Essen Abbey

Imperial Abbey of Essen Stift Essen
845–1803
Coat of arms
Status	Imperial Abbeyof theHoly Roman Empire
Capital	Essen Abbey
Government	Theocracy
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Founded	circa 845
• GainedImperial immediacy	between 874 and 947 circa 845
• Gainedprincely status	1228
• Contracted withDuchy of Cleves andCounty of MarkoverVogtei	1495
• JoinedWestphalian Circle	1512
• Occupied by theKingdom of Prussia	1802
• Annexed by Prussia	1803–06/7 and from 1813 1803
• Awarded toBerg	1806/7—1813
Succeeded by Kingdom of Prussia
Today part of	Germany

Cloister of the abbey church with the graveyard of the cathedral canons.

Essen Abbey(Stift Essen) was a community ofsecular canonessesfor women of high nobility that formed the nucleus of modern-dayEssen,Germany.

A chapter of male priests were also attached to the abbey, under a dean. In the medieval period, the abbess exercised the functions of a bishop, except for the sacramental ones, and those of a ruler, over the very extensive estates of the abbey, and had no clerical superior except the pope.

History

It was founded about 845 by theSaxonAltfrid(died 874), laterBishop of Hildesheimand saint, near a royal estate calledAstnidhi,which later gave its name to the religious house and the town. The first abbess was Altfrid's kinswoman, Gerswit. Altfrid also built a church for the canonesses, theStiftskirche,later known as the Essener Münster and from 1958 asEssen Cathedral.Only women from the highest circles of German nobility were accepted.

Because of its advancement by theLiudolfings(the family of theOttonian Emperors), the abbey becamereichsunmittelbar(anImperial abbey) sometime between 874 and 947. Apart from the abbess, the canonesses did not take vows of perpetual celibacy; they lived in some comfort in their houses, with their own staff, and wore secular clothing except when performing clerical roles such as singing theDivine Office.They could travel, and leave the abbey at any time to marry.

Its best years began in 973 under the AbbessMathilde,granddaughter ofOtto Iand thus herself a Liudolfing, who governed the abbey until 1011. In her time the most important of the art treasures of what is now the Essen Cathedral treasury came to Essen.She acquired fromKoblenztherelicsof (Florinus of Remüs) for the abbey,and donated the processionalCross of Otto and Mathilde.

Schloss Borbeck

The next two abbesses to succeed her were also from the Liudolfing family and were thus able further to increase the wealth and power of the foundation. In 1228 the abbesses were designated "Princesses" for the first time. From 1300 they took up residence inSchloss Borbeck,where they spent increasing amounts of time. In wartime it was also a refuge for common people.

The abbey's territorial lordship, to which belonged the town ofEssenthat was centered on the monastery, grew up between theEmscherand theRuhr,The town's efforts to become an independentImperial citywere frustrated by the abbey in 1399 and again, conclusively, in 1670. In the north of the territory was located the abbey's monastery of Stoppenberg, founded in 1073; to the south was the collegiate foundation of Rellinghausen. Also among the possessions of the abbey was the area aroundHuckarde,on the borders of the County ofDortmundand separated from the territory of Essen by theCounty of the Mark.Approximately 3,000 farms in the area owed dues to the abbey, inVest Recklinghausen,on theHellwegand aroundBreisigandGodesberg.From 1512 to its dissolution the Imperial abbey belonged to theLower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle.

Essen-Weihnachtsmarkt 2011

The abbey'sVögtewere, in sequence:

• theCounts of Berg
• theCounts of the Mark(1288)
• theDukes of Cleves
• theDukes of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
• theMargraves of Brandenburg(from 1609/48)

In 1495 the abbey signed a contract with the Dukes of Cleves and Mark regarding the inheritance of theVogtei,whereby it lost some of its political independence in that it was no longer able to choose its ownVogt.

Princess Abbess Franziska Christine founded an orphanage for the Essen Abbey Region nearSteele.

From 1802 the territory was occupied byPrussiantroops. The abbey wasdissolvedin 1803. The spiritual territory of 8 square kilometres (3 square miles) passed toPrussia,then between 1806/1807 to 1813 to theDuchy of Bergand afterward to Prussia again. The last abbess, Maria Kunigunde von Sachsen, died on 8 April 1826 inDresden.

When in 1958 theDiocese of Essenwas created, the former abbey church becameEssen Cathedral,to which the abbey's treasury (Essener Domschatz), including the famousGolden Madonna of Essen,also passed.

List of the Abbesses, later Princess-Abbesses, of Essen

The dates of the rule of the abbesses are incompletely preserved. The sequence of the abbesses between Gerswid II and Ida is uncertain, particularly regarding the Abbess Agana.

