Kaufungen Monastery

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Kaufungen Collegiate Church
Interior of the collegiate church
Donation deed of Heinrich II. 1019 for Kaufungen

The monastery Kaufungen was a 1017 by Empress Kunigunde founded Benedictine - Abbey in Kaufungen in northern Hesse Kassel district .

history

Foundation and early years

In May 1017 Kunigunde stayed in the royal court of Kaufungen, which had already been given to her as a widow's property by her husband, Emperor Heinrich II. , In 1008 . There, according to Thietmar von Merseburg , she is said to have vowed to found a monastery during a serious illness. She recovered and soon afterwards started building the monastery. After the death of her husband in 1024, Kunigunde , who was later canonized , retired as a simple nun to the young Benedictine monastery, where she died on March 3, 1033.

On July 13, 1025, the monastery church that began in 1018 was consecrated.

The first abbess was Oda, whose death is recorded in the Annalista Saxo in 1035 .

The governors of the imperial abbey of Kaufungen were, beginning in 1024 with Werner I , the counts of Maden and Gudensberg .

Conversion to pen

Kaufungen remained an imperial monastery until 1089, but was then subordinated to the Bishop of Speyer by Emperor Heinrich IV . It was able to free itself from this dependency in the 12th century. It was initially transformed into a canonical pen without religious vows and finally into a free-worldly pen for the care of noble ladies.

reform

In the 16th century the monastery was given to the Bursfeld Congregation at the instigation of Landgrave Wilhelm II . In February 1509 the abbots Franz von Ketteler von Corvey and Dietrich II von Bredelar carried out the first visitation with the assistance of the dean Heinrich Ruland from Kassel Martinsstift and the abbots Heinrich Ohm von Bursfelde and Johann Meyer von Breitenau . Abbess Elisabeth von Plesse and the canons were replaced by a new convent from the Benedictine convent Gehrden , which had belonged to the Bursfeld congregation since 1474. Since the Archbishop of Mainz, Uriel von Gemmingen, refused to recognize the appointment of the new abbess Anna von der Borch , he ordered a new visitation. This was carried out in November 1509 by the abbots from Corvey, Bursfelde and Breitenau, as well as by Heinrich Ruland and two clerics from the Fritzlarer Petersstift . The monastery was then a member of the Bursfeld Observance, but not for long.

Repeal

After the introduction of the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse , the monastery was abolished in 1527 and the Reform Convention returned to Gehrden. Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous , together with that of the Wetter Monastery, handed over ownership of the monastery to the Hessian knighthood to care for the female members of this noble corporation . It still exists today as the Kaufungen Knightly Abbey .

investment

The Kaufungen collegiate church is considered to be the most important late Tonic building in Northern Hesse. The choir of the original Romanesque basilica, which was completed and consecrated in 1025, had to be vaulted around 1175 after being severely damaged. In the second quarter of the 13th century, the conversion to a Gothic hall church began, and in 1422 most of the windows and doors were renewed and the side aisle walls were raised in the Gothic style. The Gothic wall paintings were also created in the 15th century. After another fire, the church was enlarged in 1564 and painted wooden ceilings were added. The emperors in the westwork were exposed again in 1938.

literature

Web links

Commons : Kaufungen Abbey  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 16 '48.4 "  N , 9 ° 38' 3.5"  E