which
discusses gaming and animation, and Chapter 14, which discusses social networking.
The now-ubiquitous Global Positioning System (GPS) has also had a major impact
on how mobile applications work. Chapter 15 discusses how to find a device’s loca‐
tion, how to get map data from Google and OpenStreetMap, and how applications
can be location-aware in ways that are just now being explored.
Chapter 16 talks about the sensors built into most Android devices and how to use
them.
Chapter 17 talks about the low-energy very-local area networking that Bluetooth ena‐
bles, going beyond connecting your Bluetooth headset to your phone.
Android devices are perhaps unique in how much control they give the developer.
Some of these angles are explored in Chapter 18. Because Android is Linux-based, a
few of the recipes in this chapter deal with traditional Unix/Linux commands and
facilities.
In Chapter 19, we explore the use of other programming languages to write all or part
of your Android application. Examples include C, Perl, Python, Lisp, and other lan‐
guages.
While this edition of this book is in English, and English remains the number-one
technical language worldwide, it is far from the only one. Most end users would
rather have an application that has its text in their language and its icons in a form
that is culturally correct for them. Chapter 20 goes over the issues of language and
culture and how they relate to Android.

xvi | Preface
Finally, most Android developers hope other people will use their applications. But
this won’t happen if users can’t find the applications. Chapter 21 shows how to pre‐
pare your application for distribution via the Google Play Store, and to use that as
well as other markets to get your application out to the people who will use it.

Content Updates—Second Edition, March 2017

Major revision for Android Nougat (7.x). As befits a major revision, there are numer‐
ous new recipes to cover all the APIs that have been added or replaced over the past
several releases of Android. Of necessity, a few older recipes were retired. Some rec‐
ipes were moved around, which resulted in renumbering of most of the chapters.
The Android O Preview was released in the final week of this edition’s proofing stage,
and a few references are made to Android O; these should be regarded as “forward-
looking statements,” as “O” is still in a preview release.

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
Italic
Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.
Constant width
Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program ele‐
ments such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment
variables, statements, and keywords.
Constant width bold
Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user.
Constant width italic
Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values or by values deter‐
mined by context.

This element signifies a tip or suggestion.

This element signifies a general note.

Preface | xvii
 This element signifies a warning or caution.

And here is our first warning: the term “I” used in a given recipe
reflects the opinions or experience of that recipe’s contributor, not
necessarily of the book’s editor.

Getting and Using the Code Examples

The code examples in this book vary from a few lines pasted from a complete applica‐
tion through to fully working apps. For those at the “few lines” end of the spectrum,
you should not expect to be able to compile them from what we provide; these are
intended to be merged into your application. All the examples that we have code for
and that are compilable have been merged into a single GitHub repository, which is
the recommended way of getting the source code and keeping it up-to-date. This reposi‐
tory can be accessed at https://github.com/IanDarwin/Android-Cookbook-Examples.
Each directory in the repo contains one example program’s project. As you will see if
you visit this page, GitHub allows you to check out the source repository using the git
clone command. As well, the web page offers the option to download the entire repos‐
itory as a single (large) ZIP file as well as to browse portions of the repository in a
web browser. Using Git will allow you to receive corrections and updates.
Contributors of each recipe also have the option to provide a download URL for their
source code, hosted on some other public repository. These are listed as hyperlinks
for ebook users to download from at the end of each recipe. In each case the archive
file is expected to contain a complete Eclipse or Android Studio project. We have no
control over these other repositories, so if one of them is incomplete, or stops work‐
ing, please refer to the GitHub repository instead.

Almost all code examples originally written for Eclipse now also
contain a build.gradle file so they can be opened directly in
Android Studio as well (see Recipe 1.12 to see how we did this).
Code examples originally written for Android Studio can, in gen‐
eral, not be used by Eclipse without reorganizing the project struc‐
ture.

xviii | Preface
 How to Determine How a Project Can Be Built
If a project’s top-level directory contains:
AndroidManifest.xml and .project
It is openable with Eclipse.
build.gradle
It is openable with Android Studio or buildable with
command-line Gradle.
pom.xml
It is buildable with command-line Maven (or using Maven
inside an IDE).
build.xml
It might still be buildable with the older Ant build tool.
See Figure P-1 for an example of a typical project layout.
The top level of the Git repository for the examples contains a
README file, viewable below the list of files and directories, which
summarizes which projects can be built using which tools. Please
pay attention to the Notes column, as there may at any time be
some known issues with building the examples.

Figure P-1. Project layout for typical Eclipse and Studio projects

This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code in
this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to contact us for

Preface | xix
permission unless you’re reproducing a significant portion of the code. For example,
writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does not require
permission. Selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O’Reilly books does
require permission. Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example
code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant amount of example
code from this book into your product’s documentation does require permission.
We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes
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tion, by Ian F. Darwin (O’Reilly). Copyright 2017 O’Reilly Media, Inc.,
978-1-449-37443-3.”
If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the permission given
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xx | Preface
We have a web page for this book, where we list errata, examples, and any additional
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the dozens of people from the Android community at large who
contributed so many of the recipes in the first edition of this book: Amir Alagic, Jim
Blackler, Luis Vitorio Cargnini, Rupesh Chavan, Adrian Cowham, Wagied Davids,
Nidhin Jose Davis, David Dawes, Enrique Diaz, Marco Dinacci, Claudio Esperanca,
Kurosh Fallahzadeh, Daniel Fowler, Jonathan Fuerth, Sunit Katkar, Roger Kind Kris‐
tiansen, Vladimir Kroz, Alex Leffelman, Ulysses Levy, Thomas Manthey, Emaad
Manzoor, Zigurd Mednieks, Keith Mendoza, Roberto Calvo Palomino, Federico Pao‐
linelli, Johan Pelgrim, Catarina Reis, Mike Rowehl, Pratik Rupwal, Oscar Salguero,
Ashwini Shahapurkar, Shraddha Shravagi, Rachee Singh, Saketkumar Srivastav,
Corey Sunwold, Kailuo Wang, and Colin Wilcox.
Thanks to Mike Way, who contributed the permissions recipe (Recipe 2.2) for the
second edition, and Daniel Fowler for updating several of his recipes for this second
edition.
I must also mention the many people at O’Reilly who have helped shape this book,
including my editors Mike Loukides, Courtney Nash, Meghan Blanchette, and Dawn
Schanafelt; Adam Witwer and Sarah Schneider in production; production editor Ter‐
esa Elsey, who shepherded the whole production process; external copyeditor Audrey
Doyle, who painstakingly read every word and phrase; Stacie Arellano, who proof‐
read it all again; Lucie Haskins, who added index terms to all those recipes; designers
Karen Montgomery and David Futato; illustrators Robert Romano and Rebecca
Demarest; and anyone whom I’ve neglected to mention—you know who you are! For
the second edition: Colleen Lobner, Kim Cofer, Rachel Head, and Judith McConville.
My late son Andrej Darwin helped with some administrative tasks late in the recipe
editing phase of the first edition. Thanks to all my family for their support.
Finally, a note of thanks to my two technical reviewers, Greg Ostravich and Zettie
Chinfong, without whom there would be many more errors and omissions than the

Preface | xxi
ones that doubtless remain. Not only that, they both came back for the second edi‐
tion! Rick Isaacs made another pass and tested many recipes. Thanks also to the
many people who pointed out minor errors and omissions in the first printing of the
book, especially Anto Jurkovic and Joseph C. Eddy; most of these have been corrected
at this time. The errors which surely remain are my own.
To all of the above, thank you!

xxii | Preface
 CHAPTER 1
Getting Started

The famous “Hello, World” pattern came about back in 1978 when Brian Kernighan
and P.J. Plauger wrote a “recipe” on how to get started in any new programming lan‐
guage and environment. Their idea was that, if you could get a computer program to
print out “Hello, World,” then you had mastered how to use the system in general:
how to create/edit a program’s source code, compile/translate/process it into a runna‐
ble program as needed, and run it. And once you’d done that you could, with elabora‐
tion, make the computer do anything! This chapter is affectionately dedicated to
these fine gentlemen, and to everyone who has ever struggled to get started in a new
programming paradigm.
This chapter is a smorgasbord of “how to get started” recipes. We show you how to
create and build an Android app using almost no tooling, using Apache Maven, using
Eclipse, using Gradle, and using Android Studio. Nobody will regularly use all these
techniques, but we chose to cover them all because some readers will like each way of
doing things. Feel free to pick and choose, and try different ways of working on your
application!

