Imperial Abbacy/Principality of Essen

Abbacy of Rellinghausen

The Abbacy of Essen was founded in the 9th century as convent run by women. It achieved “imperial” status in 1216, making it equal to the neighboring men’s monastery in Werden. After 1495, secular administration of the abbacy was the purview of the Count of Mark. Sovereignty over the city of Essen itself was disputed until the abbey was dissolved in 1803, but a 1670 decision of the Imperial Court favored the abbacy over the city, so I do not recognize the city as a separate country.  In 1803, the abbacy’s territory was awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia where it constituted a principality.

 

The Abbacy of Rellinghausen, also a female-run institution, was founded in the 11th century. For centuries, it operated independently of Essen, although it was administered by the House of Baldeney (in Werden) after 1444. After it surrendered its secular authority to the Essen Abbacy in 1661, a portion of Rellinghausen’s properties were sold to a private party. Those lands became Herrschaft Byfang, while the abbacy’s remaining properties became Herrschaft Rellinghausen.