Herford Abbey

Territory of the Holy Roman Empire

The Herford Abbey (among other things as a woman pin, ladies pin, Imperial Abbey, Abbey of Herford Reichsprälatur or referred to ) was a woman convent in Westphalia.

The abbey was founded in the late 8th century, and 823 raised to the imperial abbey. In the 12th century the monastery became the imperial immediacy. The Fürstäbtissinnen of Herford were therefore represented later on the circle days of Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. The monastery was later a member of the Rhenish kingdom prelate College and was represented as indirect impacts on the diets.

1802/ 03 was the abbey and its small territory around the Herford Minster in what is now the center of the city of Herford to the Prussian Ravens mountain. The Women's Convention 1804 was converted into a collegiate men and repealed in 1810.

History

The Herford Abbey was the oldest woman in the Convention in the Duchy of Saxony. It was initially Tired Horst (now at Bielefeld) founded in 789 by a nobleman named Waltger as own convent, then transferred to 800 on the basis of his court " Herivurth " at the intersection of important roads and fords over Aa and the Werre. Later it was called " Oldenhervorde ". Its foundation can be seen in the course of Saxony mission. Nearby emerged, for example, in Paderborn, Minden or Osnabrück more important Christian centers in Saxony. After the Herford vision called oldest known Marian apparition north of the Alps, a daughter house of Herford congregation was founded by the abbess Godesdiu around the year 1011 on the Herford Stiftsberg.

Elevation to imperial abbey

Under Emperor Louis the Pious († 840) was 823 raised the Herford Abbey approximately parallel to the establishment of the imperial abbey of Corvey and equipped with a third of the originally intended for Corvey goods. In close connection with the imperial abbey of Corvey the Carolingian brothers Adalhard and Wala reorganized after the founding Waltgers 823. The Vita Waltgeri and a certificate to Louis the German, of 853 report, Herford had been lady furnished to the pattern of the Carolingian Empire Notre Soissons. Soissons thus became the mother monastery of Herford, such as the Abbey of Corbie for Corvey. Both start-ups thus monastery had a stronghold in the central Frankish Empire. Referred to in the charter of Louis Herford abbess Tetta came from Soissons.

860 were, at the instigation of the abbess Haduwy ( Hedwig ), the bones of the saints Pusinna, the Herford patron saint from whose hermitage Binson ( " vicus bausionensis " near Chalons-en -Champagne at Corbie ) was transferred to the Herford Abbey, the considerably gained in importance and later the name " St. Marien and Pusinna " wore.

At the time of Abbess Mathilde I. here whose granddaughter Mathilde was educated, by communicating their grandmother married 909 the Saxon duke and later King Henry I.. In the years 919-924 Herford was destroyed by the Hungarians, but already 927 rebuilt. In memory of her late husband, the 936 -behaved in Herford Queen Matilda founded in the same year a woman pen in Quedlinburg.

Reichsunmittelbarkeit

1147 got the pin with at this time 39 Oberhöfen and 800 tributary Unterhöfen the imperial immediacy. As stewards officiating at first probably the Bill Unger, after the extinction of Henry the Lion, who used the counts of Schwalenberg as Untervögte, in turn, perceived this task from 1180, after the fall of Henry the Lion, for the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Dukes of Westphalia. Already in 1261 seems the Office of the Counts of Sternberg and 1382 to be passed to the Counts of Jülich -Berg.

With the imperial immediacy the pen was a stand-alone, but only small territory of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised part of the current urban area of ​​Herford and existed until the secularization in 1803. Abbesses were His kingdom princesses and sat in the Reichstag in the Rhenish kingdom prelate College. The area was part of the Lower Rhenish - Westphalian Circle. In the neighborhood of the pen, the settlement Herford, which had since 1170/1180 city law and later also became rich immediately developed. Since 1256, the city took over the protection of the abbey. From 1256 to 1530 formed city and the abbey a common government for the territory of what was once the kingdom.

By the end of the 15th century bought in " Sancta Herfordia " ( the Holy Herford ) about 37 churches, chapels, pens, monasteries, hospitals and religious houses ( as a separate building). Thus the spiritual life was more akin to there with Cologne as with other cities of that time.

Reformation

1533, during the Reformation, the Herford Abbey became Protestant (see also introduction of the Reformation in Herford ). The Elector of Brandenburg tried to enforce the Reformed confession twice, but only temporarily succeeded. 1652 occupied Kur- Brandenburg rich free city of Herford and incorporates them into Ravens mountain. The imperial abbey was still able to maintain their independence.

