The Abbey of Bruisyard was a house of

Minoress The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare (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 Order, and the Sec ...

es (Poor Clares) at

Bruisyard Bruisyard is a village in the valley of the River Alde in the county of Suffolk, England. The village had a population of around 175 at the 2011 census.

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. It was founded from

Campsey Priory Campsey Priory (''Campesse'', ''Kampessie'', etc.) was a religious house of Rule of St Augustine, Augustinian canonesses regular, canonesses at Campsea Ashe, Suffolk, about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) southeast of Wickham Market. It was founded sho ...

in Suffolk on the initiative of

Maud of Lancaster, Countess of Ulster Maud of Lancaster, Countess of Ulster (c. 1310 – 5 May 1377) was an English noblewoman and the wife of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster. She was the mother of Elizabeth de Burgh, ''suo jure'' Countess of Ulster. Her second husband w ...

, assisted by her son-in-law

Lionel of Antwerp Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (; 29 November 133817 October 1368), was an English prince, Earl of Ulster ''jure uxoris'' from 1347, Duke of Clarence from 1362, Guardian of England in 1345–46, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1361–66, Kn ...

, in 1364–1366. The foundation of a religious house at Rokes Hall in Bruisyard began a little earlier, when a small college of secular priests (four chaplains and a master, or warden) attached to

for the purposes of a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...

, established in 1346–1347, was moved to Bruisyard in 1354 to celebrate there in a new chapel of the

Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...

to the Virgin. At that time a full set of statutes was promulgated by Maud of Lancaster. It was following the death of her daughter

Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster Elizabeth de Burgh, Duchess of Clarence, ''suo jure'' 4th Countess of Ulster and 5th Baroness of Connaught ( ; 6 July 1332 – 10 December 1363) was a Norman-Irish noblewoman who married Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence. Family Elizab ...

in 1363 that

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (; 29 November 133817 October 1368), was an English prince, Earl of Ulster ''jure uxoris'' from 1347, Duke of Clarence from 1362, Guardian of England in 1345–46, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1361–66, Kni ...

assisted in the refoundation of the house as a nunnery of the Order of St Clare, and at that time Maud of Lancaster, who had become a canoness at Campsey, transferred to the Poor Clares and spent her last years at Bruisyard. She and her daughter

Maud de Ufford Maud de Ufford, Countess of Oxford (1345/1346 – 25 January 1413) was a wealthy English noblewoman and the wife of Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford. Her only child was Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, the favourite of King Richard II. In 1 ...

were buried there.'House of minoresses: Abbey of Bruisyard', in W. Page (ed.), ''A History of the County of Suffolk'', Vol. 2, (London, 1975)
pp. 131-32
(British History Online, accessed 19 June 2018). The house was suppressed on 17 February 1539, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

References

Monasteries in Suffolk Poor Clare monasteries in England {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub