Herford Abbey
Encyclopedia
Herford Abbey was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...

. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst (near the modern Bielefeld
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...

) by a nobleman called Waltger, who moved it in about 800 onto the lands of his estate Herivurth (later Oldenhervorde) which stood at the crossing of a number of important roads and fords over the Aa
Westfälische Aa
The Westfälische Aa is a short river in the Westphalia region of Germany, left tributary of the Werre. It is formed by the confluence of two small streams in Bielefeld-Milse. It flows into the Werre in Herford....

 and the Werre
Werre
The Werre is a river in the Detmold region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, left tributary of the Weser. Its source is near Horn-Bad Meinberg. The Werre flows generally north through the towns Detmold, Lage, Bad Salzuflen, Herford and Löhne. It flows into the Weser close to Bad Oeynhausen. The...

. The present city of Herford
Herford
Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...

 grew up on this site around the abbey.

9th–12th centuries

The abbey was dedicated in 832 and was elevated to the status of a Reichsabtei ("Imperial abbey") under Emperor Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...

 (d. 840). In ecclesiastical matters it was answerable directly to the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

 and was endowed with a third of the estates originally intended for Corvey Abbey
Corvey Abbey
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey was a Benedictine monastery on the River Weser, 2 km northeast of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany....

.

In 860, at the instigation of the abbess Haduwy (Hedwig), the bones of Saint Pusinna, later the patron saint of Herford, were brought from her hermitage at Binson ("vicus bausionensis" near Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne is a city in France. It is the capital of both the department of Marne and the region of Champagne-Ardenne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims....

, Corbie
Corbie
Corbie is a commune of the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:The small town is situated up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. It lies in the valley of the River Somme, at the confluence of the River Ancre. The town...

). The presence of these relics in the abbey increased its importance and its dedication was changed in due course to Saints Mary and Pusinna.

In the time of the abbess Matilda I her granddaughter Matilda of Ringelheim
Matilda of Ringelheim
Saint Mathilda was the wife of King Henry I of Germany, the first ruler of the Saxon Ottonian dynasty, thereby Duchess consort of Saxony from 912 and German Queen from 919 until 936. Their eldest son Otto succeeded his father as German King and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962...

, later Saint Matilda, was brought up here. In 909, through the negotiations of her grandmother, she was married to Henry, Duke of Saxony and later King Henry I of Germany.

Between 919 and 924 Herford was destroyed by Hungarians but was rebuilt by 927.

Reichsunmittelbarkeit

In 1147 the abbey, which by this time had almost 850 estates and farms, was granted Imperial immediacy . This made it an independent territory within the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 (although admittedly a very small one, comprising part of the area of the present city of Herford) which lasted until 1803. The abbesses became Imperial princesses and sat in the Reichstag
Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...

 in the College of Prelates of the Rhine. The territory belonged to the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle
Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle
The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised territories of the former Duchy of Lower Lorraine, Frisia and the Westphalian part of the former Duchy of Saxony....

.

The first Vögte seem to have been the Billunger, and after they died out, Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....

, who appointed the Counts of Schwalenberg as under-Vögte. From 1180, after the fall of Henry the Lion, they exercised the same function for the Archbishopric of Cologne
Archbishopric of Cologne
The Electorate of Cologne was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne . It was ruled by the Archbishop in his function as prince-elector of...

 and the Duchy of Westphalia
Duchy of Westphalia
The Duchy of Westphalia was a historic territory in the greater region of Westphalia, located in the east of modern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Originally, Westphalia formed with Angria and Eastphalia one of the three main regions of Saxony...

. By 1261 the office seems to have passed to the Counts of Sternberg and in 1382 to the Counts of Jülich-Berg
Duchy of Jülich
The Duchy of Jülich comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay left of the Rhine river between the Electorate of Cologne in the east and the Duchy of Limburg in the west. It had territories on both sides of the river Rur, around its capital...

.

In the vicinity of the abbey there grew up the town of Herford, which had acquired municipal rights by 1170/1180 and later, as the Reichsstadt Herford, acquired Reichsunmittelbarkeit in its own right.

By the end of the 15th century, "Sancta Herfordia" ("Holy Herford"), as it became known, had some 37 churches, chapels, monasteries and other religious houses, and hospitals. Its spiritual life was thus comparable to that of a great centre such as Cologne.

Reformation

In 1533, during the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, Herford Abbey became Lutheran, under the Electors of Brandenburg. From 1649 for over a century the abbesses were all Calvinist but that did not alter the Lutheran character of the principality.

Dissolution

In 1802 the abbey was dissolved in the course of secularisation
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....

 under the terms of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss and on 25 February 1803 was annexed to the County of Ravensberg, which belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

. In 1804 it was turned into a collegiate foundation for men, and in 1810 finally suppressed.

The former abbey church remains in use as Herford Minster (Herforder Münster).

