Himmelpforten Monastery (Ense)

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Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 33.7 ″  N , 8 ° 0 ′ 17.4 ″  E

Abbess and later manor of Gut Himmelpforten
Ruins of the Himmelpforten monastery

The Himmelpforten Monastery (Latin: Monasterium Porta Coeli ) was a Cistercian abbey on the banks of the Möhne . The monastery, founded in 1246, existed until secularization at the beginning of the 19th century. The monastery church and the remaining buildings were destroyed in 1943 as a result of the bombing of the Möhne dam in the Möhne disaster .

founding

At first glance, there are conflicting sources about the foundation. It is generally assumed that the monastery of Adelheid , the wife of Count Gottfried III in Arnsberg . was donated. According to a source, however, Count Otto von Tecklenburg and his son Heinrich left a Priorissa Petronella property on the south bank of the Möhne river to build a monastery. Another document issued on July 19, 1246 by the Archbishop of Cologne Konrad von Hochstaden , a few days after the aforementioned document, said that Adelheid, wife of Count Gottfried III. von Arnsberg wanted to build a monastery on a property she had bought with her own money. The archbishop placed the monastery and property under his protection. A year later on March 23, 1247, Pope Innocent IV took the Porta Coeli monastery under papal protection. There was no mention of the family of the Counts von Arnsberg in this context. Apparently the Tecklenburger and the Arnsberg counts cooperated in the establishment. If you follow Edeltraud Klueting , however , the Tecklenburgers played no role in the founding of the monastery. Rather, the Arnsbergers only acquired the necessary land from them. While the Tecklenburgers rarely appear in documents, the Counts of Arnsberg continued to support the monastery. These transferred further rights and possessions to the monastery. A prayer memory in favor of the count's family is only attested for 1363.

Early development

Originally probably built on the mountain slope, the monastery was moved directly to the banks of the Möhne a few years after it was founded. Archbishop Konrad wrote an indulgence in 1249 to finance the construction . Initially, the monastery only had a wooden chapel, but this gave way to a stone building in the 1270s. This construction was also partly financed by indulgences. One of these indulgences was issued by Albertus Magnus . The church was completed in 1284. It was probably a single-nave five-bay hall with a retracted choir. The monastery complex itself had four wings and was grouped around a cloister on the north side of the church. The structure was structurally modified in various ways in the 14th and 15th centuries.

A few years after its founding, the archbishop asked the General Chapter of the Cistercian Order to incorporate Himmelpforten. It remains to be seen whether this actually happened afterwards. However, this could have been done in connection with a visitation by the abbot of Himmerod in 1285. It is also not known whether the general chapter has appointed a father abbot. The subordination of the monastery to the Abbot of Bredelar has only been documented since the beginning of the 14th century . The paternity was temporarily transferred to the Heisterbach monastery in 1325, before finally falling to Bredelar around 1470. Its abbot visited Himmelpforten annually, sent a confessor twice a year and commissioned two members of his convent with pastoral care and supervision of the monastery economy. Even if the official affiliation to the order is not clearly documented in the first decades, this is confirmed by a document from 1325 at the latest.

Monastic community

Floor plan of the monastery church

The monastery community saw itself as part of the order from the beginning and maintained contacts with other Cistercian monasteries. At first the monastery director still had the title of prioress . This suggests that the monastery was initially subject to the mother convent. It is not known where the first nuns came from. With the naming of the convent and abbess in a document from 1254, it becomes clear that at this point in time at the latest, Himmelpforten was independent. No reliable information can be given about the size of the convent for the time being. But in view of the buildings it was probably smaller than in Welver or Benninghausen .

It can be proven that the convent was popular with ministerial or feudal families from the area around the Counts of Arnsberg. All nuns known by name of the early period came from this group. These, like the von Wrede , von Neheim or von Ense families , also sold or left other properties to the monastery. According to Maria Hock's account, no one from the count's family belonged to the monastery, presumably because it was not considered noble enough. In contrast, Edeltraud Klueting argues that the first head of the monastery by the name of Petronella probably came from the Count's House. In later years the members of the convention came not only from knightly families of the County of Arnsberg, but also from families from the Duchy of Westphalia and the patriciate of the city of Soest .

In the first few years, external legal transactions were temporarily carried out by a provost or prior. As a rule, however, the abbess and the convent were initially able to enforce their own interests.

Conversations are mentioned in documents from the 13th century. However, no information can be given about their number. Some of them lived in the monastery itself and managed or supervised the property in the immediate vicinity. Others administered the extensive distant land holdings, which essentially lay between Werl , Soest and Haarstrang . From the beginning there were also people who belonged to them. Properties were first leased at the end of the 13th century.

Normally the monastery only accepted novices who had come to the monastery as so-called "school children" around the age of nine. These were supervised and taught by a so-called child master. They were only allowed to profess as adolescents or young adults. Although the order placed relatively little emphasis on education, there were monastery lessons as early as the 13th century.

Early modern age

Monastery church around 1905

It was not until the turmoil of the Truchsessian War from 1583 to 1589 that the monastery ran into economic problems, so that goods had to be pledged several times. Himmelpforten suffered particularly during the Thirty Years' War , when the Hessians set the monastery building on fire on October 20, 1633 and plundered many manors. The newly built monastery could not be consecrated again until 1656. And it was only on April 29, 1725 that the new monastery church could be consecrated by the abbot Petrus Nolten.

In the early modern period, in addition to the actual nuns, other groups of people also belonged to the monastery. In the early modern period, from 1625 onwards, lay sisters increasingly appeared in place of maidservants . In this way, the community tied in with the medieval institute for conversations . In addition to the abbess, the provost played an important role. This was not only responsible for pastoral care, but also supervised the servants and administered certain parts of the monastery property.

