Charterhouse Koblenz

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The Koblenz Charterhouse in 1789

The Koblenz Charterhouse was a monastery of the Carthusian Order in Koblenz . The monastery, founded by Benedictines in the 12th century at the latest , was taken over by the Carthusians in 1331. After the secularization of 1802 in French times , the buildings were demolished. It was on the Beatusberg, who today as the eponymous district Karthause is named after the Carthusians. After the demolition, it was built over with the Prussian Fort Grand Duke Constantine .

history

Benedictine monastery St. Beatusberg

The year the Benedictine monastery was founded on Beatusberg is not exactly known. Certificates have not been received. It is possible that the monastery was built as a result of the donation from Koblenz in 1018 to the Archbishop of Trier Poppo von Babenberg . According to another assumption, it was founded around 1143 by the Archbishop of Trier Albero von Montreuil . With this, the relics of St. Beatus were also transferred from the Trier monastery of St. Maria ad martyres to Koblenz. The donation was confirmed and the monastery was first mentioned in a document in 1153 by his successor Hillin von Falmagne .

During this time, the Benedictine convent on the Oberwerth was also affiliated. The double monastery was separated again in 1215 by the Archbishop of Trier Theoderich II von Wied because of disputes. This meant that all documents had to be destroyed to avoid further disputes, which is an explanation for the fact that it is difficult to prove the founding of the monastery today.

Pope Gregory IX placed the monastery under his protection in 1233 and confirmed all possessions. Bishop Heinrich von Ösel consecrated the monastery church in honor of Our Lady and Saints Beatus and Servatius on behalf of the Archbishop of Trier in 1241 . In the 13th and 14th centuries there were severe crises in many Benedictine monasteries. The monks in the Koblenz monastery were accused of gross violations of the rules of the order, secularism and indecency. Archbishop Boemund I von Warsberg saw himself compelled to appoint Abbot Walram from the Trier monastery of St. Maria ad martyres as administrator . But Abbot Walram could not prevent the decline of the monastery and gave up on May 30, 1314. Archbishop Baldwin of Luxembourg then converted it into a canon monastery in 1315 .

Takeover by the Carthusians

The Archbishop of Trier, Baldwin of Luxembourg, called the Carthusian Order to Koblenz on August 13, 1331, and they settled in the former Benedictine monastery on the Beatusberg. The first prior of the new Carthusian monastery was Johannes von Echternach, who came from the Seitz Carthusian monastery until around 1335 and was previously the first monastery chairman of the Carthusian monasteries of Mainz and Trier . The incorporation of the new Charterhouse into the order probably did not take place until 1337. The Carthusian monks were characterized above all by strict moral standards, nursing care and good economic management and thus shaped religious life in Koblenz for almost 500 years.

In the early years, the Koblenz Charterhouse suffered from the burden of debts that had arisen under the Benedictines. In the period that followed, with the support of donations from wealthy Koblenz citizens, the Charterhouse was expanded into an impressive monastery. In 1355 the Carthusian monks bought a farm in Moselweiß , which is still known today under the name Kemperhof . In addition, the order owned other monastery courtyards in the city of Koblenz, the most important courtyard "Zum Vogelsang" repeatedly served the monks as a place of refuge in the event of war. Since the beginning of the 15th century, the Charterhouse experienced a remarkable rise through donors and donors. During the capture of Koblenz by Swedish troops in the Thirty Years' War in 1632 and the devastating bombardment during the siege of the city by French troops in 1688 in the Palatinate War of Succession , the monastery complex also suffered considerable damage. The old church was then torn down and new church buildings, a three-aisled basilica with an angular choir , as well as a monastery, priory building and other buildings were built in 1720–1737 .

Secularization and demolition

The Fort Grand Duke Constantine in 2014, centrally located on the hillside of war bakery, the lower part consists of remnants of the former Prioratsgebäudes

On October 23, 1794, French revolutionary troops marched into Koblenz during the First Coalition War . The monks had already left the monastery on October 9 and brought themselves to safety in their city courtyard in Vogelsang. The monastery buildings were initially used as barracks. On June 9, 1802, the French abolished all religious orders in the occupied territories and nationalized church property. On September 10, 1802, the handover protocol for the Koblenz Charterhouse was signed by the last inmates of the monastery. A little later, the innkeeper Wilhelm Sauer (An der Moselbrücke No. 830) took over the monastery as a tenant and set up an inn and dance hall in the priory building. On October 10, 1805, the French domain administration auctioned the monastery complex with the associated property for 12,200 francs to the leaseholder Sauer and to the coppersmith and wine merchant Nikolaus Krieger (Kastorgasse No. 336). Both sold their shares in 1810/11 to the merchant Christian Seidensticker (* December 7, 1778 in Clausthal , † April 13, 1853 in Wülfel ), who had previously become very wealthy by bypassing the continental barrier and had also acquired the Karthäuser Berghof in 1810 . During the wars of liberation there was a French and later a Russian military hospital in the former monastery. When the large fortress in Koblenz was built, the facility was converted into a Prussian pioneer barracks in September 1816. After lengthy negotiations, the Prussian state acquired the former monastery, the Berghof and the property belonging to it from Seidensticker on June 23, 1818 retrospectively to November 11, 1816 for 47,222 thalers (85,000 Rhenish guilders). At that time, the monastery complex still consisted of an entrance building, a two-storey residential building, a bakery and brewery, a wagon, a winery, the priory building, the chapter house, a wash house with kitchen and horse stables and the destroyed conductors' workshop, of which only the cellar was used has been. Between 1821 and 1827/28 the Fort Grand Duke Constantine was built on the site.

