Wyden Monastery
The former Franciscan nuns - Wyden Monastery - commonly known as Wydenchlösterli - in the Swiss town of Rapperswil-Jona was founded in 1259 and dissolved in the run-up to the Reformation in 1521.
location
The buildings of the convent were built on the Jona in the so-called Rütiwald in the domain of the Counts of Rapperswil . Today the area is in the municipality of the Jona district of Rapperswil-Jona in the canton of St. Gallen , not far from the border with neighboring Rüti in the canton of Zurich.
history
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The founding of the Wydenklösterli goes back to a gift from Count Rudolf IV von Rapperswil in 1259. It got its name from the willows ( Wyden ) that grew at this point in the former Herrenwald . The Barfüsserkloster Zurich was responsible for the supervision of the monastic community .
Six sisters are known by name for the year 1440: Nefa Mungin, Mätza Islerin, Anna Gärtnerin, Anna Gergerin, Enzla Müllerin and Chatarina Sizlin, who lived according to the third rule of the Franciscan rule and were called Tertians . It was not until 1489 that a chapel was built on behalf of the superior Adelheid Kistler and consecrated to the Mother of God.
Around 1500 the " former discipline and order as well as the zeal for faith " is said to have vanished, the sisters no longer lived according to the rule of the order and around 1520 " immorality openly revealed ". The women in the religious order, which is surrounded by the forest and living in isolation, were also accused of having " behaved badly in other respects ", of having no longer followed the strict house rules, and the reputation of the independent community was increasingly damaged by further slander.
In order to “ avoid greater evil ”, the spiritual and secular authorities ordered the sisters to take up residence in the Rapperswil Hospital - in fact, the convent was dissolved. In 1521 the buildings in the Joner Wald were demolished by decision of the Rapperswil council .
Dissolution of the monastery
The dissolution of the Wydenklösterli was regulated on December 21, 1521 in an agreement between the mayor and the council of the city of Rapperswil with the “ swöster houses of the third rule sant Franicissen oders ”. Brother Jörg Honer " sant Francisscen, gnant Barfüsser order, the zit läsmeister des worthy gotshus gnant zu den Barfüsser Zurich " confirmed in the name of the curator of the order, Heinricus Schlosser: The mother superior and several sisters should take up residence in Rapperswil and the mayor and council should obey promise to renounce their rights of use of the common land, to keep the right of residence in the sister's house until their death, as well as to keep their belongings, while the chapels in Widen and Grünwald will be sold (sold?). On April 16, 1544, a letter from the three umbrella locations was issued in Einsiedeln about the responsibility of the mayor and the city council of Rapperswil to the nuns, after the daily statute on October 29, 1543 in the matter of " those from Rapperswil do not want the monastery in Wieden (Wyden) how since time immemorial let the old people stay and refuse to seek advice from their Lord “in favor of the religious community. On March 8, 1544, Vogt Heini Ulrich appeared before the Rapperswil council and invited him to the meeting. The council complained that " Katharine Schüchter has been disobedient for six years and slandered the council everywhere. If you want to negotiate with her about it and make an appointment, she doesn't show up. In addition, she had denounced the council to the patrons that it had stolen 500 pounds from her ”. They also lead a " shanty life and hushan, with whores and boys husghan, darzu jr dz almusen zu Rüti ", accordingly they demand alms from the Rüti monastery, which was abolished in 1525 .
The last superior of the convent
Katharina Scheucher ( Kathrin Schüchterin ), the last superior of the monastery community, was considered a very energetic woman who, after the dissolution of the convent, campaigned for its rights and the remaining property of the monastery with the council of the city of Rapperswil. There was a legal dispute with the Rapperswil council over a pasture, and the umbrella canton of Schwyz decided in their favor. Rapperswil did not approve of this award, and the cantons of Uri, Unterwalden and Glarus acted as mediators without success. When an epidemic broke out in the stable of the Rapperswil hospital, the former superior of the Wydenklösterlis commented so ingenuously that it was interpreted as witchcraft : In 1563 she was accused of being a witch on false charges, imprisoned, sentenced to death and tortured. The superior was handcuffed and put in a sack near Heilig Hüsli , the bridge chapel of the wooden bridge Rapperswil – Hurden , in the Obersee . Her body was shamefully buried under the gallows in Rapperswil. The monastery chapel, which still existed, was demolished in the same year, and the monastery property probably passed into the ownership of the city.
Archaeological evidence
The knowledge of the former monastery at Joner Wald has been preserved through the field name Klösterli , the remains of the wall of which were rediscovered by chance in 1953 by Alber Eicher. Albert Eicher comes from Rüti, dedicated himself to uncovering the remains of the wall and secured a large number of individual finds. Fragments of a tiled stove, for example, exhibited in the Rapperswil-Jona City Museum , provide an insight into the life of the monastery community.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chlösterli , diminutive in Swiss German for small monastery .
- ↑ a b c d e f Witch trial for the last superior from Wydenklösterli , exhibition Rütner Klosterschatz: After 484 years of 'exile' - for the first time 'home leave , local museum and chronicle of the community of Rüti.
- ↑ In the original: " On the other hand, the och gmelt schultheis zbd rat tz Raperswil to the, sy vorgmeltem swöster hus Widen byshar from jrer allendt to enjoy cheap, jr fryen open hand again to jrer allendt us, if you should have loved ". A translation of the original text is left to the more experienced.
- ↑ a b Website legal sources foundation of the Swiss Lawyers Association: legal sources of the city and rule of Rapperswil (with the farms Busskirch / Jona, Kempraten and Wagen) , accessed on April 10, 2013
- ↑ Source: Rapperswil City Archives , A VIIa 1.
Coordinates: 47 ° 14 '45 " N , 8 ° 51' 14.3" E ; CH1903: 707148 / 233734