Essen Abbey

Essen Abbey (Stift Essen) was a community of secular canonesses for women of high nobility that formed the nucleus of modern-day Essen, Germany.

Imperial Abbey of Essen
Stift Essen
845–1803
Coat of arms
StatusImperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
CapitalEssen Abbey
GovernmentTheocracy
Historical eraMiddle Ages
 Founded
circa 845
 Gained Imperial immediacy
between 874 and 947 circa 845
 Gained princely status
1228
 Contracted with Duchy of Cleves
    and County of Mark over Vogtei

1495
 Joined Westphalian Circle
1512
 Occupied by the Kingdom of Prussia
1802
 Annexed by Prussia
1803–06/7 and from 1813 1803
 Awarded to Berg
1806/7—1813
Succeeded by
Kingdom of Prussia
Today part ofGermany

A chapter of male priests were also attached to the abbey, under a dean. 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.

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