I.G. Galkova is an art historian, medievalist, candidate of historical sciences (Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Her book is an attempt to reconstruct the situation of the creation of two Romanesque churches in the Poitou region - Saint-Pierre in Aulnay and Saint-Hilaire in Mel. Two specific cases are considered against the backdrop of a general analysis of the intentions and actions of the customers of churches of the 12th century, captured in the texts of deeds of gift, chronicles, letters, inscriptions and systematically studied for the first time in this way. In general, the study reveals the process of formation in European culture of the phenomenon of the clan church, which in the era of the late Middle Ages and early modern times would become an almost indispensable attribute of the representation of the clan for the highest circles of the aristocracy.