Abbey of St. Clare

Founded in 1293 by Edmund, earl of Lancaster, the Abbey of St. Clare is also referred to in Stow’s Survey as the Minories (Stow 1633, sig. M2v), a name derived from the toponym the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Mary of the Order of St. Clare (Harben 416). It occupied five acres of land. Both the pope and the king gave the abbey special privileges: the abbey and its inhabitants were exempt from paying tenths and lived in a liberty outside the jurisdiction of the City of London, a liberty that exists to the present day (Harben 150–151).
In 1539, the Abbey was surrendered to King Henry VIII by Dame Elizabeth Salvage, the abbess (Stow 1633, sig. L5v). Thereafter, the parish church of Holy Trinity, Minories occupied the site of the abbey until 1899 (Harben 151).
Curiously, neither the old abbey buildings nor the church appear on the Agas map. They should be drawn south of the houses on the corner of Aldgate Street and Minories Street.

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