Fraumünster Abbey

Imperial Abbey of Fraumünster
Reichskloster Fraumünster
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
853–1524
Fraumünster abbey, Münsterhof, old Kornhaus (to the left side) and Zunfthaus zur Meisen. Aquarell by Franz Schmid, showing situation in 1757.
Capital		Fraumünster Abbey
Languages		High Alemannic
Government		Theocracy
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Founded by Louis     the German	21 July 853
•	Granted market, toll and     minting rights by Henry III	1045
•	Imp. immediacy     confirmed by Frederick II	1218
•	Rudolf Brun indep. mayor,     established guild laws	1336
•	Dissolved in     Zwinglian Reforms	30 November 1524
•	Buildings destroyed	1898
Preceded by Succeeded by Alamannia Reichenau Abbey Old Swiss Confederacy
Today part of		Switzerland

The Fraumünster Church (lit. in English: Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to [Our] Lady Minster) in Zurich is built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for his daughter Hildegard. He endowed the Benedictine convent with the lands of Zurich, Uri, and the Albis forest, and granted the convent immunity, placing it under his direct authority. Today, it belongs to the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich and is one of the four main churches of Zürich, the others being the Grossmünster, Prediger and St. Peter's churches.

In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

Emperor Frederick II granted the abbey Reichsunmittelbarkeit in 1218, thus making it territorially independent of all authority save that of the Emperor himself, and increasing the political power of the abbess. The abbess assigned the mayor, and she frequently delegated the minting of coins to citizens of the city. A famous abbess during this time of great power was Elisabeth of Wetzikon.

However, the political power of the convent slowly waned in the fourteenth century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung (guild laws) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i.e. not assigned by the abbess.

The abbey was dissolved on 30 November 1524 in the course of the reformation of Huldrych Zwingli, supported by the last abbess, Katharina von Zimmern.