1.1 Understanding the Android Application Architecture

Ian Darwin

Problem
An Android application consists of many “moving parts” whose natures and interac‐
tions need to be understood in order to develop effectively.

1
Discussion
An Android application consists of one or more of the following components, written
as Java classes:

• An Activity comprises the visual components (“views”) for one screen as well as
the code that displays data into that screen and can respond to user events on that
screen. Almost every application has at least one Activity class.
• A Service is a component that has no user interface, and can run for a longer
period of time than an Activity. Two main uses for Services are for long-running
tasks (such as a music player), and running medium-length tasks without tying
up the user-interface thread.
• Broadcast receivers are less common, and are used to respond to system-wide
events such as the network losing or regaining connectivity, the battery running
low, the system rebooting, and so on.
• Content providers are also relatively rare, and are used when one application
needs to share its data with other applications; they can also be used with sync
adapters.
• Sync adapters synchronize data with cloud services; the best-known examples are
the Contacts and Calendar apps on the device, which can easily be synchronized
to your Google account.

Your code does not create these objects using the new operator, as in conventional Java,
but requests the invocation of Activities, Services, etc., using an Intent, an object that
specifies your intention to have something done. Intents can start Activities within
your application (by class name), start Activities in other applications (by specifying
content type and other information), start Services, and request other operations. The
interactions among these components are outlined in Figure 1-1.
Of these, the Activity is the most basic component, and the place you need to start
when learning to develop Android applications.

Reference Documentation
Every Android developer should probably save at least these bookmarks or favorites
in their browser for quick reference at any time:

• Introductory Documentation
• Android API Reference

2 | Chapter 1: Getting Started

1.2 Understanding the Android Activity Life Cycle
Ian Darwin

Problem
Android apps do not have a “main” method; you need to understand how they get
started and how they stop or get stopped.

Solution
The class android.app.Activity provides a number of well-defined life-cycle methods
that are called when an application is started, suspended, restarted, and so on, as well
as a method you can call to mark an Activity as finished.

Figure 1-1. Android application components

Discussion
Your Android application runs in its own Unix process, so in general it cannot
directly affect any other running application. The Android Runtime interfaces with
the operating system to call you when your application starts, when the user switches
to another application, and so on. There is a well-defined life cycle for Android appli‐
cations.
An Android app can be in one of three states:

• Active, in which the app is visible to the user and is running.

1.2 Understanding the Android Activity Life Cycle | 3

 • Paused, in which the app is partly obscured and has lost the input focus (e.g.,
when a dialog is in front of your Activity).
• Stopped, in which the app is completely hidden from view.

Your app will be transitioned among these states by Android calling the following
methods on the current Activity at the appropriate time:
void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
void onStart()
void onResume()
void onRestart()
void onPause()
void onStop()
void onDestroy()

You can see the state diagram for this life cycle in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-2. Android life-cycle states

The system’s call to onCreate() is how you know that the Activity has been started. This
is where you normally do constructor-like work such as setting up the “main win‐

4 | Chapter 1: Getting Started

dow” with setContentView(), adding listeners to buttons to do work (including starting
additional Activities), and so on. This is the one method that even the simplest
Android Activity needs.
Note that most applications today base their UI on Fragments. A Fragment is a part of
the UI for an Activity. For example, in the early days of Android a typical list-detail
application would use two Activities, one for the list and one for the detail. This is still
allowed, of course, but has the drawback that, on a tablet or a large-screen phone in
landscape mode, it isn’t possible to have both views side-by-side. An Activity can be
divided into multiple Fragments (see Recipe 6.7), which solves this problem. A Frag‐
ment can only exist inside an Activity. The Fragment life cycle is similar to that of the
Activity, but has a few additional methods.
You can see the invocations of the various life-cycle methods by creating a dummy
project in Eclipse and overriding all the life-cycle methods with log “debug” state‐
ments (see also Recipe 3.11):
@Override
public void onPause() {
Log.d(TAG, "In method onPause()");
}

1.3 Learning About Android Releases

Ian Darwin

Problem
You keep hearing about Ice Cream Sandwiches, Jelly Beans, Lollipops, KitKats,
Marshmallows, and Nougats, and need to know what it all means.

Discussion
Android has gone through many versions in its lifetime. Each version has a version
number, a code name, and an API level. The version number is a conventional ver‐
sioning system like 2.1, 2.3.3, 3.0, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 6.0, and so on. When the first digit of
the version changes, it’s a big deal with lots of new APIs; when the second digit
changes, it’s more evolution than revolution (and occasionally a new code name); and
if only the third digit changes, it’s a minor change. The API levels are numbered
monotonically. The code names are alphabetical and always refer to sweet foods. API
levels 1 and 2 did not officially have code names.
Note that the Android system is backward-compatible in the usual sense: an app built
for an older release will run on a newer version of Android, but not vice versa (unless
special care is taken; see Recipe 1.21). An app built for 1.5 should run without recom‐
pilation on Android 7, for example. But an app written for and compiled on Android

1.3 Learning About Android Releases | 5

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 4. Island in the Thames acquired by Henry III,
1245 297
5. Grant of the same island to the Friars, 1245 297
6. Grant of two messuages by Thomas de
Valeynes, 1245 298
7. Grant of a messuage by Laurence Wych,
Mayor of Oxford, 1246 299
8. License to enclose their new possessions; the
City Wall to be repaired, 1248 299
9. Royal grants to the Friars of the Sack, 1262,
1265 300
10. Grants to the Friars Minors from various
persons, 1310 301
11. Property of the Friars of the Sack conferred on
the Friars Minors, 1310 301
12. Re-grant of the same property to them, 1319 302
13. Inquiry held at Oxford in 1319 as to the
advisability of allowing John Culvard to grant a
parcel of ground to the Friars Minors 303
14. Grant of a parcel of ground by John de Grey
de Rotherfield 305

B. Miscellaneous Documents.
1. Food for the Friars Minors and others, 1244 307
2. Adam Marsh as royal nuncius, 1247 307
3. For the same, 1257 308
4. The Church of the Minorites used as a
Sanctuary, 1284-5 308
5. Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1289 308
6. Decree of the General Chapter at Paris, 1292 309
 7. Royal grant of 50 marcs, 1323 309
8. ‘Receptor Denariorum’ of the Grey Friars, 1341 310
9. Goods and chattels of Friar John Welle, S.T.P.,
1378 311
10. Expulsion of foreign Minorites, 1388 312
11. William Woodford; confirmation of his
privileges by Boniface IX, 1396 312
12. Appointment of a lecturer to the Convent at
Hereford, c. 1400 313
13. Decree of the General Chapter at Florence,
1467 314
14. Recovery of debt from a Sheriff, 1488 315
15. Documents relating to the lease of a garden at
the Grey Friars to Richard Leke, 1513-1514 316
16. Extracts from the Will of Richard Leke, 1526 318
17. An ex-warden called to account, 1529 318

