Servite Monastery of Bernburg

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West side of the monastery church

The Servite Bernburg was a branch of the mendicant order of the Servites ( Ordo Servorum Mariae , religious symbol: popular OSM, Marie servants called) in Bernburg (Saale) in Salzlandkreis (Saxony-Anhalt). The monastery was located in the south-western part of the new town of Bernburg directly on the city wall and was the only monastery in Bernburg (Saale). The monastery was founded around / before 1300, but was first mentioned in 1308. In 1526 the Reformation was introduced in Bernburg (Saale) and begging was forbidden. As a result, the monastery lost its livelihood and was dissolved by 1527.

location

When it was founded, the monastery was on the south-west side of the Neustadt Bernburg, with its south side directly on the city wall (which made a bend here and ran east-west). Neustadt Bernburg and Bergstadt Bernburg were each surrounded by a separate wall in the Middle Ages, they were also legally separate municipalities. It was not until 1561 that Neustadt Bernburg and Bergstadt Bernburg were united into one city by Prince Wolfgang von Anhalt-Köthen. The buildings of the former monastery are still partially preserved. The church is in ruins, however.

Floor plan of the Bernburg monastery (from Köhler)

prehistory

The Ordo Servorum Mariae (Order of the Servites, or popularly Marienknechte) was founded in Florence ( Tuscany ) in 1233 by seven merchants who had withdrawn to a monastic life . In 1241 the first monastery of the new order was built. For Tuscany they received recognition from the papal legate in 1249. Another papal confirmation was given in 1256 by Pope Alexander IV. At the Council of Lyon in 1274 it was decided that all orders that were not finally confirmed after 1215 should be abolished (in order to curb the flood of new orders!) And new members could not be accepted. In an expert opinion written by three papal legal scholars, however, it was stated that the Servite order was not affected by this ban.

Finally, Pope Benedict XI. the order received his final confirmation with his bull Dum levamus of February 11, 1304. The Servites belonged to the mendicant orders and lived according to the Augustinian rule . A religious province has also been confirmed for Germany since 1299. The Servites mainly settled in smaller towns in Germany; Exceptions were the larger branches in Erfurt , Halberstadt and Halle (Saale) .

Foundation of the Servite Monastery in Bernburg

View into the cloister courtyard with the remains of the cloister

It is not known when exactly the Servites came to Bernburg (Saale) or settled here. A deed of foundation or charter has not been received. The first documented news is from July 21, 1308. This shows that the Servites had been resident in Bernburg for some time (for several years?) At this point in time. Köhler assumes that the monastery was founded between 1295 and 1308. Pfänner zu Thal assumes the first decade of the 14th century for the origin. Today's explanation board on the history of the monastery, set up in the monastery area, says about its origins: around 1300.

Inside of the church, choir area

possession

In the course of more than 200 years of history, the monastery only came to a very modest property, which was invested in land and monetary interest. However, only a few documents have been preserved that only give an incomplete picture of the history of ownership.

In 1308, Prince Albrecht I of Anhalt-Köthen confirmed the ownership of a mill in Molendorf near Nienburg (Saale) to the Servite monastery in Bernburg . The mill in Molendorf was still owned by the monastery in 1504.

In 1386, Prince Bernhard V and Rudolf von Anhalt sold the tithe to Strenz to the monastery of the Marienknechte in Bernburg . The place Strenz was close to Bernburg and would later become desolate. Today's Strenzfeld district is still reminiscent of the village that has disappeared.

Interior of the church with swallow's nest pulpit

1441 confirmed Prince Bernhard VI. zu Anhalt a donation from Hans Gruben to the Marienknechte in Neustadt Bernburg.

In 1486 the convent had an annual fruit tithe, from which municipality is unfortunately not mentioned, worth 10 guilders (from the above village or field Strenz?). The annual monetary interest amounted to 4 guilders. A small forest yielded 4 guilders a year and provided enough firewood for the convent. Non-regular income and alms amounted to about 27 guilders. From the dates, 200 staria (8 staria = one bushel , i.e. 25 bushels) of grain and two tons of cheese came in annually , which were sufficient for the monastery's own needs.

Church patronage

Many of the brothers in the Servite convents were ordained priests and were thus able to provide services in the affiliated parishes. There is also great uncertainty as to the number of parishes supplied by the Bernburg Servites due to a lack of documents.

