Fischbeck Abbey

Fischbeck Abbey was founded in 955 by the noble Helmburgis, who had family ties to the Ecbertiners. King Otto I granted her the necessary land and placed the abbey under his personal protection as an independent refuge. In 1147, King Konrad III attempted to subordinate the abbey to the Benedictine Abbey of Corvey, but with the support of Henry the Lion, Fischbeck was able to maintain its independence. The Reformation was introduced in 1559, but the abbey remained a noble women's convent, retained its original institutions, and continued to assert its imperial immediacy.