C. Controversy between the Friars Preachers

and Friars Minors at Oxford, 1269 320

D. Supplications and Graces from the

Registers of Congregation.
John David, 1450/1, 1454/5 336
John Sunday, 1453/4 336
Richard Ednam, 1462, 1463 336
Walter Goodfeld, 1506-1510 337
John Thornall, 1525 338
Thomas Kirkham, 1527 338
INDEX 341
 CORRIGENDA.
P. 6, n. 5, for tempora, read temporalem.
P. 33. There was no house of Grey Friars
at Evesham. Simon de Montfort was
buried by the monks of Evesham (see
Rishanger). The Miracula Symonis de
Montfort, however, bears evident traces
of Franciscan influence.
P. 49, n. 3, for Church, Quarterly Review,
read Church Quarterly Review.
P. 54, l. 11, for because, read became.
P. 56, n. 5 for quos, read quas.

THE GREY FRIARS IN OXFORD.

PART I.
HISTORY OF THE CONVENT, A. D. 1224-
1538.
 CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS.
Arrival of the Franciscans at Oxford.—
Their early Poverty, and
Cheerfulness.—Oxford Friars as
Peacemakers, and Crusaders.—
Relations to the University, and to
the first Colleges.—Their strict
observance of the Rule.
The Franciscans first arrived in England in 1224[3]. On Tuesday, the
10th of September in that year (to follow the account of Friar
Thomas Eccleston, the earliest historian of the Order in this
country), a company of nine friars, four of them clerks and five
laymen, landed at Dover, under the leadership of Agnellus of Pisa,
the first Provincial Minister. After staying two days at Canterbury,
four of them proceeded to London; and at the end of the month,
two of these, Friar Richard of Ingeworth and Friar Richard of Devon,
set out for Oxford. It is perhaps to this place that the well-known
story told by Bartholomew of Pisa properly belongs[4]. As they
neared Oxford they were stopped by the floods, and finding
themselves at nightfall ‘in a vast wood which lies between Bath and
Oxford,’ they sought refuge ‘for the love of God’ at a grange
belonging to the monks of Abingdon, ‘lest they should perish from
hunger or the wild beasts in the forest.’ The prior, judging them to
be jesters[5], had them turned out; but a young monk, when the rest
had gone to bed, put them into a hayloft and brought them bread
and beer. That night he had a dream. The prior and his brethren
were summoned before the judgment-seat of Christ; and
‘there came a certain poor man, humble and despised, in the habit
of those poor friars, and he cried with a loud voice: “O most
impartial Judge, the blood of my brethren, which hath been shed
this night, crieth unto Thee. The guardians of this place have
refused them meat and lodging, although they have left all for Thy
sake, and were now coming here to seek those souls which Thou
hast redeemed with Thy blood; they would not, in fact, have refused
as much to jesters and mummers.”... Then the Judge commanded
them to be hanged on the elm that stood in that cloister.’
In the morning the young monk found his companions dead, and
became an early convert to the order of St. Francis.
On their arrival at Oxford, the two friars were received with great
kindness by the Dominicans.
‘They ate in their refectory, and slept in their dormitory, like
conventuals for eight days[6].’
They then hired a house in the parish of St. Ebbe from Robert le
Mercer[7]. Alms sufficient for the purpose were probably already
forthcoming, as the new Order did not have to wait long for
recognition. Though they only occupied this house till the following
summer[8], they were there joined by ‘many honest bachelors and
many eminent men’[9]; and it may have been owing to this increase
in their numbers that they left their first abode in 1225 and hired a
house with ground attached from Richard the Miller[10]. It is
significant of the rapid growth of opinion in their favour that Richard
‘within a year conferred the land and house on the community of the
town for the use of the Friars Minors.’
Enthusiasm and self-sacrifice were the powerful agents which
ensured success and favour to the early Franciscans, and many are
the stories of their primitive poverty and its effects; and if the
convent at Oxford was not especially distinguished like that at
Cambridge by ‘paucilitas pecuniae,’ or like that at York by ‘zelus
paupertatis[11],’ the Oxford Minorites, during the time of Agnellus at
least, departed but little from the ideal of their founder[12], and lived
the life of the poor among whom they ministered. The pangs of
hunger were not unknown in the convent; and on one occasion the
friars were in debt to the amount of ten marks for food[13]. Their
first houses were mean and small—too small for the numbers who
flocked to their Order[14]; and the infirmary was
‘so low that the height of the walls did not much exceed the height
of a man[15].’
When at length they built their church, the brethren worked with
their own hands, and a bishop and an abbat who had assumed the
coarse habit of the friars are said to have ‘carried water and sand
and stones for the building of the place[16].’
The appearance of the Minorites was no less humble than their
buildings. Their habits of coarse gray or brown cloth[17], tied round
the waist with a cord, often worn and patched, as Grostete loved to
see them, hardly[18] distinguished them from ‘simple rustics[19].’ In
the convent at Oxford, pillows were forbidden, and the use of shoes
was permitted only to the infirm or old, and that by special
licence[20]. We hear of two of the brethren returning from a chapter
held at Oxford at Christmas time singing as they
‘picked their way along the rugged path over the frozen mud and
rigid snow, whilst the blood lay in the track of their naked feet,
without their being conscious of it[21].’
Even from the robbers and murderers who infested the woods near
Oxford the Barefoot Friars were safe[22].
‘Three things,’ said Friar Albert, Minister General, ‘tended to the
exaltation of the Order,—bare feet, coarse garments, and the
rejecting of money[23]’; and the Oxford Franciscans were as zealous
in the last respect as in the other two. The Archdeacon of
Northampton sent a bag of money to Friar Adam Marsh, and when
the latter refused it, the messenger threw it down in the cell and left
it:—
‘Wherefore,’ writes Adam to the Archdeacon, ‘the bearer of these
presents has at the instance of the brethren taken the said money,
just as it was, sealed with your seal, to your lordship, to dispose of
according to your pleasure[24].’
The evidence of the Public Records, containing scattered notices of
grants from the Crown, is striking on this point, and the poverty of
these early Franciscans can hardly be better illustrated than by the
means taken to relieve it. During the long reign of Henry III, the
Patent, Close, and Liberate Rolls contain only three grants of money
to the house of the Minorites at Oxford, and all of them are due to
exceptional circumstances. They are, ten marks for the support of a
provincial chapter in 1238, 60s. for their houses in 1245 in lieu of six
oaks which the king had before given them, and three marks for the
fabric of their church in 1246[25]. The alms to the house at Oxford
are almost wholly in kind, and consist chiefly of supplies of firewood
from the royal forests round Oxford. The earliest recorded instance
of royal bounty was a grant of thirteen oaks in ‘Brehull’ (Brill) forest
for fuel on the 9th Jan. 1231[26]. A few years later they received
fifteen cartloads of brushwood from Shotover forest[27], and in 1237
fifteen oaks in Wychwood Forest ‘to make charcoal[28].’ Similar
notices occur almost every year—sometimes twice a year—
throughout the reign of Henry III[29]. In 1240 the keepers of the
wines at Southampton were ordered to deliver one cask of Gascon
wine, of the king’s bounty, to the Friars Minors at Oxford ‘to
celebrate masses[30].’ In 1248 the Sheriff of Oxford received orders
to
‘give to the Friars Minors of Oxford one cask of wine of the six casks
which he took into the king’s hand of the wine of those who lately
killed a clerk in the town of Oxford[31].’
But a fortnight later the king repented of his generosity and assigned
the same cask to one of his numerous relatives[32]. Of more interest,
as showing that the friars were really classed with the poor of the
town, is a royal brief of the 12th of Dec. 1244 to the bailiffs of
Oxford, bidding them
‘give of the ferm of their town to Friar Roger, King’s Almoner, on
Wednesday the morrow of the feast of St. Lucy the Virgin, ten
marks, to feed a thousand paupers and the Friars Preachers and
Minors of Oxford, for the soul of the Lady Empress sister of the King,
on the day of her anniversary[33].’
With all their poverty and holiness they were singularly free from
that form of piety which consists in wearing a sad countenance and
appearing unto men to fast. We hear indeed of strict silence, of
constant prayer, of vigils that lasted the whole night[34].
‘Yet,’ continues Eccleston[35], ‘the brethren were so full of fun among
themselves, that a mute could hardly refrain from laughter at the
