According to the Res gestae saxonicae by the chronicler Widukind of Corvey, Matilda's father, the Westphalian count Dietrich, was a descendant of dux Widukind.
The settlement arose in the Eastphalian Salzgau region of the medieval Duchy of Saxony; the Immedinger relatives of duchess consort Matilda, wife of Henry the Fowler, founded a nunnery here as a proprietary monastery about 940.