Thorn is a town in the municipality of Maasgouw, in the Dutch province of Limburg. Thorn started as an abbey in the 10th century, founded by Bishop Ansfried of Utrecht. Founded about 975 as a female Benedictine convent, it developed since the 12th century into a secular stift or convent. A stift is a monastic community which interpreted the order rules of living in a liberal way. The principal of the stift was the abbess. She was assisted by a chapter of at most twenty ladies of the highest nobility. Previously the abbess and the chapter were endowed with religious tasks but, since the 12th century, they served secular matters and formed the government of a truly sovereign miniature principality, the smallest independent state in the German Holy Roman Empire. Besides Thorn, Ittervoort, Grathem, Baexem, Stramproy, Ell, Haler and Molenbeersel belonged to this principality. After the French invasion of in the winter of 1794–95 the formal abolition in 1797 made an end to the existence of the abbey and the principality of Thorn. Thorn was annexed at first by France, to become part of the département of Meuse-Inférieure, and after the Vienna Congress it became a municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Thorn is known as "the white village" for its white-washed brick houses in the centre of town.