The political power of the convent slowly waned in the 14th century, beginning with the establishment of the Zunftordnung ( guild laws ) in 1336 by Rudolf Brun, who also became the first independent mayor, i. e. not nominated by the abbess.

By 1340, the mayor had become a recognised figure, sworn in by the steward of the abbess.

By 1340, the steward of the abbess swore in the town's mayor.

The abbess also traditionally adds a pectoral cross to the outside of her habit as a symbol of office, though she continues to wear a modified form of her religious habit or dress, as she is unordained-not a male religious-and so does not vest or use choir dress in the liturgy.

The characteristics they shared with many Merovingian female saints may be mentioned: Regenulfa of Incourt, a 7th-century virgin in French-speaking Brabant of the ancestral line of the dukes of Brabant fled from a proposal of marriage to live isolated in the forest, where a curative spring sprang forth at her touch ; Ermelindis of Meldert, a 6th-century virgin related to Pepin I, inhabited several isolated villas ; Begga of Andenne, the mother of Pepin II, founded seven churches in Andenne during her widowhood ; the purely legendary " Oda of Amay " was drawn into the Carolingian line by spurious genealogy in her 13th-century vita, which made her the mother of Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, but she has been identified with the historical Saint Chrodoara ; finally, the widely-venerated Gertrude of Nivelles, sister of Begga in the Carolingian ancestry, was abbess of a nunnery established by her mother.

As a young girl, she was sent to the convent of Herford, where her grandmother Matilda was abbess and where her reputation for beauty and virtue ( probably also her Westphalian dowry ) is said to have attracted the attention of Duke Otto I of Saxony, who betrothed her to his recently divorced son and heir, Henry the Fowler.

An abbess rises in haste and in the dark, with intent to surprise an accused nun in bed with her lover: thinking to put on her veil, she puts on instead the breeches of a priest that she has with her.

In 1138 she founded the large convent of St. Lazarus in Bethany where her younger sister Ioveta would rule as abbess.

Her sisters, the countess of Tripoli and abbess of Bethany, came to nurse her before she died on 11 September 1161.

In addition, the abbess increases the nun ’ s prayer rule, she is allowed a stricter personal ascetic practice.

She was a nun at, and possibly abbess of, the Nunnaminster in Winchester where she was buried.

She also became the abbess of the monastery at Santa Clara la Real de Toledo, and she is buried there.

* Saint Begga, daughter of Pepin of Landen and mother of Pepin of Heristal, founded a convent in Andenne of which she was the first abbess.

In 1980, she played the abbess in Hawk the Slayer.

During her widowhood she often stayed at the Augustinian convent of San Clemente on San Gallo, where her sister Porzia was abbess.

By 1216 Francis was able to offer Clare and her companions a monastery adjoining the chapel of San Damiano where she became abbess.

It is dedicated to St Ethelburga, a 7th century abbess of Barking ; she was the sister of Saint Erkenwald, a Bishop of London.

Hideyori's son Kunimatsu ( age 8 ) was captured and beheaded ; his daughter was sent to Tōkei-ji, a convent in Kamakura, where she later became the abbess Tenshū-ni.

Elizabeth's third child, Gertrude of Altenberg ( 1227 – 1297 ), was born several weeks after the death of her father ; she became abbess of the monastery of Altenberg near Wetzlar.

Frithuswith remained abbess of the Oxford monastery until her death in about 727, where she was later buried.

In art, she is depicted holding the pastoral staff of an abbess, a fountain springing up near her and an ox at her feet.

She took a close interest in the well-being of several abbeys, and as overseer of Barking Abbey she deposed and later reinstated the abbess.

Raised in a convent in Warwickshire under the direction of Saint Modwen her ambition was to become an abbess, but she was too important as a dynastic pawn to be set aside.

Then, eventually, perhaps after Sighere's death, she established a convent at Chich, in Essex, where she ruled as first abbess.

In 1045, King Henry III granted the convent the right to hold markets, collect tolls, and mint coins, and thus effectively made the abbess the ruler of the city.

The last abbess of the Fraumünster, Katharina von Zimmern, turned over the convent including all of its rights and possessions to the city authorities on 30 November 1524.

Francis later established a cloister for Clare and Agnes at the rural chapel of San Damiano, where they were soon joined by other noble women of the city, and the Order of Poor Ladies, later known as the Poor Clares, began, with Clare as its abbess.

* St. Ada, 7th-century French abbess

The female equivalent is abbess.

The English version for a female monastic head is abbess.

An abbess ( Latin abbatissa, feminine form of abbas, abbot ) is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey.

In the Catholic Church ( both the Latin Rite and Eastern Catholic ), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and Anglican abbeys, the mode of election, position, rights, and authority of an abbess correspond generally with those of an abbot.

Like an abbot, after being confirmed in her office by the Holy See, an abbess is solemnly admitted to her office by a formal blessing, conferred by the bishop in whose territory the monastery is located, or by an abbot or another bishop with appropriate permission.

Unlike the abbot, the abbess receives only the ring and a copy of the rule of the order.

In Lutheran churches the title of abbess ( Äbtissin ) has in some cases ( e. g. Itzehoe ) survived to designate the heads of abbeys which since the Protestant Reformation have continued as Stifte.

The office of abbess is of considerable social dignity, and in the past, was sometimes filled by princesses of the reigning houses.

The last such ruling abbess was Sofia Albertina, Princess of Sweden.

The only dominion it had was over Burtscheid, a neighbouring territory ruled by a Benedictine abbess.

That same year, as Ealdred was returning to England he met Sweyn, a son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and probably absolved Sweyn for having abducted the abbess of Leominster Abbey in 1046.

Through Ealdred's intercession, Sweyn was restored to his earldom, which he had lost after abducting the abbess and murdering his brother Beorn.

Godwine ( Bishop of Rochester ), Leofrun ( abbess of St Mildrith's ), and the king's reeve, Ælfweard were captured also, but the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Ælfmaer, managed to escape.

The abbess tries to discourage her from working with the irreverent Beethoven.

Bede had another brush with Wilfrid, for the historian himself says that he met Wilfrid, sometime between 706 and 709, and discussed Æthelthryth, the abbess of Ely.

The Caeremoniale Episcoporum recommends, but does not impose, that in solemn celebrations a bishop should also wear a dalmatic, which can always be white, beneath the chasuble, especially when administering the sacrament of holy orders, blessing an abbot or abbess, and dedicating a church or an altar.

In the 12th century, German Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen ( 1098 – 1179 ) wrote several influential theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and arguably the oldest surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations.

(; ) ( 1098 – 17 September 1179 ), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.

even a well-connected abbess and acknowledged prophet does not fit the usual stereotype of this time.

Her elder sister Agnes married King Philip II of France ( annulled in 1200 ) and her sister Gertrude ( killed in 1213 ) King Andrew II of Hungary, while the youngest Matilda ( Mechtild ) became abbess at the Benedictine Abbey of Kitzingen in Franconia, where Hedwig also received her education.

Baldwin was married to the Armenian noblewoman Morphia of Melitene, and had four daughters: Hodierna and Alice, who married into the families of the Count of Tripoli and Prince of Antioch ; Ioveta, who became an influential abbess ; and the eldest, Melisende, who was his heir and succeeded him upon his death in 1131, with her husband Fulk V of Anjou as king-consort.