Baiselsberg monastery ruins
The Baiselsberg monastery ruins are the excavation site of a former monastery of the regulated Augustinians in Baden-Württemberg .
Geographical location
The excavation site is at an altitude of 433-436 m above sea level on the southeast side of the 477 m high Baiselsberg in Stromberg , Vaihingen-Horrheim mark, Ludwigsburg district, Baden-Württemberg. The next neighboring villages are Hohenhaslach and Horrheim .
history
Between 1364 and 1374 some pious women let themselves be hermits ('inclusae'), i. H. without religious affiliation, down on the Baiselsberg. They belonged to the upper urban bourgeoisie and submitted to a "mater" belonging to the regional lower nobility: Anna von Gemmingen . The oldest known document from 1374 concerns a donation from Countess Mechthild von Zollern , b. von Vaihingen, and follows on from a previous foundation act (which cannot be documented). The pious collection acquired modest prosperity through foundations and assets brought in and lived on the annual income from rent purchases. In addition, the later monastery had two altar benefices: Mary Magdalene and Trinity benefices.
In 1478, the pious collection was threatened with expulsion when the Tübingen Augustinian hermits were to be relocated to the Baiselsberg without a new home being planned for the sisters. Soon after, however, the pious women were affiliated with the regulated Augustinian women (choir women) as part of the monastery reforms by Eberhard im Bart . They established close relationships with the Augustinian Canons of Sindelfingen and were very likely close to the Windesheim congregation. For a long time, local researchers had mistakenly mistaken the monastery for an "Augustinian Hermit Nuns Priory".
The small monastery church was a place of pilgrimage, was consecrated to the Holy Trinity ( St. Trinity ) and housed a “fist-sized tooth” of St. Christopher as a popular relic . With the connection to the regulated Augustinian women, the sisters took on social tasks such as raising children: “book boxes” are occupied, and two children were found among the burials in the cemetery, between the ages of twelve and two. An illegitimate daughter of Count Heinrich von Württemberg-Moempelgard with the name Katharina was brought up here in 1494/98.
Soon after 1500 the monastery ran into economic difficulties, which increased dramatically after the introduction of the Reformation (from 1535), as all annual income had been confiscated by the ducal administration. Some sisters emigrated, the prioress moved to another monastery. What remained were three old women who, in the winter of 1546/47 , fell into complete misery in their monastery after a robbery by marauding soldiers (Spanish occupation after the Schmalkaldic War ). With the secularization of the church property during the Reformation, the monastery was abolished in October 1547 and demolished nine years later. The ruins served the people in the neighboring villages as a stone depot until the 19th century and finally disappeared under the forest floor.
Excavation and reconstruction
The approximately 2000 m² excavation area and its surroundings were completely forested before the excavation. Surface finds of ceramic shards in 1970 indicated that the medieval settlement had been lost. The excavation, funded from 1975 to 1990 by the State Monuments Office of Baden-Württemberg (today the State Office for Monument Preservation) and financially supported in particular by the city of Vaihingen / Enz , was intended to identify the facility, which was completely covered by the forest floor: In the eastern part of the excavation area, the foundation trenches of a small church were filled with rubble with a rectangular choir, as well as the altar foundation, the cemetery and the surrounding wall. In the west and south the remains of the foundations of some residential and farm buildings, the partially preserved clay tile floor of a living room, two vaulted cellars, an oven and a 10 m deep draw well and remains of sewage systems and stone paving were found. This meant that the complex could be identified as a monastery, which was known from some documents (without reference to its location). The complex was not completely excavated; later investigations could bring new points of view.
The foundations of the small church were reconstructed with foreign stones, as was the above-ground part of the draw well. The clay tile floor of a living room was replaced by a weather-resistant replica. The remains of the wall foundations were preserved in their found condition. The ceramic shards recovered in extraordinarily large quantities and in a variety of shapes are considered to be a significant result of the excavation. On the basis of the archival findings, they can be dated relatively precisely. T. could be reconstructed to complete vessels. In addition, there were numerous stove tiles, many of them figuratively ornamented as well as u. a. Glass fragments and objects of everyday use. The city of Vaihingen / Enz is responsible for maintaining the excavation site. Selected finds, document reproductions and excavation photos are exhibited in the small monastery museum in the Horrheim town hall, which is accessible during the opening hours of the administrative office.
literature
- Micha Bachteler, Various hollow glass forms from the abandoned monastery on Baiselsberg near Horrheim, district of Ludwigsburg, in: OPVSCVLA - Festschrift Franz Fischer = Tübinger Contributions to Pre- and Early History 2, 1987, 191-221.
- Fritz Wullen, a forest monastery of the regulated Augustinians in the late Middle Ages. Archival research on the abandoned monastery on the Baiselsberg, Vaihingen-Horrheim, Ludwigsburg district, Historegio vol. 6, Remshalden 2005, 136 pages, ISBN 3-927981-80-X . (Summary and edition of all documents in the original text with translation)
- Fritz Wullen, The Augustinian Monastery on the Baiselsberg, in: Die Mörin, series of publications by the Sachsenheim Home History Association, Issue 52, 2007, 34 p. (Short, narrative representation)
- Fritz Wullen, The order affiliation of the pious collection on the Baiselsberg, in: Journal for Württembergische Landesgeschichte, 55th year 1996, pp. 387–389
- Fritz Wullen, utility ceramics of the late Middle Ages and early modern times from the Augustinian convent Baiselsberg, Remshalden 2010, 140 pages, ISBN 978-3-927981-22-5 (overview of the ceramic utensils used in the Baiselsberg monastery. Based on the catalog and 87 illustration panels with The findings are discussed in about 1200 individual drawings of shards or reconstructed ceramic material.)
- Fritz Wullen, motifs on stove tiles from the Augustinian convent on Baiselsberg, in: Series of publications of the city of Vaihingen ad Enz, Vol. 5, 1987, pp. 119–142.
Coordinates: 48 ° 59 ′ 53.5 " N , 8 ° 59 ′ 26.9" E