Imperial Abbey of Burtscheid
The Imperial Burtscheid Abbey was an imperial direct abbey and thus also an independent territory of the Holy Roman Empire in Burtscheid (now part of Aachen ).
It was in the year 997 as a Benedictine - Abbey founded; from 1220 it was run by Cistercian women. In 1802 it was dissolved in the course of secularization .
history
The abbey was founded in 997 at the instigation of Emperor Otto III. by the Basilian - Abbot Gregor founded as a Benedictine monastery. In addition, Otto III. the abbey on February 6, 1000 with the Cagenberg royal court in Bad Camberg . In 1018, Emperor Heinrich II transferred a tenth district to the abbey in a deed , which exactly corresponded to the boundaries of the later city of Burtscheid. This parchment certificate with monogram and seal as well as Latin text is the oldest preserved object in the Aachen city archive .
The western and northern borders of the new tenth district ran along the outer city wall of Aachen, the eastern border along the Beverbach bordering the office of Schönforst and the southern tip touched the Duchy of Limburg . The "villa Porceto" was spun off from the area of the earlier " villa Aquisgrana ", the subsequent Carolingian palatinate district . At the same time, Heinrich II confirmed to Abbot Benedict in exchange for the royal court of Cagenberg the acquisition of the parish of St. Martinus with the Evermarus chapel in Rutten near Tongeren , which was previously under the Seligenstadt Abbey, as well as goods in neighboring Lauw and Herstappe . A certificate from Emperor Heinrich III. from June 6, 1040 also separated the "Kingspeople" from the tenth district of the Palatinate Church of St. Maria , the main and mother church of Aachen, and made them monastery people who were now subject to duty and service across from the Burtscheid monastery. From the year 1138 until the dissolution by the French rule in 1802 the monastery was - by Konrad III. certified as imperial direct.
In 1220, the Benedictine abbey was dissolved and, at the instigation of Cologne Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne, the Cistercian women who had previously lived in the Salvator Monastery on the Salvatorberg in Aachen converted it into a monastery operated by them. Under the direction of the Cistercian women, the monastery changed over time into a noble women's monastery, in which primarily the daughters of the Rhenish and Limburg nobility were housed. At that time, the abbey owned properties in Aachen, Vijlen and Epen, both near Vaals , Rutten, Steinstrasse , Schleiden bei Aldenhoven , Körrenzig , Aldenhoven , Sinzig and Boppard , some of which had been added by family inheritance from the families of the abbesses. In addition, the parish church of St. Michael, built between 1215 and 1230, was incorporated into the Burtscheid Abbey by the Archbishop of Cologne, Konrad von Hochstaden, as compensation for war damage suffered. Later on, the abbey also acquired lands and estates in Orsbach and Vetschau , among others . The monastery supervision was initially incumbent on the Heisterbach Abbey , from the 14th century on the Himmerod Abbey and from the 16th century on the abbots of the Benedictine Abbey of Clervaux . On their behalf, the visitations in Burtscheid were carried out by the abbots from the nearby Val-Dieu monastery (Gottestal / Belgium).
The abbots in charge of the Imperial Abbey of Burtscheid and later the abbesses from the Cistercian order were landlords and land women of the area, the boundaries of which were essentially already described in Emperor Heinrich II's document of 1018, as well as the parishes and lands that were acquired or transferred. The realm pen was an imperial, free, the Roman Emperors and the German Empire immediately subjugated pin whose respective Äbtissin by its Agent the diets was present. Since the beginning of the 14th century and beginning with Edmund von Frankenberg, the monastery bailiffs were the lords of Merode , called Merode zu Frankenberg and from 1581 Merode-Houffalize , while the rights of the Obervogts were incumbent on the Duke of Limburg and from 1288 on the Duke of Brabant . In 1649 the bailiff's rights could be acquired by the abbey itself after the last hereditary bailiff Johann Dietrich died in 1645 and his designated son Franz Ignaz was not yet of age. The abbesses then referred to themselves as hereditary bailiffs .
Before that, Abbess Mechtildis von Bongard had already signed a contract with the Free Imperial City of Aachen in 1351 , in which she received the judicial rights over the glory of Burtscheid and, in return, was ready to promise the ongoing maintenance of the departmental freedoms. Since then the office of Meier has been occupied by Aachen. The Meier together with the Vogt, seven lay judges and the clerk, who could also be a lay judge, formed the Burtscheider jury court. With this constellation there was always friction between the department head, the bailiffs, the Meier from Aachen and the jury, whereby the abbesses were mostly only able to assert their traditional and documented rights with the help of papal or royal certificates.
At the beginning of the 16th century, a visit to the abbey was raised against a high level of debt, which was compensated for by a rigid austerity policy by the beginning of the 17th century. After the finances had been reorganized, abbess Anna Raitz von Frentz began building activity, which initially included the reconstruction of the Nikolauskapelle (1628) and the new building of the garden and wine house (1628), followed by the construction of the abbot gate (1644) under her successors, the expansion of the cloister (1660) and the eastern wing (1667) and finally the construction of the abbey church (1636–1654) followed.
At the beginning of the 18th century, during a renewed visitation, it was noted that serious defects had been found. For example, discipline and order were inadequate, insubordination was the order of the day, the state of the church was neglected, material goods were poorly managed, waste was the order of the day and the state of the baths subordinate to the abbey was unworthy. Despite a series of decrees by the monastery supervision, nothing serious changed about this situation in the next decades, because during a renewed visit in 1781 it was noted that the deficiencies found before 1713 have not been resolved in the meantime, but have manifested on the contrary. This was the first time in the history of the abbey to remove an abbess. A few years later, the French invasion threatened external threats and the abbey rights would be withdrawn.
In the course of secularization, the abbey was dissolved in August 1802 and all abbey property was nationalized. The remaining canons received a pension and some returned to their families. Only two of the canonesses stayed in Burtscheid and lived in the abbey gate until their death in 1829 and 1830 respectively. They used plants to make ointments for the wounded and the sick and, despite their meager pension, still found means to support the poor Burtscheid.
