According to tradition, Aelfthryth, mother of Aethelred the Unready, mother-in-law of St. Edward the Martyr, built this monastary as pennance. She founded it as a house for men and women or perhaps as two houses together.
Leofrun provided witness in a land dispute between Wynflaed and Leofwine.
Leofeva may have been the last abbess of the community of Reading.
Under abbess Leofeva, the nun's church at reading held eight hides of land valued at 9 pounds (Domesday Book: a survey of the counties of England, I, fo 58ra).
Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales, p. 74
The Abbey of Reading
Veiled Women, vol. 1, and vol. 2, 145-147
The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, vol. 1,, 110.
De gestis pontificum Anglorum libri quinque, 193;
Cherchez la femme. Queens, Queens' Lands, and Nunneries: Missing Links in the Foundation of Reading Abbey
Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 4
Abbey of Reading, in Berkshire
Reading Abbey; an introduction to the musical activity at Reading Abbey and its dependent priory of Leominster.
The Victoria History of the County of Berkshire2:63-73 available online at ">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40057&strquery=Readi... [Victoria County History]
No pre-conquest sources directly attest to the presence of women at Reading. However, there is a memory in the 12th century of a long defunct community of nuns having existed at Reading.
The presence of women at Reading needs further investigation and verification.
