Langen Monastery

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Langen Monastery , also Langermonka , is a former double monastery of the Premonstratensians in East Frisia .

history

To date, it is unclear when the Premonstratensians founded the monastery. In his History of the former monasteries in the province of East Friesland , published in 1838, Hemmo Suur suspected : an attempt to establish a foundation in the second half of the 12th century; Gerhard Streich believes that in his work Monasteries, Stifts and Commons in Lower Saxony before the Reformation, it was around 1240 probably and Norbert Backmund, in his Monasticon Praemonstratense from 1952, considers a system after 1235 to be conceivable.

What is certain, however, is that the initiative for the construction of the monastery came from Premonstratensians from the Dutch Abbey of Oldenklooster near Kloosterburen ( De Marne ), which itself was only built after 1163. The Premonstratensians built their new abbey near the town of Langen bei Emden on the banks of the Ems and consecrated it to St. Jacob . The monastery was first mentioned in a document in 1255 in a peace treaty between the city of Bremen and the residents of the Emsiger and Norderland regions . In 1290, 100 monastery residents were named in a visitation report, whereby the report did not differentiate between conventual and lay members . During the great plague epidemic of the Middle Ages, 50 people died of the disease in the monastery in 1355. Here, too, it is unclear whether they were lay people or conventuals, so that it is not possible to determine the exact size of the convention. In 1374 the mother monastery Langen released from its supervisory authority.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Langen fell into a serious crisis. From the 1430s onwards, complaints of low numbers of conventuals, lack of discipline, economic problems and excessive consumption of conversations increased . Thereupon the provost Popatus von Riepe ordered a separation of the monastery into a male and a female convent and the subordination of Langen under the control of the abbot of the Cistercian monastery Termunten in 1434. However, Popatus failed with his reform projects and resigned from his office in 1437. The separation of the convent was not carried out either. In the following years all attempts to regulate the situation in the monastery failed. This only changed when Sebastian von Hulst was appointed provost in 1474. Under his aegis, the disciplinary problems were resolved. In contrast, Langen's economic situation remained difficult. Under his successor Johann Boermel (from 1479) Langen was finally converted into a women's convent. The economic problems persisted, however, and worsened when Langen was badly affected by severe storm surges. Thereupon the General Chapter of the Premonstratensian Order allowed the monastery to be relocated to Blauhaus in 1499 . Langen was then managed as an estate under the name of Logumer Vorwerk for a few years before it sank completely into the floods. From 1500 there were only sisters in the monastery and the relocation was completely completed by 1529 at the latest.

To this day, many documents have been received from the Langen Monastery, which are kept in the Lower Saxony State Archives in Aurich . There are 134 originals and 296 items in a copy book as well as an inventory of goods from around 1500.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Matthias Bley: Langen / Blauhaus . In: Josef Dolle with the collaboration of Dennis Kniehauer (Ed.): Lower Saxony Monastery Book. Directory of the monasteries, monasteries, comedians and beguinages in Lower Saxony and Bremen from the beginnings to 1810 . Part 2, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 3-89534-958-5 , p. 908 ff.
  2. ^ Hemmo Suur: History of the former monasteries in the province of East Friesland: an attempt . Hahn, Emden 1838. P. 73 f.
  3. ↑ Gerhard Streich: Monasteries, monasteries and those coming in Lower Saxony before the Reformation. With a source and literature appendix on the church structure . Lax, Hildesheim 1986 (studies and preparatory work for the Historical Atlas of Lower Saxony, vol. 30).
  4. ^ Norbert Backmund: Monasticon Praemonstratense. T. 2 . Berlin 1952.
  5. ↑ Hemmo Suur: History of the former monasteries in the province of East Friesland , p. 74
  6. ^ The Norder Treaty 1255 , original text with translation by Gerd Dickers, Norden (PDF 73 kB)
  7. ^ Prämonstratenser.de: Langen (west of Emden) before 1529 relocated as Blauhaus monastery to Woltzeten (district of Aurich), viewed on January 6, 2010

Coordinates: 53 ° 20 '0.7 "  N , 7 ° 8' 5.8"  E