Old cell
| Benedictine Abbey Old Cell |
|
|---|---|
| location |
 Germany Saxony |
| Lies in the diocese | Meissen |
| Coordinates: | 51 ° 1 '52 " N , 13 ° 16' 26.9" E |
| Patronage | St. Wandelburgis |
| founding year | circa 1141 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
before 1170 |
The old cell was a Benedictine monastery in the Zellwald southwest of Nossen in Saxony that only existed for a few decades .
history
There is no document about the foundation of the monastery. The only written evidence of the existence comes from the year 1183, in which the monastery no longer existed. In this document, the founder is named Tammo von Strehla . The lords of Strehla had land from Bishop Megenwart von Meißen, also called Reinward, as a fiefdom, on which a Benedictine monastery was founded around 1141, consecrated to the holy Wandelburgis.
The abbey was south of the Freiberger Mulde , west of the rule of the von Nossen . According to the Rule of St. Benedict , it was located away from civilization in the densely wooded foothills of the Ore Mountains . The monastery only existed for a short time. The "roughness of the area" and the "slovenliness" of the monks are named in the document as the reason for its demise.
Today one would perhaps say: The infrastructure necessary for the existence of a monastery was missing.
location
The abbey was roughly where the A4 motorway and the Zellwaldbahn cross today , probably on the left bank of the Pitzschebach . In addition to a stop on the railway line, a sawmill was built there, and later the valley was spanned by a motorway bridge.
Even today, the place of the abbey , of which nothing has been preserved, is surrounded by the cell forest. The next localities are Siebenlehn , Nossen , Obergruna in the east, Marbach (Striegistal) , Schmalbach in the west, Großvoigtsberg and Kleinvoigtsberg in the southeast, Reichenbach in the south.
These localities also include the villages inhabited by Tammo von Strehla for the material security of the monastery and its rule. A settlement suspected in the past in today's forest area has not yet been proven.
About the name
Old cell is not Altzelle even Altzella called to confuse. The former is a Benedictine monastery, the latter a Cistercian monastery . The abbey of the Cistercian monastery was built after the demise of the Benedictine monastery on the former fief of the founder of the old cell, three kilometers further north, at the confluence of the Pitzschebach in the Freiberg Mulde .
The Cistercian monastery was called Cella Sanctae Mariae at the time it was built. Only after the foundation of the Neuzelle (Cella Nova) subsidiary near Guben in 1268 did the name Cella Vetus (Altzella) become established. At that time, the name Old Cell had long been a term for the now defunct Benedictine monastery.
Vernacular
The name of the old cell is still known today. There is also a legend about the fall of the monastery. According to that, the monks are said to have thrown gold and silver objects and a bell into a well. The treasures have not yet been excavated because they are guarded by a poodle with fiery eyes.
In another legend it is reported: "Once upon a time, St. Benno traveled across the country, and since he saw many pigeons sitting in a desolate place, he prophesied that a new order would shortly come there. (...) Otto, a margrave of Meissen, had a monastery built here for the Cistercian order, called a cell ".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uwe Richter: The settlement of the Freiberg area and the emergence of the city of Freiberg in The early history of Freiberg in a national comparison, Halle 2013, p. 13, ISBN 978-3-95462-132-3
- ↑ It cannot be ruled out that the facility on Burgberg (Striegistal) is also his foundation.
- ↑ Brigitte Emmrich: Founding of monasteries and monastery life in German (folk) sagas in: Martina Schattkowsky , André Thieme (ed.): Altzelle, Cistercian abbey in Central Germany and house monastery of the Wettins , p. 409, Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-935693-55- 9
- ^ Johann Georg Theodor Grasse : The treasure of legends of the Kingdom of Saxony , Dresden 1874, p. 317