Beatrice I, also known as Beatrice of Franconia (german: Beatrix von Franken; 1037 – 13 July 1061), was Abbess of

Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey (german: Stift Gandersheim) is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or ...

from 1043 and

Princess-Abbess A prince-abbot (german: Fürstabt) is a title for a cleric who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-bishop), in the sense of an ''ex officio'' temporal lord of a feudal entity, usually a State of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled b ...

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 by ...

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-Scandi ...

, 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

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 Backg ...

, 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 Pope Stephen IX ( la, Stephanus, christened Frederick; c. 1020 – 29 March 1058) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 August 1057 to his death in 29 March 1058. He was a member of the Ardenne-Verdun family, ...

set out a compromise, at the end of 1057, which was apparently that the

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

al 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 Michaelstein Abbey (Kloster Michaelstein) is a former Cistercian monastery, now the home of the ''Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein - Musikinstitut für Aufführungspraxis'' ("Michaelstein Abbey Foundation - Music Institute for Performance"), near th ...

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-law ...

* 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