sight. So when the young friars of Oxford laughed too frequently, it
was enjoined on one that as often as he laughed he should be
punished. Now it happened that, when he had received no
punishments in one day, and yet could not restrain himself from
laughing, he had a vision one night, that the whole convent stood as
usual in the choir, and the friars were beginning to laugh as usual,
and behold the crucifix which stood at the door of the choir turned
towards them as though alive, and said: “They are the sons of Corah
who in the hour of chanting laugh and sleep.”... On hearing this
dream, the friars were frightened and behaved without very
noticeable laughter[36].’
Grostete said to a Friar Preacher, ‘Three things are necessary to
temporal health—to eat, sleep, and be merry[37].’ Excessive austerity
was discountenanced by the authorities of the Oxford convent. Friar
Albert of Pisa, who was himself ‘always cheerful and merry in the
society of the brethren[38],’ compelled Friar Eustace de Merc,
contrary to custom, to eat fish, saying that the Order lost many good
persons through their indiscretion[39]. Grostete again
‘commanded a melancholy friar to drink a cup full of the best wine
as a penance, and when he had drunk it up, though most
unwillingly, he said to him, “Dear brother, if you often performed a
penance like that, you would have a better ordered conscience[40].”’
The friars lovingly treasured up the great bishop’s puns and jokes
and wise sayings[41], and were always ready to tell or appreciate a
good story. From first to last they had the reputation of being
excellent company[42], and were welcome at the tables of the rich or
well-to-do[43]. They were allowed by the rule to
‘eat of all manner of meats which be set before them[44],’
a practice which occasionally caused some scandal[45]; and Friar
Albert of Pisa ordered them to keep silence in the house of hosts,
except among the preachers and friars of other provinces[46]. Like
St. Francis himself, the Oxford friars often possessed the courtesy
and charm of manner which is born of sympathy[47]; and it was
perhaps to this quality that their employment as diplomatic agents is
to be attributed. Thus Agnellus was chosen in 1233 to negotiate with
the rebellious Earl Marshall and try to bring him back to his
allegiance[48]. Adam Marsh was on more than one occasion sent
beyond the sea as royal emissary[49], and Edward I sent Oxford
Minorites to treat for peace with his enemies[50]. But to the
mediaeval mind, there was a cause more sacred than that of peace
or good government; and the Franciscans would not have had their
great influence—would not have become leaders of men throughout
the world—had they not shared the one ideal, which still even in the
thirteenth century appealed to every class in every country of
Europe. The Crusades attracted the scholastic philosopher no less
than the baron with his sins to expiate, or the serf with his liberty to
win. It was partly to increase his influence as a missionary[51] that
Adam of Oxford, one of the first ‘masters’ who joined the Order[52],
took the vows of St. Francis; against the wishes of his brethren in
England, who hoped to keep among them so famous and learned a
convert, and who indeed feared lest he should come under heretical
influences[53], he went to Gregory IX, and at his own prayer was
sent by the Pope to preach to the Saracens[54]. When Prince Edward
went to the Holy Land in 1270, he took with him as preacher Friar
William de Hedley, the lecturer and regent master of the Friars
Minors at Oxford[55]. Hedley died before the army reached Acre; but
these learned friars did not flinch when summoned to meet a sterner
fate. In 1289 Tripoli was captured by the Saracens: an English friar
led the last charge of the despairing Christians, carrying aloft the
cross till his arms were hewn off;
‘the above-mentioned friar,’ continues the chronicler, ‘who by his
example provoked very many to martyrdom, had been no small
space of time warden of the Oxford Convent[56].’
The friars of both Orders soon took a leading part in the affairs of
the University. As Bishop of Lincoln[57], Grostete continued to
exercise a kind of paternal authority over the University[58], and his
high character and long connexion with Oxford gave him an
influence which was denied to his successors. It was natural that this
influence should be reflected on the Franciscans, whom he had
taken under his especial care and among whom was his ‘true friend
and faithful counsellor[59]’ Adam Marsh. The latter was specially
summoned to the congregation to hear and advise on the answer
sent by Grostete to some petitions of the University[60], and we find
him interceding with the Bishop on behalf of the Chancellor, Radulph
of Sempringham[61]. One of the most important stages in the
constitutional development of the University is marked by the charter
of Henry III in 1244, which constituted a special tribunal for the
scholars, and formed the basis of the Chancellor’s jurisdiction. On
the 11th of May of the same year, a deed of acknowledgment was
executed at Reading and signed and sealed on behalf of the
University by the Prior of the Friars Preachers, the Minister of the
Friars Minors, the Chancellor of the University, the Archdeacons of
Lincoln and Cornwall, and Friar Robert Bacon[62]. Edward I in
1275[63] appointed ‘Friars John de Pecham and Oliver de Encourt’
royal commissioners to decide a suit between Master Robert de
Flemengvill[64] and a Jewess named Countess, the wife of Isaac
Pulet, which had long been pending in the Chancellor’s court; this
however was not to be treated as a precedent to the prejudice of
the Chancellor’s jurisdiction.
It is probable that the example afforded by the houses of student
friars was not lost on the founders of the early colleges. We know
that Walter de Merton was a friend of Adam Marsh[65], and a
benefactor of the friars, but it would be dangerous to attempt to
trace any direct Franciscan influence in the statutes of his college[66].
There is however no doubt about the connexion of the Franciscans
with the foundation of Balliol College. Sir John de Balliol died in 1269
without having established his house for poor scholars on a
permanent footing. His widow Devorguila first gave them a definite
organisation in 1282. According to an old tradition[67], she was
induced to take this step by her Franciscan confessor, Friar Richard
de Slikeburne. It is clear that the latter was her most trusted and
energetic agent in carrying out the plan. Devorguila urges him by all
means in his power to promote the perpetuation of ‘our house of
Balliol[68],’ and the executors of Sir John de Balliol assigned certain
moneys to the scholars of the house
‘with the consent of Devorguila and at the advice of Friar Richard de
Slikeburne[69].’
Nor was the connexion merely a transitory one. The statutes of
1282[70] are addressed to Friar Hugh de Hertilpoll and Master
William de Menyl, who are evidently the two ‘proctors’ mentioned in
the document. To the proctors (who did not belong to the house but
were in the position of permanent visitors) was entrusted the
institution of the principal after his election by the scholars, together
with a general supervision over the economy of the college. They
alone could expel a refractory scholar, and they were constituted the
special guardians of the poorer students[71]. Nothing remains to
show how long the first proctors held their office, or how their
successors were appointed. It is probable however that the office
was intended to be a perpetual one[72]—not a temporary expedient
to be called into existence from time to time,—and further that one
of the proctors was always a Franciscan. Two other documents
bearing on the subject are known to exist. In 1325 a doubt had
arisen whether the members of the college might study any science
except the liberal arts; it was declared to be unlawful to do so and
contrary to the mind of the founder, and was consequently forbidden
‘by Masters Robert of Leicester, of the Order of Friars Minors, S.T.P.,
and Nicholas de Tyngewick, M.D. and S.T.B., then Magistri Extranei
of the said House[73].’
The second document[74] is a letter dated 1433 addressed to the
Bishop of London by
‘Richard Roderham, S.T.P., and John Feckyngtone of the order of
Minorites in Oxford, Rectors of Balliol College.’
The Rectors having, ‘according to the exigency of the office which
we discharge upon the rule of the said college and the observance of
the statutes thereof,’ inquired into the working of the first statute,
decided, with the consent of the majority of the house, that it was
prejudicial to the college, and asked the Bishop to consent to the
modification of it[75].
It will be readily admitted that in the thirteenth century the Oxford
Franciscans deserved their high reputation. It is true, that frequent
complaints are heard of the decline of the Order[76]—that many
relaxations had been introduced into the Rule. But these were not
demanded by the English province. When Haymo was General,
