A Companion to the Abbey of Quedlinburg in the Middle Ages

The imperial convent of St. Servatius at Quedlinburg (founded in 936) was one of the wealthiest, most prestigious, and most politically powerful religious houses of medieval Germany, subject only to the authority of the emperor and the pope. This is the first English-language volume to provide an introduction to this important female religious community. The twelve essays by a team of international scholars address an array of topics in Quedlinburg's medieval history, with a particular focus on how the Quedlinburg community of learned aristocratic women used architecture and the visual arts to assert the abbey's illustrious history, ongoing political importance, and cultural significance. Contributors are: Clemens Bley, Karen Blough, Shirin Fozi, Tobias Gärtner, Eliza Garrison, Evan A. Gatti, G. Ulrich Großmann, Annie Krieg, Manfred Mehl, Katharina Ulrike Mersch, Christian Popp, Helene Scheck, and Adam R. Stead. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Figures 9 Notes on Contributors 18 Introduction 22 1 Quedlinburg Abbey’s Medieval History in Ever-Changing Political and Religious Frameworks: A Survey 36 1 Introduction 36 2 The Abbey of St. Servatius, Queens, Kings, and Royal Abbesses in the Ottonian Era 37 3 Royal Tradition and Political Challenges in the 11th and Early 12th Century 44 4 Quedlinburg Abbey in Changing Surroundings 48 5 A Traditional Community in Times of Religious Upheaval 55 Works Cited 61 2 Quedlinburg in the 10th and 11th Centuries: An Archaeological View 68 3 Quedlinburg: The Conventual Buildings from an Architectural History Perspective 111 1 The Monastic Complex (Figure 3.1) 111 2 The Conventual Buildings 113 2.1 Chapel on the South Side of the Transept 113 3 Gatehouse and Gate on the North (Figure 3.4) 115 4 Former Cloister: Western Residential Complex (Figure 3.7) 120 5 Abbey Church 125 6 The Oldest Church Buildings (in the Present Crypt) (Figure 3.10) 126 7 The Collegiate Church in the Salian Period: Appearance and Alterations 127 7.1 The Exterior—Towers, Nave, Transept, and Choir 127 7.1.1 Apse and Choir (Figure 3.11) 127 7.1.2 Transept and Side Apses 129 7.1.3 Nave (Figure 3.12) 130 7.1.4 West Towers 132 7.2 The Interior 133 7.2.1 The Nave (Figure 3.14) 133 7.2.2 Crossing and Transept (Figure 3.15) 134 7.3 Elevated Choir 137 8 The Romanesque Crypt (Figure 3.17) 137 9 Summary: The Castle (Figure 3.18) 139 10 Summary: The Abbey 140 4 For the Living and the Dead: Memorial Prayers of the Quedlinburg Canonesses 143 5 Psallite sapienter: Psalms and Learning at Quedlinburg 163 1 Singing Psalms Wisely 163 2 Background on Quedlinburg 166 3 Learning the Psalms: Orthodoxy, Univocality 173 4 Music and Movement—The Physicality of the Psalms 175 5 Singing Wisely: Study and Song in Quedlinburg Codex 76 182 6 Reception 193 7 Coda 197 6 Abbatial Effigies and Conventual Identity at St. Servatius, Quedlinburg 202 7 Bracteates of the Abbesses of Quedlinburg: Romanesque Craftwork of Great Quality 244 1 Abbess Beatrix II, Countess of Winzenburg, 1138–60 247 2 Abbess Meregart, 1160–61 (?) 250 3 Abbess Adelheid III, 1161–84 252 4 Abbess Agnes II of Meissen, 1184–1203 253 5 Abbess Sophia of Brehna, 1203–26 254 8 The Quedlinburg Frieze and Its Romanesque Context 256 1 Imperial Environments 264 2 Mediterranean Pathways 273 3 Historiographic Interventions 283 4 Conclusions 292 9 Of Donors and Patrons: The Abbey of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg as a Site of Remembrance 300 1 300 2 303 3 306 4 307 5 317 6 325 10 A Reliquary Revisited: The Reliquary of St. Servatius and Its Contexts 329 1 Before Quedlinburg: The Servatius Reliquary’s Carolingian Core 334 2 From Metz to Fulda and Everywhere in between: The Question of Workshops 338 3 The Carolingian Casket: Iconographies of Liminality and Duality 346 4 Tradition and Traditio Legis: Accounting for Apostles and Arcades 353 5 The Servatius Reliquary in a Carolingian Context 357 6 Arrival in St. Servatius: Quedlinburg and Post-Easter Politics 364 7 Romanesque Renovations: A Capsa Remade, An Abbess Remembered 369 8 From Reliquary to Propaganda: The Reliquary of St. Servatius in the Modern Era 373 11 Matter and Spirit: Reliquaries at St. Servatius in the 13th Century 385 1 The Past and Prestige 387 2 Messages, Materials, Meanings 398 3 Patronage, Production, Presentation 415 12 Restored, Repurposed, Reassessed: The Abbey Church of Quedlinburg across Five Germanies 424 1 Introduction 424 2 Formulating a German Aesthetic in the 19th Century 425 3 The Heinrich Celebrations and the Renovation of “King Henry’s Cathedral” under National Socialism 426 4 Postwar Reckoning 438 Dates of the Quedlinburg Abbesses, German Kings, and Bishops of Halberstadt 454 Abbesses of Quedlinburg 454 German Kings and Emperors 455 Bishops of Halberstadt 455 Manuscripts 456 Bibliography 458 Primary Sources 458 Secondary Sources 460 Index 494 "The imperial convent of St. Servatius at Quedlinburg (founded in 936) was one of the wealthiest, most prestigious, and most politically powerful religious houses of medieval Germany, subject only to the authority of the emperor and the pope. This is the first English-language volume to provide an introduction to this important female religious community. The twelve essays by a team of international scholars address an array of topics in Quedlinburg's medieval history, with a particular focus on how the Quedlinburg community of learned aristocratic women used architecture and the visual arts to assert the abbey's illustrious history, ongoing political importance, and cultural significance. Contributors are: Clemens Bley, Karen Blough, Shirin Fozi, Tobias Gärtner, Eliza Garrison, Evan A. Gatti, G. Ulrich Grossmann, Annie Krieg, Manfred Mehl, Katharina Ulrike Mersch, Christian Popp, Helene Scheck, and Adam R. Stead"-- Provided by publisher