St. Klara Monastery (Speyer)

The Poor Clare Monastery on the map from 1730, noted the positions of the Martinskirche, which had already been abandoned at that time, and the monastery of the Holy Sepulcher, which was also abandoned

The St. Klara Monastery was a Poor Clare monastery located in the Speyr suburb of Altspeyer , which was founded by Poor Clares from Oggersheim in 1222 or between 1299 and 1310 and existed until 1799.

history

Rise of the monastery

For a reason unknown today, Poor Clares moved with their abbess Elisabetha von Oggersheim to Speyer in 1299 and received an invitation to stay permanently from the citizens on the eve of St. Matthias (February 24th) despite the many existing monasteries . In 1310 they bought a farm near the Martinskirche in Altspeyer and founded a monastery there. In contrast to this, Hans Ammerich mentions 1222 as the year the monastery was founded. They received donations early on, for example, they had 1301 possessions near Barbelroth and received so-called gradients in the form of money, land or in kind from various women, including Beguines and nobles, so that the Poor Clares would pray for them annually on the anniversary of their death. In 1510 the abbess Barbara von Helmstädt succeeded in swapping the monastery with an adjoining garden and house.

The consequences of the Reformation

The first great danger for the convent consisting of 19 nuns with its abbess Barbara von Helmstädt was the unrest in the city, sparked by Martin Luther's teachings. The clergy, unpopular in Speyer because of their privileges, were pressed on the Monday after the White Sunday in 1525 by armed citizens to make eight concessions. As a result of this, the monastery lost various slopes. A few weeks later, all of the monastery's possessions were recorded in writing by a notary and a member of the council. On May 18th, the monastery of St. Clare received a visit from these gentlemen, who noted down all the property, estimated its value and then locked away and sealed everything that was not necessary for everyday life. The salvation for the monasteries was the victory of Elector Ludwig von der Pfalz over the rebels at Pfeddersheim . The council was pardoned for its abuses, but had to return all property to the monasteries in return.

The next abbess known by name was Apollina Fröhlich. She initiated a new building for the now dilapidated monastery. In 1547 she asked Bishop Philipp von Flersheim for a duty exemption for the wood felled near Gernsbach, which the bishop also granted. But in 1552 the monastery, like many other Speyr monasteries, was devastated by Albrecht von Brandenburg , who moved down the Main and up the Rhine during the war of religion and plundered the monasteries in the process. The Passau contract previously concluded had no effect.

In 1572 the abbess Agatha Wallei left a garden to Bishop Marquard von Hattstein . In return, the monastery received the benefice of the St. Katharinen Altar near Rheinhausen with the associated slopes and goods.

Decline of morals and threatened removal from the order

After Agatha Wallei's death in April 1575, at the urging of the Überlingen Franciscan Provincial Jakob Schüßler, Anna Möllinger became abbess of the convent. Under their leadership and the influence of the friars of the Speyer Franciscan monastery , who enjoyed drinking and held the service in St. Clare, the customs deteriorated increasingly. The Franciscans showed themselves to the sisters in secular clothes instead of in religious costume and disregarded some of the rules of the order, which ultimately rubbed off on the women. These began to develop relationships with men outside the monastery. This was very welcome by the city council and gave rise to great ridicule of the clergy. The bishop tried to take countermeasures, but his options for action were limited as the nuns were not under his control. So he turned to the Pope, on whose orders discipline and order should return.

In addition, the provincial in charge ensured that this hustle and bustle was put to an end by sending sisters to other monasteries and appointing Anna Frick from Rankweil as the new abbess. At the same time, the bishop managed that Pope Gregory XIII. with a bull threatened the dissolution of the monastery and the removal of the sisters from the order and stipulated that they would be placed under the supervision of the bishop. This could now adapt the rules of the monastery to the situation and punish the members of the order for violations. The Franciscan Provincial spoke to the sisters' consciences, just as the bishop did to the abbess. So there was no expulsion from the order.

But the next abbess, Ursula Schwarz, didn't obey the rules either and fled with the Franciscan August Hassen to the rich monastic estates in Lambsheim, where they were protected by the elector. She also took valuable letters and the seal with her. Sister Magaretha and the Imperial Fiscal Councilor Hoffer prevented other objects from being taken. In addition to the theft, she made maintenance demands on the monastery with the support of the city council. As a result of the incidents, the heads of the order increasingly tried to improve order by relocating sisters, which ultimately succeeded.

