Founded by Countess Agnes of Anjou and her husband, Count Fulk Nerra
28 nuns, headed by Abbess Leoburga
28 in 1028, 33 in 1073, 30 in 1706. Population probably hovered somewhere between 30 and 50.
Churches and priories include: Cohemon, Chauvon, Saint-Cyr and Saint-Julitte, Nantes, Vernoil-le-Fourier, Saint Aubin de Sieches, Saint Lambert du Lattey, Notre Dame de Prigny, Avenieres, and la Jubaudiere.
Mostly the local nobility of teh Loire regio: the counts of Agers and Toulouse and the castellan families of Chemille, Chateaugontier, Laval, Cholet, etc. After Henry II became King of England, patronage of the comital family was
largely transferred to Fontevvrrauld.
Generally upper-class women.
Fairly wealthy, though not wealthy compared to men's houses in the area.
Varied; mainly invested in vineyards, mills and other types of agricultrual property.
In the late 12th century, the community became responsible for the charity hospital of Saint-Jean d'Angers.
Numerous, particularly with regard to parish rights of the parish churches of La Doutre (Angers).
Several classical poems excanged between the nuns of Ronceray and Baudride Bourgeuil in the early twelfth century (See Women Writers of the Middle Ages: a Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua (203) to Marguerite Porete (1310)).
six cartulary rolls, dating from the early 13th century
One eleventh-century statue of the Virgin and Child.
Much of the structure is currently a part of the Ecole des Arts et Metier (Angers). The cloister, the parish church of La Trinite and the Hopital Saint-Jacques are still extant; most other sites are preserved as museum or gallery spaces.
A hair of the Blessed Virgin; small relics of St. Pancras and St. Gatian de Tours.
Most are held by Archives Départementales de Maine-et-Loire and Angers, Bibliothèque Municipale.
Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France: recueil historique des archevêchés, évêchés, abbayes et prieurés de France, vol. 8, p. 99-100;
Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. 14, p. 695;
Holy Litigants: the Nuns of Ronceray d'Angers and their Neighbors, 1028-1200; Les religieuses de l'abbaye dit Ronceray a Angers; Les fondations, l'organisation et l'evolution des etablissements de moniales dans le diocese d'Angers (du XIe au XIIe siecle); Eve et Goscelin
Elements d'anthroponymie feminine d'apres le cartulaire du Ronceray d'Angers, 1028-1184 environs; Les conflits de sepulture en Anjou aux XIe et XIIe siecles; Abbaye de Notre-Dame de la Charite, ou du Ronceray; Probleme der Oberlieferung und Verfasserschaft lateinischer Liebesbriefe des hohen Mittelalters; L'abbesse du Ronceray et la société féodale angevine: l'art de l'intervention; Disputing Corpses: Le Ronceray d'Angers versus Saint-Nicolas d'Angers, ca. 1080-1140; Holy Litigants: the Nuns of Ronceray d'Angers and their Neighbors, 1028-1200; Women's Monasticism and Medieval Society: Nunneries in France and England, 890-1215; Les moniales dans la France de l'Ouest sur XIe et XIIe siècles: Études d'histoire sociale
