Franciscan monastery in Marburg

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The Franciscan Monastery of Marburg , also known as the Barefoot Monastery , was a branch of the Franciscan Order on the southwestern edge of today's old town of Marburg in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district from the first half of the 13th century until it was abolished in 1528 . A Franciscan convent in Marburg was first mentioned in a document in 1235. Perhaps the settlement of Franciscans go in the city to 1234/1235 with the work of Saint Elizabeth together that there in 1228 just outside the city to the St. Francis consecrated Hospital was built. After long reform disputes at the end of the 15th century, the Hessian Landgrave Wilhelm III. the strict observance introduced in the Marburg Convention. In 1528 the monastery was dissolved in the course of the reformation introduced by Landgrave Philipp "the Magnanimous" in Hesse . Since then, the former monastery buildings, which have been rebuilt several times over the years, have been used by the University of Marburg .

The south wing of the former Franciscan monastery on the city wall from the south

history

founding

When exactly a Franciscan convent was founded in Marburg and whether there were foundations for this establishment can no longer be traced. The brothers of the order, founded in 1210, probably came to Marburg around 1234/35; in any case, the Marburg Franciscan Convent was first mentioned in a document dated October 19, 1235, in which Archbishop Siegfried of Mainz granted all those indulgences who contributed to the construction of the Marburg Franciscan Church. This monastery, built on the southwest corner of the city wall, belonged to the Cologne Franciscan Province ( Colonia ) and was dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul . The version often found in older literature, according to which the Franciscans were called to her hospital by St. Elisabeth in Marburg as early as 1228, can be traced back to the Hessian chronicler Wigand Gerstenberg and otherwise not verifiable. Nevertheless, it is not unreasonable that the Franciscans' settlement in Marburg is also connected with St. Elisabeth. The widow of the Thuringian Landgrave Ludwig IV was canonized on Pentecost in 1235 and, as a carer for the poor and sick, was soon one of the most important saints of the young Franciscan order to which she had been close.

Late Middle Ages

Numerous donations to the Marburg Franciscan Convent have come down to us from the late Middle Ages . This included not only gifts of goods, but also of money. The convention also did various business such as renting out a house. A list of paraments gives indications of the luxurious furnishing of the convent with garments made from the finest fabrics. Other valuable liturgical implements were also in the possession of the order. This is symptomatic of the problems faced by the Franciscan Convents in realizing their original ideals, such as the order's radical renunciation of property.

Disputes over monastery reform

Drawing of Marburg from Matthäus Merian's Topographia Hassiae . On the left in the picture the elongated south wing of the Franciscan monastery above the city wall

When criticism of the inadequate implementation of the original Franciscan ideals arose since the end of the 14th century, this led to disputes within the Franciscan order, the so-called poverty struggle . Marburg was also the scene of the dispute between the two branches of the order, the conventuals and observants . While the brothers of the Marburg branch took the moderate position of the conventuals on the issue of poverty, the position of the observants is inseparable from the person of Landgrave Wilhelm III. connected. He had taken over the government in 1483, but was still under the age at that time. That is why his uncle, Archbishop Hermann of Cologne , who is said to have sympathy for the observants, was appointed guardian. By the year 1489, Wilhelm had already undertaken four attempts at reforming the Marburg Convention, accusing them of a decline in religiosity and numerous vices such as injustice, unchastity, pride, greed and faithlessness. But every time, he complained, after the reform and departure of the Provincial of the Cologne Province, the discipline of the brothers was worse than before. The brothers who were inclined to observe observance finally left Marburg and switched to observant convents, which resulted in only the "bad elements" remaining.

