The monastic way of life had also been fascinating women from the beginning. Famous nuns of ancient times were, for example, Scholastica, the sister of Benedict of Nursia, who is considered to be the father of monasticism. Close to the monastery in Montecassino founded by Benedict, Scholastica led a community of religious women. Lioba († 782) supported her relative, the missionary Bonifatius, with Christianising the Franconian Empire and became Abbess of the monastery in Tauberbischofsheim.

At the Synod of Aachen in 816, and attempt was made to standardise the different religious ways of life: Monasteries had to follow the Benedictine Rule and for nun’s convents the Institutio sanctimonialium was written. An implementation of these regulations and consequentially, a strict separation between convent and monastery only occurred in the course of the 10th and 11th century, in some cases even later. Nun’s convents were usually located in or close to towns, so the bishops were able to control them. Often, monastic communities or clerics lived in the surrounding area, who provided the nuns with spiritual assistance as confessors or priests. For legal and financial matters, in most cases a Vogt (bailiff) was put into office. However, as many Vögte, were rather selfish, Hildegard of Bingen arranged for her monastery that it was directly subordinate to the Archbishop of Mainz.

The daily routine of the Benedictine nuns, structured according to hourly prayers, was similar to that of the monks. The time scheduled for work was mostly used for light handicraft such as sewing, stitching, weaving or artistic works. They also taught children who were prepared for a life in a monastery and received a basic education. Apart from the wish to lead a consecrated life in a pious community, there were also other reasons to enter a monastery. Today, monasteries are often described as „institutions of supply and care“ for unmarried daughters of noble families, for whom the possessions of the parents were not enough in order to marry them to renowned families. Perhaps the term „place of education and socialisation“ would be more suitable, because even in the monasteries the noble nuns remain a part of the societal network (Ute Küppers-Braun). Instead of marrying again, many widows decided for a life in the monastery. The majority of entrants were not, as was the case with Hildegard of Bingen, girls between 5 and 10 years old who entered a monastery as Oblates. Hildegard herself expressed her opposition to this practice in her book Scivias. The life behind the walls of a monastery also had advantages compared to a life in a marriage – here, they had the best possible access to education, could improve their skills within the scope of the monastery and move up to the office of an Abbess.

What the social structure of nun’s convents looked like, is a question the researchers cannot clearly answer due to the lack of convincing sources. For a long time it was assumed the convents were preserved for noblewomen and were only open to different classes during the reform movement. The historian Franz Felten emphasises, however, that the origin of the nuns was rarely handed down and noble founders and Abbesses cannot be indicative for a general exclusivity for noblewomen. As we know from the critical letter from Tengswich of Andernach, Hildegard only accepted girls from noble origin into the monastery on the Rupertsberg. For Felten, this shows less the maintenance of a traditional heritage, but a „modern reaction to current changes in society that occurred in Hildegard’s time and environment.“ The assumption behind this hypothesis is the desire of the ancient nobility to differentiate themselves from the rising class of ministeriales. Consequently, Hildegard would have closed a market niche with her views.