Beatrice I, also known as Beatrice of Franconia (german: Beatrix von Franken; 1037 – 13 July 1061), was Abbess of
Gandersheim Abbey from 1043 and
Princess-Abbess
A prince-abbot (german: Fürstabt) is a title for a clergy, cleric who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-bishop), in the sense of an ''ex officio'' temporal lord of a feudalism, feudal entity, usually a Imperial State, State of the Holy R ...
of
Quedlinburg Abbey
Quedlinburg Abbey (german: Stift Quedlinburg or ) was a house of secular canonesses ''(Frauenstift)'' in Quedlinburg in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the initiative of Saint Mathilda, the widow of the East Frankis ...
from 1044 until her death.
Beatrix was born in Italy towards the end of 1037 as the only child of the
Holy Roman Emperor Henry III
Henry III (28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.
Henry was raised ...
and his first wife,
Gunhilda of Denmark
Gunhilda of Denmark ( 1020 – 18 July 1038), was Queen consort of Germany by her marriage with King Henry III from 1036 until her death.
Biography
Gunhilda was a daughter of King Cnut the Great (985/95 – 1035), ruler over the Anglo-Scandin ...
, who died about six months after Beatrice's birth.
Reign as princess-abbess
Consecration
On 14 January 1044, after the death of her kinswoman, Abbess
Adelaide I, Beatrice was installed as Abbess of
Gandersheim Abbey by her father, overriding the right of the canonesses to elect their own head. She was additionally consecrated Abbess of Quedlinburg on 24 June 1044 in
Merseburg Cathedral
Merseburg Cathedral (german: Merseburger Dom) is the proto-cathedral of the former Bishopric of Merseburg in Merseburg, Germany. The mostly Gothic church is considered an artistic and historical highlight in southern Saxony-Anhalt.
History Back ...
, also succeeding Adelaide I, and a little later was created abbess of .
Conflicts
In Gandersheim, she was at the centre of a long-running conflict with the canonesses, who accused her of subinfeudating estates of the abbey that were intended for the direct support of the community, and thereby bringing them into financial hardship. Three popes were involved in this affair, which went on for years:
Leo IX
Pope Leo IX (21 June 1002 – 19 April 1054), born Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. Leo IX is considered to be one of the most historically ...
decided initially in favour of the canonesses;
Victor II reversed the decision in favour of the abbess. Finally,
Stephen IX set out a compromise, at the end of 1057, which was apparently that the
prebendal estates of the community were to be reserved for its upkeep, but that the abbess had the right to manage freely the remaining estates and her own properties as she saw fit.
Even this solution held only until the death of Beatrice; under her successor, her half-sister
Adelaide II, the conflict broke out all over again.
Death
Beatrice died on 13 July 1061. She was buried in the abbey church of Quedlinburg but her remains must have been removed elsewhere after the disastrous fire of 1070. A lead casket, which almost certainly contains the bones of Beatrice, has been preserved in
Michaelstein Abbey since about 1161. In the crypt of the rebuilt church at Quedlinburg a tablet from the time of its rededication in 1129 serves as Beatrice's memorial.
References
* Black-Veldtrup, Mechthild, 1995: ''Kaiserin Agnes (1043-1077): Quellenkritische Studien.'' Cologne: Böhlau
* Boshof, Egon, 2000: ''Die Salier.'' Stuttgart:
Kohlhammer Verlag
W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart.
History
Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-l ...
* Kronenberg, Kurt, 1981: ''Die Äbtissinen des Reichsstifts Gandersheim.'' Bad Gandersheim: Verlag Gandersheimer Tageblatt
* Vogtherr, Thomas, 2002: ''Die salischen Äbtissinnen des Reichsstifts Quedlinburg'', in: ''Von sacerdotium und regnum'', pp. 405–420. Cologne: Böhlau
Ancestry
External links / Sources
genealogie-mittelalter.de: Beatrix I
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatrice Of Quedlinburg
1037 births
11th-century German women
Salian dynasty
Abbesses of Quedlinburg
1061 deaths
German princesses
Abbesses of Gandersheim
Daughters of emperors
Daughters of kings