[1] Legend says that in the 3rd century a women's college charged with maintaining the sacred fire of a pagan temple was built under the walls of the city of Tricasses, headed by a wealthy princess of royal blood.

Others say that Leuconius, 18th Bishop of Troyes, converted them in 651, quoting a breviary printed by the abbess Maria du Moutier in 1543.

[2] On 23 July 1188, during the Troyes Fairs, most of the buildings of the city were destroyed by a violent fire, including the cathedral and the convent of Notre-Dame-aux-Nonnains.

[9] A document from the 13th century shows that the abbess was not just concerned with spiritual values, but was dedicated to maintaining the property, wealth and privileges of the abbey.

He asked the Sisters of Notre Dame aux Nonnains to give him the location around his father's cobbler's shop as the site for a collegiate Church of St Urbain.

[2] In 1268 the nuns hired armed men who prevented the Archbishop of Tyre and the Bishop of Auxerre from blessing the new cemetery.

[11] The abbess Ode de Pougy disrupted the church ceremony with her nuns, retainers and followers and drove the prelate out into the road.

The interior choir reserved for the nuns was surrounded by two rows of stalls surmounted by paneling, and was decorated with six medium-sized paintings and four statues.

[10] The abbess Catherine de Courcelles began a cloistered rule under of the Order of Saint Benedict in 1518.

In 1724 the abbess Marie-Madeleine-Margeurite de la Chaussée d’Eu d’Arrêt explained the poor state of the finances of the monastery to King Louis XV of France (1710–74), who placed the abbey under his protection.

[2] The abbess Françoise-Lucie de Montmorin described the poor state of the monastery to King Louis XVI of France (1754–93), who in 1776 agreed to make a large donation for its reconstruction.

On 30 April 1778 the first stone was laid with great pomp by the Marquise de Montmorin, acting for the king's aunt Victoire (1733–99).

The buildings were not sold, but were used for storing food and wood, as rest houses for troops, then as a museum, library and archive.

[13] The large area to the north and west of the church held the Notre-Dame cemetery, where the dead of the abbey and the parish were buried.

[16] Today the site of the ancient abbey, the churches of Saint-Jacques-au-Beau-Portail and Notre-Dame and the cemetery have become the place de la Libération.