Marienfließ Monastery (Prignitz)
Monastery Marienfließ is a former Cistercian - Abbey named in the monastery after 2001 formed community Marienfließ . It was the oldest nunnery in the Brandenburg region of Prignitz .
The founding family, the noble gentlemen Gans zu Putlitz , pursued the strategic goal of securing the border with nearby Mecklenburg when it was founded in 1231 . The one-nave brick monastery church from the 13th century, which is now in the middle of a park-like complex, has been preserved from the monastery complex . The Evangelical Church now uses the area, which was converted into the Evangelical Marienfließ Abbey after the Reformation, as an old people's and nursing home for diaconal care for the elderly.
Location and natural space
The monastery is located in the Stepenitz district of the Marienfließ community, around 20 kilometers north of Pritzwalk and around 6 kilometers west of Meyenburg , above the Meyenburg motorway exit, about halfway on the A 24 Berlin - Hamburg . The Stepenitz , which is one of the cleanest rivers in Germany, flows right past the monastery park. In the upper reaches of the eponymous place Stepenitz, the Elbe tributary is a largely undeveloped and near-natural stream, which winds behind the park through meadows and extensive forests with smaller alder quarries and sections similar to alluvial forests . Two areas of the district are under special protection: the nature reserves Marienfließ and Quaßliner Moor (see Stepenitz ).
history
Foundation and benefactor
After the monasteries Zinna (1171), Lehnin (1180) and Dobrilugk (1165/1184), Marienfließ was the fourth monastery to be founded under the name of the Cistercians in the Märkisch-Lausitz area. The monastery was founded in 1230 by the knight and noble gentleman Johann Gans zu Putlitz as a family monastery and was confirmed on August 12, 1231 by Bishop Wilhelm von Havelberg . Johann Gans resided in a castle in Putlitz, about 10 kilometers southwest . The noble family Gans zu Putlitz , which still exists today, was one of the most influential families in the Prignitz , especially in the centuries of the late Middle Ages .
In the former Berlin Siegesallee , Johann Gans von Putlitz received a bust as a side memorial to the statue of the Ascanian margrave Otto II (1184–1205). The knight holds a model of the monastery in his right hand and the deed of foundation in his left. The entire group of three, to which the bust of the chronicler Heinrich von Antwerp also belonged, was the work of the sculptor Joseph Uphues . In the inscription, Uphues omitted the false statement that the Wilsnacker miracle blood had been kept in the Marienfließ monastery - in fact, this relic had never left the Wilsnacker miracle blood church. Legend has it that the founding of the monastery goes back to the Marienfließer relic .
Founding legend
Legend has it that Emperor Otto IV received a blood relic from a sultan on a pilgrimage to Palestine , which allegedly contained a few drops of the blood that Christ had shed on the cross . Back in Germany, Otto IV hid the relic for life. After the emperor's death, an initiate passed it on to Johann Gans, who wanted to use the pen to create a suitable place to keep the jewel and entrust it to the nuns. The relic was first mentioned in 1369. An eternal light burned in front of the niche in the choir room in which it was kept .
In their work on the Marienfließ monastery, Bergstedt and Geiseler suspect that the legend was circulated towards the end of the 13th century in order to counter the incipient and competing pilgrimage to the Stift zum Heiligengrabe monastery (west of Wittstock ), which was founded nearby in 1287 . The hoped-for success did not materialize, however, Marienfließ did not become a much-visited place of pilgrimage like Heiligengrabe or Wilsnack . A new attempt in the 15th century to draw attention to oneself with a miraculous image of the Virgin also failed.
Reasons for a nunnery
One reason why Johann Gans zu Putlitz founded a women's monastery and not a monastery is the settlement policy of the Cistercians . The Order established his filiation at that time rather unsettled and often inaccessible marshes to his ascetic rule of life to satisfy and the colonization of young Mark Brandenburg to support economic and missiological alternately (see. Lehnin ). Male monasteries were therefore mainly based on foundations of the sovereigns and filiations, while nunneries were almost exclusively founded by local noble families in already populated areas. In addition, a nunnery offered the opportunity to provide an appropriate training and accommodation facility for the aristocratic women in the region who were not to be married, who were also largely protected from raids from nearby Mecklenburg, as the monastery grounds were usually spared from armed conflicts.
By making the monastery site taboo, a nunnery could serve to secure the border. As the political situation in Prignitz in the 13th century shows, the real reason for the foundation of the monastery was the consolidation of the border.
