Beuren Abbey
| Beuren Abbey | |
|---|---|
 Beuren Abbey after Duval (around 1840) |
|
| Coordinates: | 51 ° 22 '53.9 " N , 10 ° 16' 14.2" E |
| Patronage | St. Andreas Mother of God Maria possibly Margareta |
| founding year | 1200 |
The Klosterbeuren St. Margaret is a former Cistercian - Abbey in Beuren in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia.
history
In the middle of the 12th century, Rudolf von Bodenstein had a church consecrated to St. Andrew built near Nieder-Beuren, near his ancestral castle Bodenstein , and equipped it with extensive property. At this church, the monastery is said to have been founded around 1200 by his grandson, the later Hildesheim cathedral cantor, Konrad von Bodenstein (later called von Beuren). Konrad was named the first provost in 1201 . The foundation was supported by the papal legate and Cistercian Guido von Praeneste and the abbots of the Walkenried and Reifenstein monasteries . The first nuns who moved into the monastery came from the Cistercian monastery in Wöltingerode . By Pope Innocent III. the founding of the monastery was recognized on February 3, 1208.
In 1221 the monastery owned a property of 117 Hufen , which is the equivalent of around 3525 acres , which were cultivated by lay brothers from several farms . In the following years the wealth of the monastery increased through various purchases and gifts, in this way a not insignificant number of nuns could always be entertained. Donations came from Count Albrecht von Gleichenstein , among others , who gave the monastery several properties in the Beuren area, including the villages of Aldenhagen and Retterode . The monastery property was managed by eight grange-like farms. In Mühlhausen the monastery maintained a town courtyard in the Middle Ages.
In the middle of the 13th century, Landgrave Heinrich von Thuringia took the monastery under his protection, who absolved it from all jurisdiction of its bailiffs and mayors . Military unrest in the early 13th century caused Pope Alexander IV to place the monastery under papal protection in 1255/56. The school of St. Martinstift in Heiligenstadt was commissioned to implement it. The papal protection privileges granted the monastery extensive rights. No other women's monastery in Eichsfeld was privileged in a comparable way. Nevertheless, nobles repeatedly intervened in the monastery rights, so that the privileges were renewed several times and the Pope commissioned their enforcement. The Klosterbeuren was not in the Cistercian Order incorporated and was practically the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Mainz, which repeats the internal affairs of the monastery directly affected.
Most of the convent members came from the regional nobility, especially from the von Bodenstein, von Westhausen and von Wintzingerode families. The number of nuns increased so that more daughter monasteries could be founded. The Beuren monastery became the mother monastery for the Breitenbich monastery (approx. 1230) and its successor monastery Anrode (around 1260), as well as the Teistungenburg (1260), Marksußra (1287) and Worbis (1311) monasteries . Another daughter monastery was probably the Mariengarten monastery (before 1245). Thanks to a successful economy and numerous foundations, the monastery was able to gradually expand its property. At the height of its economic importance around 1320, it owned around 190 Hufen land in almost 70 localities, plus forest property , fishing rights, mills, patronage rights and other property.
There is no evidence of any direct effects of the Reformation on the monastery. The monastery complex suffered major damage during the Peasants' War . On April 29, 1525, the monastery was plundered by its own subjects. Three days later insurgents from Mühlhausen burned down the monastery. The convent had to be housed abroad for two years. The damage caused was estimated at 2188 guilders. With the support of the Archbishops of Mainz, the monastery led long-term claims for damages against the city of Mühlhausen before the Reich Chamber of Commerce.
In 1555, 20 years later, the last two nuns died. A representative of the Elector of Mainz initially continued the administration. Parts of the monastery property were handed over to the Jesuit College in Heiligenstadt. The remainder of the monastery property was gradually sold until 1609. The Cistercian sisters from Teistungenburg bought the monastery and essential parts of the monastery property back in 1617 and repopulated it. Hardly any women of noble descent are attested among the convent members of the second period. Later violent conflicts hit the monastery hard, so it was plundered in the Thirty Years' War . Between 1673 and 1679 the building was rebuilt according to plans by Antonio Petrini and 18 years later the provost's office was added. The church was renovated in 1718 and twelve years later it had about 30 members. During the Seven Years' War the monastery was again plundered several times. When the abbess was last elected in 1791, the monastery still had 18 convent members.
