Prüm Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Frankish widow Bertrada the elder and her son Charibert, Count of Laon, in 721. The first abbot was Angloardus. The Abbey ruled over a vast hinterland comprising dozens of towns, villages and hamlets. Its abbot enjoyed the status of a prince (Fürst) of the Holy Roman Empire, and as such had seat and vote on the Ecclesiastical Bench of the College of ruling princes of the Imperial Diet. After 1574, the archbishops-electors of Trier became the "perpetual administrators" of Prüm Abbey which, while preserving its princely status, became, de facto, an adjunct of Trier. History The Abbey's early period up to the 13th century Bertrada of Prüm's granddaughter was Bertrada the younger, wife of King Pepin the Short (751–68). Prüm became the favourite monastery of the Carolingian dynasty and received large endowments and privileges. Pepin rebuilt the monastery and bestowed great estates upon it by a deed of gift dated 13 August 762. The king brought monks from Meaux under Abbot Assuerus to the monastery. The church, dedicated to the Saviour (Salvator), was not completed until the reign of Charlemagne, and was consecrated on 26 July 799 by Pope Leo III. Charlemagne and succeeding emperors were liberal patrons of the abbey. Several of the Carolingians entered the religious life at Prüm; among these was Charlemagne's illegitimate son Pepin the Hunchback, who was exiled there after an abortive uprising and died there in 811, and Lothair I, who became a monk in 855. His grave was rediscovered in 1860; in 1874, the Emperor Wilhelm I erected a monument over it. In 846 Bishop Hetto of Trier gifted by deed to Abbot Marcuardus the hamlet of Scindalasheim. In 882 and 892, the monastery was plundered and devastated by the Normans, but it soon recovered. The landed possessions were so large that the abbey developed into a principality. At times during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the monastery contained over three hundred monks. The period of its internal prosperity extends to the thirteenth century. The monks were energetic cultivators of the land. About 836, Abbot Marquard founded a new monastery at Münstereifel. In 1017, Abbot Urald founded at Prüm a collegiate foundation for twelve priests. In 1190, Abbot Gerhard founded a house for ladies of noble birth at Niederprüm. The monastery cared for the