The single-nave church of five bays in the Renaissance style closed with a single-bay choir . The ribbed cross vaults rested on consoles. The triumphal arch and the windows were rounded.

The Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763 brought the monastery again looting and economic decline.

Since secularization

In 1790 the monastery was forbidden to accept new conventuals and lay sisters. The monastery property was withdrawn in 1802 in the course of secularization , while the convent continued to exist. However, the remaining sisters left the monastery as early as 1804 because monastery life could no longer be maintained. In 1804 the landowner Adolf Schulte zu Günne leased the monastery property for a lease of 1500 Reichstalers. In 1819 it was completely sold for 32,000 Reichstaler and has been owned by the Schulte-Günne family ever since.

Friedrich von Papen (Wilbring 1) royal prussia. Head forester of Niederense-Bremen, Lord of the house Himmpelpforten with his wife Fanny born. Freyin von Schelver, on House Schafhausen

However, at the beginning of the 1870s, the royal Prussian master forester in the Niederense-Bremen state forest, Friedrich von Papen (Wilbring 1), bought the manor house of Himmelpforten. After his death it was sold because the eldest son Felix had other plans as a mining engineer.

The monastery church remained the parish church of the nearby village of Niederense .

Bombardment of the Möhne barrier wall

Wall with memorial plaques
Blackboard with history data and Bible quote

On the night of May 16 to May 17, 1943, the four kilometers upstream Möhne Dam was destroyed by a bombing raid by the British Royal Air Force . This operation was called " Chastise " (chastisement), in retaliation of the massive German bombardment in England since 1940. The entire monastery was torn away by the tidal wave that poured out of the reservoir and was initially over twelve meters high. The local pastor and some residents were killed.

A memorial on the site of the former Himmelpforten monastery today commemorates the total of over 1200 deaths in the Möhne disaster .

Himmelpforten community

The area around the Himmelpforten monastery formed a separate community in the Körbecke district , then in the Bremen district. Their neighboring communities were Niederense and Günne . On April 1, 1901, it was incorporated into the neighboring community of Niederense. Since July 1, 1969, its former area has belonged to the municipality of Ense.

See also

literature

  • Michael Senger (Red.): Monastery fates. On the history of the secularized monasteries in the Sauerland region of Cologne. Westfälisches Schieferbergbau- und Heimatmuseum, Holthausen 2003 ( Westfälisches Schieferbergbau- und Heimatmuseum Holthausen contributions 13).
  • Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 Chapter on Himmelpforten Monastery as a PDF file
  • Paul Leidinger: The Himmelpforten Abbey between Reformation and Secularization. On the constitutional history of a Westphalian Cistercian monastery In: Westfälische Zeitschrift Vol. 121/1971 pp. 283–349 PDF file

Web links

Commons : Himmelpforten Monastery (Möhnesee)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 352
  2. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: The monastery landscape of the Duchy of Westphalia in the High Middle Ages. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: Westphalia from the Electorate of Cologne from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster, 2009 p. 93
  3. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 370-372
  4. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 353
  5. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 353f.
  6. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: The monastery landscape of the Duchy of Westphalia in the High Middle Ages. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: Westphalia from the Electorate of Cologne from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster, 2009 p. 93
  7. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: The monastery landscape of the Duchy of Westphalia in the High Middle Ages. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: Westphalia from the Electorate of Cologne from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster, 2009 p. 93
  8. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 354f.
  9. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 355
  10. ↑ Gabriele Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian monasteries in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 357
  11. ^ Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 358
  12. ^ Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 362
  13. ^ Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 pp. 372-377
  14. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: The monastery landscape of the Duchy of Westphalia in the High Middle Ages. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: Westphalia from the Electorate of Cologne from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster, 2009 p. 93
  15. ^ Edeltraud Klueting: The monastery landscape of the Duchy of Westphalia in the High Middle Ages. In: Harm Klueting (Ed.): The Duchy of Westphalia. Vol. 1: Westphalia from the Electorate of Cologne from the beginnings of Cologne rule in southern Westphalia to secularization in 1803. Münster, 2009 p. 93
  16. ^ Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 365f.
  17. ^ Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 367f.
  18. ^ Maria Hock: The Westphalian Cistercian convents in the 13th century, founding circumstances and early development. Diss. Münster, 1994 p. 368f.
  19. ^ Maren Kuhn-Rehfus: Cistercian women in Germany. In: The Cistercians. Religious life between ideal and reality. Bonn, 1980. p. 131
  20. ^ Maren Kuhn-Rehfus: Cistercian women in Germany. In: The Cistercians. Religious life between ideal and reality. Bonn, 1980 p. 134
  21. ^ Maren Kuhn-Rehfus: Cistercian women in Germany. In: The Cistercians. Religious life between ideal and reality. Bonn, 1980 p. 132
  22. ^ Maren Kuhn-Rehfus: Cistercian women in Germany. In: The Cistercians. Religious life between ideal and reality. Bonn, 1980 p. 154
  23. ^ A. Ludorf: Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen, Kreis Soest published by the Provinzial-Verbande der Provinz Westfalen, 1905, p. 39
  24. ↑ Stephanie Reekers: The regional development of the districts and communities of Westphalia 1817-1967 . Aschendorff, Münster Westfalen 1977, ISBN 3-402-05875-8 , p. 246 .
  25. ↑ Martin Bünermann: The communities of the first reorganization program in North Rhine-Westphalia . Deutscher Gemeindeverlag, Cologne 1970, p. 90 f .