the heavy royal connections of the abbey’s beginnings appear to have imparted from the outset a certain cachet to the house and in particular in the early days women aspiring to become professed nuns had to be of noble birth, though by the 14th century the daughters of wealthy merchants were also entering. the presence of the noble and the rich within the abbey’s walls was not confined to nuns. after the death of her husband, thomas de beauchamp, 12th earl of warwick, in 1401, margaret beauchamp née ferrers, was given an indult from the pope to reside in the abbey with three matrons as long as she wished, though presumably not as a nun. more surprisingly still, thomas of woodstock, duke of gloucester, whom we have already seen placing his young daughter isabel in the abbey, had a house right next to the conventual church and was allowed to have a private entrance made through.