GANDERSIIEIM, a t. in Germany, at the head of a circle in the duchy of Bruns wick, situated on the Gande, a sub-tributary of the Weser, about 48 m• s.w. of Brims wick; pop. '75, 2,454. It has manufactures of linen, cigars, beet-root sugar, and beer; and possesses an old palace built by the dukes of Brunswick in the 16th c., and an abbey which is one of the most famous in Germany. The abbey of G. 'was founded in 856, according to Eberhard's chronicle by the duke Ludolf of Saxony, and his wife Oda, who removed to the new domicile the nuns whom they had shortly before established at Brunshausen. Their own daughter, Hathumoda, was the first abbess. King Louis III. granted a privilege by which the office of abbess was to continue in the ducal family as long as any member was found competent and willing to accept the same. Otto gave the abbey a market, a right of toll, and a mint. Pope Innocent HI. declared it
altogether independent of both bishop and archbishop. The abbey was ultimately rec ognized as holding directly of the empire, and the abbess had a vote in the diet as a member of the Rhenish bench of bishops. 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 1802. when G. was incorporated with Brunswick. The last abbess was a princess of the ducal house, and kept her rank till her death. The abbey has also a celebrity through its literary TfleMOThilitiv calif - Digitized by