The Rule attributed to Benedict of Nursia (d. 547) was first brought to England at the end of the sixth century with the Roman mission led by Augustine, the first bishop of Canterbury (579–c. 509). Among the monastic communities that were founded in the ensuing three and a half centuries, however, adherence to the Rule was by no means universal or exclusive. It was not until the tenth century, when concerted efforts were made to revive monasticism in England, that the imposition of the Rule as the sole guide to monastic life on communities of both men and women religious became a desideratum. These efforts culminated in a council convened by King Edgar (959–75) at Winchester in c. 973. Led by Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury (960–78), Athelwold, bishop of Winchester (963–84), and Oswald, both bishop of Worcester (961–92) and archbishop of York (971–92), the council promulgated an agreement that Athelwold had crafted: the Regularis concordia anglicae nationis monachorum sanctimonialiumque. Through this agreement, the council sought to unify the practices of monastic communities across England by placing them under the protection of the king and queen, and by standardizing liturgical practice and other aspects of daily life. The Benedictine Rule, decrees from the councils summoned by Louis the Pious at Aachen (814–40) in 816 and 817, the customaries of Fleury, Ghent and other northern continental monasteries, and some native traditions informed the agreement's composition.

In its proem, the Concordia addresses both monks and nuns, and recalls that abbots and abbesses attended the council at Winchester. Such explicit inclusivity of nuns in the text's opening moved Jean Leclercq to observe that ‘one of the most charming’ features of this reform effort was ‘the part played by women at all levels’; in his estimation, it was the characteristic that ‘distinguished the English reform from all others’. Thomas Symons thought it likely that members of the women's monastic communities at Nunnaminster, Shaftesbury and Wilton were in attendance at the council. Symons did not provide evidence to support his claim beyond citing the Concordia's proem, but the geographical locations of these communities – all in Wessex – and the manner in which they were founded – all by members of the royal house of Wessex – probably encouraged him to draw this conclusion.