Abbey building
After the abbey was founded in 997, Abbot Gregor built the first monastery building next to the Nikolaus chapel on the site of today's rectory. In the middle of the 14th century the old buildings were renovated.
Between 1610 and 1620 the southern and western wings and around 1667 the eastern wing were rebuilt in the Maas Renaissance style . In the cloister , a wedge above the parental coat of arms of the abbess Henrika Raitz von Frentz names the year of construction 1654. To the left of the monastery gate, under a hipped roof, was the far-reaching refectory . To the south, the west wing, built in 1617, was the abbess's quarters. At an angle to the adjoining south wing, a round arched gate led into the basement of the west wing, which contained a basement room measuring around 7.20 × 8 meters, which served as a laundry room around 1912 and was prepared as a makeshift shelter in the event of air raids at the beginning of the Second World War . The basement of the south wing also housed the monastery bakery. After 1794, a French military hospital was housed in the abbey building for some time.
When the abbey was dissolved as a result of secularization, the abbey building was sold. The rooms were initially rented to a large number of working-class families. The western and southern parts of the abbey building were later bought by the community of Burtscheid and the eastern part by the Catholic Marienhospital Aachen Foundation , a citizens' initiative of lay people and priests, on whose behalf the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis under their director Franziska Schervier from 1853 Outpatient poor and sick care on the occasion of the spreading cholera epidemic in Burtscheid, popularly also called Burtscheider disease , in the newly established hospital. Finally the parish of St. Johann acquired the northern part of the former abbey wing with the baptistery and a hall above. In October 1860, the front wall of the refectory was laid down and replaced by a four-meter, soberly structured brick wall. From April 1, 1874, the south wing was converted into a school by the community.
In 1938 the nuns set up a nursing school in the hospital wing and a year later and with the beginning of the Second World War, a military hospital for disabled people. In the heavy bombing raid on Burtscheid on April 11, 1944, the buildings were badly damaged and partly destroyed. Numerous people seeking protection and police officers died in the basement of the west wing. The hospital was able to reopen in 1946 under the direction of the order. On November 29, 1950, the south-western corner tower had to be demolished because it threatened to collapse and posed a danger to passers-by. Only the lower part, which was laid down in 1953, remained. At the lower edge of the former canopy were small masks that formed the ends of consoles made of oak. Only one of these consoles has been preserved and is now in the Burtscheid company office for history and the present.
On June 3, 1952, negotiations between the hospital management and the Aachen city administration led to the free transfer of the Johanneshügel property and the former Abteiplatz school building to the Marienhospital for the purpose of building a chapel and building staff and nurses' rooms. The east wing of the abbey building and parts of the cloister have been preserved and some of them have been incorporated into the new buildings. By March 1988, the damage caused by World War II had been repaired in the northern part of the former cloister. The treasury, in which the abbey treasure is exhibited, has been located here since March 2003. As early as 1985, the nuns transferred the management of the Catholic Marienhospital Foundation to a board of trustees and a board of directors and limited themselves to pastoral care and visiting services in the hospital. On August 31, 2014 the Franciscan Sisters ended their engagement and their tasks were taken over by the Indian order Sisters of the little Flower of Bethany .
Abbey church
After the monastery was founded in 997, Abbot Gregory built a small chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas. This is the first time that St. Nicholas appears in the Rhineland as the patron of the church and thus clearly refers to the Eastern Church. The chapel was rebuilt in 1628 by the incumbent abbess and was located roughly on the site of the current rectory of St. Johann. While Gregory was still alive, the construction of another chapel began, which was initially dedicated to St. Apollinaris . Thanks to the rich foundations of Heinrich II, the Apollinaris chapel was replaced by a first monastery church in the immediate vicinity around 1015, which was consecrated in May 1017 by Bishop Gerhard I of Cambrai in honor of John the Baptist . The simple early Romanesque St. John's Church was single-nave, about 20 meters long and 8 meters wide. It had a transept, a semicircular apse and a square tower. Only five small Romanesque columns remain from this church, which were initially installed in the abbess's garden house. Later these were replaced by a replica and the originals came in a protected room next to the treasury.
After this became too small and dilapidated, a new and larger church was built around 1350. This was built a little further south than the previous building, roughly at the point where the current St. John's Church stands. The new building was probably decided and started under Abbess Aleidis von Müllenark and, according to current knowledge, was only completed under Abbess Mechtildis von Bongard . This church was built in the Gothic style, with three naves and a protruding choir, in which the nuns had their place in the choir stalls .
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In 1736, on behalf of the abbess Anna Carola Margaretha van Renesse van Elderen, a new construction of the abbey church according to the plans of the Aachen master builder Johann Joseph Couven began. The house stones related to the church are taken up to the height of the fronton, in which the coat of arms of the abbess Antoinette von Woestenraedt is located, from a quarry belonging to the abbey near Buschhausen , while the house stones placed higher come from other quarries, mostly from Raeren . Couven first began building the west tower, which lasted until 1741. It was only after a long break in 1748 that the old monastery church was demolished and construction work on the new church resumed. The shell was completed when the dome was closed in late summer 1754. The dome, which is enlivened by hatches and mansards , remains the predominant motif and, in the interplay of dome, tower and roof turrets, gives the building its unique silhouette. Above the main portal on the north side of the tower is the coat of arms of the abbess von Renesse, on whose behalf construction began. The front of the tower facing the Abbey Square, on the other hand, has a simple portal with the motto of the Abbess of Renesse DOMINUS PROVIDEBIT (God will provide) and the year 1736. Above the large arched window on the north side is the coat of arms of the Abbess of Woestenrath. This coat of arms of the swan in the deer antlers later became the city coat of arms of Burtscheid and is still included in the coat of arms of the city region of Aachen . On the south side of the nave is a small side chapel, which is also called the memorial chapel, as a book of the dead with the names of the war victims of the St. Johann parish is displayed here today. The interior is dominated by the transept under the dome, which has the shape of an irregular octagon. Built-in shell niches each hold a statue of the apostle. The vault of the inner dome begins above a cornice . Its eight ribs unite in the frame of the light lantern . The center of the curve is particularly emphasized by a window-like niche, in front of which the abbess's seat was.
