In an article published in 2007, Kathleen Thompson presents a vivid picture of the authority and administrative efficiency of the abbesses of Caen at the beginning of the thirteenth century:

The abbey of Holy Trinity, Caen – also known as the Abbaye-aux-Dames – provides an exceptionally good example of how high status Norman women retained their ability to take action in Anglo-Norman society both before and after 1204. This excerpt emphasizes some of the key aspects of how the abbesses of Caen directed their monastery during the thirteenth century: their decision – despite a difficult political context – to conserve the abbey’s Anglo-Norman estate, as it had been established at the end of the eleventh century by Queen Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror; their active involvement in the management of their lands; and their consistency in drawing up a vast series of comprehensive land surveys, documents which testify to their mastering of literacy. At the heart of this article will be a key element underlined by Kathleen Thompson: the link between the literacy of these women and their management skills.

The impressive wealth of administrative documents produced by this famous abbey, founded by William the Conqueror and his wife in around 1059, is now well known. As early as the beginning of the twelfth century, surveys were carried out of the whole Anglo-Norman estate of the nunnery: the first one dates from the years 1106–1130 (survey A), and the second one from the years 1170 x 1185 (survey B-C). During the thirteenth century, this well established practice was still followed, as is shown by the preservation of surveys concerning specific English manors of the abbey (surveys D, c.1200 and c.1223–1224).