St. Clare's Priory was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

nunnery A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Comm ...

of the

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (Latin language, Latin: ''Ordo Sanctae Clarae''), originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and also known as the Clarisses or Clarissines, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Or ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The nunnery was active from 1289 to the

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and was not definitively decided until the Uppsala Synod of 1593, in the wake of an attempted Counter-Re ...

in 1527.

History

The nunnery was given large donations and lands upon its foundation by King

Magnus III of Sweden Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

. King Magnus also gave his daughter Princess

Richeza Magnusdotter of Sweden Rikissa Magnusdotter ( – 17 December 1348) was a Swedish princess. She was the daughter of King Magnus Ladulås of Sweden and his queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperi ...

to the nunnery. She was to serve as its

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

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 The Greyfriars Monastery ( Swedish: ''Gråmunkeklostret'') on the island of Riddarholmen in Stockholm was a monastery for males of the Franciscan Order, in operation from 1270 until the Swedish Reformation of 1527. History The monastery was found ...

, 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 Sten Sture the Elder (; 1440 – 14 December 1503) was a Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden from 1470 to 1497 and again from 1501 to 1503. As the leader of the victorious Swedish separatist forces against the royal unionist forces led by De ...

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 John or Hans (; 2 February 1455 – 20 February 1513) was a Scandinavian monarch who ruled under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Kingdom of Denmark, Denmark from 1481 to 1513, King of Kingdom of Norway, Norway from 1483 to 1513, and King of ...

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 Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

of 1521–23, Danish-controlled Stockholm was under siege by the Swedes. The

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.

Dissolution

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 The Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden, was an important reform during the Protestant Swedish Reformation, in which king Gustav I of Sweden ordered a reduction in church property and the return of land to the crown, making the national church depend ...

during the

in 1527. This has been contributed to the acts of Anna Leuhusen during the war, for which the King felt vengeful.Lisbet Scheutz (2001 (2003) nuytgåva). Berömda och glömda stockholmskvinnor: sju stadsvandringar: 155 kvinnoporträtt. (Famous and forgotten women of Stockholm: seven tours: 155 female profiles) Stockholm: MBM. Libris 8392583 The nuns were allowed to do as they pleased. Former Abbess Anna Leuhusen and the rest of the

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

s was allowed to settle in the Grey Friar's Abbey of

Riddarholmen Riddarholmen (, "The Knights' Islet") is a small islet in central Stockholm, Sweden. The island forms part of Gamla Stan, the old town, and houses a number of private palaces dating back to the 17th century. The main landmark is the church Riddarh ...

, which had been dissolved the same year left empty by the monks. There, they worked as

nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

s the rest of their lives. Edelina, believed to have been the last of the nuns, died in the

Danviken Hospital Danvikens hospital was a historical Swedish hospital, insane asylum and retirement home in Stockholm, active in 1558–1861. The area belonged to Stockholms kommun until 1984, when it was transferred to Nacka kommun. The Danvikens hospital wa ...

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 The Church of Saint Clare or Klara Church () is a church (building), church in central Stockholm. A church has been at the site since the 1280s; the current buildings date from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Since 1989, the Swedish E ...

in Stockholm lies on the same spot that the priory and its church once did.

Abbesses

The abbesses are only partially known. # Ingeborg Thörnesdotter (Hjorthorn) (1314) # Gertrud (1322) # Helvig (1335) #

(circa 1336–1348) # Gertrud (1355) # Brita (circa 1364–1366) # Kristina (1372) # Märta Nilsdotter (1387) # Ingeborg, full name possibly Ingeborg Nilsdotter Vasa, (1408) # Birgitta Magnusdotter (circa 1430–1440) # Ramfrid Petri (1480) # Anna Reinholdsdotter Leuhusen (circa 1508–1525) # Elin Thomasdotter (circa 1525–1527)

Notes

Sources

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External links

{{Catholic Church in Sweden Franciscan monasteries in Sweden 1289 establishments in Europe 13th-century establishments in Sweden Christian monasteries established in the 1280s 1527 disestablishments in Europe 16th-century disestablishments in Sweden Medieval history of Sweden Monasteries dissolved under the Swedish Reformation Buildings and structures in Stockholm