Below the choir , about at the level of the choir apse , is the funeral cellar of the abbey church, which was obviously laid out during the new building in the 18th century, as it is first documented by sketches by Couven. Access is only possible from the north-eastern outside of the church via a fourteen-step staircase. In the barrel-vaulted 2.85 m by 9.30 m long and 2.20 to 2.60 m high room, the numbered burial chambers are laid out in two rows one above the other on the long sides. Most of the 32 burial chambers are well preserved, with a few exceptions, only two have collapsed. The inscriptions on the lock plates, carved from natural stone, can be clearly assigned to specific people in seven chambers; in the remaining chambers, only fractions can be recognized. Endoscopic examinations showed, however, that some of the burial chambers had been occupied several times.
During the secularization, the French kept the abbey church as domain property. They used them as a military magazine and horse stable. There was also a balloon in it, with which experiments were made in the dome.
In 1804, when Napoleon was in Aachen, the Burtscheider Catholics, with significant support from the incumbent Bishop of Aachen, Marc-Antoine Berdolet , succeeded in getting him to decide that the church would be opened for worship again. After the church had been cleared and cleaned, the Te Deum and then the first high mass were sung early in the morning on Christmas Day 1804 . In 1806 the abbey church was raised to the status of the second Catholic parish church in Burtscheid. During the bombing raid on Burtscheid in April 1944, the church burned down completely. Only the outer walls remained. The reconstruction lasted until the 1960s.
Department gate
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The gate to the former Burtscheid Abbey was built in 1644 under the abbess Henrietta (Henrica) Raitz von Frentz , whose coat of arms stone with the year 1644 is embedded above the gate passage. The gate is one of the few remaining evidence of the Maas Renaissance architectural style in Aachen and shows an effective contrast between blue stone elements and brick surfaces. The abbotor is also known to the local population as Jonastor , named after an innkeeper named Jonas who ran an inn here. In the course of secularization, the gate was sold as an abbey property. When Burtscheid was hit by a cholera epidemic in 1849 , Franziska Schervier temporarily set up a hospital with five beds here. After a thorough renovation and restoration of the entire building wing in 2013/14, six luxurious holiday apartments were built here.
During the heavy bombing raid on Burtscheid on April 11, 1944, the building burned down completely. However, essential parts of the main facade were preserved. In 1947 the rear part of the gate building was torn away by a truck. In 1949, the abbey gate was protected by placing a reinforced concrete ceiling over the passage and installing safety pillars. The complete restoration then took place in 1950 . After adding to the partially destroyed masonry and restoring the hip roof in keeping with the style, it was prepared to accommodate five small apartments. In 1978 the abbey gate, the bluestone frames of which showed considerable damage from the effects of war and the weather, was restored. The masonry was painted brick red. This paint corresponds to the original condition and primarily has a protective function. Today the Abteitor houses holiday apartments.
Abbey treasure
The church treasure of Burtscheid Abbey is an important collection of sacred art objects , which impressively reflects the centuries-old history of the abbey. These include:
- the Nicholas - mosaic icon of the 12th century. It shows the close connection between the abbey and the Byzantine Empire , which in the 10th century included the region of Calabria , from which Abbot Gregory came. As early as 1180, the abbot Caesarius von Heisterbach described this icon as an old miraculous image . Some of the mosaic stones have been lost in the meantime and have been artistically painted over. The frame of the icon probably dates from the 12th century, in which the embossed bust images of Abbot Gregory in the lower left part of the frame and St. Benedict in the lower right are depicted under round-arched canopies like a medallion. In the center of the picture is the bust of St. Nicholas, heavily overpainted in the style of the icon painting of the Eastern Church, in front position and without miter with a book in his left hand, the right raised as a Greek blessing. A legend of Nicholas is shown in the frieze below. Since Nicholas is considered the friend of children, this icon was brought to pregnant women until the 18th century to pray for a happy birth.
- The Bernhardus reliquary from 1865, made by Martin Vogeno . It commemorates the founder of the Cistercian order, Bernhard von Clairveaux , and contains bone particles and a piece of clothing.
- The Evermarus -Büste , a head reliquary, originated from unknown goldsmiths to 1707, is decorated with golden shells of the pilgrims . It commemorates the namesake of the Evermarus Chapel in Rutten near Tongeren , which belongs to the Burtscheid Imperial Abbey , and who was attacked, killed and buried there. Because of armed conflicts in Rutten, Bishop Egidius von Sarepta sent the bones and the head of St. Evermarus went to the abbey for safekeeping, the bones were later returned and the skullcap remained in Burtscheid.
- The Laurentius bust , the components of which can be assigned to several epochs. The stone setting points to the year 1280, whereas the silver chased head and decorative collar suggests a period between 1480 and 1500.
- The bust of John the Baptist , which is actually an arm reliquary and was made around 1370. It is richly decorated with precious stones, pearls and gems and adorned with a magnificent royal crown. This should indicate the crown of life with which saints and martyrs in heaven are rewarded.
- The rock crystal reliquary , which is one of the oldest objects in the abbey treasure. It is believed to have come to Aachen from Egypt via Constantinople. Above the foot of the reliquary from the 19th century is a cylindrical bottle made of rock crystal, set in twisted round rods and a lily-shaped wreath. In this vial is a tooth relic of St. Zacharias kept. Above it is another small glass in an arcade setting with the blood of John the Baptist. The inscription on the passport ring is in niello held.
- The abbess cross , which can be proven as early as 1230 and was only shown on festive occasions. It was made as a double cross at the same time as the frame of the St. Nicholas icon . On the front side, the cross is richly decorated with precious stones, pearls and filigree, which makes it reminiscent of an ancient gem cross . It is equipped with two removable crosses, behind which there are small cross reliquaries. The silver back is processed using Niellotechnik . Christ is represented in the lower bar as a dying man and in the upper bar with the tree of life , with which the cross is to be seen as a sign of victory over atonement and death. The inscription runs around the back of the cross on a narrow edge strip, also processed using Niellotechnik, starting at the top of the lower left cross arm. It names almost the entire relics of the monastery.
