Field monasteries (Hochstift Hildesheim)

As Hildesheim field monasteries nine are monasteries in rural areas of the historic Bishopric of Hildesheim referred to

• founded in the Middle Ages,
• after the Hildesheim collegiate feud under Guelph rule converted into Lutheran corporations,
• after the restitution of the prince-bishopric in 1643 with Catholic convents and renewed
• after secularization at the beginning of the 19th century to the Hanover Monastery Fund or to private property.

From the end of the Thirty Years War until their abolition, these monasteries were Catholic islands in the Lutheran hinterland. The monastery churches were also parish churches for the monastery staff and the scattered Catholics of the surrounding villages.

The building complex of the Hildesheim field monasteries were largely in the late 17th and early 18th century Baroque or rebuilt in the Baroque style, with important works of art. Some have been preserved in this form to this day; their churches are used by Catholic parishes.

image	place	Patronage	founding year	Founding Convention	Restitution Convention	Todays use
	Derneburg	St. Mary	1213 1443	Augustinian Cistercian Sisters	Cistercians	1846–48 converted into a castle; Privately owned
	Dorstadt	To the holy cross	1189	Augustinian women	Augustinian women	Convent building privately owned; Church ruin
	Ash soil	St. Mary	1203/1236	Benedictine women	Benedictine women	State domain ; Church profaned (memory)
	Grauhof	St. George	1124 ( Georgenberg ); 1527 (Grauhof)	Augustinian Canons	Canons of Windesheim	Property of the monastery chamber Hanover ; Church Catholic parish church
	Heiningen	St. Peter and Paul	around 1000	Augustinian canons	Religious women (canonesses?)	Convent building privately owned; Church property of the monastery chamber, Catholic parish church
	Lamspringe	St. Hadrian and Dionysius	9th century	Canonesses	English Benedictine	Property of the monastery chamber; Convent building local government, church Catholic parish church
	Riechenberg	St. Mary	1117	Augustinian Canons	Canons of Windesheim	Property of the monastery chamber; only crypt preserved; evangelical brotherhood Gethsemanekloster
	Ringelheim	St. Abdon and Sennen	940 1150	Canons Benedictines	Benedictine	Convent building (castle) private property; Church Catholic parish church
	Wöltingerode	St. Mary	1174 1188	Benedictine Cistercian Sisters	Cistercian women	Property of the monastery chamber; hotel and gastronomy

literature

• Armgard von Reden-Dohna, The Secularization of the Hildesheim Field Monasteries and the Beginning of the Monastery Chamber of Hanover , in: Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte (NsJbLG) 69, 1997, p. 281