During the Medieval period, the town was dominated by Chatteris Abbey, a small Benedictine nunnery dedicated to St Mary, built in 980 by Eadnoth the Younger for Aelfwyn or Alfwen the niece of King Edgar and one of only eight nunneries mentioned in the "Domesday Book". The first abbess of Chatteris was Eadnoth's sister, Aelfwyn. Throughout its existence, the abbey was comparatively poor compared to other foundations, due to a lack of royal patronage and a consequent lack of tithe estates. As a result, the abbey survived the first wave of closures during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but was surrendered to the king's commissioners in 1538, by which time there were eleven nuns in residence.