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Gerberga II served as abbess of Gandersheim from approximately 965 to 1001. Her reign has been called the golden age of the abbey, and described as a time of peace, tranquility, and scholarship.[WILSON] Under Gerberga, Gandersheim was a center of Ottonian intellectual and spiritual activity, functioning as a hospital, library, a rest stop for refugees or travelers, and, most notably, a school.[WILSON] [HEAD] Many aristocratic families sent their daughters to the abbey to be educated. Among them was the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu, who sent their five-year-old daughter Sophia I to live under Gerberga's care and eventually become her successor.

Gandersheim was given a great deal of independence by the Ottonian rulers. In 947, Gerberga's uncle Emperor Otto I freed the abbey from royal rule and granted the abbess the authority to hold courts of law, keep an army, and coin money.[WILSON] Resultantly, there seems to have been much good will between between Gerberga and her uncle. During her reign, she commissioned a history of his life to be written and presented to him by her canoness Hrosvit.[WAILES, WILSON]

Gerberga's brother Henry I

Heinrich I had founded Quedlinburg Abbey in 936, creating tension regarding the leadership of the abbeys. Another rivaling place was Essen Abbeywhich was also led by family members. In Gandersheim, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim wrote historical volumes regarding this political background, Gesta Ottonis and Primordia coenobii Gandeshemensis.[1] Gerberga encouraged her "effort and diligence in writing".[2]

Gerberga was given the care of Sophia, a daughter of Ottos II, possibly already designated as Gerberga's successor. Towards the end of her life, Gerberga seems to have been ill for a while. Her brother died when visiting her in 995.