- The baroque altar cross , created in 1740, whereby the attached crucifix was made in the workshop of Hans von Reutlingen as early as 1500 . The cross has the same basic shape as the abbess cross. A reliquary capsule with parts of the cross of Christ is attached to the upper cross.
- The baroque monstrance , originally made by J. Weery in 1737 for the Kreuzherrenkloster in Maastricht . It came to the abbey in 1806 and was fundamentally changed in 1897. Only the figures of St. Bernhard and St. Augustine with the flaming heart are still from the old version.
- The sun monstrance , made in 1785 for the Marienkapelle in Burtscheid and fundamentally reworked in 1903. It was enriched with the miraculous image from 1644, the year the first chapel was built. On the right-hand side it shows the abbot of the Val-Dieu monastery , who was responsible for the abbey nuns as confessor and pastor.
- The tower monstrance , silver-gold-plated, quadruple foot with chased angel heads, garlands and fruit cords. It mixes Gothic and Renaissance forms and was created in 1619 by the Aachen goldsmith Dietrich von Rath. In the side canopies there are depictions of John the Baptist and Bernhard von Clairveaux. A coronet Madonna and above it a cross with Mary and John crown the host tower.
- also other liturgical devices , chasubles , reliquaries, documents and other exhibits.
Since March 2003 the abbey treasure has been exhibited in the new treasury , which is located in the restored cloister of the previous abbey. It is open for tours every 1st Saturday and every 3rd Wednesday of the month from 3pm to 5pm.
Nicholas
icon
Bernardus
reliquary
Evermarus
bust
Abbess
Cross
Johannes
bust
Sun
monstrance
Baroque monstrance
Tower
monstrance
Laurentius
bust
Abbots and Abbesses
Since its inception, the abbey has been headed by around 11 to 15 abbots and 33 to 35 abbesses. The exact number and assignment of names cannot be precisely determined, although several people have already tried to list them completely. First of all, it was the Aachen historian Karl Franz Meyer who researched the department management in his work Miscellanea Borcetano-Aquisgranensia from 1772, before the Aachen local historian Christian Quix in his essay from 1834 on the history of the former imperial abbey of Burtscheid, from its founding in the 7th century to 1400 mainly concerned with the first half of the abbey's existence. After all, we owe it to Heinrich Schnock, with his studies of the order of abbots and abbesses in the former Herrlichkeit Burtscheid from 1919, that both forerunner sources were carefully compared with researched material from the abbey archives, checked for errors and discrepancies, and a new article was created were summarized. All three authors also refer to the encyclopedia Gallia Christiana and Schnock based himself in particular on the statements of Oswald Holder-Egger in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica . More recent sources given in the literature largely confirm these research results and do not come to any noteworthy new findings.
There is still a lot of need for clarification, especially for the period of the abbots' reign, but this can never be completed due to the lack of written records. Even with the abbesses there are still some discrepancies and only from the Mechtildis of Bongard on is there at least a complete record of the order of the incumbents, even if the dates cannot always be clearly researched. These abbesses were virgins who mostly descended from the lower landed gentry from the Limburg and Jülich area and who made a significant contribution to the existence of the monastery through their foundations. We owe them, among other things, the building tracts of the abbey still preserved today as well as the valuable abbey treasure.
The following list provides information about the current state of knowledge regarding the order and names of the department heads and notes some of the historically significant events for the abbey in particular and for the town of Burtscheid as a whole, which were caused by the abbots.
| Abbot / Abbess | Term of office data according to source Schnock |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Gregor von Burtscheid | 996-999 | Founder and first abbot of Burtscheid Abbey. |
| unexplained | 999-1018 | On February 6, 1000, Emperor Otto III. the Burtscheid monastery, the royal court of Cagenberg in Bad Camberg ; around 1015 a certain Carus is named as a possible abbot. |
| Benedict | safe from 1018 - approx. 1040 | documented several times between 1018 and June 6, 1040; According to Christian Quix , an abbot Wolfram could previously have been in charge, but this is only recorded in stories, not in a document. According to his source ( Oswald Holder-Egger Monumenta Germaniae ), Schnock assumes that this is the later abbot Wolfram. On January 21, 1018, Emperor Heinrich II confirmed to Abbot Benedict the acquisition of the parish of St. Martinus in Rutten near Tongeren , which was previously under the Seligenstadt Abbey, as well as goods in neighboring Lauw and Herstappe in exchange for the royal court of Cagenberg. In June 1029, Emperor Konrad II mentions the donation of the Körrenzig , Wil ( Gereonsweiler ) and Altenhof ( Freialdenhoven ) estates . On August 8, 1039 King Henry III confirmed . the donation of a winery near Boppard. |
| unexplained | 1040-1056 | Widricus could, according to Schnock, have been Benedict's direct successor. |
| Widricus | around 1056 | only mentioned in a document on July 11, 1056 as part of a donation from Heinrich III., who transferred lands near Epen / NL in the Geultal to him. |
| unexplained | 1056-1088 | According to Schnock, Azelinus Widricus could have followed. |
| Azelinus († December 3, 1091) |
safe from 1088-1091 | First mentioned around 1088 when he accepted the 18 year old cleric Rudolphus into the community of Benedictines, who later became abbot in Sint-Truiden . (According to Shocks source: Jean Mabillon : annales ord. sti. benedikti ). |
| John | from approx. 1091 to unoccupied | mentioned as successor to Azelinus in Abbot Rudolphus: gesta abbatum trudonis , was previously custodian and dean; His brothers are said to have elected him abbot despite his age and incompetence. |
| unexplained | after 1091 to before 1133 | the possible abbots named by Quix Wolframus, Borchard and Arnoldus are not documented. |
| Folkard | around 1133 | mentioned in 1133 as part of a donation from Walram III. to the monastery. |
