Charterhouse Prague

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The Charterhouse Prague (also Garden of the Blessed Virgin ; Charterhouse Mariengarten ; Latin Hortus Beatae Mariae , Czech Zahrada Panny Marie ) was the oldest monastery of the Carthusian Order in Bohemia . It was founded by the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg in 1342 and most likely settled with monks from the Mauerbach Charterhouse . The Charterhouse, which was destroyed at the beginning of the Hussite Wars in 1419, was not rebuilt. Their possessions were in what would later become the Prague district of Smíchov .

history

The Carthusian Monastery of Prague was founded on February 1, 1342 by the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg, whose uncle, Bishop Baldwin of Trier , was a patron of the Carthusian Order and in 1331 founded the Carthusian monasteries of Koblenz and Trier . The Prague Charterhouse, intended for 24 monks and directly subordinate to the sovereign, was built on the left bank of the Vltava on the former farm Újezd near Prague, which, in addition to the arable land and gardens, also included five mills on both banks of the Vltava . The king contributed to the economic endowment with 2000 pounds of silver from Kuttenberg . He granted her numerous privileges, including exemption from taxes and duties. At the same time he committed the convent to prayers and an annual memory for himself and his family.

The Carthusians themselves acquired a house in the old town of Prague and, from foundations from benefactors, other villages near the Carthusian monastery. The monastery building and church, the architecture of which is unknown, was probably completed in 1356 or later. In 1376 a prayer fraternity was agreed with the Augustinian monastery in Raudnitz . Under Prior Albert, a hop field was parceled out into 24 plots in 1386, on which monastery cells were built for the monks. In 1389 the General Chapter decreed that only the best monks were to be sent to the Prague Charterhouse, since both the king and high-ranking personalities and high clergy attended the Charterhouse and its services.

After the death of King Wenceslas , the monastery buildings and the monastery church were attacked by supporters of Jan Hus on November 17, 1419 at the beginning of the Hussite Wars and destroyed by fire a day later. The monks initially fled to Prague. In 1420 King Sigismund promised the restitution of the goods. Although a successor to the late Prior Markwart was elected in the same year and the monks were asked not to disperse, there was no reconstruction. The last monk Nikolaus von Glogau died in 1464 in the Aggsbach Charterhouse .

Thanks to its contacts with Charles University in Prague , the Charterhouse had a great cultural presence. Its patrons and protectors included King John, his descendants, Charles IV and Wenzel, as well as the Prague Archbishop Johann von Jenstein and the noble family Wartenberg , of whom six family members were buried in the monastery church. It is possible that Prior Markwart, who was in office from 1407 to 1420, also came from this family.

The Charterhouse had a rich library, some of which was saved by the monks. Some of the magnificent manuscripts are in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The monks Stephan von Dolein , Michael von Prag , Konrad von Hainburg and Johannes Rode, who were active as writers, belonged to the Charterhouse .

The Carthusian monastery in Prague is the mother monastery of the Carthusian monasteries Grabow near Stettin , Königsfeld , Tržek and Karthaus near Gdansk . At its original location in today's Smíchov district, nothing has been preserved except for the street name Kartouzská .

literature

  • Wojciech Iwańczak: The Carthusian Michael from Prague. In: Sönke Lorenz, Oliver Auge, Robert Zagolla: Books, Libraries and the Writing Culture of the Carthusians . Steiner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-515-08093-7 , pp. 83-92.
  • Rafał Witkowski: Praha / Prag , in: Monasticon Cartusiense , ed. by Gerhard Schlegel, James Hogg, Volume 2, Salzburg 2004, 95-101.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to cs: Újezd ​​(Malá Strana) , the area was incorporated into the Lesser Town of Prague as early as 1360/62 .
  2. ↑ sciencev1.orf.at

Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 31 ″  N , 14 ° 24 ′ 20 ″  E