Born: 1478, Germany
Died: 17 August 1547
Country most active: Switzerland
Also known as: Katharina von Reischach
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Katharina von Zimmern (l. 1478-1547) was the abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey in Zürich for 30 years and the last before the monasteries were dissolved. She entered monastic life when she was around 13 and became abbess at 18. Under her authority, the monastery expanded, and she became one of the most powerful and well-respected women in the city. When Zwingli began preaching the Reformed vision in 1519, von Zimmern supported him, inviting him to preach at the monastery every Friday. After the First Disputation of 1523 between Zwingli and representatives of the Church, Zwingli’s version of Christianity was accepted by Zürich, and in 1524, von Zimmern voluntarily surrendered Fraumünster to the city of Zürich to be put to other uses. Her advocacy of the Reformation ensured its peaceful adoption by the city council and the closure of the other monasteries without the kind of violence and bloodshed that accompanied such changes elsewhere. Afterwards, she married Eberhard von Reischach, and they had two children before von Reischach was killed in the Kappel Wars along with Zwingli. She died of natural causes at home around the age of 69.