Katharina von Zimmern

Katharina von Zimmern (1478 – 17 August 1547), also known as the imperial abbess of Zürich and Katharina von Reischach, was the last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey in Zürich. Early life Katharina von Zimmern was born in 1478 in Messkirch into 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. Katharina survived an adventurous escape with her mother and some siblings to 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 the two young women to enter the monastery life in 1491 and 1494 respectively. However, morally questionable conditions prevailed in the abbey and the young girls were molested by priests, so Katharina and her sister returned for a short time to their family's house. Abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey 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 had a free life. 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 in 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. She led the construction of the abbey buildings, which existed until 1898, as well as the interior painting of the former Maria chappel in the Fraumünster cathedral, a church bell with humanistic inscriptions. She may also have been one of the patrons of Hans Leu the Elder, according to a document of around 1500.