52 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



synods and councils and assisted in the deliberations of 

 national assemblies. In England, they ranked with lords 

 temporal and spiritual, and had the right to attend the 

 king's council or to send proxies to represent them, while 

 in Germany, where they held property directly from the 

 king or emperor, they enjoyed the rights and privileges of 

 barons and, as such, took part in the proceedings of the 

 imperial diet either in person or through their accredited 

 representatives. In Saxony, the abbesses had the right to 

 strike coins bearing their own portraits, notably the ab- 

 besses of Gandersheim and Quedlinburg. In England 

 they were invested with extraordinary powers, and in cer- 

 tain cases owed obedience to none save the Pope. In Kent 

 abbesses, as representatives of religion, came immediately 

 after bishops. 



Possessing such power and prestige, it is not surprising 

 to learn that abbesses wielded great influence in temporal 

 as well as spiritual matters; that it pervaded politics and 

 extended to the courts of kings and emperors. Thus, 

 Matilda, the abbess of Quedlinburg, together with Adel- 

 heid, the mother of Otto III who was but three years old 

 at the time of his father's death, practically ruled the 

 empire. At a later period during the prolonged absence 

 in Italy of Otto III, the control of affairs was entrusted to 

 the abbess alone ; and so successful was her administration, 

 and so vigorous were the measures which she adopted 

 against the invading Wends, that she commanded the ad- 

 miration of all. In view of these facts, the learned author- 

 ess of Woman Under Monasticism is fully warranted in 

 declaring as she does "The career open to the inmates of 

 convents in England and on the Continent was greater 

 than any other ever thrown open to women in the course 

 of modern European history. ' ' 1 



"The educational influence of convents during cen- 

 turies," continues the same writer, "cannot be rated too 



i Eckenstein, op. cit., p. 478. 



