“ The abbey was ultimately recognized as holding directly of the Empire, and the abbess had a vote in the imperial diet. The conventual estates were of great extent, and among the feudatories who could be summoned to the court of the abbess were the elector of Hanover and the king of Prussia. Protestantism was introduced in 1568, and Magdalena, the last Roman Catholic abbess, died in 1589; but Protestant abbesses were appointed to the foundation, and continued to enjoy their imperial privileges till 1803, when Gandersheim was incorporated with Brunswick. ”

“ See also “Agii vita Hathumodae abbatissae Gandershemensis primae,” in J. G. von Eckhart’s Veterum monumentorum quaternio (Leipzig, 1720) ; and Hase, Mittelalterliche Baudenkmäler Niedersachsens (1870) . ”