Aristocratic ladies were important #14thCentury patrons of English communities of the Order of St Clare, the Franciscan nuns also known as the Minoresses or Poor Clares. #StClare had died on 11 Aug 1353; #TIL from the excellent Wikipedia page that she’s now the patron saint of television! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_of_Assisi #medieval#NameDay 🧵 1/
🎨 detail of fresco from San Damiano convent in Assisi
📷 Gunnar Bach Pedersen / Wikimedia
In later life the #LadyOfClare built a townhouse next to the Minoresses outside Aldgate in London, & provided lavishly for her burial there. The 5-acre Minoress convent was a major institution until the Dissolution, but the only current traces are the streetnames of Minories & St Clare St. 🧵 4/
Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law Maud of Lancaster had joined an Augustinian nunnery after being widowed, & then started a chantry college at #Bruisyard in Suffolk with Bishop Bateman of Norwich (founder of #TrinityHall Cambridge). Her newly-rediscovered statutes for that are minutely detailed, but a few years later she closed the chantry & founded a third Minoress community, where she stayed & was eventually buried. 🧵 5/
The Minoress order (sorores minores) was in royal & aristocratic favour for generations, in both France & England. While Marie always supported the order, Elizabeth & Maud engaged after disappointments elsewhere. These three women were notably independent & effective, so their endorsement is noteworthy. 🧵 6/6
🎨 C17th view of the Abbey of Longchamp in France, whence nuns came to Waterbeach. It had been founded in 1255 by St Isabelle, sister of the saintly king Louis IX. @medievodons