Marienmünster Abbey

The foundation of Marienmünster Abbey took place in 1128 by Count Widekind I of Schwalenberg and his wife Lutrud von Itter. They established the Benedictine monastery at the advice of Bishop Bernhard I of Paderborn as an atonement monastery, not far from their ancestral castle, Oldenburg. The consecration of the monastery and church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, James the Elder, and Christopher, occurred on August 15, 1128. Twelve monks from Corvey Abbey took over the spiritual leadership, with Gerhard as the first abbot. The monastery experienced its heyday in the 12th and 13th centuries. At the end of the 13th century, Abbot Hermann fortified the monastery by building castles in Vörden and Bredenborn. During the Thirty Years' War, the abbey was plundered multiple times and destroyed by Hessian and Swedish troops from 1641 to 1646. Abbot Ambrosius Langen oversaw the reconstruction of the church from 1661, transforming it from a Romanesque basilica into a hall church. The monastery also suffered looting and destruction during the Seven Years' War.