Maribo Abbey

The first Bridgettine abbey in Denmark was established in 1416 in the town of Skimminge on a gift of land (Grimstrup) from Queen Margaret I[1] and supplemented by her heir, Eric of Pomerania.

At the same time the town, renamed "Marienbo" (later Maribo), received a city charter[2] which gave it protection from interference by local nobles.

At its height, Maribo Abbey owned several manors and over 400 farms, making it one of Denmark's great landowners in the Middle Ages.

[4] In August of that year King Christian III visited Maribo to witness the induction of a young woman into the Lutheran abbey.

After the king's visit, a number of noble families paid to accommodate their unmarried daughters or sisters at the abbey for the rest of their lives, unless a marriage prospect arose.

Already in 1563 the Lutheran Bishop of Fyn, who had responsibility for Maribo, received complaints that the abbey was harboring Roman Catholics.

Allegations of the continued prayers for the souls of the dead, the singing of Catholic hymns, the refusal to listen to the Lutheran pastor's sermons (he was heckled in church), and the resumption of the habit of the Bridgettines were all cited as proof that the abbey was "corrupting" the women who went to live there.

In subsequent years the charges became even worse: the abbey was opened to anyone who wanted to visit; the women fought openly and refused to comply with the rule or the abbess; many were drunk on a regular basis, drinking up the fourteen barrels of beer received each year as rent and more.