Roskilde Abbey

{{Short description|Former Danish nunnery}} '''Roskilde Abbey''' or '''Our Lady's Abbey, Roskilde''' (''Roskilde Kloster'' or ''Vor Frue Kloster''), was a nunnery dedicated to [[Saint Mary the Virgin]]. The abbey was located at [[Roskilde]] on the Danish island of [[Zealand]]. It was founded in the early 12th century for [[Rule of St Benedict|Benedictine]] nuns, but in 1177 became part of the [[Cistercian]] reform movement. The abbey was suppressed in 1536 during the [[Protestant]] [[Reformation in Denmark]]. It is now the site the [[Old Church of Our Lady, Roskilde]] (''Gammel Vor Frue Kirke'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roskildehistorie.dk/steder/klostre/Vor_Frue/Vorfruekloster.htm|title=Skt. Maria Kloster ved Vor Frue Kirke |website=Roskilde Historie|access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Vor_Frue_Kirke_-_Roskilde|title=Vor Frue Kirke - Roskilde |website=Den Store Danske |access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Gammel Vor Frue Kirke Roskilde Denmark entrance.jpg|thumb|250 px|Gammel Vor Frue Kirke, Roskilde]]

==History== Roskilde Abbey was chiefly known for the tomb of Saint [[Margrethe of Roskilde]], also known as Margaret of Ølse or Margaret of Højelse, who died at Ølsemagle or Højelse in 1176. She was married to Herlog in Ølsemagle near Kjøge. Margrethe was murdered by her husband and had been buried as a suicide on the beach at Køge. As a person who committed suicide, she was buried with no religious ceremony.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/dbl/11/0125.html|title=Margrete, Hellig|website=Dansk biografisk Lexikon |access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref>

After miracles were declared to have happened near her grave, her remains were moved to Roskilde Abbey in 1176 by [[Absalon of Lund]], [[Bishop of Roskilde]], a kinsman of Margrethe; he arranged for the construction of a suitable shrine in the church, and transferred the nunnery to the Cistercians in the following year. Despite Absalon's best efforts, and also despite the local veneration, Margrethe was never formally canonised. The shrine was nevertheless later declared a place of pilgrimage by the Pope, and the nuns were allotted one third of the income generated by it. Despite all efforts, however, the center of the ''[[cult (religious practice)|cultus]]'' remained the small chapel built near Margrethe's original grave on the beach.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kvinfo.dk/side/597/bio/1402/origin/170/ |title=Margrete (- 1176)|website=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon|author=Marianne Johansen|access-date=July 1, 2020}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Other sources== * [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/16071c.htm Ancient See of Roskilde] Centre for Dominican Studies of Dacia * [http://www.katolsk.no/biografi/mhojelse.htm Den hellige Margareta av Højelse] Den katolske kirke * [http://www.jggj.dk/RoskildeOP.htm Diplomatarium OP Roskildensis] Centre for Dominican Studies of Dacia

[[Category:History of Roskilde]] [[Category:Benedictine monasteries in Denmark]] [[Category:Cistercian monasteries in Denmark]] [[Category:Cistercian nunneries in Denmark]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 12th century]] [[Category:Roskilde]] [[Category:Benedictine nunneries in Denmark]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Region Zealand]] [[Category:1536 disestablishments in Denmark]] [[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the Danish Reformation]]