[CHAPTER XIX]
THE CLARES
The Abbey of St. Clare, which stood on the site of the church called Holy Trinity, Minories, was founded by Blanche d’Artois in 1293. The following genealogy sufficiently explains the connection of Blanche with this country and with London:—
A tabular version is available [here].
The House was founded in 1293 for the reception of “certain nuns devoted to the service of God, St. Mary and St. Francis, expected shortly to arrive and to settle in this realm.” The first nuns were Frenchwomen, brought over by Blanche. They belonged to the Order called Clares, their name being that of St. Clare, the foundress of the Franciscan nuns, who was canonised in 1253, two years after her death. They called themselves Sorores Minores—as their Franciscan Friars were Fratres Minores; they were also called “rich Clares,” because they were allowed to possess endowments and lands; others of the same Order being “poor Clares,” who subsisted entirely on the charity of the people. They were also called Urbanists, because their rule had been revised by Pope Urban; and they were inclusæ, that is to say, forbidden, except by reason of pestilence, war, or fire, to go outside the convent walls.
The endowments began with three tenements and four parcels of ground near, or upon, the site of the House, together with some houses in West Chepe, yielding £30 a year.
Subsequent endowments included a large number of messuages, tenements, wharves, and shops in London and Whitechapel. It would be interesting to ascertain how much of London actually belonged to the Religious Houses.
The infant Convent received three Bulls from Pope Boniface VIII. In the first he received the House, with all its buildings and property, under his own peculiar jurisdiction. In the second he declared the House free from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the third he pronounced the House inviolable, and ordered the Bishop of London to consecrate for the nuns all the Church plate and sacred vessels.
In the reign of Edward the Second the King exempted the sisters, on account of their poverty, from all tallage payable to the Crown for their lands and houses in London.