Editing Essen (section)

=== 13th–17th centuries ===
[[File:Altessen, Weltladen Alte Kirche foto3 2012-08-19 12.43.jpg|thumb|upright|Old Church ({{lang|de|Alte Kirche}}) in Altenessen, built 1887]]
In 1216, the abbey, which had only been an important landowner until then, gained the status of a princely residence when Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] called abbess Elisabeth I "Princess of the Empire" ({{lang|de|Reichsfürstin}}) in an official letter. In 1244, 28 years later, Essen received its town charter and seal when [[Konrad von Hochstaden]], the [[Archbishop of Cologne]], marched into the city and erected a city wall together with the population. This proved a temporary emancipation of the population of the city from the princess-abbesses, but this lasted only until 1290. That year, King [[Rudolph I of Germany|Rudolph I]] restored the princess-abbesses to full sovereignty over the city, much to the dismay of the population of the growing city, who called for self-administration and [[imperial immediacy]]. The title [[free imperial city]] was finally granted by Emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] in 1377. However, in 1372, Charles had paradoxically endorsed Rudolph I's 1290 decision and hence left both the abbey and the city in imperial favour. Disputes between the city and the abbey about supremacy over the region remained common until the abbey's dissolution in 1803. Many lawsuits were filed at the [[Reichskammergericht]], one of them lasting almost 200 years. The final decision of the court in 1670 was that the city had to be "duly obedient in dos and don'ts" to the abbesses but could maintain its old rights—a decision that did not really solve any of the problems.

In 1563, the city council, with its self-conception as the only legitimate ruler of Essen, introduced the [[Protestant Reformation]]. The Catholic abbey had no troops to counter this development.