Talk:List of princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg

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Princess-abbesses? edit

Latest comment: 10 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

I believe the title is wrong and should be changed to List of abbesses of Quedlinburg. The abbesses of Quedlinburg were just plain abbesses and for all I know, only the abbesses of Essen and Herford wore the title of princess-abbesses (German: fürstäbtissinnen)

A Google search with "fürstäbtissin" (or plural fürstäbtissinnen) give results only for Essen and for Herford. The German-language wikipedia article (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_%C3%84btissinnen_von_Quedlinburg) calls them abbesses and the word fürstäbtissin appears nowhere.

I know it's no big deal but still the title is wrong...--Lubiesque (talk) 14:02, 16 December 2013 (UTC)Reply

It is a big deal if it's wrong. However, I've found several sources that apparently contradict your results. "Quedlinburg's abbess was a princess of the Empire". This one names abbesses of Regensburg as princesses of the Empire, and notes that the abbesses of Herford and Quedlinburg "were represented in the diets of the Empire". A 1787 book (written while the Empire still existed) says that the abbess was a "princess of the Empire". Surtsicna (talk) 17:19, 16 December 2013 (UTC)Reply

Wouldn't be more convincing to find German-language sources that refer to "princess-abbesses of Quedlinburg" (Fürsäbtissinnen von (or zu) Quedlinburg) rather than citing old, obscure English-language books (I have not seached non-German sources because often they contain errors regarding that sort of things, just as the present article does) that speak of "princesses of the Empire who sent their deputies at national assemblies".

The abbesses of Quedlimburg were Imperial Abbesses, such as the abbesses of Gernrode, Thorn Söflingen, Hegback, etc. and were the equivalent of Imperial Abbots, such as those of Peterhaussen, Weissenau, etc. None of those were princess-abbesses or prince-abbots. (The only "Prince-Abbots" were the abbots of Fulda, Kempten, Prüm, Stavelot and Corvey)

I certainly don't claim to be an expert but it appears that only the abbesses of Essen, Herford (and possibly Obermunster in Regensburg) were styled Fürsäbtissinnen (princess-abbesses), and they were the only one. The others were just plain Äbtissinnen. So, I still believe the title of this article is inaccurate and should be 'List of Abbesses of Quedlinburg" (same as the German-Language Wikipedia article https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_%C3%84btissinnen_von_Quedlinburg).

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