Lands In the first decades after the foundation the community was favoured by numerous gifts of land, particularly from the Imperial family. All later clearances (i.e., of previously uncultivated land) in the immediate vicinity were also theirs, but in addition they acquired far more distant possessions, such as
Soltau, 170 kilometres away, given by Otto I in 936. Among other property the abbey also received the following: • In 956 the church of
Saint Michael next to the cave of
Volkmarskeller (near
Blankenburg am Harz) was granted them by Otto I (later refounded by abbess Beatrix II as
Michaelstein Abbey) • In 974 the locality of
Duderstadt in south-eastern
Lower Saxony was acquired, which the abbey owned for 262 years. The village of Breitenfeld bei Duderstadt belonged to the abbey until its dissolution. • On 3 July 993 a deed of gift was executed by
Emperor Otto III granting ownership of
Potsdam, of which place this is the first documentary evidence. The deed marks a turning point in the struggle to win back territory east of the
Elbe, from which the
East Frankish lordship had been driven back by the
Slav Uprising of 983. • In 999 the
provincia of
Gera came into the hands of the abbey. In 1209 the abbess appointed the
Vögte of
Weida as administrators of the territory. • The gifts of
Emperor Otto I: 936, 25 estates; 937, two estates; 944, one estate; 946, two estates; 954, one estate; 956, 11 estates; 961, 7 estates. • The gifts of
Emperor Otto II: 974, estates places; 979, one estate; 985, five estates. • The gifts of
Emperor Otto III: 992, three estates; 993, two estates; 995, four estates; 999, one estate. • Later acquisitions totalled more than 150 estates.
Treasury The abbey also received numerous gifts of precious books, manuscripts and liturgical items, which were stored in the treasury. The
Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission describes the treasure as "the most valuable medieval church treasure" next to
Aachen and
Halberstadt. At the end of
World War II a number of the most valuable items were stolen by an American soldier, Joe Tom Meador, including the
reliquary of Saint Servatius, from the time of
Charles the Bald; the 9th century Samuhel
Evangeliary (
Samuhel Evangeliar); the printed St. Wipert's Evangeliary (
Evangelistar aus St Wiperti) of 1513; and a
liturgical ivory comb. The stolen items reappeared in 1987 and after much litigation were returned to the church in 1993. The most famous illuminated manuscript associated with the town, the 5th-century
Quedlinburg Itala fragment, once in the church, had been moved to a museum in Berlin and was not stolen. The Quedlinburg Itala fragment (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Cod. theol. lat. fol. 485) is a fragment of six folios from a large 5th-century illuminated manuscript of an Old Latin Itala translation of parts of 1 Samuel of the Old Testament. It was probably produced in Rome in the 420s or 430s. It is the oldest surviving illustrated biblical manuscript and has been in the Berlin State Library since 1875-76. The pages are approximately 305 x 205 mm large. The fragments were found from 1865 onwards (two in 1865, two in 1867, one in 1887) re-used in the bindings of different books that had been bound in the 17th century in the town of Quedlinburg, home of Quedlinburg Abbey, a large Imperial monastery, where the manuscript may well have spent much of its life. File:QuedlinburgItalaIllus1KingsChap15.jpg|Quedlinburg Itala 1 Kings Chap 15 File:Quedlinburg4.jpg|Quedlinburg
Itala fragment illustrated text Chapter 15 of
1 Samuel == Annals ==