Katharina von Zimmern

Katharina von Zimmern
Katharina von Zimmern memorial, Fraumünster cloister
Born	(1478-01-01)1 January 1478 Messkirch
Died	17 August 1547(1547-08-17) (aged 69) Neumarkt, Zürich, Switzerland
Monuments	Katharina von Zimmern Memorial; Katharinenweg; Neumarkt 13
Residence	Zürich
Other names	imperial abbess of Zürich; Katharina von Reischach
Education	Fraumünster Abbey
Occupation	abbess, mistress of the city republic of Zürich
Years active	1496–1524
Known for	last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey

Katharina von Zimmern (* 1478 in Messkirch; † 17 August 1547 in Zürich), also known as the imperial abbess of Zürich and Katharina von Reischach, was the last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey in Zürich.

Katharina von Zimmern was born in 1478 in the rich southern German noble family of baron Hans Werner von Zimmern and countess Margarethe von Oettingen. Katharina was the fourth girl and had four further brothers and two sisters. Her father loved hunting, played several musical instruments, and was in the service of the Duke Sigmund of Tyrol. In 1488 he fell from the favour of Emperor Frederick III, due to intrigues and was forced to flee with his family. Kathrina lived an adventurous escape with her mother and some siblings after Weesen on Walensee lakeshore. Probably there she met in 1490 the 6-year-old Ulrich Zwingli, who had been given to his uncle, the parish priest in charge. Kathrina's father tried to accommodate her and her older sister in the Fraumünster Abbey in Zürich, which was reserved for aristocratic women. Supported by Albrecht von Bonstetten, the dean of the Einsiedeln Abbey allowed to the two young women to enter the monastery life in 1491 respectively 1494. However, in the abbey ruled morally questionable conditions and young girls were molested by priests, so Katharina and her sister returned for a short time to their family's house.

In 1496, when Katharina was 18 years old, she was elected to be the abbess, and now the head of the large monastery's household. Being still a Benedictine abbey, the noble women lived like a free pen. Extensive lands with many subjects and people were entrusted to Katharina von Zimmern, supported by the management of an experienced staff, but the main responsibility laid with Katharina. She had all the rights to act, to buy and sell goods, as well the old prerogative of mercy of the city and the right to elect the mayor, even to grant pardons on death sentences. Katharina von Zimmern reorganized the finances of the abbey, tried to regain the old comprehensive right of coinage of the city and was very active in construction and art.