documents about the early history of the Abbey, Abbess Hathwig had had the old rights and privileges of the Abbey confirmed by Emperor Otto I and further obtained immunity and exemption, so that the Abbey achieved Imperial immediacy and was only spiritually subordinate to the Pope. The entrustment of a princess' education to the Abbey would have enhanced its prestige further, putting it on an equal footing with the Abbeys of Gandersheim and Quedlinburg, as a Liudolfing Hauskloster (Dynastic convent). Probably it was already decided at this time that Mathilde would later be abbess; this decision was probably made in 966 at the latest, when Mathilde is first attested in documentary evidence—a record from 1 March 966, in which her grandfather granted a parcel of land (a curtis) to the nuns at her request. This gift probably reflects Mathilde's formal entry into the order. Mathilde received a comprehensive education appropriate to her status, probably from Abbess Hathwig and Abbess Ida Aside from the Gospels, the books at Essen included the religious authors Prudentius, Boethius, and Alcuin, as well as secular works like Terence and other classical authors which were not only reading material but also the basis of the education of the girls entrusted to the Abbey. Through these, Mathilde was well prepared for her office. On the reported inscription of the Marsus Shrine it was stated that she could write in Latin and had also mastered Greek to an extent. Abbess Mathilde is first named in a source as Abbess of Essen in 973. This document, issued in Aachen on the 23 July 973 reads: The individuals mentioned in this document are Emperor Otto II, and Gero, the important Bishop of Cologne, to whom the Gero Cross owes its name, while "Otto his kinsman" is Mathilde's brother Otto of Swabia. At this point Mathilde was about 24 years old and thus still under the age at which she could technically receive appointment as abbess. Mathilde was not an abbess who remained secluded in monastic silence. In addition to travel to Aachen in 973, further trips are recorded: to Aschaffenburg in 982, Heiligenstadt in 990 and 997, Dortmund, and Thorr. It is also assumed that she made a trip to Mainz in 986 for her mother's funeral. In addition, she must have maintained a wide spanning network of contacts; art historical parallels indicate contacts in Hildesheim, Trier, and Cologne, while