orders were issued by the Chapter that friars should be elected in
each province to note any points in the Rule which seemed to
require revision, and send them to the Minister General. Eccleston[77]
gives the names of three friars elected for this purpose in England—
Adam Marsh, the foremost of the Oxford friars; Peter of Tewkesbury,
Custodian of Oxford; and Henry de Burford.
‘Having marked some articles, the said friars sent them to the
General, in a schedule without a seal, beseeching him, by the
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, to let the Rule stand, as it
was handed down by St. Francis, at the dictation of the Holy
Spirit[78].’
 CHAPTER II.
PROPERTY AND BUILDINGS.
First Settlement inside the City Wall.—
Acquisition of the houses of W. de
Wileford (1229) and Robert Oen
(1236).—Increase of the area in
1244-1245.—Grants from the King,
Thomas Valeynes, and others.—
Island in the Thames, 1245.—
Messuage of Laurence Wych, 1247.
—Friars of the Penitence of Jesus
Christ.—Their property in Oxford
granted to the Minorites by Clement
V, and by Edward II, 1310.—Grants
from various persons, 1310.—
Richard Cary and John Culvard,
1319.—Walter Morton, 1321.—To
what classes did the donors belong?
Absence of information about the
buildings at the Grey Friars.—
Original houses and chapel.—School
built by Agnellus.—The stricter friars
oppose the tendency to build,
without success.—Building of the
new church, 1246, &c.—Its site and
appearance.—William of Worcester’s
description of it.—Richard
Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, buried
there, 1272.—Other tombs in the
 church, especially that of Agnellus.—
Grave of Roger Bacon.—Cloisters,
Chapter House, Refectory, and other
conventual buildings.—Conduit and
Gates.
For about a hundred years from the date of their settlement in
Oxford, the Friars Minors were gradually acquiring property. We have
seen that after a short sojourn in the house of Robert le Mercer, the
house of Richard le Muliner became their first permanent abode. The
position of the former cannot be at all definitely ascertained; it was
in the parish of St. Ebbe’s[79], probably near the church and within
the city walls[80]. Wood places it between the church and the
Watergate. But he is certainly wrong in the position he ascribes to
the second house, namely,
‘without the towne wall, and about a stone’s cast from their first
hired house[81].’
The house of Richard the Miller was undoubtedly between the wall
and Freren Street (Church Street). In 1244 Henry III allowed the
friars to throw down the wall of the town in order to ‘connect their
new place with the old one[82].’ Even apart from the fact that the
Mercer’s house did not at this time belong to them, it is obvious that
the houses which they acquired in 1224 and 1225 would not in 1244
be distinguished as the ‘old place’ and the ‘new place’ respectively.
The ‘new place’ refers to lands which came into their possession
about the time of this grant, and of which Wood knew nothing, while
the Miller’s house formed part of the ‘old place.’
In fact, several years elapsed before the friars obtained property
outside the city wall, their first efforts being directed to secure the
land between the wall and Freren Street. It was not long before their
cramped area was enlarged. In the Mayoralty of John Pady[83] the
citizens of Oxford subscribed[84] forty-three marks sterling to buy
from William, son of Richard de Wileford, his house in St. Ebbe’s,
with all its appurtenances, ‘to house the Friars Minors for ever,’ the
said good men of Oxford giving to William one pound of cummin
annually in lieu of all service[85]. The next grant of which we find
mention seems also to have been an act of municipal, rather than of
private, charity. In 1236[86] Robert, son of Robert Oen, had given
them a house adjoining their land, on condition that he,
‘having been a free tenant of the prior and brethren of St. John of
Jerusalem in England in the aforesaid place,’
should have the same privilege attaching to his new house in the
parish of St. Michael at the North Gate. This house of Robert Oen’s
in St. Ebbe’s was one of the ‘mural mansions,’ on the occupiers of
which the duty of repairing the city wall fell[87]. The obligation,
however, was now, when the house came into the hands of the
friars, willingly undertaken with the King’s assent by the Mayor and
good men of Oxford.
Under the ministry of Agnellus any tendency to accumulate property
was rigorously suppressed[88], nor does his successor Albert appear
to have been more lenient[89]. But under Haymo of Faversham
(1238-9) and William of Nottingham (1239-51) a different spirit
began to prevail, and one far less in accordance with the original
idea of the Order. Haymo
‘preferred that the friars should have ample areas and should
cultivate them, that they might have the fruits of the earth at home,
rather than beg them from others[90].’
And under William of Nottingham the Oxford house gained a large
increase of territory[91].
It was in 1245 that this took place, and a remarkably full series of
records relating to the event is still extant. By a deed dated 22nd
December, 1244[92], the King gave the Friars Minors permission,
‘for the greater quiet and security of their habitation, to inclose the
street which extends under the wall of Oxford, from the gate which
is called Watergate[93] in the parish of St. Ebbe, up to the postern in
the same wall towards the Castle; so that a crenellated wall like the
rest of the wall of the same town be made round the foresaid
dwelling, beginning from the west side of Watergate, and reaching
southwards as far as the bank of the Thames, and extending along
the bank westwards as far as the fee of the Abbat of Bec in the
parish of St. Bodhoc, and then turning again northwards till it joins
the old wall of the foresaid borough on the east side of the small
postern;’
and they were further allowed to throw down the old wall which
stretched across their habitation. But in 1248[94] this grant, as far as
it related to the wall, was cancelled; the old wall was to be repaired,
and the proposed new wall was not mentioned.
There can be little doubt that in December, 1244, the friars did not
possess the land which they were then allowed to enclose; it is
indeed very doubtful whether they had any property south of the
wall. Possibly they may have acquired already the place which they
held in 1278,
‘of the gift of Agnes widow of Guydo[95], which the said Agnes had
by descent from her predecessors, and they pay thence to Walter
Goldsmith one pound of cummin[96].’
The value was then unknown, nor is the position specified[97]. It
was, however, no doubt situated in the suburb of St. Ebbe’s parish.
Two other plots of ground are mentioned in the same document as
belonging to the Friars: of one of these (that granted by Thomas
Walonges) we have accurate information, and shall mention it in its
due place. Of the other nothing further is known than that they held
it by grant from Master Richard de Mepham. But the grant was
probably of later date than 1244. Richard was Archdeacon of Oxford
in 1263, became Dean of Lincoln in 1273, and probably died in 1274
at the council of Lyons[98].
But the royal grant in the Patent Roll of 29 Henry III is explained by
the fact that the Franciscans, or rather their benefactors, were
already negotiating for the transfer of a large part of the property
there described, if not of the whole of it.
In February, 1245, Thomas Valeynes, or Valoignes (or Walonges as
he is called in the Inquisition of 6 & 7 Edward I), carried into effect a
plan for the benefit of the Friars Minors which it must have taken
long to bring to a successful conclusion[99]. It consisted in begging
or buying out a number of holders of property in the south-west
‘suburb of Oxford,’ and granting in one case at least tenements in
another part of the town as compensation. Thus, in exchange for
two messuages with their appurtenances on the south-west of the
town, Symon son of Benedict and Leticia his wife, received one
messuage outside the North Gate, together with a building then held
by Hugh Marshall,
‘which same messuage and building were formerly held by
Benedictus le Mercer father of the foresaid Symon.’
One messuage with appurtenances was acquired from John Costard
and Margery his wife, two from Warin of Dorchester and Juliana his
wife, one from William ‘le Barbeur’ and Alice his wife, one from
Henry ‘le Teler’ and Alice his wife, and a little later[100] one curtilage
‘in the suburb of Oxford in the parish of St. Budoc,’ from John
Aylmer and Christiana his wife. All these eight tenements Thomas de
Valeynes, ‘at the petition’ of the former owners, assigned
‘to the increase of the area in which the Friars Minors dwelling at
Oxford are lodged in pure and perpetual alms free and quit of all
secular service and exaction for ever;’
and we may reasonably conclude that they filled the space from the
City Wall on the north to Trill Mill Stream on the south, and from
