Ansfried and the abbey foundation in the 10th century

‍Ansfried: nobleman

Even though the exact origin of the founders of Thorn Abbey, Count Ansfried and his wife Hereswind (Hilsondis), is obscure, it is known that he came from a lineage of high nobility. Ansfried descended from an area then called "Teisterbant ," located between Meuse and Waal. His date of birth must be somewhere around the year 940. He owned goods, not only in Teisterbant but also around Liege, in the Maasgouw - the area roughly from Maastricht to Venlo, in which he founded the abbey - and the shire Rien (Rijen) near Antwerp. From charter no. 1 we can conclude that Emperor Otto I granted to his liege Ansfried around 950 coinage and market rights in Casallum (Kessel or possibly Kessenich) and that the toll was moved from Ehti (Echt) to Casallum. By the way, the deed gives the date of October 966. In the charter of 15 September 1292 (charter no. 61), however, Roman King Adolf confirms the grant. From this it can be concluded that Ansfried had transferred these rights to the abbey of Thorn earlier. In the following themes, these areas will be discussed, in terms of property and rights (theme 2) and the development of the abbey's economic position (theme 8). In these areas Ansfried exercised rights as a count on behalf of the (German) king.

Ansfried enjoyed his education in high noble circles: with his paternal uncle Ruotbert, Archbishop of Trier, and with Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne. With the latter, his chivalric formation was completed. This Bruno was the brother of the later crowned emperor Roman king Otto I ("the Great" 912-973), who included Ansfried's father in his court.

At the request of Pope John XII, Otto I was triumphantly received in Rome on 2 Feb. 962, after repelling an attack by Berengarius, his royal rival in Italy. There he was crowned emperor by the pope. Ansfried Jr. attended that coronation as a 20-year-old youth in the position of "sword-bearer," confidant and bodyguard for the new emperor's safety.

Abbey Foundation

After his military wanderings throughout Europe in the service of Otto I, Ansfried founded the abbey of Thorn around the age of fifty, with the permission of his close acquaintance Bishop Notger of Liege. A deed of foundation is dated 992, but it very likely dates from a later period (see theme 2) (charter no. 3). It shows that the abbey was the joint work of Ansfried and his wife Hereswind (also called Hilsondis), countess of Strijen.

This was a community of women living together as monastics who probably lived according to their own monastic rule. Possibly it will have contained elements of the existing monastic rules of St. Benedict and St. Augustine and the similar, so-called Aachen Rules from 816. 

Ansfried made some of his estates available and Hereswind donated (the proceeds of) her extensive property to the monastery.

 Assuming the foundation of the monastery took place sometime between 972 and 995, Hereswind was only able to experience the stay in the new monastery for a short time. Not long after the foundation she fell ill on the return journey from her court at Gilze to Thorn - it being unclear when and where -, and she died at "Beke" (probably Hilvarenbeek). 

A widower, Ansfried was nominated bishop of Utrecht by King Otto III in 995. It was a position he reluctantly accepted. Around that time, probably at the hands of Otto III, Ansfried transferred his monastery to the bishop of Liege. As bishop of Utrecht, Ansfried lived through the Norman attack on Utrecht in 1007. He withdrew as a monk to his monastic foundation Heiligenberg (Hohorst). There he died in 1010 and was venerated as a saint. Their only descendant, daughter Benedicta, became the first abbess of the family monastery. The task of such a monastery was to keep the memory of the founders and their family alive. Their walk of life seems to have been so exemplary that Ansfried, Hereswind and Benedicta were later spoken of as a "holy family".

To a secular monastery 

 Little is known about the foundation creeated by Ansfried and Hereswind, until the end of the tenth century. Besides women, men called friars also lived in the monastery. In any case, this was mentioned in 1102. A charter from that year (charter no. 5) speaks of "sisters and friars." 

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In a later charter, dated in the year 1171/1172 (charter no. 6), those brothers were called "canons." See also topic 3 on this subject.

 There is a letter from 1310, which the convent women addressed to Pope Clement V, but it is questionable whether it was actually sent and reached the pope. However that may be, it states that the convent had a maximum of twenty noble women (called canonesses), who were assisted in pastoral care by a maximum of four priests or canons (later this would become six). The women - now called "stiftsdames" - were allowed to consume meat and other food, could dispose of personal property (such as homes) and were required to stay in a common dormitory at night. Pope Alexander VI allowed them to discard the hated black convent garments outside worshipin 1497 - that is, just under two hundred years later! This made it possible for the ladies to dress more in keeping with their noble rank. We may assume, however, that the ladies had gone about this quite some time earlier.

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