Political background of the foundation
Situation in the Prignitz in the 13th century
At the end of the 12th century, Johann Gans zu Putlitz had joined forces with Albrecht the Bear's grandson , Margrave Otto II, and thus secured the protection of his territories against the Mecklenburg sphere of influence. Under Otto's brother and successor Albrecht II (1205–1220) a radical change in policy occurred. The new Brandenburg Margrave allied himself with Count Heinrich von Schwerin , an archenemy of Johann Gans zu Putlitz, who probably for this reason felt compelled to seek union on the Danish side in order to secure territorial security .
This liaison paid off. For example, the Danish king responded immediately to the expulsion of Johann Gans from the Mecklenburg castle Grabow (southeast of Ludwigslust ) in 1208 with a retaliatory strike against the Mecklenburgers. Gans zu Putlitz finally lost the Land Grabow to the Schwerin Counts and the Lands Pritzwalk and Lenzen to the sovereign Margrave Albrecht II, but he was able to secure the rule in the core area of Putlitz under the suzerainty of the Havelberg Bishop. The family property Perleberg and Wittenberge was also preserved for the time being.
The battle of Bornhöved on July 27, 1227 ended the Danish domination in northern Germany and Johannes Gans saw the lands in the Prignitz again threatened by the Schwerin side. In addition, the Count of Schwerin concluded an alliance treaty with the Mecklenburg principalities in October 1230 , which bordered directly on the areas of the von Gans in the Prignitz.
Founding of a monastery as a border security
Johannes Gans countered the threatening situation with a renewed reference to the Brandenburg margraves and the bishop of Havelberg. With Meyenburg Castle, the new allies had an outpost in the northeast of the Prignitz, which could cover the northern border. Due to the wide-ranging opposing alliance, this castle seemed too weak on its own to effectively protect the entire north flank against the north German superiority.
With the founding of the nunnery a few kilometers west of Meyenburg Castle, Johann Gans succeeded in making a clever political move to secure the border, because armed conflicts in monastery areas were largely taboo at this time. Therefore, a women's monastery was suitable to supplement the border security of the Meyenburg. According to Clemens Bergstedt and Udo Geiseler, the founding of the Marienfließ monastery can be understood as a direct response to the treaty of October 1230.
Relationship to the Cistercian Order
The religious women's movement of the 13th century found an ideal space in the strict seclusion of the Cistercian convents. The strong affective piety of the time encouraged women to empathize with the life and suffering of Christ . The Cistercian women Mechthild von Magdeburg and Gertrud von Helfta from the Helfta monastery are among the most famous mystics of their time. The culturally and economically successful and from a religious point of view exemplary way of life of the monks led to the founding of various women's monasteries, which, however, were usually not accepted into the order. Marienfließ remained largely isolated from the order, even if the order allowed the acceptance of women's monasteries in principle since 1228.
Historical research does not provide a uniform picture of the reasons. After Bergstedt and Geiseler, the majority of the women's convents were refused admission to the order . This contradicts the opening of the order to convents in the year 1228. It is therefore more likely that the founding family Gans zu Putlitz wanted to preserve the independence of their family monastery and not turn it over to the strong control of the order.
Monastery life and economy
Ora et labora
Very few sources have come down to us about the inner constitution of the monastery and the monastery life, so that only a fragmentary picture emerges. The secular administration of monastic affairs was in the hands of a provost , while the convent was headed by the abbess , who had the prioress at her side for support . In 1256 a document mentions a scholastica , i.e. a school. It is also certain that there was a chamberlain for cash matters .
Apart from activities such as missionary work and church building in areas that were to be developed, the nuns otherwise followed the example of the monks in their daily routine. With a strict, ascetic way of life, the nuns also followed the Charter of Caritatis , with which the Cistercians wanted to restore the original rigor and the "ora et labora" rule of the Benedictine order , from which they separated in 1098 . Under the influence of Bernhard von Clairvaux , simple clothing, a modest diet with vegetables without any meat and thatched beds without upholstery shaped the way of life in the Cistercian monasteries.
The daily routine in Marienfließ was determined by work, interrupted by seven times of prayer and two masses. Masses and prayers were often given to the founding family and other noble patrons of the monastery, which was of great importance in the self-image of the nobility at that time.
In the early days of the monastery, the monastery documents contain the names of the daughters from the most important Prignitz noble houses. After political relaxation in the second half of the 12th century, daughters of the Mecklenburg territorial nobility were increasingly accepted into the convent. There are hardly any common names throughout the monastery period.
