The convent of Norbertine nuns at Strzelno was founded in the late 1180s by Piotr Wszeborowic, Voivod of Kujawy and Castellan of Kruszwica. It belonged to the Polish province (circaria), but its ius paternalis was vested with the abbot of St Vincent's at Ołbin in Wrocław. The Strzelno convent was ruled by the abbess, chosen by the community from among its members. In the early sources she is often called magistra. Each newly elected abbess had to render vows of obedience to the praepositor before receiving similar vows from all the nuns. The abbess had the powers to decide on the internal affairs of the convent. She was the guardian of the Rule, presided over the chapter meetings, assigned jobs to individual nuns. She had the right to receive the professions of new nuns, to set the timetable of confessions and to impose penalties for all kinds of offenses. She was not able, however, to decide about the convent's real property, such decisions were the exclusive prerogative of the praepositor, who represented the convent in its relations with the outside world. When the abbess was absent or ill, her duties were taken over by a deputy abbess, who may also have helped in the day to day running of the abbey. Magistra Beatrix, mentioned in a document dated 1193, is the first mother superior of Strzelno known to us by name. She was most probably a member of the founder's family. Practically all of the abbesses of Strzelno convent were of noble birth. Among the very few exceptions was Anna Włocławska, a burgher's daughter. Until the end of the medieval period none of the abbesses seems to have come from outside Kujawy, the neighbouring county of Łęczyca or eastern Wielkopolska (ie. the counties of Konin and Gniezno). Things changed later as the catchment area of the Strzelno convent expanded to the counties of Dobrzyń and Chełmno as well as the Voivodeships of Sieradz, Kalisz, and Płock. The broadening of the geographical base of the community may also have been to some extent influenced by the removal to Strzelno of the precariously small convents of Łęczyca and Bolesławiec (1811). In the prepartition period (ie. prior to 1772) the secular authorities are not known to have interfered with the elections in the convent, not even at times when the Church was not able to exercise freely its praepository rights. Attempts to influence the nomination o f the abbess were first made after the annexation o f Kujawy by Prussia in 1772, they reached a high point in 1807-1813 (the time when Kujawy were part of the Duchy o f Warsaw). Eventually, the Norbertine community of Strzelno was dissolved in 1837 by a decree of the Prussian authorities.