Labadisten and Quakers

After the Abbess Elizabeth had to face a lyrical and mystical direction of the Palatinate (1618-1680), more and more, she took in 1670 Labadisten, then Quaker in Herford. However, their mystical eccentricities excited great offense at the Lutheran population.

Your friend Anna Maria Schürmann had joined with 62 years of community of Labadisten. About Middelburg and Amsterdam, the group arrived in 1670 to Herford, where the Abbess, the most learned daughter of the Winter Queen, the municipality could provide refuge for a time. They did not live in the abbey, but rather under their protection. 1672, the group was driven by an edict of the Imperial Supreme Court from there.

The Quaker Robert Barclay and William Penn visited Elizabeth, who even allowed Quäkerandachten in their abbey and actively began for their acquiescence to the king of England.

Around the turn of the year 1679/80 the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz came for her sake to Herford.

Repeal

1802, the pen was lifted in the course of secularization and in anticipation of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss and slammed belonging to Prussia Ravensberg on 25 February 1803. 1804 the monastery was converted into a collegiate for men and 1810 finally dissolved.

Buildings

The abbey and its territory lay in what is now the center of Herford. The former wife pin extended from the Old Market on the terrain of the present Town Hall to Stephansplatz on the street " on the Freedom ," which reminds us of the former immunity. As a collegiate church, the Minster Herford, which is Lutheran parish church served today. It was built in the early 13th century and is among the largest hall churches in Westphalia. Immediately north of it the Wolderuskapelle was built on the site of an older chapel. In the chapel of the legend is claimed by the Holy Waltger (died 825 ) buried. The simple hall building was built in 1735 originally from chapel of the Reformed (!) Abbess of the Lutheran congregation, and since 1962 Nektarios Greek Orthodox Chapel, before that, she served from 1807 to 1902 the Reformed congregation of Herford as a church. On the former immunity is obtained with the cantor house one of the oldest houses in Westphalia. The red brick infilled timber-framed house was built in the late 15th century. The Free Farm, a half-timbered house on the south side of immunity, was built in the 17th century. That in the same architectural style subsequent Labadistenhaus was built in the 17th century as the residence of the Labadisten. Get also the Old Abbey fountain in front of the Town Hall, was uncovered in 1988 and 1990.

The market halls and the town hall of the city of Herford were built until 1916, after the abbey buildings were used among other things as factory since the lifting of the abbey. Most abbey buildings are preserved only in remains of foundations. When Stephansplatz after excavation the foundations of the cloister and the buildings of the pin ladies were reconstructed. At the abbey now recall several monuments on the old immunity. These include a bronze model of the medieval Herford, a reconstructed landmark that marks the boundary between the city and immunity, the Imperial Abbey monument of 1998, which deals with the relationship between the city and the abbey, and the abbey fountain in front of the market hall with a sculpture of a abbess. Outdoor courtyard with bronze reliefs find a medieval representation of Herford, and the Abbey of.

Abbesses

• Theodrada, Tetta ( 838 - after 840)
• Addila (before 844 - after 853 )
• Hedwig (before 858 - after 888)
• Mathilde I. (before 908 - after 911 ) ( Immedinger )
• Imma (before 973 - after 995 ) (Bill Unger)
• Godesdiu (before 1002 - after 1040 ) (Bill Unger)
• Schwanhild (before 1051-1076 )
• Gertrude I. (before 1138 - after 1139 )
• Jutta von Arnsberg (before 1146 - after 1162 )
• Ludgard I. (before 1163 - after 1170 )
• Eilika ( to 1212 )
• Gertrud II zur Lippe (before 1217 - after 1233 )
• Ida (before 1238 - after 1264 )
• Pinnosa (before 1265 - after 1276)
• Mechthild II of Waldeck (before 1277 - after 1288)
• Irmgard von Wittgenstein (before 1290-1323 )
• Lutgard II of Bickenbach (1324-1360)
• Heilwig of Bentheim ( 1361 )
• Elizabeth I of the mountain (1361-1374)
• Hillegund of Oetgenbach (1374-1409)
• Mechthild III. von Waldeck (1409-1442) Margarete von Braunschweig- Grubenhagen, counter abbess 1442-1443

• Jakobi of Neuenahr, counter abbess 1476-1479

• Maria Clara von Wartenberg, counter abbess 1629-1631

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the Imperial Abbey showed a red horizontal bars on a silver shield. To date, the colors of the city of Herford and the flag of the city are white-red. By 1899 the city's coat was that of Herford, so the red bar in silver shields.