 The medieval understanding of religious houses as institutions associated monasteries and nunneries with their property; that is to say, their endowments of land and spiritual income, and not with their current personnel of monks and nuns.If the property with which a house had been endowed by its founder were to be confiscated or surrendered, then the house ceased to exist, whether its members continued in the religious life or not.Consequently, the founder, and their heirs, had a continuing (and legally enforceable) interest in certain aspects of the house's functioning; their nomination was required at the election of an abbot or prior, they could claim hospitality within the house when needed, and they could be buried within the house when they died.