Brigittenkloster Elbing

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The monastery of St. Brigitta was a branch of the Order of Brigits in Elbing , today Elbląg, in Prussia from 1458 to around 1519.

location

The monastery was located near the former castle of the Teutonic Order outside the medieval city. Today the archaeological museum is located on the foundation walls of the monastery building.

history

Around 1456/57 the representatives of the Prussian Federation decided at a meeting (day trip) in Elbing to found a monastery there in honor of St. Birgitta of Sweden so that she could help them to end the terrible war with the Teutonic Order. On May 14, 1458, Pope Calixt III. approval; on September 14th, King Casimir of Poland transferred the place of the outer bailey (in loco suburbio) of the former castle of the Teutonic Order (which had been destroyed a short time before). 60 nuns and 25 monks were planned; how many actually came is not known. There were extensive donations of property and rights by the Polish king, the city council and citizens. After the peace of 1466 some villages were lost, but there were other donations.

In the next decades the number of the monastery inmates decreased, in 1492/96 at least four nuns lived there. After that, the monastery stood empty for a few years, the goods and income were administered by the city council. In 1512, following warnings from the Warmia cathedral chapter, some nuns and monks from the two Brigitte monasteries in Danzig came to the city . But they returned there around 1519.

Former high school, now an archaeological museum

In 1535, the Elbing City Council founded the first humanistic grammar school in the Kingdom of Poland in the monastery building . In 1599 the building was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. In 1808/09 further modifications were made. The building has belonged to the City Museum since 1973, and today (2019) the Archaeological Museum is located there.

literature

  • Max Toeppen : Elbinger antiques. A contribution to the history of urban life in the Middle Ages. Booklet 2. Churches, schools, monasteries and hospitals . Danzig 1872, pp. 139-147.
  • Stefania Kamińska: Klasztory brygidek w Gdańsku, Elblągu i Lublinie [The Brigitte monasteries in Gdansk, Elblag and Lublin.] Gdańsk 1970.

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