Saint Ansfried of Utrecht sometimes called Ansfried the younger was Count of Huy and the sword-bearer for Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. He became Bishop of Utrecht in 995. He appears to have been the son or grandson of Lambert, a nobleman of the Maasgau, the area where he later founded the Abbey of Thorn. He also appears to have been related to various important contemporaries including the royal family.
Thorn is a village in the municipality of Maasgouw, in the Dutch province of Limburg. It lies on the rivers Meuse and Witbeek. It is known as 'the white village' for its white-washed brick houses in the centre of town. It used to be part of the Imperial Abbey of Thorn.
Ezzo, sometimes called Ehrenfried, a member of the Ezzonid dynasty, was Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1015 until his death. As brother-in-law of Emperor Otto III, father of Queen Richeza of Poland and several other illustrious children, he was one of the most important figures of the Rhenish history of his time.
Susteren Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey at Susteren near Roermond, in the Dutch province of Limburg, founded in the 8th century. The former abbey church is now St. Amelberga's Basilica.
Buchau Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Buchau, was a self-ruling Imperial Estate and its abbess had a seat and vote at the Imperial Diet.
Princely abbeys and Imperial abbeys were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of imperial immediacy (Reichsunmittelbarkeit) and therefore were answerable directly to the Emperor. The possession of imperial immediacy came with a unique form of territorial authority known as Landeshoheit, which carried with it nearly all the attributes of sovereignty.
Essen Abbey was a community of secular canonesses for women of high nobility that formed the nucleus of modern-day Essen, Germany.
Herford Abbey was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst by a nobleman called Waltger, who moved it in about 800 onto the lands of his estate Herivurth which stood at the crossing of a number of important roads and fords over the Aa and the Werre. The present city of Herford grew up on this site around the abbey.
Remiremont Abbey was an abbey that was founded as a house of nuns near Remiremont, Vosges, France. It later became a community of secular canonesses.
Munsterbilzen Abbey was an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Munsterbilzen, Limburg, Belgium, founded in around 670 by Saint Landrada. It was plundered by Vikings in 881 but restored. From the 9th century it was dedicated to Saint Amor.
Countess Palatine Francisca Christina of Sulzbach was the Princess-abbess of Essen Abbey and Thorn Abbey. She led Essen Abbey from 1726 to 1776, the longest of any Essen abbess. Her tenure was marked by disputes between the Abbey and the city, which were caused by her counselors.
Herkenrode Abbey was a Catholic monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Kuringen, part of the municipality of Hasselt, which lies in the province of Limburg, Belgium.
Anna Salome of Manderscheid-Blankenheim was Abbess of Thorn Abbey from 1648 to 1688, and the abbess of Essen Abbey from 1688 until her death.
Clara Elisabeth of Manderscheid-Blankenheim was canoness at Thorn Abbey and Essen Abbey and deaness at Elten Abbey. In Thorn, she is known today as "the sick lady" and she is better known than her sister Anna Salome, although the latter presided over Thorn Abbey for more than 40 years as abbess. In 1673, Clara Elizabeth donated a Loreto Chapel. A magnificent epitaph in the St. Michael Church, the former Abbey Church, in Thorn, commemorates her.
Maria Kunigunde of Saxony was Princess-Abbess of Essen and Thorn. She was a titular Princess of Poland, Lithuania and Saxony of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin. She was a member of the Order of the Starry Cross and a collegiate lady in the abbey at Münsterbilzen.
Lambert, was a Lotharingian nobleman with lands somewhere near modern Dutch Limburg, who was associated with Gembloux Abbey in French-speaking Belgium. Its founder Wicbert was possibly a relative. Although there are other proposals, he is generally considered to be the father of Bishop Ansfried of Utrecht and he was probably a brother of Ansfried the elder and Robert, the Archbishop of Trier.
The Augustinian Convent of Bethany existed in Mechelen, Belgium, from 1421 to 1783. It belonged to the Congregation of Windesheim.
Jacoba of Loon-Heinsberg, was a noble woman from the Low Countries who was the abbess of Thorn Abbey from 1446 to 1454. She was the daughter of John II of Loon and her half-brother, Jan van Heinsberg, was bishop of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. She withdrew to the Convent of Bethany in Mechelen in 1455; her 1468 will indicates she left a printing press to the convent.
Josina Walburgis van Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (1615-1683) was sovereign Princess Abbess of Thorn Abbey from 1631 until 1632.
