 Bertila’s reputation as a pious member of the nobility and, later, the eminence of Gisela, sister of Charlemagne, drew several foreign princesses to join the nuns at Chelles, including Hereswith of Northumbria.The abbey swiftly became one of the most favored monasteries for English royal princesses in Francia to be sent to for their religious instruction, along with other convents in the Paris basin such as at Les Andelys (built in 511 AD, the first convent in France) and Fécamp Abbey (built by "Dux" Waningus in 658).Its international reputation was further secured by Bertila’s gifts of relics, books and tutors to help establish monasteries of nuns in Britain, and accepting several young English women into the monastic community.