View source for Werden Abbey

{{short description|Abbey in Essen-Werden, Germany}}
{{Expand language|topic=struc|langcode=de|date=September 2024}}
{{One source|date=January 2024}}
{{coord|51|23|17|N|7|00|17|E|region:DE-NW_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name            = ''Reichsabtei Werden-Helmstedt''
|conventional_long_name = Imperial Abbey of Werden-Helmstedt
|common_name            = Werden-Helmstedt
|era                    = Middle Ages
|status                 = Imperial Abbey
|empire                 = Holy Roman Empire
|government_type        = Theocracy

|year_start             = 877
|year_end               = 1803

|event_start            = Werden founded
|date_start             = 809
|event1                 = Helmstedt founded
|date_event1            = 827
|event2                 = Gained ''[[Reichsfreiheit]]''
|date_event2            = May 22, 877
|event_end              = [[German Mediatisation|Secularised]] to [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]
|date_end               = <!--- Optional: Date of disestablishment --->
|event_post             = Lost to [[Grand Duchy of Berg|Berg]], [[Kingdom of Westphalia|Westphalia]]
|date_post              = 1806–14

|p1                     = Duchy of Saxony
|image_p1               = [[File:Arms of the house of Anhalt (ancient).svg|20px|Duchy of Saxony]]
|s1                     = Kingdom of Prussia
|flag_s1                = Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg

|image_coat             = Reichsabtei Werden-Helmstedt.svg
|image_map              = Essen Kloster Werden Innenhof 2 2005.jpg
|image_map_caption      = Main building of the former abbey

|capital                = [[Essen-Werden|Werden]]
|common_languages       = [[Middle Low German|Low Saxon]]
|religion               = [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]]

|footnotes              = 
}}
[[File:Essen Kloster Werden Dom Totale 11.jpg|thumb|[[Ludger|St Ludger]]'s [[basilica]] in Werden]]
'''Werden Abbey''' ({{langx|de|Kloster Werden}}) was a [[Benedictine]] monastery in [[Essen-Werden]] ([[Germany]]), situated on the [[Ruhr (river)|Ruhr]].

== The foundation of the abbey ==
Near Essen [[Ludger|Saint Ludger]] founded a monastery in 799 and became its first abbot. The little church which Saint Ludger built here in honor of [[Saint Stephen]] was completed in 804 and dedicated by Saint Ludger himself, who had meanwhile become [[Bishop of Münster]]. Upon the death of Ludger on 26 March 809, the abbacy of Werden passed by inheritance first to his younger brother [[Hildigrim I]] (809–827), then successively to four of his nephews: Gerfried (827–839), Thiadgrim (ruled less than a year), Altfried (839–848), Hildigrim II (849–887). Under Hildigrim I, also [[Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne]], the new monastery of [[Helmstedt]] in the [[Diocese of Halberstadt]] was founded from Werden. It was ruled over by a [[Provost (religion)|provost]], and remained a dependency of Werden till its secularization in 1803.

Werden was a wealthy abbey with possessions in [[Westphalia]], [[Frisia]], eastern [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]] and around the abbey itself, where it had a territory of 125&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>.

On 22 May 877, under Hildigrim II, the monastery, which up to that time had been the property of the family of Saint Ludger, obtained [[Imperial immediacy]], which amounted to the right of free abbatical election and immunity. Henceforth the abbots of Werden were [[Prince-abbot|imperial prince]]s and had a seat in the [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Diet]]. The abbey church of Werden, destroyed by fire in 1256, was rebuilt in the late-[[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] style (1256–75). Two of the most obscure yet intriguing men to hold seats of authority in Werden Abbey (found in the Archives in North Rhine-Westphalia), were Abt Johann I., (1330–44) and Abt Johann II. von Arscheid (Arscheyt, Arschott-Brabant), (1344–60). Thereafter the monastery began to decline to such an extent that under Abbot Conrad von Gleichen (1454–74), who was a married layman, the whole community consisted of only three men, who divided the possessions of the abbey among themselves. After a complete reform, instituted in 1477, by Abbot Adam von Eschweiler of the [[Bursfelde Congregation]], Werden continued in existence until its secularization in 1803.

== Early modern times ==
Problems arose after the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], when the ''[[Vögte]]'' (lords protectors) of the abbey were the Protestant rulers of [[Brandenburg]], who had inherited the neighbouring [[Mark (county)|County of the Mark]].

The construction of [[Baroque]] abbey buildings, textile production and coal mining formed the economic basis of the territory of Werden in the 18th century.

== The end of the abbey ==
During the [[German Mediatisation|secularization]] in 1803 the abbey and its territory became part of [[Prussia]], but three years later it was incorporated into the [[Berg (German region)|Grand Duchy of Berg]]. In 1815 it became Prussian again, as part of the [[Rhine Province]].

The buildings are now used by the [[Folkwang Hochschule]].

== References ==
{{Commons category|Kloster Werden|Werden Abbey}}
* {{Catholic |wstitle=Werden}}

{{Rhenish College}}
{{Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Benedictine monasteries in Germany]]
[[Category:Monasteries in North Rhine-Westphalia]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 9th century]]
[[Category:Religious organizations disestablished in 1803]]
[[Category:Imperial abbeys disestablished in 1802–03]]
[[Category:Roman Catholic churches in Essen]]
[[Category:Basilica churches in Germany]]
[[Category:County of Mark]]