| Onulfus | after 1133 - about 1151 | Onulf could have been Folkard's successor. He is mentioned in a Walram document from 1133 as a custos. As abbot he was appointed in 1138 when Conrad III was granted extensive privileges . and mentioned in a document from 1143; 1151 still attended the funeral of Jutta von Wassenberg, the wife of Duke Walram. |
| Columbanus | around 1162 | is handed down as abbot in a Reims book of the dead from the 12th century. Schnock doesn't include him on his list. |
| tungsten | before 1179 | obviously corresponds to the dept. who had been sorted chronologically too early by Quix. Nothing more is known about him. |
| Arnoldus | circa 1179 - circa 1192 | first mentioned in 1179 when he bought an estate in Harles / NL, last mentioned in 1192 as co-signer of a donation from the Münsterstift to the abbey; He transferred the remains of the monastery founder, Abbot Gregor, to the Church of St. Johann-Baptist. |
| unexplained | 1192-1217 | no names of abbots have come down to us. |
| Walter | approx. 1217 - approx. 1219/1220 | last Benedictine abbot before being taken over by the Cistercian women; signed the escrow to the nuns. |
| Heilswindis from Gimmenich | approx. 1219/1220 - approx. 1269 | first abbess of the abbey; Daughter of Arnold von Gimmenich, mayor of Aachen. Her sister Jutta married Arnold I. von Franckenberg. Quix was actually based on two abbesses of the same name, but according to Schnock his sources, the dialogus miraculorum by Caesarius von Heisterbach , a personal confidante of the abbess, and the Monumenta Germaniae by Holder-Egger and the Gallia Christiana , prove that it is only about a person can act. First mentioned in a document in Burtscheid in 1229, but according to Heisterbach she was elected abbess at the age of 12 while still on the Salvatorberg. In 1224 properties in Aachen, Vijlen , Epen, Rutten, Steinstrasse , Schleiden , Körrenzig , Aldenhoven , Sinzig and Boppard are noted. |
| unexplained | 1269-1272 | possible that Sophia was already running the monastery. |
| Sophia († November 23, 1276) |
circa 1272 - circa 1275 | Data according to gallia Christiana ; only mentioned in a document in 1272. |
| Ermengardis | circa 1275 - circa 1294 | According to Quix and Schock, mentioned in a document in the supposed inaugural year on February 26, 1275 when a tithe was exchanged with the Herkenrode Abbey near Hasselt . |
| Helsmudis († July 7, 1300) |
approx. 1294-1300 | first mentioned in 1294 as a donor for two annual memorials for the Kraborn couple, last mention in 1300 when the rectorate of the Evermarus Chapel in Rutten was transferred to the Burtscheid Abbey. |
| Jutta | 1300 - between 1314 and 1317 | is named on November 1, 1300 as the successor to the late Helsmudis; in particular she took on the cloth makers and supported together with the Vogt Edmund von Franckenberg the establishment of a guild of cloth makers and released four members of this guild along with all their relatives from serfdom of the abbey. On September 13, 1314, she sealed a document with which some of the serfs were released from serfdom. |
| Elisabeth († August 29, 1323) |
between 1314 and 1317 - approx. 1323 | first mentioned May 21, 1317 with the request to Bishop Adolf von Lüttich that the Church of St. Martin and the Evermarus Chapel in Rutten should be completely transferred to Burtscheid Abbey; Last documented mention of Elisabeth in 1323 as part of a dispute settlement in a basic court procedure in Vijlen. |
| unexplained | 1323-1338 | possibly a certain Aleidis von Müllenarck I ruled, who in some old sources ( Karl Franz Meyer / Quix) is only mentioned by name and without official title and from which there are no signatures. Schnock sees in these records a typing or reading error between the noted year 1325 and 1395, when an Aleidis von Müllenarck actually ruled. So Mechtildis von Schönau could have already taken over the office. |
| Mechtildis von Schönau († February 12, 1346) |
circa 1338 - circa 1346 | first documented mention in 1338 as part of a donation of 27 acres of land near Orsbach to the Burtscheid Abbey. In 1341 she authorized her departmental agent to waive the goods sold to the Eberbach monastery in Boppard. Last mentioned March 24, 1346 when she signed a contract between the city of Aachen and the Margrave of Jülich for the delivery of 15 small Florentine gold guilders for the monastery. During her term of office, the new construction of the abbey church was decided and started. |
| Mechtildis from Bongard | approx. 1346 or 1351 - approx. 1356 or 1363 | Daughter of Reinard von Bongard or Bongart, she entered the monastery in 1321. With it begins the complete recording of the abbesses. Mechtildis is likely to have been elected to office as early as 1346. In 1351 she signed the contract with the city of Aachen in order to maintain the departmental freedoms in return for the transfer of jurisdiction to the city. This then occupied the office of the Meier . It was next recorded in September 1352 when it offered sanctuary to three men suspected of manslaughter. Last mentions on May 20 and August 1, 1356 during a witness interrogation. During her tenure, the new abbey church was completed. |
| unexplained | 1356-1363 | During this period, both the predecessor and the successor could have ruled, as no other persons by name have been passed down. |
| Richardis von Ülpenich | 1363 - circa 1389 | sold their goods near Plittersdorf on October 2, 1363 and bought land near Vetschau , including the Niersteiner Höfe . In 1377 she received the two "Kulprie mills" from Rikolf Colyn , which from then on remained in the abbey until it was secularized . In 1380 she used King Wenzel's stay in Aachen to have him confirm the division's possessions and rights. It was last mentioned according to Quix in 1389 during a witness interrogation. |
| Aleidis von Müllenarck († June 26, 1395) |
approx. 1389-1395 | As abbess, on August 9, 1389, she acknowledged the receipt of the 50 guilders to be paid to the city of Aachen on August 25, 1389. The next mention was made on March 2, 1390 when a new rector was introduced for St. Michael-Burtscheid. According to Schnock, it was last mentioned on January 17, 1395 when buying a long lease near Vijlen. |
| Richmodis von Schellart zu Obbendorf († March 12, 1413/14) |
