This preliminary synthesis concerning the architecture of the Mendicants - Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Augustinian Friars - in the Netherlands is the result of a two-year research fellowship at Leiden University (1999-2001). From the 13th to the early 16th century 57 friaries were founded in 43 different Dutch towns: 29 by the Franciscans, 14 by the Dominicans, 8 by the Carmelites and 6 by the Augustinian Friars. Minimal information was found for the buildings of 27 friaries; only 13 churches have survived. Little is known of the first churches. Excavations at three sites show early evidence for a diversity in building types, from the single nave to the aisled basilica. The first church of the Franciscans at Maastricht had a plan that was directly based on the church of Assisi. For a series of churches dating from the second half of the 13th century and completed during the 14th century, the most common type is the aisled basilica with a polygonal choir, covered with stone ribbed vaults that were strengthened with flying buttresses, and without tower or transept. The second church of the Franciscans at Maastricht as well as the churches of the Dominicans at Maastricht and Zutphen are the three best preserved churches of this series. The little brick church of the Franciscan at Bolsward was covered by a timber barrel vault. A second wave of building in the 15th century, was the result of new foundations as well as the reform of old friaries, which was imposed by late medieval urban society and supported by the politics of the dukes of Burgundy. The hall-church (a building with two or three naves of equal height) covered by wooden barrel vaults became the most common type at this time. The churches of the Dominicans at The Hague, Leeuwarden and Zwolle, of the Augustinian friars at Dordrecht and of the Franciscans at Deventer, Kampen, Roermond and Weert are the best-preserved churches of this series. Only the early 16th-century church of the Carmelites at Utrecht was an aisled basilica and had a ...