Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Our Predecessor, Gandersheim



The "Imperial free secular foundation of Gandersheim" (Kaiserlich freie weltliche 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.
Sound familiar?

Gandersheim Abbey's most famous pupil is Hrosvit, or Hrosvitha, a tenth-century dramatist. Not quite Nora Ephron, but close.

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