Werden Abbey
| Imperial Abbey of Werden-Helmstedt | ||||||||||
| Reichsabtei Werden-Helmstedt | ||||||||||
| Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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 Main building of the former abbey
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| Capital | Werden | |||||||||
| Languages | Low Saxon | |||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | |||||||||
| Government | Theocracy | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Werden founded | 809 877 | ||||||||
| • | Helmstedt founded | 827 | ||||||||
| • | Gained Reichsfreiheit | May 22, 877 | ||||||||
| • | Secularised to Prussia | 1803 | ||||||||
| • | Lost to Berg, Westphalia | 1806–14 | ||||||||
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Coordinates: 51°23′17″N 7°00′17″E / 51.38806°N 7.00472°E
Coat of arms
Werden Abbey (German: Kloster Werden) was a Benedictine monastery in Essen-Werden (Germany), situated on the Ruhr.
Near Essen Saint Ludger founded a monastery in 799 and became its first abbot. The little church which Saint Ludger built here in honor of Saint Stephen was completed in 804 and dedicated by Saint Ludger himself, who had meanwhile become Bishop of Münster. Upon the death of Ludger on 26 March 809, the abbacy of Werden passed by inheritance first to his younger brother Hildigrim I (809–827), then successively to four of his nephews: Gerfried (827–839), Thiadgrim (ruled less than a year), Altfried (839–848), Hildigrim II (849–887). Under Hildigrim I, also Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, the new monastery of Helmstedt in the Diocese of Halberstadt was founded from Werden. It was ruled over by a provost, and remained a dependency of Werden till its secularization in 1803.
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