Caecilia of Oldessem

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Caecilia von Oldessem († 1542 ) was the last abbess of the Harvestehude monastery and the first dominatrix of the St. Johannis monastery after the Reformation .

Work in the Harvestehude Monastery

Caecilia von Oldessem was a daughter of the Hamburg wall cutter Cord von Oldessem, who belongs to the Flanderfahrergesellschaft. The father was married to Anna, née Helwigk, with whom he had eight children. Caecilia von Oldessem's sister had been a nun in Harvestehude Monastery from around 1485. Her cousins ​​Alleke, Barbara and Wommelke later also joined the order. Together with Caecilia, ten percent of the nuns belonged to the von Oldessem family.

First evidence shows that Caecilia von Oldessem bought rents from the monastery for 20 marks in 1523. From 1526 she was active as abbess. She negotiated with the City Council of Hamburg about taxes that the monastery had to pay for land owned by the city. She also granted the city a generous loan.

At the time of the first sermons in the spirit of the Reformation , the Hamburg citizenship also showed sympathy for the Lutheran faith. There were also arguments among the nuns of the Harvestehuder monastery. As a result, some citizens paid a visit to the monastery, but found no abnormalities during their controls. Caecilia von Oldessem commissioned a register of the monastic documents. To be on the safe side, she handed the drawer with the documents to the Hamburg council in 1528, which she asked for advice in a letter. She understood the verse, “Make vows and keep them!” Found in Psalm 76 as a directive not to leave the monastery. She received no answer from the Hamburg council. Elected citizens of the parish gave instructions that a Lutheran preacher should teach the nuns and hold services. In addition, a pious citizen should manage the monastery property. The nuns stayed in the monastery anyway; the abbess did not meet the demands of the citizens.

In 1529 Johannes Bugenhagen wrote, as the author of the Hamburg church ordinance, "Wat me van dem Closterlevende holden schal allermeyst shouted before de Nunnen unde Bagynen". In his writing directed against the monastery, he criticized their "false vows". At a time when the Beguines had already left their convent , he called on single women to leave monasteries and to devote themselves to work in families. He also spoke out against the forced placement of girls in monasteries.

A 1529 recession stipulated that the monastery assets were to be kept together, but that the nuns should leave the monastery. The reputation of the monastery had suffered badly among Lutheran citizens at that time. After the nuns did not want to leave the monastery voluntarily, the citizens of the parish tore it down in 1530. The citizens paid religious women who wanted to return to worldly life a lifelong pension of 20 marks from the monastery property. As a result, the number of nuns decreased to 19, among them Caecilia von Oldessem. Since they wanted to continue to live together as a convent, they complied with the demands of the Hamburg council. They converted to the Lutheran faith and from then on did not wear religious clothing. Caecilia von Oldessem no longer had the title of abbess, but called herself Domina.

Work in the monastery of St. Johannis

From spring 1531, the women lived in part of the former Dominican monastery of St. Johannis in the city. There they were supposed to give middle-class children reading and writing lessons and teach them about sewing and embroidery. In 1531 Caecilia von Oldessem complained to the Hamburg council that valuable objects and gems worth 40 marks that had been kept in the monastery chapel had been lost. She described the condition of her new home as bad, the cloths of the altar his rotten. She found the administration of the monastery property inadequate. Although the Council had the damage examined, it did not replace it. The council also had three boxes of jewelery in its custody, which the sisters did not get back despite the approval of the monastery head Joachim Moller , according to the dominatrix.

Due to the poor condition of the monastery, the women themselves invested a lot of money and work in the dirty and uncomfortable rooms. They did this reluctantly and paid outstanding bills from the monastery. Von Oldessem put the cost at 479 marks. Since the sisters had no shares in the monastery, they feared they would pay for someone else's property. The dominatrix therefore demanded ownership of the monastery and, in particular, to be allowed to administer the monastery property herself. It was not until 1536 that the council and citizens decided not to sell any goods.

In her letter, von Oldessem also complained that strangers were allowed to rent a municipal brewery that had previously belonged to the monastery and that the monastery was thus losing lease income. In addition, the legacy of a deceased originator of the monastery is missing. The dominatrix proposed to the council that the administration of the monastery be entrusted to her. She accepted the cartridge proposed by the council, but it should be accountable to her and the sisters, just as she herself was to the council. In addition, she refused to supply the preacher to St. Johannis from the monastery property. It was very important to her to receive income from the monastery's estates.

Caecilia von Oldessem's letter shows that she knew the economic situation of the monastery very well. She assured the Hamburg council that the canoness would accept instructions and not complain if they were treated fairly. Convent curator Joachim Moller accused her of misappropriating goods. Caecilia von Oldessem had no success with her letter: the council did not respond to any of her financial demands; The sisters were also not allowed to take over the economic management of the monastery property themselves. Joachim Moller stayed in office and leased a farm for ten years, which was located on the outskirts of the monastery.

Another letter from Oldessems to Hans Barner in his function as Drost zu Pinneberg dates back to 1536. Barner promised to help the monastery and to present the numerous concerns of the convent to Count Adolf von Holstein-Pinneberg . The count then traveled to Wedel , where he negotiated with the Hamburg mayors during a court day in the matter of "Our Harvestehude Monastery".

A last well-known letter from Oldessems, which she wrote to Hans Barner again in 1540, shows that she was running the business again at that time, but had little scope and was dependent on the decisions of the Hamburg council. In her letter, the dominatrix asked the count to pay invoices due for logging.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Oldessem, Caecilia of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Abbess of the Harvestehude monastery and dominatrix of the St. Johannis monastery
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century or 16th century
DATE OF DEATH 1542