So before 1489, Wilhelm turned to Pope Innocent VIII and asked him to look into the problem. This endowed some prelates with powers and instructed them, among other things, to reform the Marburg Convention. But these efforts were also fruitless, as were two further requests to the Pope in 1490 and 1492. In the meantime, however, Wilhelm had tried to intervene himself. In 1491, to avoid economic damage, he forbade the sale of worldly goods, interest and rents to the monasteries. He ordered the Hessian mendicant orders to withdraw the brothers from their appointments , since they no longer went about their actual tasks there. In 1493 he wrote to the new Pope Alexander VI. a letter in which he clearly named the grievances among the Marburg conventuals and described their way of life as despicable. He urged the pontiff to take effective action at last.

Since the subsequent investigations were too lengthy for him, Wilhelm finally ordered the violent expulsion of the conventuals and the appointment of observants to the Marburg settlement. The conventuals then demanded an investigation into the incident and made violent accusations against the landgrave. Negotiations took place before the Cardinal Protector , which ultimately resulted in the reinstatement of the Conventuals in Marburg. But with the help of King Maximilian , Landgrave Wilhelm continued to press for the appointment of the observants. On July 7, 1496, the Pope again commissioned a review of the allegations. When the need for reform was determined and the brothers refused to accept the observance, the papal representatives expelled them from the monastery. But it was only when a further investigation requested by the conventuals came to the same conclusion that Wilhelm's efforts were crowned with success, and the observants were finally able to move into Marburg at the beginning of 1499.

Repealed in 1528

After the Landgrave's finally successful struggles for the introduction of strict observance in the Marburg Franciscan Convent, he gave the monastery funds for extensive construction work. But a short time later there were renewed conflicts with the Hessian landgrave. This time it was not about the dispute between observants and conventuals, but about the introduction of the Reformation in Hesse by Landgrave Philipp .

Landgrave Philipp "the Magnanimous" introduced the Reformation in Hesse in 1526

It was the Guardian of the Marburg Franciscans, Nikolaus Ferber , who had tried in vain to dissuade the Landgrave from the doctrine of the Reformers. After the Reformation was officially introduced at the Homberg Synod in 1526, Philip had an inventory of the Marburg branch made in the following year. In October 1527 the Hessian state parliament decided to abolish the monasteries.

Although individual brothers in the Franciscan monastery also turned to the Reformation - the later Frankfurt reformer Hartmann Ibach resigned from the convent in 1520 - the Marburg Franciscans opposed the abolition of the monasteries promoted by Philip until the end. They refused a severance payment, as the brothers of the Dominican monastery in Marburg had accepted for their departure in 1527.

Only after Landgrave Philipp had given them the alternative of either vacating the monastery or joining the Reformation did they leave their buildings in 1528. From then on, the former Franciscan monastery properties were used to fund the Protestant University of Marburg, which was newly founded in 1527 . The founding rector of the university, Johannes Ferrarius , recorded the end of the Marburg Franciscans in the university's register as follows :

Iam monachi franciscani quos Minoritanos dixere, etiam revelato Evangelio adversus veritatem grassari, et nihil non moliri haud desinebant, tantum abfuit, ut hypocriseos sue errorem agnoscerent, quare Illustriss. Princeps Philippus ubi rescivisset, id sine maxima Ecclesiae iactura tolerari non posse, iussit, vel Christum confiterentur, vel sedibus migrarent, sed cum difficillimum eam vitae partem sit relinquere, quam ab ineunte aetate quis imbibit, maluerunt optatores sam cum migrare migrare , uno igitur agmine evolantes, sedes suas in Academiae usum reliquere, anno MDXXVIII sub finem Maii. Nos Collegium Pomerii dicimus.

Translation:

“The Franciscan monks, who were called the Friars Minor, did not let go of going against the truth, despite the revelation of the Gospel, and doing everything possible against it; so much was missing that they would have recognized their mistaken hypocrisy. Therefore, when the most serene Prince Philip learned that this could only be tolerated with great harm to the church, ordered that they either confess Christ or withdraw from their homes. But since it is exceedingly difficult to give up the part in life that one has made one's own from one's youth, the old foxes preferred to leave their homes instead of demonstrating better understanding with Christ. And so they flew out in a single swarm at the end of May 1528 and left their homes for use by the university. We call it the college on the city limits. "

building

The buildings of the former Franciscan monastery, which have belonged to the university since 1528, are today only partially preserved in their medieval structure. But the numerous renovations that took place at a later time hardly changed the medieval arrangement of the buildings, which can still be guessed at from the current layout.

