North monastery

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The Fräuleinshof on the site of the former monastery. The left wing of the building - the nuns 'former living area - was also known as the Princesses' Chamber, in which Armgard and Theda, the daughters of Edzard I, lived.

The north monastery is a former Dominican monastery in East Frisia . Local chiefs founded it around 1264. After the Reformation , it was the first monastery in East Frisia to be dissolved before 1530. Then the buildings were gradually demolished. Today the Ulrichsgymnasium stands on the former monastery area.

history

founding

The Friars of the Dominican Order, founded in 1215, were called to the region by the Frisians. In a letter in 1264 they wrote to the Chapter of the Order, which was meeting in Paris, asking for permission to settle [...] without hesitation . The chapter then decided to set up a monastery in Friesland. The foundation may also be related to the desire to recruit Frisians for crusades after they did not take part in the Sixth Crusade in 1248 to the extent desired.

The northern branch emerged in 1264 from a donation from the local chief families Reiner Egeramus (Eggers), Hicko Itzinga and Harko Udenga. They had given the order a piece of land and a building at the northern end of the village, which until then had served as a mint . The Dominicans sent Herardus from the Jacobean monastery in Paris to the north to build the convent. The foundation must then have progressed quickly there. The monastery was first mentioned in 1269. It was consecrated to Maria and belonged to the Teutonia Order, from 1303 to the Saxonia Province after it was separated.

From the 13th century to the Reformation

The monastery soon enjoyed a high reputation. Just a few years after its founding, members of the Emsigerland and the Hanseatic City of Bremen came together in the monastery in 1269 to extend their peace of 1255. In a letter from the Federgoer , in which they expressed their intention to also join the contract, the mediating role of the Dominicans is expressly mentioned. Two years later, the inmates contributed to the settlement of a dispute between several regional parishes of East Friesland with the Bishop of Munster.

A provincial chapter of the order in the north is documented for the first time in the year 1300 , in which probably only monks from Dominican monasteries in the area took part. Further chapters are known for the years 1337, 1383, 1422 and 1449. In the years 1318 and 1358 the monastery was occupied and fortified during unspecified unrest in the northern region.

The monastery does not seem to have been affected by the plague epidemic in 1349/50. It is possible, however, that the donation from the church in Östringsfelde by the established (= possessing) residents of the regional communities Östringen and Wangerland is related to the epidemic. The Dominicans then set up a nunnery there. It is said that almost all the monks of the settlement in the north died during the plague epidemic of 1360. Just a few years later (1367), however, 16 convent members were named again. During the Second Dionysius Flood in 1377, the monastery was badly affected. The waves are said to have penetrated the monastery walls from the east. The monastery suffered further severe damage after Easter 1430 during the clashes between chief Udo von Norden, a son of Focko Ukena , and the Brookmen . After the battle in the wild fields, they wanted to support their chief Ocko II tom Brok , who was being held prisoner in the north . Udo's followers then fled to the monastery, which the Brookmen captured, looted and eventually burned down. The subsequent reconstruction was probably also possible through inheritance from Ocko, who bequeathed part of his property to the convent after his death.

The reputation of the monastery remained high in the period that followed. Around 1400 a caland (brotherhoods of wealthy citizens for the performance of good works) was formed in the city based on the monastery. It was also the burial place of noble families. Sibet von Rüstringen , his brother-in-law Udo von Norden, his wife Hyma Idzinga as well as Edzard Cirksena and his wife Frauwa von Berum found their final resting place in the choir of the monastery church .

Traditional names of monks who later attended universities outside the region suggest that the inmates mostly came from East Frisia. Presumably there was a school in the north Dominican monastery where the monks could prepare for their studies.

Apparently a period of decline began in the 15th century. Contrary to their ideal of poverty, the Dominicans were economically active on such a large scale that the superiors of the order in Rome forbade on September 25, 1475 to do business in the monastery or offer goods. In 1502 the convent underwent a reform, which was witnessed by Count Edzard I and Uko, two abbots and other distinguished people. Armgard and Theda, daughters of Count Edzard, lived as nuns in the monastery in 1511 and 1518.

Reformation and dissolution

As early as January 1, 1527, the Dominican Hinrich Reese invited the learned theologians to a disputation on his theses, which were shaped by the Reformation spirit , in the Norder monastery through printed posters, which he had put up all over East Frisia with the permission of Count Edzard I. According to Eggerik Beninga , almost all those invited came, including Gerardus Synellius , Abbot of the Marienthal Monastery . He was the only one who defended the old faith. Hysse van Ewsum, prioress of the Marienthal monastery, wrote at the time that he and the few remaining faithful Catholics had to endure wild insults at the North Disputation . At the end of the meeting, Reese took off his robe demonstratively, symbolically confirming his break with the Catholic Church.

The school building around 1840.

As the first monastery in East Frisia, the Dominican convent then dissolved. A large number of the monks left the monastery, a prior even with a considerable part of the valuables. Count Enno II settled the rest with a pension. The count then took possession of the buildings and had them converted for a court according to his needs. During the Geldrian feud in 1531, the building complex was burned down by Balthasar von Esens . The site then lay fallow for some time. In 1558 the site served as a quarry, from which building materials for the construction of the fortifications in Aurich and Stickhausen were obtained. Before 1560, a noble women's monastery, the Froichenhof (Fräuleinshof), was built on the site of the former monastery , into which Theda and Armgard, the unmarried daughters of Edzard I, moved. Armgard died in Leerort and Theda in 1559 on November 29, 1563 on a trip to Aurich. In 1567, Count Edzard II founded a Latin school in the Oisterhaus on our hoiff to the north and provided it with income from the confiscated land owned by the Marienthal monastery. This school was the nucleus of the Ulrichsgymnasium , which today covers the former monastery area.