Littlegate Street on the east to a line drawn from the ‘fee of the
Abbat of Bec in the parish of St. Bodhoc’s’ to the West Gate on the
west[101].
Shortly after this, namely, on the 22nd of April, 1245[102], Henry III
gave the Friars, to enlarge their new area,
‘our island in the Thames, which we have bought from Henry son of
Henry Simeon,’
with permission to make a bridge over the arm of the river dividing it
from their houses, and to enclose it with a wall, or in any other way
which would insure ‘the security of their houses and the tranquillity
of their religion,’ On the same day[103] the King ordered the Barons
of the Exchequer to deduct from the fine of sixty marks,
‘imposed on Henry son of Henry Simeonis because he was
implicated in[104] the murder of a scholar of Oxford, twenty-five
marcs, for twenty-five marcs which we owed to Henry Simeonis his
father for an island in the Thames at Oxford which we have bought
from him, and which said marcs he begged should be reckoned to
his son in the aforesaid fine.’
The next grant is dated the 27th of November, 1246[105]. The King
announces that he has handed over to the friars, for the
enlargement of their premises, the whole messuage, with its
appurtenances, which Laurence Wych (or Wyth), Mayor of Oxford,
committed to him for that purpose, desiring them to enclose the
same as they shall see fit:
‘and the Sheriff of Oxfordshire was commanded to receive the
messuage in place of the King for the use of the said friars.’
It is quite uncertain where this land lay, and whether Wych granted
it in his public or private capacity.
For the next fifty years, excepting the undated grants of Richard
Mepham and Agnes widow of Guydo, which probably belong to this
period, there is no record of a gift of land to the Minorites. On the
east they had already reached the permanent limit of their
property[106], and the Friars of the Penitence of Jesus Christ settled
about the year 1260 on the ground lying to the west. This formed
the parish of St. Budoc. In 1262[107] the King allowed these friars to
build an oratory here; in 1265[108] he granted them, as patron, the
church of St. Budoc (which adjoined their premises, and which,
owing to the removal or death of the parishioners, was too
impoverished to support one chaplain), ‘to make thence a chapel for
themselves.’ With the church they acquired[109]
‘the cemetery and the houses standing in the same and belonging to
the said church,’
with the proviso that the cemetery should always be treated as
consecrated[110] ground. The value of the church was 20s. a
year[111].
At the Council of Lyons in 1274 the Friars of the Penitence of Jesus
Christ, or ‘Friars of the Sack,’ were forbidden to admit new
members[112], and the Order came to an end when the old members
died out. The Minorites and their friends therefore applied
themselves to secure the property. As early as 1296 Boniface VIII
wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln, ordering him[113] to allow the Friars
Minors to take possession of the house or area of the Friars of the
Sack, whenever the five remaining brethren should die or transfer
themselves to other religious Orders. At the court of Clement V, the
first of the Avignon popes, the claims of the Minorites were urged by
John of Britanny, Earl of Richmond; and Clement issued a Bull in
their favour, dated the 27th of May, 1309 (vi Kal. Jun. Ao iv)[114].
‘In a petition exhibited to us on your part,’ runs the document, ‘it is
contained that owing to the narrowness of your place at Oxford, you
and other friars, there flocking together to the University from divers
parts of the world in great multitude, do endure manifold wants and
various inconveniences. Since therefore the place of the Friars of the
Penitence of Jesus Christ of the same place of Oxford adjoining your
place, is shortly, as is believed, to be relinquished by the said Friars,
to remain at the disposal of the Apostolic Seat, according to the
tenor of the Constitution published by Pope Gregory X, our
predecessor, in the Council of Lyons, it is humbly prayed us, that we
deign to concede to you that place for the enlargement of your place
aforesaid.’
This prayer the Pope goes on to grant ‘of his special favour,’
mentioning the earnest supplications of John of Britanny[115] on
behalf of the friars.
The King, however, also had a claim to dispose of lands which his
grandfather had granted, and which, in default of heirs or
successors, legally escheated to the Crown. By Letters Patent dated
the 28th of March, 1310[116], Edward II assigned to the Friars Minors
the property which Henry III had previously given to the Penitentiary
Friars, with the same stipulation as to the cemetery. The land is
accurately described; it was contiguous to the place of the Friars
Minors, in the suburb of Oxford, twenty and a half perches long from
north to south, six perches wide at the south end, two and a half at
the north, and four perches seven feet in the middle.
Letters Patent of the same day[117] confirmed the grant of four other
parcels of ground to the Friars Minors: some of these may have
been previously held by the Friars of the Sack. The ‘plot of ground in
Oxford,’ five perches two feet from east to west, two perches and a
half from north to south, conferred on the Minorites by John Wyz
and Emma his wife, may have been within the walls, near the West
Gate; the others were in the suburb. Henry Tyeys gave land
measuring six perches by five, and lying between the site of St.
Budoc’s Church and the Thames (Trill Mill Stream); Richard le
Lodere’s land, measuring fourteen and a half perches five feet, by
four perches and three feet, and stretching from the Thames to the
above-mentioned place of Henry Tyeys, was included in the grant, as
was a larger plot[118], measuring sixteen and a half perches from the
Thames to the ‘royal way,’ and ten perches in breadth; which seems
to have included the south part of Paradise Gardens[119].
All these places are described as adjoining the property of the
Warden and Friars Minors of Oxford.
It was probably at the instance of the Crown and as a protest
against the papal claims that the Minorites a few years later formally
surrendered to the King the area which had belonged to the
Penitentiaries, ‘in its entirety as it came into their hands,’ and
received it back of the King’s special favour in pure and perpetual
alms[120].
One fragment of the Penitentiary Friars’ property came into the
hands of the Franciscans somewhat later. In October, 1319, an
Inquisitio ad quod Damnum[121] was held in Oxford to decide
whether Richard Cary could, without prejudice to the King or others,
bestow on the Friars Minors a place in the suburb of Oxford,
adjacent to their property, and measuring five perches in length and
five in breadth. The jurors declared that the grant would not be
injurious to the King or others, and that Cary possessed sufficient
property in the town to discharge all his civic duties. The place ‘at
the time when it was built’ was worth 20s. a year, but now, owing to
its ruinous condition, only 2s. Cary held it for a rent of 8s. a year of
Johanna, wife of Walter of Wycombe, Agatha her sister, and John
son of Alice, who was wife of Andrew Culvard, the heirs of Henry
Owayn; they held it of the Prior of Steventon, paying 4d. a year in
lieu of all services. The plot was therefore the fee of the Abbat of
Bec mentioned above, and is probably the same as
‘the place which the Friars of the Penitence bought of Walter
Aurifaber, and they pay thence to the Prior of Steventon 2s.[122]’
A few months previously a similar inquisition[123] was held at Oxford,
which resulted in an addition to the Minorite property on the east
side within the wall. This was a plot of ground of the annual value of
2s., five perches by six, granted to them by John Culvard. The town,
however, claimed the right,
‘at all times when it shall be necessary, to have free entry and egress
thence to restore, repair and defend the wall of the said town.’
In 1321[124] Walter Morton obtained leave to grant in mortmain to
the Franciscans a place with its appurtenances, measuring five
perches by five, in the suburb of Oxford; and similar licence was
given to John de Grey de Retherfeld[125] in 1337 to bestow on them
a tenement, six perches by five, lying next their habitation on the
east side within the town. This brings us to the end of the list of
grants of landed property to the Oxford Minorites—a list which we
may claim to be fairly complete. It is interesting to note from what
classes the donors were drawn. Most of them were men of business
—the leading tradesmen of the town[126]. Three of them, Laurence
Wych, John Culvard, and Richard Cary, were at various times Mayors
of Oxford, and the two latter represented the city in Parliament[127].
Richard Mepham belonged to the higher rank of ecclesiastics. Master
Thomas de Valeynes seems to have been a person of some
importance in Oxfordshire and the adjoining counties[128].