Monastery church

Riding hall of the University of Marburg from 1730/31, location of the former Franciscan church, from the southeast

The church of the Marburg Franciscan Monastery stood on the spot where the university's institute for physical exercise is now (Barfüßerstraße 1). It bordered the other convent buildings to the north. Little is known about the appearance of the church, which was built in 1234/35. Only a copper engraving by Wilhelm Dilich from 1605 provides information about the church consecrated to the apostles Peter and Paul. Accordingly, the church had an octagonal closed choir, the windows of which each had two pointed lancets crowned by a round pass. At the northwest corner of the nave was a side aisle spanned by three hipped roofs . The engraving shows a total of six bays on the nave of the church. The church was crowned by a simple roof turret, as was customary in the churches of the mendicant orders , and otherwise had no tower. To the south of the choir, another polygonal choir protruded to the east. This may have been a sacristy chapel.

After the Reformation in Hesse and the departure of the Franciscans, the monastery church was no longer used. It slowly began to deteriorate. As early as 1534/35, tombstones from the church had been used to build municipal wells. Landgrave Philipp therefore had the bones of his mother Anna , who had been buried in the church in 1525, exhumed and transferred to the Landgrave Choir of the Marburg Elisabeth Church. In 1669 the church interior was even used to cast the large bell of the parish church . Around 1730/31, the empty church was finally torn down in order to build the university's riding school on the same site. Only the south wall remained and was integrated into the new building.

Convent building

Engraving by Wilhelm Dilich, 1605, view of the former monastery from the northeast

The convent buildings of the Franciscan monastery in Marburg were laid out in a square around a cloister to the south of the church . It is no longer possible to say exactly what the original system from the 13th century looked like. What is certain is that extensive reconstruction work was carried out on the monastery around 1500, which may have been connected with the introduction of the observance . Most likely the south wing was redesigned, the south wall of which stands on the city ​​wall over a slope.

A description from the early 17th century deals with a representative room on the upper floor of the south wing. Accordingly, there were eight stained glass windows with paintings. In addition to figures of saints, including St. Antonius , St. Franziskus , St. Ludwig , St. Bernhard , St. Klara and St. Elisabeth , the Hessian and Mecklenburg coats of arms were depicted there, which is based on a foundation by Anna von Mecklenburg and Wilhelm II. from Hessen lets close. It is unclear for what purposes the southern building served until the monastery was dissolved. After 1528 the pedagogy was presumably initially housed here, then the university library moved in in 1532. Further alterations to the building followed in 1770, 1825 and 1839, so that the current appearance of the south wing no longer has much to do with its original shape. Only the south facade above the city wall reveals the two-part condition after the renovation around 1500 due to its buttresses of different heights, which is also reproduced in a floor plan from 1808/1811. The basement rooms also have groin vaults .

The east wing of the monastery complex has been used as a grantee building since the dissolution in 1528 . Its east facade is shown on the engraving by Wilhelm Dilich. Accordingly, a small roof turret crowned the building. At the end of the 18th century, the east wing was seriously threatened by decay, which is why it was finally demolished in 1811. Since it was never replaced by a new building, the formerly square monastery is now open to the east towards the street 'Am Plan'.

The west wing only had narrow rooms above the cloister, as can be seen from the floor plan from 1808–1811. In 1849 it was replaced by a new building that was to house the librarian's apartment from then on. The economics department of the Philipps University of Marburg is housed in the west and south wings.

Parts of the original cloister had been preserved until the 19th century. The Marburg architect and university professor Carl Schäfer was able to describe the Gothic cloister arches and assumed that they were the models for the cloister of the Marburg Dominican monastery, which was built at the end of the 13th century.