Strokes of fate and rays of light

At the end of the 16th century, Maria Anna Beck from Überlingen became the abbess of the monastery. When the nuns left the church at midnight on August 12, 1596, they saw that a building opposite the monastery was on fire. To protect the monastery, they called for help and began to clear the building themselves. Over two hours later, the city gates were finally opened so that the residents of the city could help the nuns. After the fire was extinguished, it turned out that it was caused by the negligence of the courtier Hanns Bock, so that he had to pay for part of the damage. The repairs were carried out in 1597 and 1598. The abbess was removed from office on September 1, 1603 and died on August 14, 1616.

Her successor was Maria Barbara Gauvin, who had previously headed the convent, which at that time consisted of eight sisters. Through clever housekeeping, the use of some bequests and the use of her own maternal inheritance, she succeeded in 1605 in raising enough money to carry out the urgently needed new building. However, the nuns had to cope with another stroke of fate in 1608 when the grape vines froze to death as a result of the cold winter and so this source of income broke away for several years. On July 23, 1609 they received a visit from the Order General Wilhelm Hugo of Avignon , who was accompanied by 2 Italian Poor Clares. While an epidemic raged in Speyer in 1611, the Franciscan guardian Johann Knerr, who was also the nuns 'confessor, withdrew into the monastery' s shop. The abbess Maria Barbara Gauvin was not doing well at the time, which is why she asked the proxy Johann Pilckfingio when he visited on January 7, 1613 for the impeachment and permission to return to the Valduna monastery near Rankweil , where she had entered the order to be allowed. This request was granted to her.

The Thirty-Year War

During the Thirty Years' War , Agnes von Rodenstein , who had entered the order on April 25, 1606 at the age of 16, was abbess in St. Klara. When Count Ernst von Mansfeld devastated many villages in the area and advanced on Speyer in 1621 , she and her sisters in peasant clothes hid in the house of Doctor Brackenhoffer in Speyer on the evening of St. Katharina (November 25). As a result of the war, many fields were left untilled, so that the monastery had economic problems after the war. Despite the adversity, she was a good example to her sisters. She died on May 7, 1643 at the age of 51, after leading the monastery for 20 years.

The successor was Maria Eva Diemeyer. In order to be able to provide for the daily maintenance of the monastery, whose fields were still fallow, she even sold church decorations. After an epidemic that decimated the monastery’s livestock in 1646, she voluntarily resigned. In 1650 Maria Veronika Knaup from Augsburg became abbess of the monastery. Although the war was over, she too had to sell valuables as the economic situation had still not stabilized and the neglected or destroyed buildings had to be repaired. The new consecration of the altars took place on March 30, 1655 by the auxiliary bishop Gangolf, who was also dean of the St. German monastery . The high altar was dedicated to St. Francis , the side altar of St. Clare and another altar to St. Consecrated to Anthony . She resigned from office on January 25, 1663 and died on September 1, 1673.

The Palatinate War of Succession

Knaup's successor was the 27-year-old Maria Seraphinia Brach from Osnabrück, who continued to repair the monastery.

In autumn 1688, when the work was finished, the monastery faced renewed danger when the troops of Louis XIV marched into Speyer in the course of the Palatinate War of Succession . For the residents of Speyer, this meant that French soldiers were quartered in the city, which was a great burden, especially in winter. The nuns also feared that the monastery would be looted, as they had observed soldiers near the monastery several times at night. For this reason they went to General Montclar, who advised them to bring their property into town and to rent a house in town for themselves. At that time there were 17 choir sisters and 8 lay sisters, two of them from the monastery at Martinskirche, which was dissolved in 1685 . When the evacuation of the city was ordered, the nuns, like many other residents of Speyer, came before the French commander and asked for mercy for the city, which was not granted. So they packed everything up and put it "in the vaults" because they didn't know how to get everything away. They finally received transport assistance on May 24th from the Vizedom von Egersberg , the brother-in-law of the choir sister Katherina, who sent a four-horse carriage. This enabled the most important objects and some nuns to be brought to Weissenburg on May 25th . Another 11 sisters followed on May 28th. The last 5 sisters with the prioress arrived in Weissenburg on May 31st, the day Speyer was set on fire.

In order to be able to provide for the sisters, the abbess asked Provincial Severin Fleischmann, who lives in the Paradies monastery, for advice, who distributed the 10 sisters sent to him to other monasteries. So two sisters came to the Valduna monastery. In the meantime, the abbess traveled to Speyer with the prioress and the sisters Katharina and Severina in order to save her monastery, which had been spared from the fire and was now inhabited by soldiers. First they asked General Montclar to spare the monastery, whereupon he stated that he had orders to destroy the monastery too; they should turn to Commander Duras with their request. The nuns went to Frankenthal and received permission from Duras to live in the monastery and his promise that he would work for the monastery. Since the buildings were occupied by soldiers, they had to sleep in the choir and were looked after by Montclar. Meanwhile, the abbess traveled to Weissenburg and sent Sister Wilhelmina to Speyer.