On October 9, 1321, Bishop Albrecht I von Halberstadt confirmed that the rector of the church in the deserted village of Wolmersdorf would receive 2 marks from the Marienknechten in Bernburg. Prince Bernhard II of Anhalt-Bernburg had given the Servite Convention in Bernburg the patronage of Wolmersdorf (or called Notforme). The place is said to have been between Staßfurt and Hohenerxleben. The monastery provided the parish through her brother Heinrich von Bleckendorf and also paid for the costs of visits and procuration. Wolmersdorf or Notforme belonged (around 1400) to the Hecklingen Archdeaconate of the Halberstadt diocese . In 1359, Bishop Ludwig von Halberstadt confirmed this donation again. Around / before 1454 the Marienknechte of Neustadt-Bernburg gave Prince Bernhard VI. the patronage over the parish church to Wolmersdorf back. Bishop Burchard von Halberstadt confirmed this process on March 19, 1454.

In an older source (Florence National Library), which was evaluated by Waldemar Küther and is quoted by him, Bernburg was mentioned as follows: Bernborgh, cum tribus aliis locis sub se. This is to be understood as meaning that the Bernburg Monastery had three church patrons, that is, churches that received church supplies from the monastery. The note itself comes from a copy from 1618 (with addenda from 1621 and 1668), so it says nothing about the time at which the above condition was true. The monastery in Schackenthal may have had one of these patrons . According to the work of Anhalt, monuments and art along with desertification. The Bernburg district of Franz Büttner Pfänner zu Thal is said to have given the patronage of the Servatius Church in Schackenthal to the monastery of the Marienknechte in Bernburg in 1359. The information is contradictory in itself, since Prince Bernhard IV had died on June 28, 1354 and could therefore no longer make a donation in 1359. Unfortunately, no source is given in the art monuments for this alleged donation. Schackenthal belonged to the Archdiaconate Wiederstedt of the Diocese of Halberstadt around 1400.

After a small newspaper article about the 700th anniversary of the Bernburg monastery, the Servites are said to have provided pastoral care in three parish churches in nearby Ilberstedt and in Schackenthal in the Mansfeld region . The statement about Schackenthal is surely taken from the information in the architectural and art monuments . But there is no reference to Ilberstedt in the art monuments either. The statement is also not substantiated in the newspaper article. According to Theodor Stenzel, not much is known about the two churches in Ilberstedt, which in the Middle Ages belonged to the Hecklingen Archdeaconate of the Halberstadt diocese. It must therefore remain open whether the Servite Monastery in Bernburg actually had patronage over two churches in Ilberstedt and one in Schackenthal.

Other mentions of the monastery

In 1376 Prince Otto III. von Anhalt settled a dispute between the farmers of Jhesere ( Jesar ) and Wedlitz regarding a way to their pasture. This happened in the tree garden of the Marienknechte in Neustadt-Bernburg. According to Köhler, this garden was located in the area between today's Klosterwinkel street and the monastery.

Convention

At the end of the 15th century, the Bernburg Abbey was one of the smaller Servite convents in the German-speaking monastic province ( Alemannia ) and was already worried about the next generation. In 1486 the Bernburg convent still had seven priests and two clerics, one of whom was a novice. However, two of the priest brothers were from the Erfurt Servite Convent, two from the convent of Halle (Saale), one from the Himmelgarten monastery near Nordhausen, and the head of the monastery (prior) came from Altlandsberg, so there was only one brother and the two clerics from Bernburg (or the surrounding area). The convent had three appointments (begging districts), but one appointment was vacant, as the convention could no longer assign a brother to appoint (begging).

Priors and other offices

  • 1422 Peter von Nygenburg, Prior, Matheus, Procurator
  • 1432 Nicolaus
  • 1446 Jacobus Bake, prior
  • 1454 Jacobus, Prior (probably the above Jakobus beacon)
  • 1472 Peter von Eysenborg, prior, brother Matheus, procurator
  • until 1486 Ambrosius Klump, prior from Altlandsberg, he was prior in Altlandsberg in 1468 (see also Friske)
  • from 1486 Baptista Vulpis (= fox)

Monastery building

Only the surrounding walls of the church are preserved. It was on the north side of the monastery complex. The rectangular cloister surrounding a garden was attached to the south side of the church. The monks' cells were located above the cloister.

The pulpit, which was only accessible from the outside, was located on the southern inner wall like a swallow's nest and seated on a console. There were an unknown number of altars in the church, two of which are documented: the altar of Beate Virginis , and in 1486 an altar was to be erected in honor of St. Philip Benizi , the "second founder" of the order. The bell dates from 1406 with an inscription.

