Through the necessities of their office, the abbesses were brought into closer relationship with the outside world than were the other nuns. Sometimes they were made respondents in a suit at law with regard to the estates of the convent, or to retain the property brought to them by some one of the sisters, who, renouncing her vows, sought to recover her possessions. In 1292 the prioress of an abbey in Somersetshire had to answer in a suit brought against her by a widow and two men in regard to the right of common pasturage upon lands held by the convent, and the case was decided against the religious house; but both the prioress and the widow escaped paying their respective costs in the case, on the plea of poverty. Not only were the abbesses sued, but they themselves did not hesitate to institute legal proceedings in defence of what they believed were their rights. In the reign of Edward III., a prioress sued a sheriff for the recovery of a pension granted during the reign of Henry III., which had been allowed to lapse. The case was carried to the king's court and won for the convent. Legal difficulties frequently occurred over grants made to convents without the observance of the set formalities. An abbess had a great many secular duties, for all the money that came into the establishment, or was paid out, had to be accounted for by her. The entertainment which the convent dispensed to those who, on one pretext or another, claimed it, furnished another occasion for the intercourse of the abbess with the outer world. Sometimes ladies who were temporarily in want of a home repaired to a convent and were there received. The bishops frequently sent friends to the priory for entertainment; though such persons were charges upon the hospitality of the institution, they, as a rule, either paid for their entertainment themselves or were provided for by their friends. It was not unusual for visitors who came under the authority of the bishop's order to bring with them a retinue of servants and to remain a considerable time.