Directory of sources and literature

swell

  • Carolus Iulius Caesar: Catalogus studiosorum scholae Marpurgensis, Marburg 1875.
  • Wilhelm Dersch : Hessisches Klosterbuch, Marburg 2 1940.
  • Wilhelm Dilich : Hessische Chronica, Kassel 1606. ( online )
  • The Upper Hessian monasteries. Regesten und Urkunden, Vol. 2, ed. v. Albrecht Eckard, Marburg 1967.
  • Documented sources on the history of the Hessian Reformation, Vol. 2, edit. v. Günther Franz, Marburg 1954.

literature

  • Julius Battes: The Franciscans in Hesse, the imperial abbeys of Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Marburg Univ. Diss. 1921.
  • Julius Battes: The advance of the Franciscans in Hesse and the development of the individual convents up to the Reformation, in: Franziskanische Studien 18, H. 3/4 (1931), pp. 309-340.
  • Wilhelm Bücking: Historical images from Marburg's past, Marburg 1901.
  • Heinrich von Dehn-Rotfelser / Wilhelm Lotz: The architectural monuments in the administrative district of Cassel, Kassel 1870.
  • Heinrich Hermelink / Siegfried A. Kaehler : The Philipps University of Marburg. 1527–1927, Marburg 1927.
  • Erich Keyser: The area of ​​the German Knight Order in Marburg, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies 73 (1962), pp. 77–91.
  • Wilhelm Kolbe: The sights of Marburg, Marburg 1884.
  • Kurt Meschede: Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. Das Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77-86.
  • Burkhard zur Nieden: On the history of the Dominican monastery in Marburg, in: Church on the rock. Festschrift on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the University Church of Marburg, formerly Dominican Monastery Church, ed. v. Holger Kuße, pp. 35–50.
  • Matthias Werner : Elisabeth of Thuringia, Francis of Assisi and Konrad of Marburg, in: Elisabeth of Thuringia - a European saint. Essays, ed. v. Dieter Blume / Matthias Werner, Petersberg 2007, pp. 109–135.

