Bedburg

Title

Bedburg

Also Known As

Bebber, Bedbur, Bedeberg, Bedebur, Bedeburc, Bedenburg, Bethburc, Bethdebure, Beydeburg

Dates

Founded 1138; secular canonesses from 1517/19; dissolved 1802/03

Dedication

John the Baptist; Mary

Affiliation

Prémontré

Medieval Diocese

Cologne

Circary

Westphalia

History

Members of the comital family of Cleves are traditionally said to have founded Bedburg in 1124, though the first documentary reference to the house dates from 1138. It was initially a double house, but was home to women only by 1272.

At the Reformation, it became a community of secular canonesses and was home to both Catholics and Protestants. Bedburg was suppressed in 1802.

Heads of Community

Prioresses

Ludgard, fl. 1323
Ydela, fl. 1324
Margaret von Neu-Kyburg, countess of Cleves, fl. 1330s
Maria van Kleef, fl. 1340s
Irmgard (Ermgarde) van Winckelhausen, ca. 1340s-ca. 1360s
Mabelia (or Melita) van Embrick (or Emmerik), fl. 1379
Margaretha van Galen, fl. 1379
Johanna van Gameren, fl. 1390
Elisabeth, fl. 1408
Jutta van Eijl, fl. 1415
Arnolda van Dorth, fl. 1418
Mechteld van Broeckhuisen (or Broichusen), fl. 1430s/40s
Margaret Steck, fl. 1467
Conrada Steck, fl. 1473
Wibberich (or Wybbe) van Velen, fl. 1480s/90s
Gerarda van Gent, ca. 1498-1508

Priors
Leo von Mörmter, fl. 1365
Dietrich von Brabeck, fl. 1408
Marcilius de Macheren, fl. 1441

Status

Women's community

Archival Sources

Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek

128, G 21. (1445, Statutes.)

Düsseldorf, Stadtarchiv Düsseldorf

AA 0058, Nr. 1556 (1467)

AA 0058, Nr. 1583 (14th-16th c.)

AA 0133 (1138-1687)

AA 0358, Nr. 2 - b, fol. 56v (1473)

AA 0567, AA 0567, Nr. 1 - a (1519)

AA 0640, Nr. A III 26, fol. 249b-fol. 260a (15th-17th c.)

Bibliography

Diesler, Christel. “Bedburg, St. Markus, Pfarrkirche (ehem. Stiftskirche St. Maria und St. Johann Baptist).” In Frauenklöster im Rheinland und in Westfalen, edited by Hiltrud Kier and Marianne Gechter, 60–61. Regensburg, 2004.
Knipping, Richard. “Zwei unbekannte Königsurkunden für das Kloster Bedbur [sic].” Beiträge zur Geschichte des Niederrheins 17 (1902): 29–34. https://archive.org/details/Beitrge_zur_Geschichte_des_Niederrhein/page/n41/mode/2up.
Lieven, Jens. “Bedburg-Hau, Schneppenbaum – Stift Bedburg.” In Nordrheinisches Klosterbuch: Lexikon der Stifte und Klöster bis 1815. Teil 1: Aachen bis Düren, edited by Manfred Groten, Georg Mölich, Gisela Muschiol, and Joachim Oepen, 305–11. Studien zur Kölner Kirchengeschichte 37. Siegburg: Schmitt Verlag, 2009.
Podlech, E. “Bedburg bei Kleve.” In Die wichtigeren Stifte, Abteien und Klöster in der alten Erzdiözese Köln., 3:105–8. Breslau: Verlag von Goerlich & Coch, 1912. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/msu.31293008488201?urlappend=%3Bseq=117.
Rüdell, Karl. “Umbau der katholischen Pfarrkirche in Bedburg.” Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst 9 (1896): 181–90. https://books.google.ie/books?id=9ZG2LN0NP-8C&pg=PA181.
Scholten, Robert. Das Prämonstratenserinnen-Kloster Bedburg bei Kleve. Cleve: Startz, 1901. https://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:1-82708.
Sloet, L. A. J. W. Baron. Het hoogadelijk, vrij wereldlijk stift te Bedburg bij Kleef. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen 12. Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1879. https://books.google.com/books?id=rkhG2IiJn6EC.
Terwelp, Gerhard. “Das Prämonstratenserkloster Bedburg bei Kleve.” Niederrheinischer Geschichtsfreund, 1879, 77.

Image Credit

"Het Vry Adelyk Stigt Bedburg, nabij Kleef", ca. 1740. Wikimedia.

Last Updated

Oct. 2026.

Files

Collection

Westphalia

Citation

“Bedburg,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/503.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Prémontré