The Dominican Order had its origins in the reformist ideology of Dominic de Guzmán, later Saint Dominic. By 1219, Dominic had established houses as far apart as Paris, Bologna, Madrid and Segovia; at his death in 1221, there were 21 houses.Malcolm Barber, The Two Cities: Medieval Europe, 1050–1320, (London, 1992), pp. 161–64. Expansion of the order continued into England as houses were established at Oxford in 1221 and London in 1224.Barber, The Two Cities, p. 165. There were five houses in England by 1230, by which time the Order was poised to enter Scotland. Later tradition had it that the Dominican Order entered Scotland in 1230, encouraged by King Alexander II and William de Malveisin, Bishop of St Andrews. However, the earliest certain date for the foundation of a Dominican house in Scotland is 1234.Ian B. Cowan, & David E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976), pp. 114–21; Duncan, "Clement (d. 1258)"
