Definition of "Minoress"

Also I. bequethe to the Religiouse Wommen the Menouresses dwellyngge witħoute algate of london̄, C. s. to be departed amonge [hem] by euene porcion̄, for to synge and rede and to praye diuine seruice for my lordes soule Sir Thomas West, and myn, and for alle christene soules, and for the estates of Thomas my sone, and Iohane his wyf, and for her children.

1395, Alice West, last will and testement, p. 3

These Nunnes were of the order of S. Clare, and called Minoresses.

1631, John Weever, Ancient Funerall Monuments, page 755

The chief house of the Clares in England stood near Aldgate; it was built by Blanche, queen of Navarre, and her husband Edmund, earl of Lancaster, Leicester and Darby, son to Henry III. and brother to Edward I. These nuns were Urbanists, and enjoyed revenues. They were called Clares or Minoresses, and their house the Minories...

1759, Alban Butler, The Lives of the... Saints, volume IV, page 87