Around the period from 850 to 870, the hermit Liutbirg, who was highly respected by her contemporaries, lived in a retreat. She was a close confidante of bishops Haimo of Halberstadt and Ansgar of Bremen. Until the 1930s, her retreat was believed to have been at Volkmarskeller, until Walther Grosse was able to show that it could have been at Wendhusen Abbey near Thale.
