ABSTRACT
Monks and nuns played a crucial role in interceding for medieval society and helping believers atone for their misdeeds. Monasteries and nunneries could also fulfil more quotidian needs for the Beaugencys and their peers, such as health care or education. The chapter explores several religious houses within the Beaugency orbit and their relationships with secular society. It focuses on the monastery of Sainte-Trinite of Vendome and one of its abbots, Abbot Geoffrey, and the neighbouring convent of St. Avit of Chateaudun and its abbesses. Nunneries populated the medieval landscape and provided medieval noble-women like the Beaugency women a place to dedicate their lives to God. Such as the abbey of Fontevraud, came to be as sizeable and influential as the prominent male monasteries like St. Trinite. In addition to Fontevraud and St. Trinite, there were smaller, more modest, religious communities. The abbey of St. Avit of Chateaudun was one such foundation.
