The different religious orders established throughout the Ancien Régime in the capital of La Ribera, together with the medieval foundations that transformed their spaces at the same time, turned Tudela into a true convent city, with an appearance very similar to that of many other towns in Spain during that period. Unmistakable brick facades, belfries, high walls with verdugadas and convent complexes with railings, configured a distribution of urban spaces visible in different plans, especially in the one engraved by Tomás López in 1785.

The disentailments of the nineteenth century recovered some of those convents for public spaces and in the second half of the last century, the whole complex of the Poor Clares ceased to exist to give way to an urbanization.

The establishment of the daughters of St. Clare in Tudela is endorsed by three papal bulls of Alexander IV of 1261 addressed to the king of Navarre, the bishop of Tarazona and the council of Tudela. In them, the abbess of Valladolid authorized Sister Maria, founder and abbess of that monastery, along with three other nuns of the same monastery, to establish themselves in Tudela. Royal privileges, ecclesiastical favors and numerous private donations arrived throughout the 13th century. In the time of Charles II the Bad, the primitive extra-mural seat was abandoned and the nuns lived between 1368 and 1618 in their second dwelling, near the parish of the Savior. The third location (1618-1971) was determined by its narrowness, since it did not even have a large orchard. At the end of the 19th century, in 1897, at the repeated request of the Bishop of Tarazona, the Poor Clares of Tudela adopted a common life, under a rules and regulations prepared by the aforementioned prelate. Between 1971 and 1972 they moved to their present location, to a building erected according to plans by Enrique M. Delso.

In the convent lived the mystic and penitent Sister Jerónima de la Ascensión (Agramont y Blancas, 1605-1660), author of poems, prayers and literary compositions, some with great ingenuity. Among the convent's festivities, she emphasized that of her titular, celebrated in her church with "grace and joy, great decorations and riches for greater veneration ... with sermon and music, special attractions for the souls". Regarding other festivities, it is noted in the sources that they were "the object of their tenderness, but they want to enjoy them alone". Iribarren made a literary account of the Franciscan rosary, a function that ceased to be practiced in his church around 1920.

The community invested all its assets in the architectural complex and church, the cost of which amounted to 13,000 escudos. The regiment granted 50 escudos of ten reales, which were contributed with the permission of the Royal committee, in 1618. The nuns used the dowries of some of them, such as that of the famous Sister Jerónima de la Ascensión. On April 25 of the aforementioned year of 1618, the transfer took place with a solemn procession and a mass of thanksgiving, placing the Blessed Sacrament with the rites ordered in the liturgical rubrics.

The two master builders of the new convent -Juan de Olaso and Juan González de Apaolaza- took possession of the old monastery, where the nuns had lived since 1368 on Serralta Street, and proceeded to sell it position . The price of this last operation reached 2,000 escudos of ten reales, which the two masters split in half.

Among the acquisitions made by the nuns for the new factory were various pieces of land, orchards and spinning mills from different owners. The first contract for the factory of the new monastery located next to what was later called degree program de las Monjas and later simply degree program, was signed in June 1611 with Juan de Olaso and Juan González de Apaolaza, who were very active in the first decades of the 17th century. A little later, in February 1612, a Franciscan, known for his interventions in other construction processes in convents of the Province of the Friars Minor of Burgos, Friar Antonio Villalacre, visited the works. The indications of the latter were included in a second contract, countersigned by the parties in Tudela in August 1613.

The object of the first deed was "to build a monastery house and church of the same invocation of Santa Clara in pieces that are indicated in the door of Zaragoza, next to the humilladero of it" with a condition consisting of twenty-five chapters. The first alludes to the designs or plans signed by both parties, preserved in the original deed, as well as to varied and disparate issues, referring to the necessary ditches and their measurements for the settlement of the building, having to build a firm stone foundation. It also indicates the issue of cells that would be fifty, as well as various offices, which are not specified, to be carried out on the leave floor of the building. The issue of cells could be related to the maximum issue of nuns in the house. At the time of the signature of the contract there were twenty-nine, although the nuns claimed, a little later, to be half a hundred and in other convents of the order in Navarra, such as the Pamplona convent of Santa Engracia, the number of nuns marked in its regulations, does not seem to exceed the issue of fifty between choristers and laywomen.

The church was adapted by its simplicity to the uses of the feminine conventual churches of the beginning of the XVIII century, a fortiori, in an austere order like the Franciscan. It was configured as a simple nave with Wayside Cross, with the choir loft at the foot of the church and the choir loft below it, in a layout reminiscent of what the Poor Clares of Estella and the Benedictine nuns of the same city also had, where the choir loft was not on one side of the main chapel, but at the foot of the church.

That simple space of the early seventeenth century, was baroque in the first half of the eighteenth century. In 1731 the collaterals were contracted with Domingo José Romero from Soria and, in 1759, the main altarpiece was finished, which was gilded by the brothers Juan Angel and Lucas de Olleta. Between both dates (1731-1759), the simple temple acquired a new aspect with the addition of polychrome tribunes, following models common to those of the church of the Compañía de María, four collaterals and the great main altarpiece, all of which were dismantled when the entire convent complex was demolished. The brothers José and Antonio del Río, authors among other works of the altarpieces of the Jesuits of Tudela -today the parish of San Jorge-, focused on the tribunes, a pair of collaterals and above all, on the main altarpiece, of which the floor plan and elevation have been preserved, drawn on a beautiful parchment, as well as some photographs.

