Altmünster Abbey (Mainz)

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Altmünster Abbey depicted on Mascop's city map of Mainz, 1575
On the right the abbey in a site plan from 1808

The Altmünster Abbey was a women's monastery in Mainz that was founded towards the end of the 7th century or in the 8th century (a foundation charter is dated to 734) and was dissolved in 1781 ; it is the oldest monastery to be founded in Mainz. Until 1243 it followed the rules of the Benedictines , then those of the Cistercians .

founding

According to the partly legendary tradition, the monastery was founded as a small convent for women between 691 and 694 or between 700 and 720 by the later canonized Bilhildis (Bilehilt), a niece of the then Mainz Bishop Rigibert . She presided over this monastery until her death. Recently, however, the monastery has been viewed more as a foundation of the Iro-Scottish Mission. It was initially known as Hohenmünster or Hagenmünster. It was only known as the "Altmünster" since the early Middle Ages. The original monastery complex stood between what is now Bahnhofstrasse and Münsterstrasse, Bilhildisstrasse and Alicenstrasse. The church was St. Consecrated to Mary. The monastery probably followed the rules of the Benedictines, at least for a time, but increasingly began to take on the character of a monastery in the 12th century .

Early centuries

From 967/968 the monastery came to the endeavor of Emperor Otto I at the Synod of Ravenna with the consent of Pope John XIII. Archbishopric of Magdeburg raised to the archbishopric . In the 11th century, this led Archbishop Aribo of Mainz to involve the monastery in the so-called "Gandersheimer Streit" (1025-1031), in which the dioceses of Hildesheim and Mainz fought over jurisdiction over the Gandersheim canonical monastery . It was not until 1112 that Archbishop Adalbert I , who had previously allied himself with Lothar von Supplinburg against King Heinrich V and probably negotiated this price, was able to bring Altmünster back under Mainz supervision. This marked the beginning of a phase of strong influence by the Archbishops of Mainz on the monastery.

Incorporation into the Cistercian order

This influence reached its peak under Archbishop Siegfried III. von Eppstein , who reformed the convent as part of his reform program from the 1230s against the resistance of the nuns and incorporated it into the Cistercian order in 1243 and subordinated it to the abbot Rimund of the monastery Eberbach in Eltville . The enforcement of the filiation principle and the Cistercian order rules were probably carried out very sensitively, so that there were no crises as a result and the signs of decline that had occurred before the reform were successfully contained.

In the late Middle Ages the convent accommodated between 22 and 38 choir sisters; In the early modern period, the number varied from 15 to 40. While these originally and up until the 13th century all came from noble families, membership was increasingly possible for women from the regional lower nobility even before the monastery reform. In addition, around the turn of the 14th century, the daughters of urban patrician families and then also those of the leading Mainz guilds came in increasing numbers .

Relocation and new construction

Archbishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn forced the nuns in 1656 to leave their monastery, which was in front of the city wall at that time, and to rebuild it about 100 meters further south in their own vineyards, at today's Münsterplatz , to make room for the planned city fortifications. The monastery and church, as well as the nearby St. Paulus parish church, were demolished in spring 1657. Between 1656 and 1662, now within the city wall on Altmünsterstrasse at the foot of the Kästrich , the new church, a six-bay hall building in the early Baroque style with strong wall pillars without a separate choir and with two eastern facade towers, was built by the Capuchin Father Matthias von Saarburg and the new monastery built by the Capuchin Father Archangelus from Trier. In 1762 the church was renewed. Only a few remains of the once rich interior have been preserved. The most important relic was the handkerchief of Christ shown on Easter Monday , which is now in Mainz Cathedral . Emperor Friedrich III. visited the monastery in the 15th century to see the kerchief relic, which has been kept there - according to legend, from the very beginning - to which pilgrimages continued until 1781 .

Repeal

On November 15, 1781, the monastery fell victim to the first abolition of the Mainz monastery. At the instigation of Archbishop Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal , and with the permission of Pope Pius VI. and Emperor Leopold II , the three richest Mainz monasteries - Altmünster, Kartause and Reichklara - were secularized and their entire assets were transferred to the newly founded university fund . The nuns were housed partly in the Weisfrauen and partly in the Dalheim monastery.

Later use

The church was initially still intended for worship, but in 1785 it was designated as a library building and desecrated . This change of purpose did not come about, but until 1793 on the monastery grounds a. a. a chemical laboratory, anatomy and a maternity hospital set up. After the end of the Prussian siege of Mainz and the Mainz Republic in 1793, the Jakobsberg Benedictines , who had become homeless as a result of the Prussian bombardment of the citadel and its monastery there , despite the protests of the university by the returned Archbishop Friedrich Karl in the church and parts of the former Quartered in the monastery; in return, they had to pay compensation in favor of the university. By order of the French prefect Jeanbon St. André , the Jakobsbergers were evacuated again on April 27, 1802, and on May 2, 1802, the church and parts of the monastery were given to the newly founded Uniate Evangelical Community in Mainz for use. Just three years later, on May 2nd, 1805, the Protestants had to vacate the monastery rooms, and on January 13th 1808 also the church, by order of Napoleon . The former monastery was now under the French military administration and in 1806 became a maternity hospital under the direction of Johann Peter Weidmann , from 1808 a military hospital . After Mainz was designated a federal fortress under Prussian and Austrian administration in 1816 , the monastery and church continued to be used as a military hospital from around 1820 and until 1892. Then the monastery, which had become dilapidated, was demolished. The large cloister garden, which extends to the northern end of Schillerplatz or Schillerstrasse, was gradually converted into building land.

Altmünster Church

The church was extensively renovated and consecrated as a Protestant garrison church on March 17, 1895. For the further history of the Altmünsterkirche, see Altmünsterkirche (Mainz) .

literature

  • Kurt Köster: Mainz in the history of the Reuerinnen order. In: Yearbook for the Diocese of Mainz. 3, 1948, pp. 243-272.
  • Ingrid Adam, Horst Reber (Hrsg.): 1300 years old Minster monastery in Mainz. Treatises and catalog of the exhibition in the Landesmuseum Mainz 1993/94. Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-9803605-0-4 .
  • Brigitte Flug: External bond and internal order: The Altmünster Monastery in Mainz in its history and constitution from the beginning to the end of the 14th century. (= Historical regional studies. Volume 61). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08241-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christiane Reves: Building blocks for the history of the city of Mainz: Mainz Colloquium 2000 (=  historical regional studies . Volume 55 ). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-515-08176-3 , pp. 142 .
  2. ↑ Information on Regionalgeschichte.net

Web links

Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 56 "  N , 8 ° 15 ′ 46.9"  E