Cecilia, Abbess of Holy Trinity

Medilands (29 Oct 2021) England, Kings 1066-1837 Chapter 1.

5. CECILIA de Normandie (? - Caen 3/13 Jul [1126/27], bur Caen, Abbey of Holy Trinity).
Orderic Vitalis names “Adelizam et Constantiam, Ceciliam et Adalam” as the daughters of “Willermus Normanniæ dux” and his wife “Mathildem Balduini ducis Flandrensium filiam, neptem...ex sorore Henrici regis Francorum”[70].
In another passage, the same source names the daughters “Agatham et Constantiam, Adelizam, Adelam et Ceciliam”[71], and in a third place “Agathen ac Adelizam, Constantiam, Adalam et Ceciliam”[72].
She is named first in his list of King William's daughters by William of Malmesbury and by Matthew Paris[73].
In another passage, Orderic Vitalis, in his list of the king's children which appears to place both the sons and daughters together in birth order[74], unfortunately omits Cecilia, rendering it particularly difficult to decide if she was older or younger than her brother Richard.
Guillaume de Jumièges names Cecile as eldest daughter, stating that she was a nun at the convent of Holy Trinity at Caen[75].
A manuscript at Caen names "Mathildem Anglorum reginam, nostri cœnobii fondatricem, Adilidem, Mathildem, Constantiam, filias eius" heading the list of the names of nuns at the abbey[76], which, if the order of names is significant, indicates that Cecilia was younger than her sisters Adelaide and Mathilde.
Her parents offered her as an oblate to the nunnery of the Holy Trinity, Caen (founded by her mother) 18 Jun 1066[77], probably in part to obtain divine blessing for her father’s project to invade England.
Orderic Vitalis records that at Fécamp in 1075 King William I entered “Ceciliam...filiam suam” as a nun at Caen, adding that she later succeeded "Mathilde abbatissa" (who had been abbess for 47 years) and governed as abbess for nearly 14 years until she died “III Id Jul” 1127[78].
Her tutor was Arnoul de Choques who later became Chancellor to her brother Robert "Curthose" Duke of Normandy, and subsequently Patriarch of Jerusalem[79].
She succeeded her sister Mathilde as abbess of la Trinité de Caen in [1113][80].
The Chronicon S. Stephani Cadomensis records the death in 1126 of "Cecilia Abbatissa, Willelmi Regis filia"[81].

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enWikipedia (28 Mar 2022) Cecilia of Normandy

Cecilia of Normandy (or Cecily; c. 1056 – 30 July 1126) was a French abbess, thought to be the eldest daughter[2][3] of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.[4][5]

Life

...She was very close to her other brother, Robert Curthose.[7] She was given a high education in the arts, Latin, rhetoric and logic by the scholar Arnulf of Chocques.[8]
Cecilia was entered into the Abbey of the Holy Trinity of Caen at a young age by her parents.[9] She was placed in the convent in June 1066, at the formal inauguration of the convent, which was founded by her mother as a penance for the marriage, which initially regarded as Prohibited degree of kinship, as well as during the preparations of the invasion of England.[8]
To give a child to the church in this manner was common for parents during this time period, but a daughter of the nobility was often treated very well, and allowed her own household and confessor as well as allowed to receive guests in private in her rooms, which was more liberated than for most unmarried noblewomen not in convents. After having been placed in the convent, she was educated by the abbess Matilda.[10][11]
In 1100, she was visited by her brother Robert Curthose on his return from the First Crusade. He presented her and her abbey with a captured Saracen banner.[12]
Cecilia had a successful career at the convent. Cecilia was possibly the only child to be present on the funeral of her mother in 1083, as it took place in her convent, and no other child is confirmed to have been present.[8] She introduced a number of improvements to the convent and functioned as the coadjutor or deputy of the abbess, her relative Matilda.[8] She succeeded her relative Matilda as Abbess of the Abbey of Sainte-Trinité in Caen in 1112.[13]
Her good reputation was described by Baldric of Dol, archbishop of Dol, and the poet Hildebert of Le Mans, who referred to her as "a queen, a goddess and a royal virgin, who married a heavenly husband".[8]
Cecilia died on 30 July 1126 in Caen, France. She was buried within the abbey walls. Her tomb is walled up without any opening being left through which it can be discovered. Her father was also buried in Caen.
References: Click the hyperlink
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Wikipédia français "Cécile de Normandie"

Wikipédia français (26 mars 2022) "Liste des abbesses de la Trinité de Caen"

Ordericus Vitalis' The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, Vol. 2, p.115