Real estate
In addition to the founding equipment by Johannes Gans in the form of 60 Hufen Land, various donations were made over the years, and the Counts of Schwerin also made donations to the monastery. The background to the largest donation by the Mecklenburg princes von Werle bei Ludwigslust from 1274 has not yet been sufficiently clarified. This donation consisted of 5 villages, 2 mills and 44 Hufen land .
The monastery expanded its property through its own acquisitions in Prignitz and Mecklenburg. The hard work in agriculture and extensive ownership brought the nuns considerable wealth and prosperity through pensions and interest payments . For example, in 1404 the monastery was able to advance 65 marks of Lübeck pfennigs from the Mecklenburg Duke for the release of the captured Kaspar Gans zu Putlitz .
The land ownership of the monastery was in its heyday in the 15th and 16th centuries. Century cross-border and in addition to the Brandenburg and Mecklenburg villages also included free float in Lüneburg in the then Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , which, for example, brought the monastery a pension of 48 guilders in 1445 . In total, the Cistercian women owned various mills, 21 villages or parts of these villages, four of which fell into desolation . The core area lay between the places Lübz , today's Plau am See , Meyenburg and Putlitz .
Sporadic attacks by some princes and counts, particularly from the Mecklenburg area, with the aim of appropriating the monastery property, were unsuccessful.
Reformation and Secularization
Inner resistance
With the Reformation in 1544, the monastery was converted into a Protestant women's monastery. Many monastery properties, especially in Mecklenburg, were lost.
From 1540 onwards, Elector Joachim II became increasingly willing to listen to Luther's interpretation of the Gospel, to which he officially declared himself in 1555. Marienfließ was subordinate to the Havelberg bishop , who was one of the most determined opponents of the Reformation, but could not prevent the Reformation. However, the appointment of a Lutheran pastor to Marienfliess lasted until 1544, while in most Cistercian monasteries the Protestant visitors to the electoral commission of Joachim II took care of the reorganization at the beginning of the 1540s. The visitation protocols do not provide any information about when Marienfließ was visited. The hymn poet Daniel Rumpius (1549–1600) is mentioned as one of the first Protestant collegiate priests.
The Marienfließer nuns themselves exerted a kind of internal resistance to the developments of the new era for a long time . The resistance in Marienfließ was not as intense as in the Stift zum Heiligengrabe monastery , whose nuns, under the resolute leadership of the abbess Anna von Quitzow, from the old noble and (alleged) robber baron family of those von Quitzow, tried several times to storm the Ostprignitz monastery until 1544 , forcibly prevented. But in 1678, after the Thirty Years' War ( 1618 - 1648 ), the Marienfließer canonesses had reintroduced some Latin chants that had already been abolished ... and had preachers called from Mecklenburg administer the sacraments in the way they wanted . The “noble gentleman” zu Putlitz at that time, Hans Albrecht Gans zu Putlitz , then asked the consistory to “take due account of this criminal attentati”.
Task of self-advocacy
After the secularization , Elector Joachim II pledged the monastery to the noble lords of Putlitz in 1550, in any case he never redeemed the pledge, so that the Prignitz nobility could get Marienfließ as an abbey, in which the daughters of the lords continued to find training and accommodation. In the period that followed, several canonesses devoted themselves to the care and welfare of the sick and those who had recently given birth in the neighboring villages.
While the Mecklenburg property was lost to the monastery, the canons were able to keep the Putlitz possessions in part by negotiating a compromise with the Lords of Putlitz in 1552. They retained some rights to the monastery villages, but waived their right of self-representation and recognized the Lords of Putlitz as their authorities. While the resolute ladies from Heiligengrabe continued to represent themselves in the state parliaments , the gentlemen from Putlitz now took care of the monastery affairs of Marienfließ, who appointed a rotter in place of the provost . The prioress took over the internal management, the richly endowed position of the abbess was omitted.
Thirty Years War and Consequences
During the Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 the facility was looted and fires several times . The devastation led to the complete destruction of the monastery complex, which adjoined the church to the north. Only the monastery church was preserved. The canonesses left the former monastery and sought refuge with their families. It was not until after 1650 that they gradually returned to begin rebuilding, which, due to modest financial resources, took a long time to complete. Until the beginning of the 18th century the convent consisted of only 6 people.
