Knight Academy (Lüneburg)
The Knight Academy Lüneburg was a knight academy that was created in Lüneburg in 1656 through the conversion of the Protestant male monastery St. Michaelis into a teaching institution. She primarily taught the members of the Lüneburg nobility and only opened up to middle-class students in the 19th century. As a result of the revolution of 1848 , the knight academy was abolished in 1850.
history
The Benedictine monastery of St. Michaelis , founded before 956, was originally located outside the city walls at the foot of the Kalkberg . After the sovereign castle was razed in the War of the Lüneburg Succession , it was moved to the city in 1371. In the course of the Reformation there were efforts by the Celle dukes to abolish the monastery convent and to confiscate the monastery property. However, due to the resistance of the monastery and the city of Lüneburg, this failed and the convent remained, now as a Protestant male monastery. In 1655 the dukes made the next attempt to abolish the monastery. Despite massive opposition from the convent and the Lüneburg knighthood, Duke Christian Ludwig finally succeeded in asserting himself and reaching an agreement with the monks and the knighthood. The former residents of the monastery were compensated and the monastery assets were to be used to build and operate a school for the Lüneburg nobility.
On January 7, 1656, the educational establishment was officially founded, but the first lessons only began a few months later. The school was run by the Landhofmeister, from 1673 as landscape director , who was elected by the knightly nobility and, as a representative of the prelate class, also presided over the landscape of the Principality of Lüneburg . On average, 10 to 15 twelve to fourteen year old pupils enrolled each year and stayed at school for up to four years. A total of 1138 students attended the knight academy, of which over 40% came from the Principality of Lüneburg and only 19 students from abroad. Some families of the Lüneburg nobility are repeatedly represented in the student lists, for example the von Bülow family came from 59, the von Grote and von der Knesebeck families 33 each and the von Plato , von dem Bussche and von Harling families each with more than 20 academics . In the 19th century, middle-class students were also admitted. The lessons included the subjects German, Latin, law, theology, history, mathematics, fortress building, natural science and political science, as well as horse riding, fencing and dancing, the so-called exercises . The pupils were obliged to wear school uniforms , the appearance of which was precisely defined in the uniform rules.
In the revolutionary years around 1848 , the Knight Academy was exposed to strong criticism from the liberal public due to its class-elitist character. In 1850 the school was finally closed. From the remaining assets of the academy, the knighthood of the principality received 100,000 thalers as compensation, the rest went to the general Hanover monastery fund . Of the buildings of the knight academy, the abbot's house , today the district administration, and the riding hall built in 1790 have been preserved. Today it is used as a knight academy event center. The teaching material collection of the Knight Academy later formed the basis of the museum for the Principality of Lüneburg founded in 1891 .
Teacher
- Michael Conrad Curtius (1724–1802), German philologist and historian
Known students
- August Otto von Grote (1747–1830), Prussian minister and diplomat
- Ernst von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1789–1850), Russian general of the cavalry
- William Adolph von Hassell (1796–1865), Hanoverian horse expert
- Gustav von Blome (1829–1906), diplomat in the Austrian service and politician
- Ludwig Kohli (1769–1838), archive secretary in Oldenburg and head of the provincial archive
- Adolph Friedrich von der Schulenburg , lieutenant general in the Prussian army and confidante of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia
- Ernst Friedrich Herbert zu Munster , Minister and military commander in chief of Hanover
literature
- Dieter Rüdebusch: Ritterakademie Lüneburg , publisher: Landkreis Lüneburg, 2007
- Arnold Freiherr von Weyhe-Eimke: The Aebte of the St. Michaelis Monastery in Lüneburg: With special reference to the history of the monastery and the knight academy . Celle: Schulze, 1862 ( digitized in the Google book search). (with a complete list of the students of the Knight Academy attached)
- A. Lax: The register of the Knight Academy in Lüneburg 1656-1850. 1979
