Founder of the Dominican order of friars. He was born in Spain, of noble family, but as a young man adopted an austere life, becoming a priest and canon of Osma Cathedral. In 1215 he attended the Fourth Lateran Council. In that year he founded the Dominicans or ‘Black Friars’ because they wear a white tunic with a black mantle. The order became very popular in the 13th century, being used by several popes for preaching crusades and for the Inquisition.