The chronology of the altarpiece could be set around 1755, perhaps after the completion of the whole of the church of the Compañía de Jesús, the work of the del Río brothers (1748-1749). The paternity of these last masters for the design of the altarpiece of the Poor Clares is beyond doubt, judging by the structural and decorative elements used by both artists in Tudela in the middle of the 18th century. With respect to the iconography, the lumps are located on the bench of the shell, on the cornices of the main body and plumb with the supports, with St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic, St. Bonaventure and St. Roch, reserving the main place, in the center, for St. Francis of Assisi.

When it came to the material realization of the altarpiece, the nuns opted for another model consisting of a double bench, two bodies divided into three sections and an attic. The triumph of rococo is a fact, judging by the rocaille panels and the columns subject ; some smooth and ringed, others with the lower third smooth with a rocaille plate and the rest striated with garlands of roses and others with the entire shaft striated and enguirnaldado. For its iconography, what was in the attic of project was respected, adding the image of Saint Clare and two other saints of the order (Saint Coleta and Saint Agnes of Assisi) in the first body.  

With regard to the conventual movable heritage, analyzed in the Monumental Catalog of Navarre, it should be noted that the administration books during the three or four-year terms of the different abbesses include at the end of the aforementioned stages everything that had been incorporated into the sacristy, including altarpieces, carpets, images, paintings, cornucopias or sacred vessels. We will highlight some singular pieces.

In 1611, a silver cross was made with financial aid by Doña Jerónima de Vierlas. A little later, the organ builder Guillaume de Lupe made the organ. In 1625, an image of Saint Ursula is recorded, with a head of the eleven thousand virgins and the body full of relics, described as a "highly esteemed" work and paid for by two nuns. In 1628 a hanging of crimson and straw-colored taffeta, three frontispieces and two collateral altarpieces are consigned. Regarding the hanging, we must remember that other convents in Navarre possessed excellent pieces of this type subject, which were used to upholster the church. The Benedictine nuns of Estella and Corella and the Poor Clares of Estella, among other monasteries, had them. Disuse, generally from the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th, caused them to be lost or sold.

In 1714 a new organ was built; in 1717, a curtain of gold cloth and a large choir book for the choir; in 1720, the entire church was whitewashed and painted and a silver monstrance with rhinestones was ordered for the hand of St. Clare, a diadem, foot and crozier for the holy mass, numerous sacristy vestments and some books. In 1725, a pair of large paintings for the lower choir are dated, noting that the framework of St. Michael's was made at the expense of various private alms from the nuns. In 1728, a silver script, twelve gilded wooden cornucopias, several books, doors and tablecloths are noted, and in 1731, the relic of St. Clare with her silver virile, a chalice of the same material, two lateral carved altars that remained to be gilded, two carpets, bouquets, pictures of St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Anthony of Padua and Our Lady of Sorrows, as well as some benches for the refectory.

Some pieces of movable patrimony were sold for subsistence needs, much to the sorrow of the nuns. In 1909, they requested permission to sell a deteriorated tapestry from the end of the 15th century in order to undertake conservation work in their monastery, and in 1914 a very old carpet, with the authorization of the bishop and the nunciature. After 1933, another carpet was sold, estimated by antique dealers at 6,000 pesetas. The eighteenth century organ, renovated in the nineteenth century, is kept in the monastery of Santes Creus and was restored last August. Its sounds can be heard in a short video(https://www.ccma.cat/tv3/alacarta/telenoticies/restaurat-lorgue-de-santes-creus-despres-danys-dabando/video/6054520/).

For its interest, we transcribe the description of the convent that Julio Segura Miranda made in his monograph: "The sold convent has 15,770.57 square meters of surface and an access patio of 600 meters wide; the church has 200 square meters; it is of brick and stone; its vault is of barrel vault with toral arches and small Wayside Cross. The convent has a square floor plan, with three floors; the parlors are at the back and have 204 square meters and the "mandadera's" dwelling has a floor plan leave and a floor, having 90 square meters".

The map of the city of Tudela, engraved by Tomás López in 1785, is a good reference for delimiting the ample space of the convent complex and its orchard, as is another drawing of the city plan preserved at file Decanal.

However, it is some plans preserved in various archives, a drawing, photos taken by the nuns and aerial views from IDENA that give an idea of the extent of the convent complex and its formal space. Large brick walls on stone bases, the use of arched galleries in the attics, simple or folded, a large cloister organizing the large rooms of the monastery, plus an enormous kitchen garden.

The volumes are clearly visible in the SITNA-IDENA photographs from different times. As for the exteriors, we have a drawing and several photographs. One, which is kept at file de Simancas, has been rescued from the facebook forum "Historia recóndita de Tudela" by Manuel Sagastibelza, who kindly shared it with us. It is an elevation view or "Perspective according to the laws of optics" signed by Manuel Díez - probably the mason Manuel Díez de Ulzurrun - and the architect José Marzal y Gil in 1766. According to the drawing, the convent had a very closed appearance, with a main front like a fortress with two lateral towers. This vision was later altered with the construction of a portico on the left.