Buildings.
Of the buildings of the Friars Minors in Oxford we have
disappointingly little information—with the exception of the boundary
wall already mentioned there are no remains of their house now
visible. Excavations might perhaps yield interesting results, but most
of the ground is thickly built over, and the information derived from
the records and other sources is rarely precise enough to enable us
to identify with any certainty the sites of the various buildings.
For the first twenty years the Friary must have presented a very
modest, not to say mean, appearance, and the brethren were
probably contented to take the accommodation afforded by the
houses, which were granted them, with little alteration. The
infirmary built by Agnellus has already been noticed. After they had
been nearly a year in Oxford, the friars built a small chapel[129]. In
1232, the King gave them
‘thirty beams in the royal forest of Savernak for the fabric of their
chapel which they are having built at Oxford,’
adding that
‘if any one in the same bailiwick shall wish to give them timber, the
bailiff shall permit them without hindrance to carry through the
forest free of toll oaks to the number of thirty[130].’
Probably this refers to the original chapel. It had a choir where the
brethren attended and celebrated divine service[131], and at, or over,
the door of which stood a crucifix, or wooden cross[132]. It was here,
in the choir before the altar, that Agnellus was buried in a ‘leaden
box,’ as became the zelator paupertatis[133]. The chapel was pulled
down when the new church was finished[134]. Under the auspices of
Agnellus rose their first school, which was apparently the finest of
their early buildings[135]. Whether this was afterwards enlarged, or
whether new schools were built on the same site or elsewhere, there
is no longer any means of deciding.
These houses were situated within the wall, and it was not till the
increase of the ‘area’ between 1240 and 1250 that building on a
large scale was commenced between the wall and Trill Mill
Stream[136]. The tendency to build was strenuously resisted by the
stricter party among the friars—the party which upheld the early
traditions of the Order. Eccleston relates how an Oxford friar
appeared after death to the custodian and warned him that,
‘if the friars were not damned for their excess in building, they would
at any rate be severely punished[137].’
An obscure passage in a letter of Adam Marsh probably refers to the
same tendency; even novices, he laments, are taught to neglect the
things of the spirit
‘for flesh and blood, for mud and walls, for wood and stone, for any
kind of worldly gain[138].’
The opposition of the older generation was, however, unavailing, and
a ‘stately and magnificent[139]’ convent began to rise. But of the new
friary, too, there are but scanty notices. No English king bestowed on
the house of Franciscans at Oxford that loving care which Henry III
bestowed on the Minorite Church at Reading, or Edward II on the
Dominican Church which rose over the tomb of his ill-fated favourite
at Langley. From royal grants we learn that building was going on at
the Grey Friars of Oxford in 1240, when ten oaks were given to them
by the King for timber[140]. In 1245 (July 7th),
‘the Sheriff of Berkshire was ordered to give to the Friars Minors of
Oxford for the works of their houses sixty shillings instead of six
oaks which the King gave them before[141];’
and a further grant of six oaks for timber in 1272 shows that the
operations were of a protracted nature[142]. From similar sources we
find that the Church, which was dedicated to St. Francis, was in
process of erection in February, 1246[143], and February, 1248[144].
At the latter date the friars are again permitted to
‘enclose the street which extends under the wall of Oxford from the
Watergate ... to the small postern in the wall near the Castle.... We
grant also that the north side of the chapel built and to be built in
the aforesaid street may supply the interruption of the wall as far as
it is to reach, the other breaches in the wall being fully repaired as
before, except the small postern in the wall, through which the said
friars can go and return from the new place where they now live, to
the former place in which they used to live.’
It would appear from this that the street was outside the wall. Mr.
Parker, however, states positively that it was ‘the inner road’ which
they were permitted to enclose[145]; in Wheeler’s Garden, south-west
of St. Ebbe’s Churchyard, there used to be a line of old walling,
running parallel to the city wall inside, and the space between these
walls may have been the street in question[146]. It must be
remembered, however, that the friars had already in 1244 acquired
the road with the right to enclose it, and to throw down this section
of the city wall. In 1248, therefore, we may well believe that little
existed of the wall, which on the south side was never a very
prominent feature. The church running due east and west would
extend along and across the site of the wall, the west end being
outside, the east end inside. From the south end of Paradise Place,
where the wall juts out southwards for a few yards, to a point about
the north end of King’s Terrace, there have long been no signs of the
city wall; and it is probably here that the Grey Friars’ Church stood.
The tradition is still preserved in the name Church Place. Of the
appearance of the church we know little. The roof was tiled[147], like
that of the Grey Friars’ Church at Reading; it is probable the east
end was flat, and there was no triforium[148]. Wood thinks that one
of the eight towers which figured in the pageant at the
inthronization of Warham in 1504, represented the tower of the Grey
Friars[149]. William of Worcester has left a somewhat puzzling[150]
description of the church in 1480[151].
‘The length of the choir of the church of St. Francis at Oxford
contains 68 steps. The length from the door (valva) of the choir to
the west window contains 90 steps; so in the whole length it
contains 150 (?) steps. The width of the nave of the said church on
the east (ab orienti parte) contains with the aisle 28 steps. The
length of the nave from the south side to the north door contains 40
steps only, and there are ten chapels in the said north nave of the
church. The width of the north nave of the church contains 20 steps.
The width of each chapel contains 6 steps, and so the width of the
whole nave of the church with the ten chapels contains 26 steps.
And each chapel contains in length 6 steps. And each glass window
of the ten chapels contains three dayes (or lights) glazed.’
Reckoning William’s ‘steps’ at half a yard each[152], and correcting his
apparent mistake in addition, we find that the church measured
seventy-nine yards from east to west, the choir containing thirty-four
yards, and the nave forty-five. At its widest part the church
measured twenty yards, ten yards of which were taken up by the
north aisle. Hence the width of the nave properly so called, and of
the choir, which in friars’ churches is, where it exists, of the same
width as the nave[153], was ten yards. The choir was aisleless, and
the north aisle was probably the only one in the church: this, too,