Building history

The cellar excavated in 2005 in the north wing of the Dominican monastery.

Immediately after the foundation of the monastery, the Dominicans probably began to erect the most important buildings that were necessary for monastery life, i.e. prayer room ( oratory ), kitchen and dining room ( refectory ) and a dormitory ( dormitory ) in barrack-like buildings made of wood. A Dominican house is mentioned for the first time in the treaty of 1269. In the same year a major fire broke out in the north as a result of a thunderstorm that destroyed large parts of the city. It is unclear whether the Dominican monastery was also affected.

In the first half of the 14th century, the buildings were replaced by brick buildings. After the destruction in 1430, the monastery has apparently been extensively repaired. In a document from 1439, chairs for the choir of the church, floor slabs and lime that were transported north via Utrecht are named. After the Reformation, Enno II had renovations carried out in 1529. But in 1531 large parts of the building complex were destroyed and a Latin school was set up in a preserved part in 1567. The Oisterhaus on the eastern flank of the monastery grounds on today's Norddeicher Straße remained in existence until the 20th century, before it was replaced by a new building in 1851/52. With this, the last remains of the monastery buildings above ground disappeared.

So far, the Dominican monastery has been able to excavate the church and parts of the enclosure building to the north, including a cellar in the north wing. Its foundation walls are shown in a showroom of the Ulrichsgymnasium. The economic sector is presumed to be in this part of the monastery.

During the excavations, more than 3200 pieces of window glass were also found, which are dated to the period from 1320 to 1340. Half of them were painted using the grisaille technique, plus numerous colored pieces. Most of the motifs are floral depictions, which have probably formed tendril patterns in the context of the grisaille glazing. In contrast, figurative representations are rare. For the archaeologists, the shards in their abundance represent the formerly splendid furnishings of the other East Frisian convents.

More than 5000 animal bones discovered animal bones also give an insight into the menu of the mendicant order in the middle of the 15th century.

Economic activity

The property of the monastery was not as extensive as that of the nearby Marienthal . It comprised almost 195 Diemat land, most of which lay on the northern municipal boundary of Osteel . The Dominicans also owned a salt works. The residents of the Sandweg and Hollweg, the Lauker and Mackerriege as well as the Mühlenlohne were obliged to do manual service to the monastery and, after its dissolution, to its legal successor, the northern bailiff, against the privilege of tax exemption.

Upright glass herb

Upright glass herb as a reminder of the northern monastery

The local researcher Friedrich Sundermann discovered Upright Glass Herb on the former site of the Dominican monastery and the adjacent properties in the 1880s . His find was forgotten until the educator, natural scientist and Memmert island warden Otto Leege rediscovered the plant in 1941. He wrote a detailed article about it with the title "Weeds that grow almost exclusively in the north, once a medicinal plant in monastery gardens, today weeds in the spit". It is likely that the plants are descendants of the upright glass herb, which was cultivated as a medicinal plant by Dominican monks before the northern monastery was destroyed in 1531. It was used in the historical monastery pharmacy as a remedy for kidney weakness, constipation, blemishes and coughs. It was mainly given as a tea with a little mint added to cover up the unpleasant taste. Here and there, the Glauskraut leaves also served as a healing pad for tumors.

In north-west Germany the herb is only found sporadically south of Lingen . Sites in East Frisia are only available on Borkum and in the north.

literature

References and comments

  1. ^ Rolf Bärenfänger : North - Dominican Monastery , viewed on November 17, 2012
  2. ↑ Hemmo Suur: History of the former monasteries in the province of East Friesland , p. 107.
  3. ↑ Quoted from: Hermann Lübbing: The Dominican monastery to the north in East Frisia . In: Yearbook of the Society for Fine Arts and Patriotic Antiquities in Emden . Vol. 22, 1926/27, pp. 269-314.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Hermann Lübbing: The Dominican monastery to the north in East Friesland . In: Yearbook of the Society for Fine Arts and Patriotic Antiquities in Emden . Vol. 22, 1926/27, pp. 269-314.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Josef Dolle: North - Dominicans . 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 3, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 3895349593 , p. 1097 ff.
  6. ↑ The city of Norden is mentioned for the first time in the document of the previous treaty from 1255
  7. ^ Rolf Bärenfänger: North - Dominican Monastery (2004). FdStNr. 2409/1: 1, city north, district Aurich . , accessed December 5, 2012
  8. ↑ Martin Tielke: Gerardus Synellius (PDF; 52 kB). In: Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland , accessed on November 17, 2012.
  9. ↑ a b c Rolf Bärenfänger: Norden (2005) , accessed on November 17, 2012
  10. ^ Rolf Bärenfänger: Archeology on the former monastery sites in the north. In: Rolf Bärenfänger (Ed.): Cistercians in the north - new research on monastery archeology. International Archeology - Working Group, Conference, Symposium, Congress 11 , Rahden / Westf. 2007, ISBN 3-89646-439-6 . Pp. 67-76.
  11. ↑ a b Rolf Bärenfänger: Archeology in churches and monasteries in East Frisia . In: News of the Marschenrat to promote research in the coastal area of ​​the North Sea . Issue 46/2009. P. 35ff. Accessed December 3, 2012.
  12. ^ Ostfriesischer Kurier from July 25, 1945
  13. ^ Karl-Theodor Schreitling: Glass herb in the monastery garden. Rare plants on North Dominican grounds . In: Heim und Herd. Supplement to the Ostfriesischer Kurier (Ed. Johann Haddinga ). 7/2007 (August 18). P. 28

Coordinates: 53 ° 35 '49.4 "  N , 7 ° 11' 57.2"  E