Mariager Abbey 1.52

Mariager Abbey was a Bridgettine abbey founded in 1430 which became an important pilgrimage site, in the present town of Mariager in northern central Jutland, Denmark.HistoryFoundationMariager Abbey was founded in 1430 on a hill overlooking the ferry across Mariager Fjord by the Bridgettines, the last monastic order to reach Denmark before the Reformation, on land acquired in the late 1420s from the dissolved Randers Abbey. Tradition has it that the abbey was founded by several noble families in Eastern Jutland. Sources disagree on whether the abbey was founded from Maribo Abbey or from the Bridgettine mother house, Vadstena Abbey in Sweden.Papal permission for a double abbey was granted in 1446. Funds were short however and the abbey was still uncompleted in 1468 when King Christian I wrote to the pope asking for help in completing it. Christian I contributed himself by giving the Order the right of harbourage over the landing place next to Hobro Vig in 1449. Subsequent kings of Denmark - Hans, Christian I and Frederick I - all provided additional income through grants of rent rights over the next few decades. Further income came from noble families who followed the royal lead by giving farms and income properties to the abbey. At its high point the abbey owned farms, businesses, parts of towns and income from churches.