Gimsøy Abbey (''Gimsøy kloster'') was a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery located on the eastern end of the island of Klosterøya at

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The island was commonly referred to as ''Gimsøy'' or ''Gjemsø''.

History

The abbey was founded in the first half of the 12th century by Dag Eilivsson and his wife

Ragnhild Skoftesdotter Ragnhild Skoftesdotter (12th century) was a Norwegian noblewoman and landowner. Life Ragnhild Skoftesdotter was a daughter of Skofte Ogmundsson (ca. 1040–1103) who was a leading member of the Giske family (''Giskeætten'') from the island of G ...

at their estate Gimsøy. It was founded after Eilivsson had returned unharmed to Norway after having participated in the

Norwegian Crusade The Norwegian Crusade, led by Norwegian King Sigurd I, was a crusade or a pilgrimage (sources differ) that lasted from 1107 to 1111, in the aftermath of the First Crusade. The Norwegian Crusade marks the first time a European king person ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Sigurd the Crusader Sigurd the Crusader (; ; 1089 – 26 March 1130), also known as Sigurd Magnusson and Sigurd I, was King of Norway from 1103 to 1130. His rule, together with his half-brother Øystein (until Øystein died in 1123), has been regarded by historian ...

in circa 1110. Their daughter Baugeid Dagsdatter (d. after 1161) later became an abbess there. His son and successor Gregorius Dagsson (d. 1161) is commonly reported to have been buried there. It is counted as the first monastery in Norway founded for women. The year of foundation is unknown. It is regarded as the perhaps first convent in Norway, and was thus founded prior to the second eldest convents of Norway, which were mostly all founded in about 1150. The convent was built in stone and is estimated to have been built by English masons, and its first nuns were also from England. The abbey was well positioned on the navigable river on the way to Skien, and was gradually enlarged and endowed with numerous estates during the centuries. The abbey eventually came in to financial troubles. By about 1500, the premises had been mortgaged, although the nuns continued to live there. The

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in 1537 caused the dissolution of the nunnery, but the nuns were permitted to stay in residence until 1540, when they were forced to leave by order of the king. The buildings burnt to the ground in 1546, and the site was cleared. Today there are no traces of buildings above ground level. The island was taken over by the Crown as a state property and was sold in 1662.Norges klostre i middelalderen: Gimsøy kloster

History

References

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