An important part of Medieval theology was intercessory prayers; these were prayers which commended the souls of the dead to God, and frequently beseeched a saint or other figure to, in essence, put in a good word with God to fast-track somebody's progress into heaven. The best way to ensure these prayers were said after death was, basically, to hire somebody to say them; it was common to bequeath land or wealth in a will or a charter to a local religious institution in return for them saying intercessory prayers on your behalf after death. Some monarchs or wealthy nobles even established religious communities or sponsored new chapter houses directly in the hope that these would benefit them posthumously. The convent and minster church in Wimborne for example, St Cuthberga's, was established by the sister of Ine of Wessex for the spiritual support of the Gewisse dynasty, while Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire was founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury in 1229 after the death of her husband, and she herself retired there in 1238. As another example, S941, a charter of Æthelred II and Emma to St Paul's, London, is made

...quatinus michi criminum meorum flagitia a Domino uenia relaxetur et confusiones scandalorum scismata simultatumque dehinc aboletur

That is "so that a pardon be granted me by the Lord from the torments of my crimes and henceforth the embarrassments of slanders and the quarrels [arising from] dissensions be done away with".

The result of this phenomenon being so widespread is that monasteries and other religious communities frequently became major landowners. At the time of Domesday Book in 1086, for example, the Canons of St Peter and St Mary attached to Exeter Cathedral were the tenants-in-chief of the settlements of Ashclyst, West Clyst, Poltimore and Polsloe. In the same vein, St Peter's in Hereford was the tenant-in-chief of 39 settlements in 1066, and had accumulated a further 9 settlements by 1086. By the 14th Century, the Benedictine monastery at Cluny was one of the wealthiest and most heavily endowed houses in Christendom, and also operated a number of satellite houses across Europe.

As tenants-in-chief of their estates, religious communities essentially functioned in the same way as manorial landlords, and as such collected rents from their tenants by way of service rent carried out on manorial lands. At Lulham in Herefordshire, for example, there were three "lord's ploughlands" (around 360 acres) worked alongside the 21 community ploughlands held by the tenant farmers. At nearby Bosbury, St Peter's owned a further 3 ploughlands as well as a mill. These manorial estates provided religious communities both with food as well as a regular source of income.