Elsa von Reichenstein
Elsa von Reichenstein (* 1408 at Reichenstein Castle near Puderbach ; † around 1485 ) was a Catholic abbess in the Cäcilienstift in Cologne .
She was the daughter of Wilhelm von Reichenstein and Irmgard von Hammerstein . From an early age she was entrusted to the Cäcilienstift in Cologne, where noble women lived. In 1427 she took the veil as a novice , and on July 3, 1443 she was blessed and sworn in there as abbess . The pen was already secular at the time, and no one except the abbess had to take vows . Therefore the other canonesses could leave the pen at any time and get married.
In 1474, during the Burgundian Wars , Elsa von Reichenstein, who still lived in the monastery with only a few novices, was informed by the Cologne Senate that she had to take in the homeless Augustinian women. Their monastery in Cologne was to be demolished, as it made the defense of the city more difficult and could have served as a base for the enemy. Elsa protested violently and barricaded herself with the remaining canons in the monastery and the monastery church. On August 21, 1474, the doors were forcibly broken open by imperial troops under Emperor Friedrich and the papal legate Alexander von Forli. Under their protection, the Augustinian nuns moved into the previously secular Cäcilienstift. In the following years, Elsa von Reichenstein led a trial in Rome against the suppression of the monastery, which ended in 1479 with the fact that she had to submit to the conversion of the Cäcilienstift into a regular Augustinian monastery.
In Kolumba , the art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne , Elsa von Reichenstein can be seen kneeling as the donor on the work of art Madonna with the violet painted by Stefan Lochner . She had commissioned the picture herself. Their abbot is missing. The painting was in the Deutsch-Ordenshaus St. Katharinen in Cologne before it was brought to the Dommuseum.
literature
- F. Heinrichs: Else von Reichenstein and the Madonna with the violet in: Heimatkalender im Rhein-Wied-Kreis, 1937, p. 58 ff.
- Elli Lind: A cultural-historical consideration of Elsa von Reichenstein from the Cäcilienstift in Cologne , in: Heimatkalender des Landkreis Neuwied, 1965, p. 51 ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Frauenbüro Neuwied (ed.): Von Frau zu Frau, Part II , Verlag Peter Kehrein, 1995, ISBN 9783980326650 , p. 150/151
- ↑ HAStK, Order 207 (Cäcilien), U 2/177.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reichenstein, Elsa von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German abbess |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1408 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Reichenstein Castle near Puderbach |
| DATE OF DEATH | around 1485 |