St. Clare's Priory, Copenhagen

The monastery prospered in the early years, but as the Protestant Reformation gained influence, the daily search for food and alms for the poor began to dry up.

Many Danes felt that the mendicant orders, nicknamed the 'beggar monks and nuns' were an additional burden over and above the regular tithes and fees paid to sustain the church.

He encouraged Christian II to return to Denmark to take in hand the care of the Poor Clares who had been his mother's 'particular and elect' daughters.

The city fathers passed a law that forbade the nuns or their agents from collecting food or alms on the street which quickly impoverished the monastery.

On 25 May 1535 the Minister General of the Franciscan Order wrote to the abbess, informing her that either they would have to abandon the monastery, or they would have to violate their Rule and accept cash money for their sustenance.