Archival material and parts of the library of the Charterhouse have been preserved and are kept in the Koblenz State Main Archive , for example 13 documents from the time of the Benedictine monastery are still stored here, as well as in the Koblenz city archive. In the tradition of the veneration of St. Beatus, the patronage was transferred to the parish church of St. Beatus, established in the late 1940s, in the rapidly growing district of Karthaus.

Archaeological research

Crypt of the monastery church of the Koblenz Charterhouse, archaeological excavation in the courtyard of the Grand Duke Constantine Fort

In 1997 the crypt of the monastery church was uncovered in the courtyard of the Fort Grand Duke Constantine under the direction of the Koblenz Archaeological Monument Office . This is a four-pillar crypt typical of the Middle Rhine region , which was located in the central axis of the medieval nave. It was sunk into the rock and consists of a square choir area with four supporting columns inside, six wall-supported columns and an apse with an altar foundation in the east . In the west, the entrance area with stair foundations has been partially preserved. The crypt room was bordered by stone walls. The part of the crypt that is visible today was part of the 12th century. The archaeological investigations also found older parts that must belong to a smaller crypt that was built before the 12th century. The crypt was demolished and filled in at the end of the 17th century, probably because of the destruction in the Palatinate War of Succession. In the early 18th century a new baroque church was built, the foundations of which were brought into the backfill.

See also

literature

  • Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz . Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt
    • Volume 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era . Theiss, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-0876-X .
    • Volume 2: From the French city to the present . Theiss, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8062-1036-5 .
  • Dieter Marcos (Ed.): Devotion & War. Festschrift for the 10th anniversary of Pro Konstantin eV, Imprimatur Verlag, Lahnstein 2004, ISBN 3-9807361-5-6 .
  • Fritz Michel : The art monuments of the Rhine province. The church monuments in the city of Koblenz. (= The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province. Volume Twenty. 1. Section). Schwann, Düsseldorf 1937, pp. 319–322.
  • Fritz Michel: The art monuments of the city of Koblenz. The mundane monuments and the suburbs. (= The art monuments of Rhineland-Palatinate. First volume). Munich / Berlin 1954.
  • Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People from the city's history - namesake for streets and squares. 2., revised. u. exp. Edition. Publishing house for advertising papers , Mülheim-Kärlich 2005, OCLC 712343799 , pp. 279f.
  • Hermann Josef Roth: Koblenz , in: Monasticon Cartusiense , ed. by Gerhard Schlegel, James Hogg, Volume 2, Salzburg 2004, 563-570.
  • Ulrike Weber (edit.): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.3: City of Koblenz. Districts. Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .

Web links

Commons : Kartause Koblenz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferdinand Pauly: The Church in Koblenz. In: History of the City of Koblenz. Volume 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era. Pp. 179-236.
  2. ^ Johannes Simmert: Koblenz St. Beatusberg. In: The Benedictine monasteries for men and women in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. edit by Friedhelm Jürgensmeier in conjunction with Regina Elisabeth Schwerdtfeger. (= Germania Benedictina . 9). St. Ottilien 1999, pp. 260-263.
  3. ↑ Sometimes the 9th November is mentioned here (Johannes Simmert: Inventory of the archive of the Carthusian Monastery of St-Beatusberg in front of Koblenz (=  publications of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Archives Administration . Volume 46 ). Koblenz 1987, p. 8 [Foreword] . ) Michels (Fritz Michel: The Church Monuments of the City of Koblenz (=  The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province . Volume 20 ). Düsseldorf 1937, p. 298 . ) and Stramberg ( Christian von Stramberg : The banks of the Rhine from Coblenz to the mouth of the Nahe [The Carthusian monastery ...] (=  Memorable and useful Rheinischer Antiquarius . Volume 2 , no. 2 ). tape 1 . Koblenz 1851, p. 154–180, here p. 175 ( opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de ). ), however, consistently indicate October 9, 1794.
  4. ↑ Dieter Marcos: The end of the Koblenz Charterhouse . In: Devotion & War. Festschrift for the 10th anniversary Pro Konstantin e. V. Lahnstein 2004, p. 57–65, here p. 59 .
  5. ↑ Purchase of possessions, called the Karthaus and the Karthauser Berghof, for the creation of a fortress and an exercise area . In: Official Journal of the Royal Government of Coblenz . tape 3 , no. 27 . Koblenz August 4, 1818, p. 196-198 ( opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de ). See in detail about the auction and the later sale of the monastery: Sebastian Gleixner: From the French domain administration to the expropriation by Prussia. The prehistory of the Constantine Fort 1802 to 1821 . In: Fort Konstantin. Historic place with a future . Koblenz 2013, ISBN 978-3-936436-24-2 , p. 9-18 .
  6. ↑ Axel von Berg: The archaeological investigations in the area of ​​Fort Konstantin on the Beatusberg in Koblenz. In: Devotion & War. (Festschrift for the 10th anniversary of Pro Konstantin eV)

Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 2 "  N , 7 ° 35 ′ 11"  E