Eight chalices were kept in the sacristy of the monastery church, a silver cross weighing one mark of silver and a tabernacle weighing two marks of silver. Chasubles ( vestments ) to the church services were sufficiently available.

Dissolution of the monastery

In 1526, Prince Wolfgang introduced the Reformation in (Anhalt) Bernburg. Begging was banned and the Servites lost a large part of their livelihood. The monks left their monastery and in 1527 the monastery building was empty. According to Volker Ebersbach, however, the monks had fled from the rebellious farmers as early as 1525 and never returned. The stalls were removed from the monastery church in 1527 and put back in the Bernburg Marienkirche . After that, the monastery buildings were initially empty.

Re-use of the building

In 1535 the empty monastery complex was converted into the St. Johannis Hospital for the elderly and sick. The previous hospital on the saalbrücken was given up, the ownership of this hospital was transferred to the St. Johannis Hospital. The buildings of the former monastery were repaired. The hospital also ran its own farms and livestock. In the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) the buildings were badly damaged. The institution went through difficult times, as interest in kind and money no longer came in due to the destruction of the war. The Princely House made some generous donations. In 1641 the institution is designated as a hospital and poor house. After the war, the buildings were restored and the institution was renamed the Monastery of St. Johannis .

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the historic building complex was rebuilt and rented to the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in 1997 , which set up listening and drawing rooms here. The university organizes the monastery festival every year, which took place for the 25th time in 2019 and has now become a major cultural event in the region.

Trivia

In 2008 the first documentary mention of the monastery was commemorated with a week of festivities. This week, Bernburg received a visit from a group of pilgrims and educational travelers, led by a Servite, who were interested in the history of the monastery.

literature

  • Franz Kindscher: On the history of the Marienknechte in Bernburg. In: Communications of the Association for Anhalt History and Archeology , Volume 6, pp. 316-318, 1893.
  • Otto Köhler: The monastery of the Marienknechte in Bernburg, a contribution to the history of Anhalt. In: Scientific supplement to the annual report 1889 no.640, Bernburg, 1890 (hereinafter abbreviated to Köhler, monastery of the Marienknechte with corresponding page number)
  • Antonio Salvi: Catalogus conventum, coenobiorum, monasteriorum sacrarumque aedium sacri ordinis servorum beatae Mariae semper virginis. In: Monumenta Ordinis Servorum Sanctae Mariae , Volume 7, pp. 95–112, Brussels, 1893
  • Peregrino Soulier: De Antiquis Servorum Coenobiis in Germania. In: Monumenta Ordinis Servorum Sanctae Mariae , Volume 1, pp. 113–149, Brussels, 1893 (abbreviated below, Soulier, Monumenta, Volume 1 with corresponding page number)
  • Theodor Stenzel: Documents on the history of the monasteries of Anhalt. XII. The virgin monastery of St. Nicolai zu Coswig. XIII. The barefoot monastery St. Johannis zu Zerbst. XIV. The Augustinian monastery of the Hermit Order in Zerbst. XV. The monastery of the Marienknechte in Bernburg. In: Communications of the Association for Anhalt History and Archeology, Volume 6, pp. 206-217, 1893