1395 - approx. 1399 or possibly 1414 | first mentioned on August 10, 1395, where she acknowledged the receipt of a pension of 15 gold guilders from the city of Aachen. In the spring of 1399, Pope Boniface IX confirmed . the abbey incorporated the parish churches of St. Martin in Rutten, St. Martin in Vijlen, St. Andreas in Dalhem , St. Pauli in Epen and St. Michael in Burtscheid. On December 21, 1412 there was a contract with Adam von Uppey, Herr zu Herstal and Rutten, in which he recognized that the departmental farm in Rutten was an allod and that he had no other rights apart from low rental income. |
| Katharina von Efferen († February 16, 1445) |
1414 - circa 1445 | first mentioned on September 8, 1414, when King Sigismund took the abbess and the entire convent under his royal protection. The abbess was also mentioned in 1422, 1423, 1424 and on July 4, 1425 (here she won disputes with the Burtscheider aldermen because of the use of the hot springs for the drapers) and on July 13, 1427. On March 4, 1438, the confirmed Aachen dean Edmundus von Marlberch received a certificate from Duke Philipp von Brabant and Limburg dated May 8, 1433, in which the abbey was exempted from the Limburg customs in Dobach and Gulpen. Her name was last mentioned on September 1, 1444 when she received an annuity for her co-sister Grieten Beyssels. |
| Barbara von Merode zu Franckenberg († June 22, 1465) |
circa 1446 - circa 1464 | also van Rode zu Frankenberg, van Merode zu Frankenberg, called van Meraede , daughter of the 8th bailiff Andreas von Meroide and Mechtild von Franckenberg and brother of Johann von Frankenberg, 9th hereditary bailiff and ducal-Jülich councilor, father of the next abbess. The abbess signed for the first time in 1446 when an interest book was created, further signatures followed, for example in 1455 when the Katzenkuhle quarry near Buschhausen was leased for the Aachen Minster monastery, from which the bluestones for the construction of the Karlskapelle at Aachen Cathedral were obtained, and for the last time on August 23, 1464 under an exchange agreement with the Aachen regulators. |
| Johanna von Franckenberg | approx. 1465 - approx. 1487 or 1490 | Daughter of the 9th Bailiff Johann von Frankenberg and niece of her predecessor. Documentary mentions in the years 1470, 1471, 1475, 1477, 1482, 1484 and for the last time on August 8, 1487 in a lease document of the lay judges of Siersdorf, after that no more evidence for their term of office. Because of armed conflicts in Rutten, on October 10, 1480, Bishop Egidius von Sarepta sent her the bones and the head of St. Evermarus for safekeeping. After the danger for Rutten had ended, the reliquary with the bones was brought back, although the skullcap, which was enclosed in another reliquary, remained in Burtscheid. |
| Hellenberg from Harff |
circa 1490 - circa 1508 | Hellenberg was mentioned as a nun in 1473 and as a sexton in 1481. She was first mentioned as abbess on March 6, 1490, when she made 650 guilders available to the city of Maastricht at an annual interest rate of 5 percent. It was mentioned for the last time in a document dated July 4, 1500. The date of her death is given as April 25, 1501, but is not guaranteed. |
| Kunigunde von Virnich († October 2, 1514) |
approx. 1508-1514 | As the first verifiable official act, Kunigunde acknowledged the receipt of a payment of 100 guilders from the Aachen Marienstift on October 7, 1505 . The next documented mention as abbess is in a letter of indulgence, also from 1508. On February 5, 1510, she appeared before a commission sent to Burtscheid by the governor in the Netherlands, Archduchess Margarete of Austria , to investigate the rights of the abbey and to clarify the community at the Burtscheider community bush. On November 22, 1510 she signed a settlement with the imperial city of Aachen over compartmental areas. In an election protocol of October 12, 1514, Abbot Peter von Heisterbach noted that a new election was to be made due to the death of the Abbess. |
| Maria van Gulpen-Bernau | 1514 - approx. 1522 or 1538 | also known as Maria von Gülpen or Maria de Bern , whereby Bern (au) means the place Berneau in the municipality of Dalhem , where the roots of the von Gülpen family lie. She was a member of the convent since 1508, became sexton in 1510 and abbess on October 12, 1514. On July 22, 1517, the abbot of Heisterbach, Peter, noted during a visit that the abbess had halved the debt of Burtscheid Abbey. To further rehabilitate these finances, she leased some departmental goods, houses and a quarry. In 1519 she signed a settlement with Burtscheid's hereditary bailiff, Adam von Merode zu Franckenburg, who granted the abbey 700 gold guilders from the sale of wood from the community forest in certain years. The last mention of the abbess according to Schnock took place in 1522, whereas in other records it can be found that she and the convent received an annual personal pension in 1537 to the nun Maria von Birgel, the later abbess, which after her death to celebrate a soul memory to the Abbey should fall back approved. |
| Petronella I. von Voss | before 1538 - approx. 1562 | She was subprioress in 1510 and prioress in 1535 and was elected abbess on February 6, 1538 in the presence of the abbot of the Val-Dieu monastery . Documented mention in 1539 and 1541. She also tried to improve the finances. At the beginning of 1560 she dismissed the abbey lawyer, Gillis Stickelmann, who had been admitted by the Burtscheider Schöffengericht, for reasons of age, and appointed his son of the same name and a Herman Evyrtz zu Mombern as his successors. Died on May 16, probably in 1562. |
| Maria von Birgel | approx. 1562-1575 / 76 | Their election took place on May 18, 1562 in the presence of the Abbot of Val-Dieu. First documented mention in 1564 when a property was sold. On June 23, 1567, she complained to the Spanish governor in Limburg that a Reformed pastor was being employed in Epen. On January 26, 1569, she signed a notarial act that Meier and Vogt may not arrest any criminals from Burtscheid without first asking the jury. Last mentioned in 1575, when she leased a building site near the Schlangenbad, her future successor signed as prioress. |
| Margareta von Voss († March 28, 1579) |
1575 / 76-1579 | According to Schnock elected to office in 1575 but according to other sources she was still called prioress in 1576 and only mentioned as abbess in a protocol of April 6, 1579, although the Darmstadt manuscripts record her death as March 28, 1579. |
| Petronella II of Voss († April 23, 1614) |