Abbesses

  • Theodrada, Tetta (838 – after 840)
  • Addila (before 844 – after 853)
  • Hedwig (before 858 – after 888)
  • Matilda I (before 908 – after 911; Immedinger
    Immedinger
    The Immedinger were a noble family of medieval Saxony, descended from the Saxon leader Widukind. The most notable member was Saint Matilda , queen consort of King Henry I of Germany....

    )
  • Imma (before 973 – after 995; Billunger)
  • Godesdiu (before 1002 – after 1040; Billunger)
  • Swanhild (before 1051–1076)
  • Gertrud I (before 1138 – after 1139)
  • Jutta (Jutta of Arnsberg
    Arnsberg
    Arnsberg is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg's administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochsauerlandkreis.-Geography:...

    ; before 1146 – after 1162)
  • Ludgard I (before 1163 – after 1170)
  • Eilika (c. 1212)
  • Gertrud II (Gertrud of Lippe
    Principality of Lippe
    Lippe was a historical state in Germany. It was located between the Weser River and the southeast part of the Teutoburg forest.-History:...

    ; before 1217 – after 1233)
  • Ida (before 1238 – after 1264)
  • Pinnosa (before 1265 – after 1276)
  • Mechthild II (Mechtild of Waldeck
    Waldeck (state)
    Waldeck was a sovereign principality in the German Empire and German Confederation and, until 1929, a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It comprised territories in present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony, ....

    ; before 1277 – after 1288)
  • Irmgard (Irmgard of Wittgenstein
    Sayn-Wittgenstein
    Sayn-Wittgenstein was a county of mediæval Germany, located in the Sauerland of eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. Sayn-Wittgenstein was created when Count Salentin of Sayn-Homburg married the heiress Countess Adelaide of Wittgenstein in 1345...

    ; before 1290–1323)
  • Lutgard II (Lutgard of Bicken; 1324–1360)
  • Heilwig (Heilwig of Bentheim
    Bentheim
    County of Bentheim is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the districts of Steinfurt and Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia.- History :The District has roughly the same territory as the County of...

    ; 1361)
  • Elisabeth I (Elisabeth of Berg
    Berg (state)
    Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.-Ascent:...

    ; 1361–1374)
  • Hillegund (Hillegund of Oetgenbach; 1374–1409)
  • Mechthild III (Mechtild of Waldeck; 1409–1442)
    • Margaret of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, rival abbess 1442–1443
  • Margaret I (Margaret of Gleichen
    Gleichen
    Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other .- Castles in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt :...

    ; 1443–1475)
    • Jakobe of Neuenahr, rival abbess 1476–1479
  • Anna I (Anna of Hunolstein; 1476–1494)
  • Bonizet (Bonizet of Limburg-Stirum; 1494–1524)
  • Anna II (Anna of Limburg
    Duchy of Limburg
    The Duchy of Limburg, situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse and the city of Aachen, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in...

    ; 1524–1565)
  • Margaret II (Margaret of Lippe; 1565–1578)
  • Felicitas I (Felicitas of Eberstein; 1578–1586)
  • Magdalene I (Magdalene of Lippe; 1586–1604)
  • Felicitas II (Felicitas of Eberstein; 1604–1621)
  • Magdalene II (Magdalene of Lippe; 1621–1640)
  • Sidonia (Sidonia of Oldenburg; 1640–1649)
    • Maria Clara Theresa of Wartenberg, rival abbess 1629–1631
  • Elisabeth II (Elisabeth Luise Juliana of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken
    Palatinate-Zweibrücken
    Palatinate-Zweibrücken is a former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Zweibrücken.-Overview:→ History before 1394 see main article County of Zweibrücken→ History before 1444 see main article County of Veldenz...

    ; 1649–1667)
  • Elisabeth III (Elisabeth of the Palatinate; 1667–1680)
  • Elisabeth IV (Elisabeth Albertine of Anhalt-Dessau
    Anhalt-Dessau
    Anhalt-Dessau was a principality and later a duchy located in Germany. It was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. The capital of the state was Dessau. Anhalt-Dessau experienced a number of partitions throughout its existence with Anhalt-Köthen being...

    ; 1680–1686)
  • Elisabeth V (Elisabeth of Hesse-Cassel; 1686–1688)
  • Charlotte Sophia (Charlotte Sophia of Courland
    Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
    The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia is the name of a duchy in the Baltic region that existed from 1562 to 1569 as a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569...

    ; 1688–1728)
  • Johanna Charlotte
    Princess Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau
    Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau was a princess of Anhalt-Dessau from the House of Ascania by birth and Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt by marriage...

     (Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau; 1729–1750)
  • Sophia (Sophia of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp; 1750–1764)
  • Frederica Charlotte (Frederica Charlotte of Brandenburg-Schwedt
    Brandenburg-Schwedt
    Brandenburg-Schwedt was a cadet line of the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg-Prussia who administered territories in the north of the Margraviate of Brandenburg...

    ; 1764–1802; d. 1808)
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