narrowed from ten yards to four towards the east end of the nave.
In 1535 Friar Henry Standish, Bishop of St. Asaph, bequeathed £40
‘for the building of an aisle joining to the church of the Grey friars,
Oxon[154],’ probably on the south side, but it is almost certain that
this was never built.
The wider aisle must have extended nearly the whole length of the
nave to allow space for the north door and the ten chapels, all of
which were built on to the north wall. They would be in part
sepulchral chantries, supported by noble families or gilds, often
containing the image or shrine of some saint, while the shrine of the
patron saint stood behind the high altar. They were presumably later
additions, and whether the church in its original form attained the
proportions here described must remain doubtful. But there is no
reason to suppose it was afterwards enlarged to any great extent. In
the thirteenth century, benefactors, great and small, were willing
and eager to help the friars to raise those splendid buildings which
drew forth the fierce denunciations of later reformers; and though
much of the church was doubtless built, like that at London, ‘from
good common alms[155],’ there can be little question that the chief
‘founder and benefactor’ was the wealthy Richard Plantagenet, Earl
of Cornwall, and King of the Romans[156]. It was in the choir of this
church that his heart was buried[157]
‘under a sumptuous pyramid of admirable workmanship[158].’
Here, too, five years later the remains of his third wife, Beatrice of
Falkenstein, were interred, ‘before the great altar[159];’ and many
other monuments of nobles and famous men must have given the
interior of the church an imposing appearance. Among those buried
here were several of the Golafres: the tomb of Sir John Golafre, who
died at Quinton, Bucks, in 1379[160], was in the chancel; that of his
younger brother, William, was probably in the same part of the
church[161]. Sir John’s illegitimate son, John Golafre, knight and lord
of Langley, bequeathed his body to be buried next his father’s, if he
should die in England[162]; but
‘at the time of his death (1396) he altered his will in that part in
which he bequeathed his body to be buried in the chancel of the
church of the Friars Minors at Oxford, and willed and also
bequeathed his body to be buried in the Conventual Church of
Westminster where our lord the King shall dispose[163].’
William Lord Lovell, by a will dated 18 March, 1454/5, made
provision
‘to be buried at the Grayfreris of Oxenford in suche place as I have
appoynted[164].’
The wills of less distinguished persons occasionally contain
information as to the interior of the church. In 1430 Robert
Keneyshame, Bedel of the University, willed to be buried in the
Franciscan Church,
‘in the midst between the two altars beneath the highest cross in the
body of the church[165].’
James Hedyan, bachelor in both laws and principal of Eagle Hall, was
buried in the nave[166]. Agnes, wife of Michael Norton, was in 1438
buried
‘in the Conventual Church of the Friars Minors of Oxford before the
image of the blessed Mary the Virgin of Pity[167].’
And in 1526 Richard Leke, ‘late bruer of Oxford,’ desired
‘to be buried within the Graye ffreres in Oxford before the awter
where the first masse is daily vsed to be saide[168].’
But more honoured than any of these was the ‘fair stone
sepulchre[169]’ in which the body of Agnellus, the only Provincial
Minister known to have been buried at Oxford, found its final resting
place. For the shrine of Agnellus possessed all the fascination of
miraculous association and miraculous power. When the friars, many
years after his death, went in the night to remove the body from the
original chapel before its demolition,
‘they found the little leaden box in which it lay, together with the
grave, full of the purest oil, but the body itself with the vestments
uncorrupted and smelling most sweetly[170].’
Here, too, we are told, was the tomb of one greater than Agnellus;
but if the statement of John Rouse, that Roger Bacon was buried
among the Franciscans at Oxford, is anything more than a tradition,
it was perhaps not in the church, but in the common burial place of
the brethren of the convent, that the Warwick antiquary found his
grave[171].
The cloisters, of which we find no mention till the dissolution, were
no doubt situated on the south of the church, round ‘Penson’s
Gardens.’ Whether the friars were buried in the cloisters, the garth,
the chapter-house, or ‘the cemetery of the Friars Minors,’ in which
John Dongan was interred in 1464[172] or sometimes in one place,
sometimes in another, is unknown. On the east of the cloisters would
be the chapter-house[173]; over it, and joining the church, a
dormitory[174]. On the south of the cloisters, opposite the church,
stood the refectory. It is possible, but not probable, that the long
narrow building stretching down towards Trill Mill Stream, which is
marked in old maps of Oxford[175], was the refectory: Bridge Street
marks the site. The library may have been on the west side of the
cloisters, but no hint remains as to the building or its position, while
the contents may be more appropriately treated elsewhere. The
warden’s house is equally unknown; he may perhaps merely have
had rooms set apart in some one of the larger buildings[176], as was
probably the case with the vice-warden[177]. From the Lanercost
Chronicle we learn that in the thirteenth century the ‘master of the
schools’ had a chamber of his own[178]; and Wiclif tells us that in his
time
‘Capped Friars, that beene called Maisters of Diuinitie, haue there
chamber and service as Lords or Kings[179].’
Ample accommodation for guests was a marked feature in most
religious houses, and there is no reason to suppose that the Oxford
Franciscan Friary formed an exception to a custom which, while it
excited some animosity against the apostles of poverty, tended to
ensure the favour and secure the alms of the rich[180].
The convent was supplied with good water by a conduit of leaden
pipes, which, according to Wadding, was made in the thirteenth
century by a magnate at his own expense, and extended many miles
under the watersheds of the Isis and Cherwell[181]. In 1246-7 we
hear that the Friars Preachers and Minors had appropriated many
places on the Thames, and had made there ‘ditches and walls and
other things[182].’ Lastly, there were three gates: one in Freren
Street[183], perhaps an entrance to the church through ‘Church
Place;’ another in St. Ebbe’s Street, opposite Beef Lane[184], where
St Ebbe’s Churchyard now extends; and a third—their principal
entrance, which existed in Wood’s time—in Littlegate Street,
apparently where the latter is now joined by Charles Street[185].
This completes the list of conventual as distinct from the farm
buildings, and if the account is meagre and unsatisfactory, we may
try to console ourselves with William of Nottingham’s retort, when a
friar threatened to accuse him before the Minister General ‘because
the place at London was not enclosed:’
‘And I will answer to the General, that I did not enter the Order to
build walls[186].’
 CHAPTER III.
FRANCISCAN SCHOOLS AT OXFORD.
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