1579-1614 | Daughter of the bailiff of Frank von Voss zu Aperschlag and Margaretha von Schwartzenberg, heiress of Schwartzenburg Castle . She was a conventual in 1553 and was elected abbess in 1579 and was documented on May 2, 1580 as part of the division of the Kockartzmühle. On March 8, 1583, she gave the copper masters' guild in Aachen permission to dig for ore in Burtscheid. After the lease with the Aachen copper masters had been terminated, Petronella granted the Burtscheider mining rights on January 21, 1602 for 50 years to the abbey secretary Johannes Teuffen and the Aachen merchant Simon. Abbess Petronella campaigned for the further recovery of finances by receiving various foundations. Last mentioned on July 28, 1608 in a transcript of the abbey secretary. As a bequest, she donated a new altar to the abbey church with an inscription on both sides, the parents' coat of arms, the abbess's staff and the year 1614. |
| Maria Raitz from Frentz | 1614-1616 | It is only attested about the gallia christiana . |
| Anna Raitz von Frentz (* approx. 1568/69; † before August 25, 1639 (day of burial)) |
1616-1639 | Her motto was: soli Deo gloria (only God be glory). Her family coat of arms is affixed with the year 1617 on the western side extension of the abbey, which she had rebuilt. After the financial situation of the abbey had recovered, the brisk construction activity on the monastery buildings began with it. Among other things, she ordered the reconstruction of the Nikolauskapelle, which took place between 1628 and 1630 and which is today's rectory, as well as the construction of the garden and wine house. The coat of arms stone above the garden door bears the inscription: Maria Anna 1628 . Its epitaph with an inscription and eight ancestral coats of arms is in the choir of the abbey church. |
| Henriette (Henrica) Raitz von Frentz | 1639-1674 | Her motto was: deus refugium meum (God is my refuge). She was the daughter of Arnold Raitz von Frentz and Elisabeth von Wambach and a great niece of her predecessor. Henriette's older sister Anna († March 8, 1651) held the post of subprioress and her younger sister Johanna followed her in the office of abbess. Henriette / Henrica was not officially elected abbess until 1640 and was introduced to her office a year later by the Cologne nuncio, after the choice of prioress Susanne von Merode had previously been contested because of her too young age. A coat of arms stone with the name of Henrica Raitz von Frentz and the year 1643 is also on the Munnikenhof (Mönchshof) in Vijlen. In 1644 she initiated the construction of the abbot gate, above the gate passage a coat of arms stone with her name and the year is embedded. In 1649 she took over the bailiwick rights from the Lords of Frankenberg for 20,000 Pattakons and from then on referred to herself as the hereditary duchess . In 1660 she had the cloister of the monastery, which today houses the sacristy, the treasury and the hospital chapel of the Marienhospital , and in 1667 the eastern wing of the abbey was rebuilt. In 1674 the gallia christiana records her as deceased. |
| Johanna Raitz from Frentz | 1675-1676 | younger sister of the previous abbess. Only two years later she is registered as deceased. No documentary mention is known. |
| Maria van Reede | 1676-1680 | from the Dutch noble family van Reede ; only mentioned in a document in 1677 as part of a comparison between the abbey and the citizens of Burtscheid, which concerned the tax exemption of recently acquired goods by the abbey. |
| Maria Agnes von Berghe called Trips († 1703) |
1680-1703 | the abbess was elected on August 22, 1680. A year later, she and the lay judges from Burtscheid announced that neither the Meier nor the court was entitled to restrict the abbey's freedom. In the connecting wall between the current hospital and the former bakery there is a coat of arms stone with the year 1684 and her name. This courtyard can be attributed to the abbess, who probably served as the Vogthaus. On July 27, 1691 she appointed Gertrud von Renesse as sexton. An accountability register was created for her term of office, which was published in the journal of the Aachen History Association, Volume 40, p. 320ff. |
| Angelberta d'Yve de Soye | 1703-1713 | There is only one coat of arms of her that came from the Ellermühle. The canonical visitation carried out during her tenure in 1708 found serious shortcomings: discipline and order were poor, insubordination was the order of the day, the state of the church was neglected, material goods were poorly managed, waste was the order of the day and the state of the abbey imputed bathrooms unworthy. The papal nuncio from Cologne issued a series of regulations to restore order. |
| Anna Carolina Margarethe van Renesse van Elderen (born August 22, 1659 - † April 28, 1750) |
1713-1750 | their motto was: Dominus providebit (God will provide) and is located on the west portal of the tower of St. Johann. She comes from the branch of the Dutch noble family van Renesse , who provided the lords of Elderen . She was elected on February 15 and introduced into office on May 2, 1713. In 1736 she placed the order for the new construction of the (third and current) abbey church based on plans by Johann Joseph Couven , which was not completed until 1754 under her successor. The abbess was also mentioned in 1714 as a signatory of a decree to protect the wood stocks and in 1737 when she decreed that citizens of Burtscheid were not allowed to pour wine without her permission, and in 1743 when she forbade a Cologne citizen to set up a lottery in Burtscheid. |
| Maria Antoinette von Woestenraeth (8 December 1698 - 17 May 1759) |
1750-1759 | born as the daughter of Johann Christian Baron von Wuestenraedt, Herr zu Schlesin, Grand Richien and Surthier, and his wife Irmgard von Wyhe. Her motto was: suaviter et candida (lovely and sincere). The abbess's coat of arms stone was initially above the water wheel on Mühlradstrasse, then on the front of the Krebsmühle and finally from 1754, the year the new church was completed, in the gable above the large window on the north side of the tambour . A wedge above the now walled-up garden gate between the garden house and the rectory comes from JJ Couven with the following inscription: MAR (IA) ANT (ONIA) DE WOESTENRAEDT EX SCHLASSING ABBATISSA 1758 . Old Burtscheiders still refer to this walled-up gate as "Jofferepoetz" (virgin (nun) gate). |
| Johanna Theodora Theresia Freifrau von und zu Hamm († December 10, 1775) |