Despite the contract of 1552 between Kloster and the zu Putlitz family, there were repeated disputes between the parties. In 1679, for example, no agreement could be reached on the appointment of a new pastor , with the result that no services were held that year until the Berlin consistory appointed a third person to be the pastor. There were also different interpretations of the patronage rights with regard to filling vacancies in the monastery . The canons refused the centuries-old privilege of the cartridge to find acceptance in prayers. There were also disagreements on economic issues, for example in the regulation of services or the interpretation of timber and grazing rights. It was not until 1783 that both sides found a workable regulation with new statutes .
Fight for the order star
The consequences of the Enlightenment led to the abolition of the foundations in the old territories in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of the last session of the Perpetual Reichstag on February 25, 1803 . However, King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who was generally reluctant to reform, continued . the decision in Prussia did not change, so that Marienfließ remained as a monastery.
Two years before the March Revolution of 1848, his eldest son and successor, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Granted the Marienfließ monastery a star for which the ladies had fought for almost 100 years. According to the vernacular, Lüderjahn Friedrich Wilhelm II. , Who is thick according to the vernacular , had already granted the neighboring and repeatedly competing Stift Heiligengrabe an order of monastery and awarded its 1st lady Juliane Henriette von Winterfeldt the title of abbess . Henriette von Winterfeldt was a sister of Friedrich Wilhelm's adjutant general. Without the knowledge of their headmistress, three young conventual women turned to Frederick II in 1758 with the request to also award the star to their pen. The wish of these three ladies is said to have been carried somewhat by vanity. Because in the statutes negotiated with the Putlitzens it was laid down that silk could no longer be worn and a simple uniform black costume was laid down. The three petitioners are said to have promised themselves a small piece of jewelry on their dark robes from the star of the order. Friedrich did not comply with the request.
The Stein and Hardenberg reforms at the beginning of the 19th century with the reorganization of the traditional feudal burden systems very likely had considerable effects on the supply system in Marienfließ, which at that time was still largely characterized by benefits in kind. In the absence of historical investigations, reliable data on this and the upheavals are not available.
In 1928 the monastery was incorporated into the village of Stepenitz .
building
Monastery complex
Of the buildings in the monastery complex, only the church remained after the Thirty Years War. Documents about the design of the complex have not survived, but building findings on the church and comparisons with other nunneries suggest that the cloister was on the west side of the church. Since this led through a walled-up portal in the western north yoke that is still visible today, the convent building with the dormitory was probably connected to the west wing of the cloister. Because the monasteries were usually built in such a way that there was direct access from the dormitory to the gallery, especially for morning prayers. The enclosure was on the north side, as the high windows of the church on this side suggest. The nuns tended a monastery garden along the Stepenitz.
After their return to the war-torn monastery grounds in the 1650s, the ladies used the remaining ruins as building material for the construction of modern monastery buildings and set up friendly houses .
Monastery church
Church building
The monastery church is a single-nave early Gothic brick building with parts made of the typical Prignitz mixed brick and field stone, complemented by two portals with two-tone glazed bricks. The south side of the nave, which dates from the 13th century, has a charming effect, alternating from brick red to white of the pointed arches of the double, superimposed rows of windows, known as the Ober- and Untergaden. The light fell directly through the upper storey onto the former wooden nuns' gallery . In the upper part, pointed arch panels alternate with three-part pointed arch windows, while the lower part contains lined-up high pointed arch panels with lancet windows.
Some information has been handed down in the church invoice for the repair of the church after the Thirty Years' War. Then a master carpenter received 10 thalers for the new construction of the bell tower , a carpenter repaired the broken oak door, a glazier installed new windows and a bricklayer repaired damage to the facade and roof. The bell tower from this period no longer exists. Today's square roof turret over the partially modified west side dates from 1829. The supporting pillars also go back to 1829 and are not part of the original structure.
Interior
The interior of the church is uniformly neo-Gothic and dates from around 1900, when the royal building supervisor Walther furnished and painted the building. The organ from 1868 comes from the Heerwagen workshop . No interior has survived from the medieval period. Only a few stained glass in the choir room and two paintings from the former altar extension with the titles The Holy Communion from 1701 and Christ on the Cross with Mary and John from 1784 have survived to this day. From the time of the monastery, certain information is only available about the aforementioned nuns' gallery and the niche for keeping the blood relic behind an eternal light.
