- Quedlinburg Abbey
Quedlinburg Abbey ( _de. Stift Quedlinburg or _de. "Reichsstift Quedlinburg") was founded on the castle hill of
Quedlinburg ,Saxony-Anhalt ,Germany , in936 by Emperor Otto the Great at the request of his mother Queen Matilda, later canonised as Saint Matilda, in honour of her late husband, the father of Otto, King Henry the Fowler, and as his memorial.The "Kaiserlich freie weltliche Reichsstift Quedlinburg" ("Free secular
Imperial abbey of Quedlinburg"), as its full style was until its dissolution in 1802, consisted of aproprietary church of the Imperial family to which was attached a college of secular canonesses ("Stiftsdamen"), a community of the unmarried daughters of the greater nobility and royalty leading a godly life [The term "secular" ("weltlich") refers to the fact that they took no formal religious vows and were bound to no monastic order. In theMiddle Ages and the early modern period these "Frauenstifte" were important facilities for the care of unmarried and widowed noblewomen. The "Stiftsdamen" or "canonesses" were often learned, and skilled at artistic works] . The greatest and most prominent foundations of this sort wereEssen Abbey ,Gandersheim Abbey ,Gernrode Abbey ,Cologne Abbey andHerford Abbey , in the last of which the young Queen Matilda had been brought up by her grandmother, the abbess.Thanks to its Imperial connections the new foundation attracted rich endowments and was soon a wealthy and thriving community.
After the
German Mediatisation of 1803 the abbey was taken over by theKingdom of Prussia as the Principality of Quedlinburg. Between 1807 and 1813 it belonged to the shortlivedKingdom of Westphalia .Church
The church of St. Servatius (or "St. Servatii"; sometimes - inaccurately - called Quedlinburg Cathedral or "Quedlinburger Dom") is dedicated to
Saint Servatius ofTongeren andSaint Denis and is a significant Romanesque building. Construction of the three-navedbasilica on the remains of three predessor buildings began sometime before 997 and finished in 1021. The church has a flat roof. It contains the architectural feature known as the "niedersächsischer Stützenwechsel". ["Lower Saxon support alternation", by which is meant that after every two columns is placed a pillar.]Endowments
Lands
In the first decades after the foundation the community was favoured by numerous gifts of land, particularly from the Imperial family. All later clearances (i.e., of previously uncultivated land) in the immediate vicinity were also theirs, but in addition they acquired far more distant possessions, such as
Soltau , 170 kilometres away, given by Otto I in 936.Among other property they also received the following:
* In 956 the church ofSaint Michael next to the cell of Volkmarskeller (nearBlankenburg am Harz ) was granted them by Otto I
* In 974 the locality ofDuderstadt in south-easternLower Saxony was acquired, which the abbey owned for 262 years. The village of Breitenfeld bei Duderstadt belonged to the abbey until its dissolution. [cf. the deeds of grant in the digitised municipal archive of Duderstadt at: [http://www.archive.geschichte.mpg.de/duderstadt/] ]
* On3 July 993 a deed of gift was executed by Emperor Otto III granting ownership ofPotsdam , of which place this is the first documentary evidence. The deed marks a turning point in the struggle to win back territory east of theElbe , from which the East Frankish lordship had been driven back by theSlav Uprising of983 .
* In 999 the "provincia" ofGera came into the hands of the abbey. In 1209 the abbess appointed theVögte ofWeida as administrators of the territory.
* The gifts of Emperor Otto I: 936, 25 estates; 937, two estates; 944, one estates; 946, two estates; 954, one estate; 956, 11 estates; 961, 7 estates.
* The gifts of Emperor Otto II: 974, estates places; 979, one estate; 985, five estates.
* The gifts of Emperor Otto III: 992, three estates; 993, two estates; 995, four estates; 999, one estate.