May 13, 1759-1775 | As one of the first official acts, it tightened the decree on the forest regulations of 1714, since the timber stock had been badly damaged by the new building of the abbey and St. Michael's Church. On October 4, 1760, it banned the serving of foreign beers and a year later it issued new brewing regulations for the three breweries producing in Burtscheid. In the former Panes brewery on Hauptstrasse No. 4 in Burtscheid, which has been owned by the abbey since 1649, a coat of arms commemorates the abbess. |
| Anna Francisca d'Awans de Lonchin de Flemalle († 1788) |
December 13, 1775–1782 | Their motto was: deus fortitudo mea (God is my happiness). On the occasion of the election of the abbess, the citizens of Burtscheid held a rally of honor on December 17, 1775, which was opposed by the Aachen magistrate, who saw himself as the sovereign in Burtscheid. The deficiencies identified by the Cologne Nuncio before 1713 do not seem to have been resolved in the meantime, on the contrary, to have manifested themselves. As part of a renewed investigation, she was released from her duties on August 11, 1781 and placed them in the hands of the prioress. This escalated the dispute between her supporters and opponents, with the result that the duly elected abbess had to hand over her official duties to her coadjutor Adriana von Quadt-Wickrath von Alsbach one year later. |
| Adriana von Quadt | 1782-1787 | The former coadjutor headed the abbey after her predecessor was relieved of her duties due to various grievances. A year before her death in 1788 she was represented by her coadjutor Maria Josephina von Eys called Beusdael von Zweibrüggen, who was then elected abbess herself. |
| Maria Josephina von Eys called Beusdael von Zweibrüggen († December 12, 1806) |
1788-9. June 1802 | their motto was: in deo spes mea (In God is my hope). She was initially coadjutor in 1787/1788 and was then officially elected abbess. Her coat of arms with the year 1790 can now be found in the restored condition at Haus Burtscheider Markt 17. After the second French invasion in 1795, the abbess and her canonesses initially only left the abbey temporarily, but finally only after the consular decision of June 9, 1802. |
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literature
- Christian Quix : History of the former Reichsabtei Burtscheid, from its foundation in the 7th century to 1400. Verlag Jakob Anton Mayer, Aachen 1834. (New edition 1977, ISBN 3-87519-076-9 ) (digitized version )
- Heinrich Schnock: Studies on the order of the abbots and abbesses in the former glory Burtscheid. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association . Volume 41, 1919, pp. 205-253. (Digitized version)
- Franz Bock : The reliquary treasures of the former imperial abbeys of Burtscheid and Cornelimünster, together with the sanctuaries of the former collegiate church of St. Adalbert and the Theresianer church in Aachen . Cologne 1867. ( digitized version )
- Hans Königs : An unknown representation of the Reichsabtei Burtscheid from the year 1754. In: Journal of the Aachener Geschichtsverein . Volume 84/85, Aachen 1977/1978, pp. 499-552.
- Wilhelm Zimmermann: St. Johann, Aachen-Burtscheid. (= Rheinische Kunststätten. 230). Rhenish Association for Monument Preservation and Landscape Protection, Cologne 1979.
- Thomas Wurzel: The Burtscheid Imperial Abbey from its foundation to the early modern period. Aachen 1984, ISBN 3-87519-102-1 .
- Heinrich von Schwartzenberg: Family coat of arms and memorial stones of the Burtscheider abbesses. Association for Scientific Literature eV, Göttingen 1987, ISBN 3-925085-08-4 .
- Ernst Günther Grimme : Church treasures of the former abbey church St. Johann and the parish church St. Michael in Aachen-Burtscheid . Thouet Verlag, Aachen / Leipzig / Paris 1996, ISBN 3-930594-12-9 .
- Herta Lepie : Abbey treasure St. Johann Baptist in Aachen-Burtscheid. In: Clemens MM Bayer (Hrsg.): Treasure art in Rhenish churches and museums. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-2827-3 , pp. 165–172.
Web links
- Entry on Benedictine abbey Burtscheid in the database " KuLaDig " of the Rhineland Regional Association
- Peter Packbier Collection: Texts on the history of the Reichsabtei Burtscheid
- Benedictine monastery Aachen Burtscheid , in: Germania Sacra , (GSN: 50071)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Handbook of Historic Places in Germany. Third volume: North Rhine-Westphalia. 1970, p. 123 f.
- ↑ Certificate of donation 1000
- ^ Certificate of Heinrich II. , Archival document of the month January 2018 of the city archive Aachen
- ↑ The Merode-Frankenberg in Burtscheid. In: Christian Quix: The Frankenburg commonly called Frankenberg and the Vogtei over Burtscheid. Aachen 1829.
- ↑ Gerhard Köbler : Historical Lexicon of the German Lands: the German territories from the Middle Ages to the present. 2007, p. 108.
- ↑ Nina Krüsmann: A big change in the Marienhospital. In: Aachener Nachrichten . September 1, 2014.
- ↑ Kurt Jünger: The death cellar of the former abbey church of St. Johann-Baptist. Parish St. Johann (publisher), Burtscheid 2000.
- ↑ Georg Dünnwald: Burtscheid: The abbot gate has become a treasure chest. In: Aachener Nachrichten . August 14, 2014.
- ↑ Abteitor Aachen - holiday apartments. Retrieved February 10, 2020 .
- ^ Catalog of inscriptions
- ↑ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 3 (Helga Giersiepen), in: www.inschriften.net
- ↑ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 7 (Helga Giersiepen), in: www.inschriften.net
- ↑ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 115 (Helga Giersiepen), in: www.inschriften.net
- ^ Wilhelm Zimmermann, Volker Rinsing Beck, Reinhold Begaß: Abteischatz . Oriental gold for Burtscheid. (PDF; 1.01 MB) Catholic parish of St. Gregor von Burtscheid, September 6, 2012, archived from the original on April 2, 2013 ; accessed on February 20, 2018 .
- ^ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 100 † (Helga Giersiepen), in: www.inschriften.net
- ↑ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 160 † (Helga Giersiepen), in: www.inschriften.net,
- ^ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 189 † (Helga Giersiepen), in: www.inschriften.net
- ↑ Inscription catalog DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 170 (Helga Giersiepen) in: www.inschriften.net
Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 47 " N , 6 ° 5 ′ 36" E