ABSTRACT
Medieval women had an ambiguous relationship with memory. The so-called arts of memory were not written with them in mind and as a rule they did not have access to mnemonic processes. This chapter examines the formulation of the Capetian dynastic memory, developed by the king in collaboration with the women of his family and entrusted to the nuns, at a time when a female branch of the Franciscan Order was establishing itself. Longchamp and Lourcine evidently took special care in maintaining records and the collections in the Archives Nationales de France, particularly the series L and S, offer a rich fund of documentation. The chapter explains about the origins of these two abbeys, and about the first few decades of their operation, from the registers and the lists of foundations of Masses that have been preserved. These documents are supplemented by inventories of the goods at Longchamp, from the end of the thirteenth to end of the fifteenth century.
