Background
Gertrude was born in 1232 near Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt.
Gertrude was born in 1232 near Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt.
At a young age, she entered the Benedictine convent of Roderdorf, which followed Cistercian traditions. She was elected abbess in 1251 at the age of nineteen. Gertrude required her nuns to be educated in the liberal arts, but most importantly in the Bible.
Abbess Gertrude bought or had the nuns copy "all the good books she could get".
She is described as a cultured woman of remarkable character, uniting love, gentleness, and piety with practical wisdom, and good sense. Under the leadership of the Abbess Gertrude, the monastery at Helfta was highly regarded for its spiritual and intellectual vitality.
Despite the protection of some powerful families, it was pillaged at least twice during Gertrude"s time. In 1270, she sheltered the sick and persecuted Beguine Mechthild of Magdeburg.
Gertrude of Hackeborn is not to be confused with Saint Gertrude the Great.
The abbess never wrote anything, nor did she receive any revelations from God or become canonized. Gertrude the Great was born over twenty years after her, and lived as an ordinary nun in the Helfa convent.