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Köhler, Kloster der Marienknechte, table with floor plan, between p. 6 and p. 7.
  2. ^ A b Matthias Friske: Altlandsberg and his Servite monastery. In: Wichmann-Jahrbuch des Diözesansgeschichtsverein Berlin, Neue Series 5 , Volume 38/39, pp. 59–76, 1999, here p. 66.
  3. ↑ a b Franz Büttner Pfänner zu Thal: Anhalt's architectural and art monuments along with desert areas. Bernburg district. Richard Kahle's Verlag (owner: Hermann Oesterwitz), Dessau, 1894 Online at archive.org
  4. ↑ Receipt of the prior of the Bernburg monastery of the Marienknechte (agreement and review by Prince Ernst between the Marienknechten zu Bernburg and the Dessau citizen Friedrich Moller because of a mill in Molendorf), 1504. Landesarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt - online research. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  5. ↑ a b Otto von Heinemann (Ed.): Codex diplomaticus Anhaltinus. Vol. 5: 1380-1400. Dessau, 1881 Online at Google Books , p. 67, document number 76.
  6. ↑ Borchardus, Bishop of Halberstadt, confirms that the Marienknechte zu Neustadt-Bernburg have given Prince Bernhard the patronage of the parish church in Wolmersdorf. 1454 Mae. 19 Saxony-Anhalt State Archive - Online Research. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  7. ↑ Monumenta Ordinis Servorum Sanctae Mariae, Vol. 1, pp. 132/33.
  8. ^ Franz Winter : The emergence of the city of Staßfurt. History sheets for the city and state of Magdeburg: Communications of the Association for History and Antiquity of the Duchy and Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Volume 10, pp. 57–74, Magdeburg 1875. Online at Google Books , here p. 72, footnote.
  9. ^ A b Gustav Schmidt: Document book of the Halberstadt Monastery and its bishops. Third part (1304-1361). Verlag S. Hirzel, Leipzig, 1887, p. 207, document number 2062. (Publications from the K. Prussian State Archives, Volume 21) Online at archive.org
  10. ↑ a b Borchardus, Bishop of Halberstadt, confirms that the Marienknechte zu Neustadt-Bernburg have given Prince Bernhard the patronage of the parish church in Wolmersdorf. Duration / Date (detailed): 1454 Mae. 19. State archive Saxony-Anhalt - online research. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Gustav Schmidt: Document book of the Halberstadt bishopric and its bishops. Third part (1304-1361). Verlag S. Hirzel, Leipzig, 1887, p. 624, document number 2544. (Publications from the K. Prussian State Archives, Volume 21) Online at archive.org
  12. ^ Waldemar Küther, Hans Goller (employee): Vacha and his Servite monastery in the Middle Ages. 365 p., Böhlau Verlag, Cologne & Vienna, 1971, p. 119.
  13. ^ Hilmar von Strombeck: On the archdeaconate division of the former Diocese of Halberstadt. Journal of the historical association for Lower Saxony, (for) 1862: pp. 1–144, Hannover 1863 Online at Google Books , here p. 107.
  14. ↑ a b Day of the Lord, Edition 39 from 2008: Solidarity and credibility. Servites founded a monastery in Bernburg 700 years ago / guests from Austria and southern Germany
  15. ^ Theodor Stenzel: Walks to the churches of Anhalt. In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Volume 3, pp. 413–433, 1883, here p. 421.
  16. ↑ Prince Otto III. von Anhalt resolves a dispute between the farmers of Jhesere and Wedlitz over a way to their pasture. 1376 June 29. Location: Bernburg (in the tree garden of the Marienknechte in Neustadt-Bernburg). State archive Saxony-Anhalt - online research. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  17. ^ Köhler, Monastery of the Marienknechte, p. 5.
  18. ↑ Hermann Suhle: The monastery bush to Lösewitz. In: Communications from the Association for Anhalt History and Antiquity , Volume 2, No. 5, pp. 411–415, Dessau 1879 Online at Google Books
  19. ↑ Köhler, Kloster der Marienknechte, p. 11.
  20. ↑ Johann Christoph von Dreyhaupt: Pagus Neletici Et Nudzici, Or detailed diplomatic-historical description of the former primacy and Ertz-Stifft, but now secularized by the Westphalian Peace Conclusion, the Hertzogthum Magdeburg and all the cities, castles, and offices belonging to it , Manors, aristocratic families, churches, monasteries, parishes and villages: the specialty of the cities Halle, Neumarckt, Glaucha, Wettin, Löbegün, Cönnern and Alsleben; Carried together from Actis publicis and credible news, adorned with many unprinted documents reinforced with copperplate engravings and drawings, and provided with the necessary registers. First part. Verlag des Waisenhauses, Halle (Saale), 1755. Online at archive.org , p. 778, document number 206.
  21. ^ A b Johann Christoph Beckmann: History of the Principality of Anhalt. From its old inhabitants and some still existing old monuments, natural kindness, division, rivers, states, spots and villages, prince. Your Highness, Stories of the Prince. Persons, religious acts, princely ministries, noble families, scholars and other noble citizens. Gottfried Zimmermann, Zerbst 1710 Online at Google Books , p. 119.
  22. ^ Arcangelo Giani, Luigi Maria Garbi: Annalium Sacri Ordinis Fratrum Servorum B. Mariae Virginis A suae Institutionis exordio ...., Volume 1. Typis Marescandoli, Lucca, 1719 Online at Google Books
  23. ↑ Volker Ebersbach: History of the city of Bernburg in two volumes. Volume 1. 255 pp., Anhaltische Verlagsgesellschaft, Dessau, 1998 ISBN 3-910192-65-3 , p. 76.
  24. ↑ Monastery festival

Coordinates: 51 ° 48 '0.4 "  N , 11 ° 3' 52.8"  E