Heinrich Steinhoff

Heinrich Steinhoff (* around 1540 in Würdinghausen ; † October 20, 1611 in Grafschaft ) was abbot of the Grafschaft monastery .

origin

Heinrich Steinhoff comes from the Steinhoff family attested to in the late 15th and early 16th centuries in Würdinghausen ( Kirchhundem parish ). In the treasury lists of the Duchy of Westphalia from 1536, 1543 and 1565, the family name is no longer mentioned in this form for Würdinghausen, but it can be assumed that it is the family "uff dem Hofe" mentioned in these lists. Differences in names of this type are quite common in documents from that time. The presence of the family in Würdinghausen is secured by two documents from the Kirchhundem parish archive. In 1499 Hanns Steinhopp zu Wordinghusen appears as a witness (document 23), and in 1517 Heinrich Steinhoff also appears as a witness (document 26). In 1529 Heinrich Steinhoep the Younger from Wordinckhuesen was named as a witness in a document from the archives of Count von Spee zu Ahausen (document no. 369).

Cellerar of the monastery county

Before Heinrich Steinhoff was elected abbot of the Grafschaft monastery, he was entrusted with the administration of income and taxes in kind as a cellarius (waiter) for over two decades . He appears for the first time in this function in a deed of May 18, 1562, in which he, together with Abbot Rotger and Prior Melchior, transferred the bailiwick of Grafschaft, which had fallen back after the death of Jost von Grafschaft, to the Bilsteiner Drosten Friedrich von Fürstenberg . Twenty years later, because of this contract, there was a conflict between the Archbishop of Cologne , Gebhard Truchsess, and Caspar von Fürstenberg, who was in opposition to him . In 1583 the archbishop granted the monastery some of the bailiwick's properties and reserved the right to decide on the other properties. There were disputes with the town of Schmallenberg in 1570 when it refused to give the monastery the due tithe . Abbot Rotger and waiter Heinrich Steinhoff protested publicly on February 11, 1570 in Schmallenberg between the stone house and the tithe barn. When both parties were summoned before the Landdrosten in Arnsberg on April 3, 1570, an amicable settlement was reached on the matter. Another comprehensive comparison of the monastery with the town of Schmallenberg was made in 1573. Here, too, Heinrich is mentioned as the monastery waiter.

Abbot of the county monastery

Abbot Rotgerus unter den Linden from Grafschaft, who had headed the monastery from 1551, died on January 28, 1584. Due to the war ( Truchsessische Wirren ) the election of a new abbot was delayed by more than a year. On April 8, 1585 Heinrich Steinhoff was elected abbot of the Grafschaft monastery. The election was chaired by Nicolaus von Vreden , Abbot of Deutz . The choice was made “by viam compromissi” (= by agreement). Compromissarii were the scholaster , the prior Melchior and the hospitaller Antonius. (Document 453). Because of an accident in which Prior Melchior fell to his death, the monastery was visited by Abbot Leonhard von Abdinghof (Paderborn), and considerable construction defects were discovered. Abbot Heinrich Steinhoff responded with structural improvements. A new dormitory was built under him . In 1590 he obtained the tax exemption of the iron works belonging to the monastery in Sorpe under the Cologne Archbishop and Elector Ernst . In 1609 Heinrich Steinhoff resigned from his office as abbot. The reasons were the declining monastic discipline among the brothers and the successes of Reformation teaching among the population of the communities belonging to the monastery. With the words "nudus nudum sequi volo Christum" (I want to follow Christ poorly in his poverty) he renounced the pension due to him. He died on October 21, 1611.

swell

• Manfred Wolf: The archive of the former Grafschaft monastery. Documents and files. Regional studies series for the Sauerland in Cologne. Publications from the Arnsberg, Brilon, Meschede and Olpe districts. Vol. 4. Ed. From the Meschede district. Arnsberg 1972.
• Monumenta Monasterii Grafschaftensis. Memories from the history of the county monastery . Translation from Latin by Manfred Wolf, Münster. Edited by the savings and loan fund Schmallenberg. 1975.
• Frenn Wiethoff: Convent Grafschaft and Wilzenberg . New edition. Edited by the savings and loan fund Schmallenberg. 1975.

predecessor	Office	successor
Rotger under der Linden	Abbot of Kloster Grafschaft 1585–1609	Gottschalk from Dael