#MarieDeStPol in 1336 granted the manor of Denny to the Minoress nuns of flood-prone Waterbeach. She later moved the community to Denny Abbey, from which the Templars had been evicted some decades earlier:
https://production.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/denny-abbey-and-the-farmland-museum/history/
She rebuilt, with handsome new buildings, & a lovely upper-floor room for her own use.
10 miles north of #Cambridge & well worth visiting:
https://www.dennyfarmlandmuseum.org.uk/content/category/about 🧵 2/

Marie's friend Elizabeth de Burgh, #LadyOfClare had a similar arrangement with Augustinian canons at nearby Anglesey: patronage, retreats, & comfortable accommodation. The ladies could visit each other while near Cambridge, where Elizabeth rescued #ClareCollege & Marie founded #PembrokeCollege. 🧵 3/
🗺️ of the fens before draining: William Dugdale 1662, 'The history of imbanking" p.375, https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_the-history-of-imbanking_dugdale-sir-william_1662/page/382/mode/2up
🎨 Marie de St Pol praying to St Clare, in her breviary: Cambridge UL, MS Dd.5.5, f.274r

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

@ClaireFromClare My favorite era in illumination! That gold leaf must be stunning in person.

@avirr I'd love to see these in person! The page from the Bible of St Louis is one of eight (the final quire) in the Morgan Library in NY; the rest is in Toledo cathedral... I just found a description with some of the Toledo pages here: https://docs.moleiro.com/en_Bible_Saint_Louis_III_11.pdf
#13thCentury #Toledo #bible #medieval #manuscript #MorganLibrary