After the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803, the monastery fell to Prussia . The Prussian administration did not receive the permission to dissolve the monastery, but they intervened strongly in the monastery administration. New members of the convent were no longer allowed to be admitted, tax privileges were abolished and the monastery property came under state control. After the Peace of Tilsit , the monastery fell to the Kingdom of Westphalia .
At the beginning of the 19th century, the monastery had 577 acres of arable land, 60 acres of meadows, 12 acres of gardens and 500 acres of forest. For a long time, however, it was unable to live on its goods, since on May 12, 1810 the Kingdom of Westphalia abolished the monastery and sold the property. Ecclesiastical institutions came to Wingerode , Martinfeld and Beuren , with some of the monasteries also reaching Mainz , Würzburg , Merseburg , Magdeburg and Wingerode.
The monastery buildings were given a new use and have since served as a retirement and nursing home.
Abbesses
- First period
- Chunegundis around 1279
- Guda (1292-1301)
- Ida (1311-1332)
- Catharina (around 1347)
- Metze von Worbis (around 1364)
- Margaretha Lowers (around 1483)
- Margaretha von Bodenhausen (1519–1537)
- Barbara von Knorr (1593–1555)
- Second period
- Marina Ziegler (1618–1622) also Abbess of Teistungenburg
- Agnes Mercker (1623-1636)
- Margaretha Lang (1636-1640)
- Anna Margaretha Mecke (1641–1648)
- Anna Magdalena Kerl (1648–1669)
- Maria Francisca Wagner (1669–1698)
- Anna Humbelina Feldmann (1698–1705)
- Martha Elisabeth Witzel (1705–1730)
- Anna Humbelina Sponsail (1730–1757)
- Rosalia Hartung (1757–1768)
- Lutgardis Türcas (1769–1791)
- Anna Maria Nachtwey (1791–1810)
Preserved monastery complex
Parts of the monastery are still preserved. These include the tower, which was built around 1130, and the western part of the St. Andrew's Church, a Romanesque hall building. The eastern part of the St. Andrew's Church was added in the late 13th century in the Gothic style. After the destruction in 1525, however, extensive renovation work was carried out on the tower. In the second period of the monastery, the baroque reconstruction of the monastery took place according to the plans of Antonio Petrini . The remaining parts were redesigned and supplemented in a baroque style. An extensive stucco ceiling was created in the church by the Fulda artist Johann Martin Hummel . The preserved north, east and south wings of the monastery were built between 1672 and 1702.
Most of the outbuildings built in the 18th century were largely demolished in the 20th century.
A large part of the written records of the Beuren Abbey are now in the State Archives of Saxony-Anhalt and in the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage . The traditional seals of the convent from 1292 and 1629 show the apostle Andrew. Both seals were in use until the end of the period. A monastery coat of arms has not survived.
Web links
literature
- Anna Egler: Beuren . In: Historical section of the Bavarian Benedictine Academy (ed.): The monasteries and nunneries of the Cistercians in Hesse and Thuringia . Friedhelm Jürgenmeister, Regina Elisabeth Schertfeger (= Germania Benedictina ). tape IV , no. 1 . EOS Verlag Archabbey St. Ottilien, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8306-7450-4 , p. 225-265 .
- Adalbert Dölle: The former Cistercian convent Beuren in Eichsfeld . Verlag Mecke, Duderstadt 1998, ISBN 978-3-932752-20-9 .
- Beuren. In: Hans Patze , Peter Aufgebauer (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 9: Thuringia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 313). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-520-31302-2 , pp. 48-49.
- Carl Duval : Beuren . In: The Eichsfeld or historical-romantic description of all cities, castles, palaces, monasteries, villages and other noteworthy points of the Eichsfeld . Harro von Hirschheydt Verlag, Hannover-Dören 1979, ISBN 3-7777-0002-9 , p. 291-298 .
- Josef Keppler: The former Cistercian convent Beuren . Verlag Mecke, Duderstadt 2000, ISBN 3-932752-57-0 .
- Anna Egler: Beuren, the oldest monastery of the Cistercian women in Eichsfeld (approx. 1200–1555, 1617 / 18–1810). In: EJb 22 (2014), pp. 67–112
Individual evidence
- ^ Carl Duval : The Eichsfeld or historical-romantic description of all cities, castles, palaces, monasteries, villages and other noteworthy points of the Eichsfeld . Eupel, Sondershausen 1845, p. 297 .