Essen Abbey

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.

[1] It was founded about 845 by the Saxon Altfrid (died 874), later Bishop of Hildesheim and saint, near a royal estate called Astnidhi, which later gave its name to the religious house and the town.

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 the Divine Office.

[3] She acquired from Koblenz the relics of (Florinus of Remüs) for the abbey,[4] and donated the processional Cross of Otto and Mathilde.

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.

Approximately 3,000 farms in the area owed dues to the abbey, in Vest Recklinghausen, on the Hellweg and around Breisig and Godesberg.

Cloister of the abbey church with the graveyard of the cathedral canons.
Schloss Borbeck
Essen-Weihnachtsmarkt 2011
The cover of the gospels donated by Theophanu , with a small donor portrait of the abbess
Gospel book of Abbess Svanhild, MS. Latin 110, John Rylands Library ; Abbess Svanhild and Prioress Brigitte offer the book to Mary, Mother of God
Ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire, 1648
Ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire, 1648
Map of a large region (in white) including all the territory of modern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, plus parts of most neighbouring countries, including most of Northern Italy. Some of the northwest part region is highlighted in color, including Münster, most of the Netherlands and parts of modern Belgium.
The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (red) within the Holy Roman Empire (white) after 1548