Web links

Commons : Franziskanerkloster Marburg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julius Battes, The advance of the Franciscans in Hesse and the development of the individual convents up to the Reformation, in: Franziskanische Studien 18, H. 3/4 (1931), p. 315.
  2. ↑ a b Julius Battes, The advance of the Franciscans in Hesse, p. 316.
  3. ↑ Erich Keyser, The area of ​​the German Knight Order in Marburg, in: ZHG 73 (1962), p. 81f.
  4. ^ Matthias Werner, Elisabeth of Thuringia, Franziskus von Assisi and Konrad von Marburg, in: Elisabeth von Thüringen - a European saint. Essays, ed. v. Dieter Blume / Matthias Werner, Petersberg 2007, pp. 109–135, here: p. 126.
  5. ↑ Julius Battes, Die Franziskaner in Hessen, the Reichsabbeien Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainz pen Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, p. 33f.
  6. ↑ Julius Battes, Die Franziskaner in Hessen, the Reichsabbeien Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, p. 35.
  7. ^ L. Pellegrini, Franziskaner, III. Das Ordensleben ', in Lexikon des Mittelalters, Vol. 4, Stuttgart 1989, Sp. 803-804.
  8. ↑ a b Julius Battes, Die Franziskaner in Hessen, the Reichsabbeien Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainz pen Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, p. 51.
  9. ↑ Julius Battes, Die Franziskaner in Hessen, the Reichsabbeien Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the principality Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, S. 56f.
  10. ↑ Wilhelm III. asks for a visit from the Franciscans in Grünberg and Marburg. Regesta of the Landgraves of Hesse (as of September 20, 2011). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on June 17, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Julius Battes, The Franziskaner in Hessen, the imperial abbeys of Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, pp. 51–53.
  12. ↑ Julius Battes, The Franciscans in Hesse, the imperial abbeys Hersfeld and Fulda, the main hiss pin Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck until the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, p 53f.
  13. ↑ Julius Battes, Die Franziskaner in Hessen, the Reichsabbeien Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, p. 54.
  14. ↑ Julius Battes, The Franziskaner in Hessen, the imperial abbeys of Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, pp. 54–57.
  15. ↑ Julius Battes, Die Franziskaner in Hessen, the imperial abbeys of Hersfeld and Fulda, the Mainzischen Stift Fritzlar and the Principality of Waldeck up to the Reformation, Diss. Marburg 1922, pp. 59-61.
  16. ↑ Julius Battes, The advance of the Franciscans in Hesse and the development of the individual convents up to the Reformation, in: Franziskanische Studien 18, H. 3/4 (1931), p. 316.
  17. ↑ The Upper Hessian monasteries. Regesta and certificates, Vol. 2, ed. by Albrecht Eckardt, Marburg 1967, No. 111, p. 60f.
  18. ↑ Documentary sources on the history of the Hessian Reformation, Vol. 2, edit. v. Günther Franz, Marburg 1954, No. 69, p. 45.
  19. ↑ Burkhard zur Nieden, On the history of the Dominican monastery in Marburg, in: Church on the rock. Festschrift on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the University Church of Marburg, formerly Dominican Monastery Church, ed. v. Holger Kuße, pp. 35–50, here p. 47f.
  20. ↑ Julius Battes, The advance of the Franciscans in Hesse and the development of the individual convents up to the Reformation, in: Franziskanische Studien 18, H. 3/4 (1931), p. 317.
  21. ^ Heinrich Hermelink / Siegfried A. Kaehler, The Philipps University of Marburg. 1527-1927, Marburg 1927, p. 32f.
  22. ↑ Carolus Iulius Caesar, Catalogus studiosorum scholae Marpurgensis, Marburg 1875, p. 3
  23. ↑ Homepage of the sports science institute of the Philipps University of Marburg
  24. ↑ a b Kurt Meschede: Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. Das Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here p. 80.
  25. ↑ Kurt Meschede: Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. Das Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here p. 77.
  26. ↑ Wilhelm Dilich, Hessische Chronica, Kassel 1606, p. 100. ( online )
  27. ↑ See the description by Heinrich von Dehn-Rotfelser / Wilhelm Lotz: Die Baudenkmäler in the administrative district of Cassel, Kassel 1870, p. 150.
  28. ↑ Kurt Meschede: Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: p. 82.
  29. ^ Wilhelm Bücking: Historical images from Marburg's past, Marburg 1901, p. 61f. See also Kurt Meschede: Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: p. 79.
  30. ^ Wilhelm Kolbe, The sights of Marburg, Marburg 1884, p. 89.
  31. ^ Wilhelm Kolbe, The sights of Marburg, Marburg 1884, p. 89f. See also Kurt Meschede: Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. Das Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: p. 80.
  32. ^ Kurt Meschede, Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: pp. 80f.
  33. ^ Kurt Meschede, Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. Das Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: p. 83.
  34. ↑ a b c Kurt Meschede, Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: p. 79.
  35. ^ Heinrich Hermelink / Siegfried A. Kaehler, The Philipps University of Marburg. 1527–1927, Marburg 1927, p. 33.
  36. ^ Kurt Meschede, Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: pp. 81f. u. 84.
  37. ^ Kurt Meschede, Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser- or Franziskaner-Kloster, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: pp. 81f.
  38. ↑ The seminar building “on the plan” on the side of Faculty 02 of the Philipps University of Marburg. ( Memento from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ^ Kurt Meschede, Marburg's second oldest religious establishment. The Barfüsser or Franziskaner Monastery, in: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Vol. 79 (1968), pp. 77–86, here: p. 81.

Coordinates: 50 ° 48 ′ 26.9 ″  N , 8 ° 46 ′ 1.1 ″  E