* Later acquisitions totalled more than 150 estates. [cf. the presentation by Manfred Mehl: "Die Münzen des Stiftes Quedlinburg". Hamburg, 2006, pp. 42-49.]Treasury
The abbey also received numerous gifts of precious books, manuscripts and liturgical items, which were stored in the treasury. At the end of
World War II a number of the most valuable items were looted by an American soldier, including thereliquary of Saint Servatius, from the time ofCharles the Bald ; the 9th century Samuhel Gospels ("Samuhel Evangeliar"); the printed Evangeliary of St Wiperti ("Evangelistar aus St Wiperti") of 1513; and a liturgical ivory comb. The stolen items reappeared in 1987 and after much litigation were returned to the abbey in 1993 [seeTheft of medieval art from Quedlinburg ] .Annals
The abbey is also known as the home of the "Annals of Quedlinburg" (
Latin : "Saxonicae Annales Quedlinburgenses", German: "Quedlinburger Annalen"), begun in 1008 and finished in 1030 in the abbey, quite possibly by a female writer. Quedlinburg was well suited for gathering information on current political affairs, given its connections to the Imperial family and the proximity ofMagdeburg , an Imperial centre. The "Annals" are mostly concerned with the history of theHoly Roman Empire [ Thietmar, David Warner, 2001: "Ottonian Germany", p.43] .List of Abbesses
* Queen Matilda, later Saint Matilda, founded and led the abbey (but was not abbess) 936-966
Roman Catholic abbesses
# Matilda of Quedlinburg, daughter of Emperor Otto I 966-999
# Adelheid I of Quedlinburg, daughter of Emperor Otto II 999-1045
# Beatrix I of Gandersheim, daughter of Emperor Henry III 1045-1062
# Adelheid II of Gandersheim, daughter of Emperor Henry III 1062-1095
# Eilica 1095-1110
# Agnes I of Gandersheim, daughter ofWładysław I Herman , niece of Beatrix I and Adelheid II 1110-1126
# Gerburg [also Gerberga] , Countess of Kappenberg 1126-1137
# Beatrix II of Quedlinburg or ofWinzenburg (of the family of the Counts of Formbach) 1137-1160
# Meregart or Meregard 1160-1161
# Adelheid III of Sommerschenburg, Countess of Saxony 1161-1184
# Agnes II, Margravine of Meissen [ [http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/goto?id=OBJ2329 commemorative coin, British Museum] ] 1184-1203
# Sophia I, Countess ofBrehna 1203-1226
# Bertradis I ofKrosigk [also Bertrade] 1226-1230
# Kunigunde, Countess of Kranichfeld and Kirchberg 1230-1231
# Osterlinde, Countess of Falkenstein 1231-1233
# Gertrud of Amfurt 1233-1270
# Bertradis II [also Bertrade] 1270-1308
# Jutta of Kranichfeld 1308-1347
# Luitgard, Countess ofStolberg 1347-1353
# Agnes III von Schraplau 1354-1362
# Elisabeth I von Hakeborn 1362-1375
# Margarete von Schraplau, sister of Agnes III 1376-1379
# Irmgard, Burggravine of Kirchberg [also Ermgard] 1379-1405
# Adelheid IV, Countess ofIsenburg 1405-1435
# Anna I, Countess Reuss vonPlauen 1435-1458
# Hedwig, Duchess of Saxony, daughter ofFrederick II, Elector of Saxony 1458-1511
# Magdalene, Princess ofAnhalt-Köthen -Zerbst 1511-1515
# Anna II, Countess of Stolberg (as last Roman Catholic abbess) 1516-1540Protestant abbesses
# Anna II, Countess of Stolberg (as first Protestant abbess) 1540-1574
# Elisabeth II, Countess ofRegenstein -Blankenburg 1574-1584
# Anna III, Countess ofStolberg-Wernigerode 1584-1601
# Maria, Duchess ofSaxe-Weimar , daughter ofJohann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 1601-1610
# Dorothea, Duchess of Saxony 1610-1617
# Dorothea Sophie, Duchess ofSaxe-Weimar , daughter ofFrederick Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 1617-1645
# Anna Sophie I, Countess bei Rhein (Pfalz-Birkenfeld) 1645-1680
# Anna Sophie II, Countess of Hesse-Darmstadt 1681-1683
# Anna Dorothea, Duchess of Sachsen-Weimar, daughter ofJohann Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar 1684-1704
# Maria Aurora, Gräfin von Königsmark, governed as prioress during the vacancy 1704-1718
# Marie Elisabeth, Duchess ofHolstein-Gottorp 1718-1755
#Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia 1756-1787
# Princess Sophie Albertine of Sweden (last abbess) 1787-1803Burials
*
Matilda of Ringelheim
*Henry the Fowler Notes
ources
* Kremer, Marita, 1924. "Die Personal- und Amtsdaten der Äbtissinen des Stifts Quedlinburg bis zum Jahre 1574. Leipzig (= Phil. Diss. Univ. Leipzig 1924).
* Wilberg, Max, 1906, repr. 1987. "Regententabellen: Eine Zusammenstellung der Herrscher von Ländern aller Erdteile bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts". Original edition Frankfurt/Oder, reproduced in facsimile by Transpress VEB Verlag für Vehrkehrswesen, Berlin. ISBN 3-344-00094-2References
* Gerchow, Jan (ed.), 2003: "Essen und die sächsischen Frauenstifte im Frühmittelalter". Essener Forschungen zum Frauenstift 2. Essen.
* Giese, Martina (ed.), 2004: "Die Annales Quedlinburgenses". Hanover: "Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum In Usum Scholarum Separatim Editi, vol. 72.
* Heydenreuter, Reinhard, 1993: "Kunstraub. Die Geschichte des Quedlinburger Stiftsschatzes". Munich.
* Honan, William H., 1997: "Treasure Hunt. A New York Times Reporter Tracks the Quedlinburg Hoard". New York.External links
* [http://www.domschatzquedlinburg.de Dom und Domschatz zu Quedlinburg] de icon
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