Imperial free secular foundation of Gandersheim Kaiserlich freies weltliches Reichsstift Gandersheim | |||||||||
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| 919–1802 | |||||||||
![Coat of arms[1] of Gandersheim Abbey](view_image.php?q=Gandersheim_Abbey&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Party_per_pale_sable_and_or.svg) Coat of arms[1]
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 Gandersheim Abbey church | |||||||||
| Status | Imperial Abbey | ||||||||
| Capital | Gandersheim Abbey | ||||||||
| Common languages | Eastphalian | ||||||||
| Government | Principality | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Founded by Liudolf, Duke of Saxony | 852 | ||||||||
877 919 | |||||||||
919 | |||||||||
22 June 1206 | |||||||||
1542 | |||||||||
| 1802 | |||||||||
1807–13 | |||||||||
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| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||
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 Count Liudolf of Saxony and his wife, Oda, progenitors of the Liudolfing or Ottonian dynasty, whose rich endowments ensured its stability and prosperity.
The "Imperial free secular foundation of Gandersheim" (Kaiserlich freies weltliches Reichsstift Gandersheim), as it was officially known from the 13th century to its dissolution in 1810, was a community of the unmarried daughters of the high nobility, leading a godly life but not under monastic vows, which is the meaning of the word "secular" in the title.
- ^ Gandersheim Abbey, photographs by Raymond Faure