Today's Marienfließ Abbey
Conflicts with Mecklenburg, the era of robber barons, secularization , the Thirty Years' War, the March Revolution and two world wars did not lead to the loss of property - it was only with the land reform of the GDR at the end of the 1940s that the monastery lost all of its forest and land holdings. However, it remained as a church institution under the care of the collegiate chapter and the direction of a superior, while the founding family Gans zu Putlitz was expelled from their Wolfshagen Castle , which was subsequently looted by the Red Army . During this time, the former nunnery was converted into a pen for the elderly and people in need of care.
In the 1950s, mainly church employees took their retirement home in Marienfließ, such as B. the first pastor of Brandenburg and writer Eva Hoffmann-Aleith . Since 1980 the management has belonged to the St. Elisabeth Foundation Berlin , which is active in the field of diaconal care for the elderly and today belongs to the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia .
The building ensemble is characterized by a juxtaposition of modern and renovated venerable monastery buildings. The buildings are scattered in the extensive park, in which, among other things, two expansive, ancient beech trees provide shade. The park and the path to Stepenitz behind the monastery grounds are open to visitors. The facility has been renting out apartments for assisted living since 1990 . The living concept is intended to look after elderly people with carers and other specialists and to support them in coping with individual problems so that the greatest possible autonomy is guaranteed.
The Kurt-Scharf-Haus nursing home opened in autumn 1992. It was named after the Protestant Bishop Kurt Scharf and whose foundation stone was laid in 1988 during the GDR era. There is space for around 60 residents. In 2000, new buildings with age-appropriate apartments for independent living were added - a total of 16 apartments in two houses on two floors. The services of the monastery can be used as desired. There are 1 ½ room apartments with 45 m² and 2-room apartments available, the basic rent is 4.09 euros per m² plus 2.40 per m² for ancillary costs (as of June 2005).
Today, the monastery receives special support from the Ev. Stifts Marienfließ eV , which has existed since 1992 and now has around 120 members. It is historically remarkable that in this sponsorship group, for example, with the physicist and former President of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences (until 2003) Gisbert Freiherr zu Putlitz, descendants of the founding family "Gans zu Putlitz" are represented, which thus the connection of this Brandenburg primeval nobility to the monastery Johann Gans zu Putlitz founded it in 1230, and has maintained it almost continuously for almost 800 years.
literature
- Gustav Albrecht, Margrave Otto II. , In: Richard George (Ed.), Hie gut Brandenburg alleweg! Historical and cultural images from the past of the Mark and from old Berlin up to the death of the Great Elector. Verlag von W. Pauli's Nachf., Berlin 1900. On the Johann Gans zu Putlitz monument, pp. 85f
- Stephan Warnatsch, History of the Lehnin Monastery 1180–1542 , Studies on the History, Art and Culture of the Cistercians, Volume 12.1, Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2000 (also: Berlin, Free University, dissertation, 1999). ISBN 3-931836-45-2 On the relationship between men and women, p. 191
- Clemens Bergstedt, Udo Geiseler, From the history of the Marienfließ monastery, Marienfließ monastery support group (ed.), Brochure 1998, web version ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) All quotations come from this work; the contents of the corresponding sections are largely borrowed from here.
- Clemens Bergstedt: The holy blood of the Marienfließ monastery. In: Wichmann-Jahrbuch des Diözesangeschichtsverein Berlin, Neue Series 6, Berlin 2001, pp. 7-20
- Bernhard von Barsewisch, Torsten Foelsch, seven parks in the Prignitz, history and condition of the manor parks of the noble gentlemen in Putlitz , Hendrik Bäßler publishing house, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-930388-32-4 on the development of the Putlitz area at the beginning of the 13th century see page 23
- Historical local dictionary for Brandenburg. Part 1. Prignitz , arr. by Lieselott Enders (publications of the Brandenburg State Main Archives), 2nd, updated and heavily ext. Ed., Verlag Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1997 ISBN 3-7400-1016-9
- Support group of the Evangelical Stift Marienfließ eV (Ed.), Klosterstift Marienfließ , Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2006 ISBN 3-936872-97-X
- Axel Attula: decorations for women. Evangelical women's pens in Northern Germany and their medals. Thomas Helms Verlag Schwerin 2011, ISBN 978-3-940207-21-0 .
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Foundation's sponsorship group
- Brandenburg ABC, Marienfließ Abbey
Coordinates: 53 ° 19 ′ 8.8 ″ N , 12 ° 8 ′ 36.1 ″ E