 St. Clare's Priory, Stockholm, depicted on Blodbadsplanschen (1524) | |
  Location within Stockholm | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Poor Clares |
| Established | 1289 |
| Disestablished | 1527 |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Magnus III of Sweden |
| Site | |
| Location | Stockholm, Stockholm County, Sweden |
| Coordinates | 59°19′51.95″N18°3′41.12″E / 59.3310972°N 18.0614222°E |
St. Clare's Priory, Stockholm , was a Roman Catholic nunnery of the Poor Clares in Stockholm, Sweden that was active from 1289 to the Swedish Reformation in 1527.
The nunnery was given large donations and lands upon its foundation by King Magnus III of Sweden. King Magnus also gave his daughter Princess Richeza Magnusdotter of Sweden to the nunnery. She was to serve as its abbess in 1335–1347. The priory was not, however, exclusively for aristocrats, as some other convents were: rather, many of the members and even abbesses were from the merchant class.
The St. Clare's Priory had a close cooperation with the Grey Friar's Abbey, Stockholm, and there is an old legend that they were a secret passage between the two convents. The priory enjoyed prestige. In 1358, it was relieved from all taxes even during a crisis. In 1495, when the regent Sten Sture the elder prepared to go to war against Russia, the Archbishop Jakob Ulfsson of Uppsala asked to bring along the banner of Saint Erik, which was then brought from Uppsala and installed in the priory under great festivities. In 1497, King John, King of Denmark swore his oath as monarch here before the city of Stockholm was turned over to him. However, after the great fire of 1446, the priory was unable to quite recover economically, and by 1508, it was still in a poor state.
During the Swedish War of Liberation of 1521–23, Danish-controlled Stockholm was under siege by the Swedes. The abbess of the nunnery, Anna Leuhusen, offered to allow Swedes living in Stockholm to safely escape the Danes by exiting the city through the nunnery. When they arrived at the nunnery, however, she signaled the Danish authorities, and the refugees were executed as traitors. In June 1523, Stockholm was retaken by the Swedes and made capital of the independent Kingdom of Sweden. In 1525, Elin Thomasdotter is noted to have replaced Anna Leuhusen as abbess.
The St. Clare's Priory was to be one of the first convents to be dissolved in accordance with the Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden during the Swedish Reformation in 1527. This has been contributed to the acts of Anna Leuhusen during the war, for which the King felt vengeful. [1] The nuns were allowed to do as they pleased. Former Abbess Anna Leuhusen and the rest of the nuns was allowed to settle in the Grey Friar's Abbey of Riddarholmen, which had been dissolved the same year left empty by the monks. There, they worked as nurses the rest of their lives. Edelina, believed to have been the last of the nuns, died in the Danviken Hospital in 1573.
The building was demolished as the stones were needed to fortify the city walls. The stones from the nunnery were used to build the Birger Jarls torn (Birger Jarl's Tower). Present-day Klara Church in Stockholm lies on the same spot that the priory and its church once did.
The abbesses are only partially known.
{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help){{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help){{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help){{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Valdemar or Waldemar was King of Sweden from 1250 to 1275.
The status of Women in the Protestant Reformation was deeply influenced by Bible study, as the Reformation promoted literacy and Bible study in order to study God's will in what a society should look like. This influenced women's lives in both positive and negative ways, depending on what scripture and passages of the Bible were studied and promoted. The ideal of Bible study for commoners improved women's literacy and education, and many women became known for their interest and involvement in public debate during the Reformation. In parallel, however, their voices were often suppressed because of the edict of the Bible that women were to be silent. The abolition of the female convents resulted in the role of wife and mother becoming the only remaining ideal for a woman.
The Abbey Pax Mariae, more commonly referred to as Vadstena Abbey, is situated on Lake Vättern in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockholm and is a monastery of nuns within the Bridgettine Order. It was active from 1346 until 1595 and has been active since 1963, regaining status as an autonomous abbey in 1991.
Heggbach Abbey was a Cistercian nunnery in Heggbach, now part of the municipality of Maselheim in the district of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Catherine Karlsdotter, in Swedish called Katarina Karlsdotter and later Katarina Gumsehuvud was Queen of Sweden from 1448 to 1450 and Queen of Norway from 1449 to 1450 as the second wife of King Karl Knutsson.
Helvig of Holstein was Queen of Sweden as the consort of King Magnus Ladulås. Her parents were Gerhard I, Count of Holstein-Itzehoe and Elisabeth of Mecklenburg.
Söflingen Abbey was a nunnery of the Order of Poor Ladies, also known as the Poor Clares, the Poor Clare Sisters, the Clarisse, the Minoresses, or the Second Order of St. Francis. It was situated in the village of Söflingen, now part of Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Being the oldest nunnery of this order in Germany, it was also its most important and most affluent.
Brita Olovsdotter Tott or Birgitte Olufsdatter Thott, was a Danish and Swedish noble, landowner and royal county administrator She was judged for treason and for the forgery of seals. She was one of the biggest landowners in Scandinavia, and her estates played a role in politics in Sweden and Denmark.
Anna Rheinholdsdotter Leuhusen, was the Abbess of St. Clare's Priory in Stockholm. She became known for her involvement in the Swedish War of Liberation between Sweden and Denmark in the 1520s.
Vreta Abbey, in operation from the beginning of the 12th century to 1582, was the first nunnery in Sweden, initially Benedictine and later Cistercian, and one of the oldest in Scandinavia. It was located in the present-day municipality of Linköping in Östergötland.
Gudhem Abbey is the ruin of a nunnery which was in operation from 1152 to 1529. It is located in Gudhem outside Falköping in the Falbygden area in Västergötland, Sweden. It was initially part of the Benedictine and later Cistercian order. It is considered to have been one of the oldest convents in Sweden; after Vreta Abbey (1100) and Alvastra Abbey (1143).
Rikissa Magnusdotter was a Swedish princess. She was the daughter of King Magnus Ladulås of Sweden and his Queen consort Helvig of Holstein. At the age of six, she was entrusted to the nuns at St. Clara Priory in Stockholm. The nunnery had been given large donations and lands upon its foundation by King Magnus. Rikissa was the abbess of St. Clara Priory from at least 1335 until her death in 1348.
Riseberga Abbey, was a Cistercian nunnery in Sweden, in operation from circa 1180 until 1534. It was located near Fjugesta in Närke. It had the right to appoint the vicar of the Edsberg parish, which was under the jurisdiction of the abbey. The ruins of the buildings are preserved, and the Amphitheatre of the abbey are presently used as a Sylvan theater.
St. John's Priory, Kalmar, commonly known simply as Kalmar Nunnery, was a Roman Catholic convent for women of the Dominican Order in Kalmar in Sweden, in operation from 1299 until 1505.
Skänninge Abbey, also known as St. Ingrid's Priory, was a convent for Dominican nuns in Skänninge in Sweden which existed from 1272 until 1544. It was founded by Ingrid of Skänninge, and as such, it was often referred to as St. Ingrid's Priory. Located near the church dedicated to Martin of Tours, it was originally named St. Martin's Priory, though this name was rarely used. The common name for it was Skänninge Abbey, but as there was also a convent for Dominican friars in Skänninge, it was often called Skänninge Nunnery.
Askeby Abbey was a Cistercian nunnery in operation from the late 12th century until 1529. It was located in Askeby outside Linköping, Sweden.
Anna Germundsdotter or Girmundsdotter was a Swedish nun of the Bridgettine order and writer. She served as abbess of Vadstena Abbey from 1518 until 1529.
Leuhusen is a Swedish baronial family. Members include:
