Carmelite Monastery (Cologne)
An acquisition of land in 1256 documents the beginning of the first settlement of the Cologne Carmelites . Traditions that stated that the order was founded in Cologne in 1220 can no longer be traced today. The monks, also known as “women brothers” in Cologne because of their patronage , were members of a Roman Catholic “Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel” (Latin Ordo Fratrum Beatissimae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo ), which was founded around 1150 on Carmel Mountains in Palestine . The order emerged from the tradition of hermitism . Today in Cologne it only exists in the form of the female order, the Carmelites, founded in the second half of the 15th century . The monastery near Cologne's Waidmarkt was abolished by the measures of secularization in 1802.
history
The property of the "Knight Brun" from the Bonn court was on the area south of the Cologne Waidmarkt. According to the tradition of the Carmelite monastery in Cologne , Bruno is said to have had contacts as a crusader with the friars from Mount Carmel in Palestine, who are said to have been responsible for the later founding of the convent next to the Waidmarkt. For the old Cologne district of Oversburg , the first monks of this order are said to have been mentioned in a no longer available provisional book of the year 1220 of the parish of St. Jakob, whereby it was probably a modest little hermitage . Not sure is also a tradition of a saint revered by the year 1245 Father General Alan was buried in the monastery church in Cologne.
Acquisition of land and fiefdom for a new Carmel
In 1256, the friars, also popularly known as “women brothers”, acquired larger plots of land on the area between the street later called “Before the Carmelites”, the Spitzengasse, the Weißbüttengasse and the Bonn court located on a cul-de-sac to build a large monastery, also known as the Carmel . In 1384 and 1426 they added other fiefdom houses to this property. For a house on the grounds of "Butgasse" the convent of the "women brothers" had to pay the dean and the chapter of St. George an interest of twelve Cologne marks in 1384 , whereby this interest in relation to other conditions in the quarter ( which also paid double) was quite modest. In addition to and after the aforementioned currency “Mark cölnisch”, payments in “Rhenish or Oberland Gulden” were also common.
The monastery complex
With the establishment of an oratory , the friars also began to build farm buildings in 1261. It was said that even workshops were built “in a splendid way”. A letter of indulgence issued in 1263 to promote monastery buildings gave an informative list of the planned buildings. Since 1297, like the other mendicant orders, the monastery has set up a general course to train the next generation of the order and later cooperates with the University of Cologne, which was founded in 1388 . The Regens of General Studies, Simon von Speyer , was one of the university's first professors. In a document from the year 1350, the arrangement of individual buildings on the grounds of the monastery complex was described and it was recorded which land belonged to the monastery. In 1352, Theoderich von Neuss donated the sum of 100 guilders to enable the construction of a hospital. The building then erected in the same year was in the corner of Große Spitzengasse and Weißbüttengasse. In 1358 a brewery was restored and in 1359 a latrine tower was built, which had to be ten feet from the monastery wall. In 1372 a new kitchen building, a well and a new "shaving house" were built.
The cloister adjoining the south side of the church was connected by Prior Mathias von Düren around 1390 with the new construction of west, south and north wings to form a closed unit. The windows of the cloister had the same exterior design and dimensions as the cloister of the Minorite monastery in Cologne . In 1397 a new building was erected next to the choir of the church, followed in 1413 by a large hall in front of the provincial house. Between the years 1429 and 1431 the monastery received a library equipped with lecterns, which was located on the upper floor above the chapter house. The prior Simon von Düren became Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Worms and Titular Bishop of Mayo in the summer of 1457 .
Construction continued with the construction of a winter refectory in 1467, and in 1498 the monks built a new bakery. The new century saw the construction of a bathing room and renovation of the shaving house in 1516. This work was followed by the execution of a summer refectory, the construction costs of which amounted to 2,300 marks and a further 900 gold guilders, which the foundation of Prior Johann Wirich von Neuss took over in part. This new institution was compared around 1600 with the corresponding institution of the Jesuit college in Tournai . It offered space for 200 people.
At the beginning of the 17th century, a courtyard was created to the north of the church, which was enclosed on its west side by the older buildings of the priory and the provincialate. A building was erected on the north side of the courtyard which initially housed the novices and later (1643) temporarily became the seat of the papal nunciature . These two new wings was supported by pillars portico been in front. Work on the monastery complex was completed in the late 18th century with further redesigns around the southern and northern courtyard.
Monastic congress venue
The Cologne Carmelite branch was also famous for its rooms, which were of considerable size and furnishings for that time. The monastery thus offered ideal conditions for the gatherings of large delegations , who could also find accommodation on site. In 1673, the monastery attracted international attention when it became the congress venue for high-ranking delegates who sought to resolve the war between France and the Netherlands . It was about the conflict, also known as the Dutch War , which had become a pan-European military conflict. In addition to the warring parties themselves, envoys from the emperor, the kings of Spain , England and Sweden as well as the elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg and Maximilian Heinrich of Cologne were represented in the protracted negotiations. In protest against the capture of the Electoral Cologne Minister Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg in 1674 by imperial agents, Electoral Cologne and France withdrew their envoys and let the congress end ingloriously.
Carmelite Monastery Church
The first modest monastery church is said to have been built on the site where the hospital was located in the 17th century. By selling indulgences to build a new house of worship, the religious were able to build a new, larger church. Since the income achieved in this way (ad fabricam ecclesiae) did not decrease, the church could even be expanded and vaulted by provincial "Godescalcus de Grue". The construction of the church, consecrated in 1321, lasted for decades. After it had received chapel extensions, the prior Mathias von Düren had the choir vaulted in the last decade of the 14th century .
By Anton Woensam in Cologne Cityscape 1531 Church represented was then a three-nave, with eight Jochen structured Basilica become. It had the dimensions of about 53 m length and a width of about 23 m. The east-facing church with buttresses had been fitted with tracery windows. Between the gable crosses was a six-sided roof turret, which had been fitted with a clock in 1423. After the western front part of the church collapsed due to damaged foundations, repair work was carried out at the beginning of the 17th century, which was followed by renovations around 1642 and at the beginning of the 18th century.
End of the monastery complex
After the French invaded in 1794, the church was used as a horse stable and later as a fruit store. The monastery was closed in 1802 and in 1808 the monastery property was divided. The church with the adjoining cloister and farm buildings as well as the buildings of the priory and nunciature remained under the French military administration, while the south wing of the parish of St. Jakob (which now performed its services in St. George) was assigned as a primary school. In 1810/11 the monastery church was sold for 9,900 francs for demolition and shortly thereafter closed. In 1815, the now Prussian government set up the Carmelite School on the urban part of the former monastery grounds, which in 1830 became the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne .
One of the most famous students of the Karmeliterschule was the later Cologne revolutionary and democrat Franz Raveaux , who attended the school at Severinstrasse 6938 ½ in Cologne from October 1820 at short notice. In July 1823 he was expelled from school because of his involvement in a brawl with a group of Cologne craftsmen.
literature
- Hermann Keussen : Topography of the city of Cologne in the Middle Ages. 2 volumes. Hanstein, Bonn 1910 ( Prize publications of the Mevissen Foundation 2), (Reprint: Droste, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-7700-7560-9 and ISBN 3-7700-7561-7 ).
- Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): The art monuments of the Rhine province. Volume 6, 7: The art monuments of the city of Cologne. Volume 7, section 3, supplementary volume = volume 2, section 3, supplementary volume: Ludwig Arntz , Heinrich Neu, Hans Vogts : The former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937 (reprint: ibid 1980, ISBN 3-590-32107-5 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Paul Clemen: The art monuments of the city of Cologne. Volume II, extension volume: The former churches, monasteries, hospitals and school buildings of the city of Cologne. Section Carmelite Monastery , page 192 ff.
- ↑ Hermann Keussen , Volume II, interest information.
- ↑ Canon law sources . P. 301 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Reference to Lacomblet, III, p. 336.
- ↑ Rüdiger Fuchs: Die insschriften der Stadt Worms , Volume 2 of: Deutsche Insschriften, Mainzer Reihe , 1991, p. 186, ISBN 3882264985 ; (Detail scan)
- ^ Carl Dietmar: Where once the congress danced. Kölner Stadtanzeiger, edition from 27./28. November 2010.
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 52.6 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 22 ″ E