ABSTRACT
The documentary evidence of a settlement at the Saxon city of Quedlinburg dates to 922, but it seems likely that a Carolingian fortress had already stood for a century in this location on the Bode River at the northern edge of the Harz Mountains. The documentation of sixty-nine royal visits to Quedlinburg between 922 and 1207 suggests the continued political importance of the site even after its high point under the Ottoman rulers. Queen Mathilda herself took up residence in the newly founded cloister and assumed its direction until her death in 968, when she was buried at her husbands side. The queen was succeeded by her granddaughter, also named Mathilda, who initiated a series of abbesses from the royal family. Under Mathildas leadership the church was enlarged in and after 997: the small palace chapel became the choir of the new building, chapels were added at its sides, and it was extended to the west with a transept and long nave.