The cover of thegospelsdonated byTheophanu,with a smalldonor portraitof the abbess

Gospel book of Abbess Svanhild, MS. Latin 110,John Rylands Library;Abbess Svanhildand Prioress Brigitte offer the book to Mary, Mother of God

• Gerswid I (about 850; relative ofSaint Altfrid)
• Gerswid II (about 880)
• Adalwi (d. 895(?))
• Wicburg (about 896–906)
• Mathilde I (907–910)
• Hadwig I (910–951) – it was probably under her that the abbey becamereichsunmittelbar
• Agana (951–965)
• Ida (966–971)
• Mathilde II(971–1011; granddaughter ofOtto I, Holy Roman Emperor)
• Sophia (1012–1039; daughter ofOtto II, Holy Roman Emperor;Abbess ofGandersheim Abbeyfrom 1001)
• Theophanu(1039–1058; granddaughter of Otto II)
• Svanhild (1058–1085) (de) – founded Stoppenberg Abbey
• Lutgarde (about 1088–1118)
• Oda (of Calw?) (1119–1137)
• Ermentrude (about 1140–after 1154)
• Hedwig von Wied (1154–about 1172; Abbess ofGerresheim Abbey)
• Elisabeth I (1172–before 1216; Abbess ofSt. Maria im Kapitol(Cologne) and ofVredenAbbey)
• Adelheid (1216–1237)
• Elisabeth II (c. 1237–1241)
• Bertha of Arnsberg (before 1243–1292)
• Beatrix of Holte(1292–1327)
• Kunigunde of Berg (1327–resigned 1337, died 1355; Abbess of Gerresheim)
• Katharina of the Mark (1337–1360)
• Irmgard of Broich (1360–1370)
• Elisabeth III of Nassau (1370–resigned nk; d. 1412)
• Margarete I of the Mark-(Arensberg) (1413–resigned 1426; d. 1429)
• Elisabeth IV Stecke von Beeck (1426–1445)
• Sophia I von Daun-Oberstein (1445–1447)
• Elisabeth V von Saffenberg (1447–1459)
• Sophia II von Gleichen, sister of theAbbot of Werden(1459–1489)
• Meina von Daun-Oberstein (1489–resigned 1521; d. 1525)
• Margarete II von Beichlingen (1521–1534) (Abbess of Vreden)
• Sibylle von Montfort (1534–1551)
• Katharina von Tecklenburg (1551–1560)
• Maria von Spiegelberg (1560–1561)
• Irmgard von Diepholz (1561–1575)
• Elisabeth VI von Manderscheid-Blankenheim-Gerolstein (1575–resigned 1578 and married)
• Elisabeth VII von Sayn (1578–1588) (Abbess ofNottulnAbbey)
• Elisabeth VIII von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (1588–1598)
• Margarete Elisabeth von Manderscheid-Blankenheim (1598–1604; Abbess of Gerresheim, Schwarzrheindorf and Freckenhorst)
• Elisabeth IX von Bergh-s’Heerenberg (1604–1614; Abbess of Freckenhorst and Nottuln)
• Maria Clara von Spaur, Pflaum und Vallier (1614–1644; Abbess of Nottuln andMetelenAbbeys)
• Anna Eleonore von Stauffen (1644–1645; Abbess ofThorn Abbey)
• Anna Salome von Salm-Reifferscheid (1646–1688)
• vacant: Regency of the General Chapter (1688–1690)
• Anna Salome of Manderscheid-Blankenheim(1690–1691; Abbess of Thorn)
• Bernhardine Sophia of East Frisia and Rietberg (1691–1726)
• Francisca Christina of Pfalz-Sulzbach(1726–1776; Abbess of Thorn)
• Maria Kunigunde of Saxony(1776–resigned 1802; d. 1826; Abbess of Thorn)

Burials

• SaintAltfrid

References

Bibliography

• Ute Küppers-Braun:Macht in Frauenhand – 1000 Jahre Herrschaft adeliger Frauen in Essen.Essen 2002.
• Torsten Fremer:Äbtissin Theophanu und das Stift Essen.Verlag Pomp, 2002,ISBN3-89355-233-2.
• Kahnitz, Rainer, "The Gospel book of Abbess Svanhild of Essen in the John Rylands Library, I", 1971,Bulletin of the John Rylands Library,John Rylands University Library, Manchester, ISSN 0301-102X,PDF online

External links

• (in German)Frauenstift Essen
• (in German)Historischer Verein für Stadt und Stift Essen e.V.
• (in German)Familienforschung in den Kirchenbüchern des Stifts EssenArchived2007-03-12 at theWayback Machine