The family is central to our understanding of the interaction between the laity and religious. Monks, nuns and priests all had blood relations as well as their new religious family within the cloisters and churches of Normandy. Families were also the first point of contact between the religious and secular spheres and were thus both of benefit and disadvantage to the religious life. Relatives – parents, siblings and children – founded monastic institutions, contributed to their endowment and provided their professed members. But the family could also be a burden on already stretched financial resources and make demands on the monks' and nuns' time.

In Normandy, the families of monks and nuns blurred spatial boundaries in a number of ways, both in terms of the physical barriers of the monastic precincts and the abstract barriers induced by enclosure. Kinfolk were found in the cloister making demands on hospitality. They caused professed religious to leave the cloister for a variety of reasons. Some families developed a network of vocations within specific houses, establishing a religious branch of the family interest dedicated to the maintenance of its spiritual wellbeing. Other families used their monastic foundations as private mausolea, displaying their wealth and patronage through tombs in churches, cloisters and chapter houses. Gender is crucial in this discussion. Although an individual's biological sex remained the same after taking vows, their gendered identity changed. This is particularly true of those individuals who were married prior to committing themselves to a life of celibacy. By considering the family and use of space through the interaction between the Norman laity and religious, this book's other themes of display, reception and intrusion, and enclosure, come together.