List of Abbesses of Essen

The abbesses of the Essen monastery ruled the Essen women's monastery from the end of the 9th century until its abolition in 1802. The monastery was founded around 845 by a group of nobility around the later Hildesheim bishop Altfrid . As heads of a rich women's monastery , which in the 10th century had a position comparable to that of a house monastery of the then ruling Liudolfinger , they were imperial princesses of the Holy Roman Empire from around 1226 .

The list follows the list drawn up by the Essen Cathedral Chapter Alfred Pothmann in 1987. Due to the poor sources, the order of the abbesses between 906 and 973 is uncertain, according to some researchers (such as Torsten Fremer), who touched on this question in the introduction of his dissertation on Abbess Theophanu , Agana held office at the beginning of the 10th century. Research is increasingly joining in with this.

Abbesses

	Name (life data)	Abbatiat	Death day	Remarks
	Gerswith I. unknown	from foundation to ??	30th of December	Gerswith I is said to have been the sister of the founder of the Abbey, Altfrid . Her grave poem has been handed down. The grave is said to have been in the St. Quintin's Chapel in Essen .
	Gerswith II unknown	unknown	23rd October	With Gerswith II, the family of Bishop Altfrids probably died out.
	Adalwi unknown	unknown to probably 895	September 22	Adalwi was included in the prayer memorial of the Liudolfingers .
	Wicburg unknown	895 (?) To 906	17th August	Wicburg received a donation from King Zwentibold at Pentecost 898 , the oldest surviving document of the Essen monastery, and was included in the prayer memorial of the Liudolfingers.
	Mathilde unknown	906 (?) To 910 (?)	January 7th	Said to be buried in the Essen Minster Church.
	Hathwig unknown	910 (?) To 951 (?)	July 18th	The monastery burned down under Hathwig in 946, which sources confirm. According to the traditional grave poem, she officiated for 48 years.
	Agana unknown	951 (?) To 965 (?)	November 17th	Said to have built the first crypt of Essen Minster and to be buried there.
	Ida unknown	965 (?) To 971 (?)	16th of July	Donated a cross, of which an inscription plate has been preserved in the Essen Cathedral Treasury . Name giver of the Ida column in the minster church.
	Mathilde 949 to November 5, 1011	971 (?) To 1011	November 5th	Granddaughter of Emperor Otto the Great . Had the westwork of the Essen Minster built, donated the Marsus Shrine , the Otto Mathilden Cross , the seven-armed candlestick and the cross with the large sinkholes . The Golden Madonna came to Essen under her . Said to have founded the Rellinghausen Abbey .
	Sophia 975 to January 30, 1039	1011 to 1039 (?)	January 30th	Daughter of Emperor Otto II , was also abbess in the Gandersheim monastery . The fact that she neglected her abbatiat in Essen, as the older Essen researchers accused her, is questioned by more recent research.
	Theophanu 997 to March 5, 1058	1039 to 1058	5. March	Granddaughter of Emperor Otto II. Had the eastern part of the Essen Minster built with the crypt that still exists today, donated the Theophanu Gospels , Theophanu Cross and the cross nail reliquaries of the Essen Cathedral Treasury, as well as the younger Mathildenkreuz .
	Suanhild unknown until July 30, 1085 (?)	1058 (?) To 1085 (?)	30th July	Builder of the Stoppenberg collegiate church , donated a splendid gospel book and probably also an arm reliquary.
	Lutgardis unknown	1085 to 1118
	Oda (from Calw) unknown	1118 (?) To 1137 (?)	August 31st (?)
	Ermentrudis unknown	1137 (?) To 1154 (?)	April 25 (?)	Had the vestibule built on the south transept, with the treasury located on the upper floor
	Hadwig von Wied unknown	1154 (?) To 1172	July 4th (?)	Hadwig, sister of Cologne's Archbishop Arnold II von Wied , was also the abbess of the Gerresheim monastery and founded the Schwarzrheindorf monastery
	Elizabeth I unknown	1172 (?) To before 1216	April 14 (?)	Was also abbess of the monasteries of St. Maria im Kapitol and Vreden

Princesses

In 1228 the abbess of the monastery was first named in a document as a princess . Until the abolition of the monastery, the abbesses were imperial princesses of the Holy Roman Empire .

