For a truly truly minimal browser (albeit without support for modern HTML) check out the Dillo browser [1], in active development since 1999 [2]!
If all you need is to render HTML, it's tiny and fast. It supports HTTPS and no JavaScript (so you don't need NoScript for that ;)
[1] http://www.dillo.org [2] http://hg.dillo.org/dillo/raw-file/default/ChangeLog