	Name (life data)	ancestry	Abbatiat	Remarks
	Adelheid unknown until April 23, 1237	unknown	1216 (?) To 1237 (?)	was buried in the minster church
	Elisabeth II unknown until September 23, 1241	unknown	around 1237 (?) to around 23 September 1241 (?)	was also abbess of the monasteries of St. Maria im Kapitol and Vreden
	Berta von Arnsberg unknown until January 8, 1292	Counts of Arnsberg	before 1243 to 1292	Under Berta the reconstruction of the Essen collegiate church, which burned down in 1275, began in its present form. By transferring the bailiwick to King Rudolf von Habsburg , she protected the monastery from the expansive desires of the Archbishop of Cologne.
	Beatrix von Holte around 1250 until December 4, 1327	Noble von Holte	1292 to 1327	completed the reconstruction of the collegiate church and donated an arm reliquary for the church treasury. Promoted the settlement of beguines in Essen.
	Kunigunde von Berg unknown until November 21, 1355	Count of Limburg	1327 to 1337 (resigned)	Kunigunde was also abbess of Gerresheim. Buried in Essen Minster.
	Katharina von der Mark unknown until September 27, 1360	Counts of the Mark	1337 to 1360	Sister of Count and Bailiff Adolf II von der Mark
	Irmgard von Broich unknown until February 28, 1370	House Broich	1360 to 1370
	Elisabeth of Nassau † December 30, 1412	Nassau Hadamar House	1370 to 1412 (resigned)	Buried in the Essen Cathedral Church
	Margarete von der Mark-Arensberg unknown until October 12, 1429	House Arenberg	1412 to 1426 (resigned)	Buried in the Kreuzbrüderkirche in Cologne
	Elisabeth Stecke van Beeck unknown until May 5, 1445	knightly descent	1426 to 1445	Asserted herself in the second Essen abbess dispute against Margarete von Limburg-Broich . Buried in the Essen Cathedral Church
	Sophia von Daun-Oberstein unknown	Lords of Daun-Oberstein	1445 to 1447
	Elisabeth von Saffenberg unknown until August 28, 1459	Counts of Virneburg (?)	1447 to 1459
	Sophia von Gleichen unknown until August 5, 1489	Counts of equals	1459 to 1489 (resigned)	Sophia had the parish church of St. Johann Baptist renewed. Her brother Konrad von Gleichen was abbot of the neighboring Werden monastery .
	Meyna von Daun-Oberstein unknown until 1525	Lords of Daun-Oberstein	1489 to 1521 (resigned)	Her successor was not elected until 1525.
	Margareta von Beichlingen unknown until December 11, 1534	Count of Beichlingen	1525 to 1534	Also abbess in Vreden. Commissioned the altarpieces from Bartholomäus Bruyn the Elder .
	Sibylle von Montfort-Rothenfels unknown until March 10, 1551	Count of Montfort	1534 to 1551
	Katharina von Tecklenburg December 31, 1517 to March 9, 1560	Count of Tecklenburg	1551 to 1560	Sister of Konrad von Tecklenburg-Schwerin , who introduced the Reformation in his country.
	Maria von Spiegelberg unknown until September 13, 1561	Counts of Spiegelberg (?)	1560 to 1561
	Irmgard von Diepholz unknown until June 28, 1575	Counts of Diepholz (?)	1561 to 1575
	Elisabeth von Manderscheid-Blankenheim April 3, 1544 to September 3, 1586	Count of Manderscheid-Blankenheim	1575 to 1578 (resigned)	Sister of Hermann von Manderscheid-Blankenheim and the Strasbourg Bishop Johann IV. Von Manderscheid-Blankenheim . Married Wirich VI on December 18, 1578 . by Daun-Falkenstein .
	Elisabeth von Sayn unknown until March 5, 1588	Count of Sayn	1578 to 1588	also Abbess of Nottuln
	Elisabeth von Manderscheid-Blankenheim unknown until May 2, 1598	Count of Manderscheid-Blankenheim	1588 to 1598	Buried in St. Dionysius Essen Borbeck
	Margarete Elisabeth von Manderscheid-Blankenheim-Gerolstein unknown until November 28, 1604	Count of Manderscheid-Blankenheim-Gerolstein	1598 to 1604	Abbess of Gerresheim, Schwarzrheindorf and Freckenhorst. Buried in the Eusebiuskerk , Arnhem
	Elisabeth von Bergh-s'Heerenberg 1581 to January 12, 1614	Lords of Bergh	1605 to 1614	Abbess in Freckenhorst and Nottuln. Grave in the side aisle of the Essen Minster
	Maria Clara von Spaur, Pflaum and Vallier around 1590 to December 14, 1644	Barons of Spaur, Pflaum and Vallier	1614 to 1644	Abbess in Nottuln and Metelen . Due to the Thirty Years' War, fled with the cathedral treasure to Cologne, where she died.
	Anna Eleonore von Staufen around 1580 until April 23, 1646	Countess of Staufen	1645 to 1646	Abbess of Thorn (Limburg)
	Anna Salome von Salm-Reifferscheidt October 4, 1622 to October 15, 1688	House Salm	1646 to 1688	In 1652 Augustiner Choir Women BMV settled in Essen, the school they founded still exists today.
	Anna Salome von Manderscheid-Blankenheim December 12, 1628 to March 15, 1691	Count of Manderscheid-Blankenheim	1688 to 1691	Abbess of Thorn (Limburg)
	Bernhardine Sophia von Ostfriesland and Rietberg 1654 to 14 August 1726	Counts of East Friesland and Rietberg	1691 to 1726	Grave in the chapel of Styrum Castle
	Franziska Christine von Pfalz-Sulzbach May 16, 1696 to July 16, 1776	Wittelsbacher	1726 to 1776	Abbess of Thorn (Limburg). Founded the orphanage in Steele
	Maria Kunigunde of Saxony November 10, 1740 to April 8, 1826	Wettiner	1776 to 1802 (abolition of the pen)	Abbess of Thorn (Limburg). Ruled her principality from afar.

literature

• Klaus Gereon Beuckers : Imperial Abbesses. Comments on the family positioning of the Ottonian abbesses in Quedlinburg, Gandersheim and Essen , in: Thomas Schilp (Ed.): Women build Europe. International links of the Essen women's monastery . Klartext Verlag, Essen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8375-0672-3 , pp. 65-88.
• Tobias Nüssel: Reflections on the Essen abbesses between Wicburg and Mathilde In: The Minster on Hellweg. Yearbook of the Association for the Preservation of the Essener Münsters-Münsterbauverein , 63, 2010, pp. 7–31
• Alfred Pothmann: The abbesses of the Essen monastery. In: Münster am Hellweg. Bulletin of the Association for the Preservation of the Essen Minster. 40, 1987, pp. 5-11.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Katharina Ulrike Mersch: Social dimensions of visual communication in high and late medieval women's communities. Pens, women's choirs and monasteries in comparison , V&R Unipress, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-89971-930-7 , p. 379 ( Google Books )

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