A few days later the previously undestroyed buildings of the city, the Guidostift and the "Lazareth at the Wormser Thore" (the former Holy Sepulcher Monastery ) were set on fire. In order to protect the monastery, Katharina asked the general again to spare it. He sent her 20 men who, together with the nuns, prevented the fire from spreading to the monastery. The next morning all soldiers left the burning city. The nuns now searched the French camp and found various items there that they had missed. Fortunately for her, the next day the abbess, the prioress and a few other nuns came from Weissenburg with a large amount of food. Due to the unclear location, the treasures of the monastery were first brought to the Poor Clare Monastery on the flax market in Mainz. To counteract the poverty of the monastery, two sisters moved to their home in Westphalia in 1690 to receive donations. Due to the generally poor economic situation, their income was very low. The abbess died on September 1, 1691. Her successor was the previous prioress Maria Agnes Cunler from Baden-Baden on September 8 . As peace was slowly manifesting, she called her sisters back together. Despite the poverty of the monastery, Agnes managed to buy four gardens and erect some buildings. She died on July 18, 1706 after a long illness and 44 years of religious membership at the age of 69.

Between the lines

Agnes Cunler's successor was Maria Servina Flur from Ochsenfurt . During her tenure, the monastery had to repeatedly feed troops and pay war taxes. In 1709, German troops spoiled the harvest while encamping in the fields of the monastery, and a harsh winter destroyed the vineyards. In 1712, between November 10th and December 26th, all of the monastery's livestock (21 animals) fell victim to an epidemic. On May 16, 1713, the French devastated the fields and stables of the monastery, which could only survive thanks to a grain donation from the bishop. Due to the desperate conditions, the abbess resigned from office in 1714.

Now Maria Fortuna Fritz, who came from Speyer, became abbess, who had a dispute with the city council in 1719. It was about a boy whom the Poor Clares found on August 1st of this year in the cemetery of the monastery and taken to live with them. When they asked the bishop how they could win the child over to the Catholic faith, the city council, who sent the orphan father to them, to pick up the child. The nuns rejected him, however. The council then sent the city governor to them on the grounds that the monastery cemetery was the property of the city. The sisters refused to hand over the child and continued to care for them in the monastery. Due to the dispute, the mother of the illegitimate child finally reported and, after the Poor Clares had checked her statement, it was secretly given to her at night so that the mother could leave the city unnoticed with the help of the Poor Clares. A similar case occurred in 1730. At that time, on Holy Saturday, the sisters found a very weak girl in front of the gate, whom they laboriously nursed and baptized. Here, too, the council tried to take the child away from them, but it did not succeed because the sisters pretended to have given the child back. However, after 9 months of care, it died and was buried in the monastery cemetery.

On the feast of St. Magdalena (July 22nd) 1723, the altars, desecrated by the war, were solemnly consecrated again by the auxiliary bishop Peter Cornelius Benbig. Maria Fortuna Fritz was removed from office in 1721 after 13 years of service and died on February 27, 1751 at the age of 81. Her successor was her predecessor Maria Servina Flur, who voluntarily resigned her position in 1732 and died on March 3, 1733. At the end of her tenure in 1731, the monastery lost all of its cattle again to an epidemic.

She was followed by Maria Cäzilia Zettler from Kambach in Swabia. During her time the monastery received large sums of money for construction work. On April 9, 1734, French troops again came to Speyer, who stayed for two years and two months and heavily burdened the monastery with war taxes, food deliveries and other services. In addition, the Poor Clares lived in constant fear of losing their property. On one occasion they were supposed to vacate their convent for storing fruit or the gardens were measured for building entrenchments, another time the rumor arose that the monastery would have to be demolished for new fortifications for the city. One evening in 1736 the nuns had to give up all the straw and hay. Her successor was Maria Barbara Fellner from Boos in 1737. In 1739, despite the need, she had a magnificent high altar built and various embellishments carried out. However, on March 15, 1740, she was replaced by her predecessor Cäzilia Zettler. In 1740 and 1741 there were so-called false autumns, which is a particularly cold spring that destroys the grape harvest, and in 1741 there were great floods of the Rhine. In addition, the Palatinate elector claimed for himself the income from the slopes belonging to the monastery, which were on his territory.

In 1743, the French military returned to Speyer, which was ousted by the British, Hungarians, Dutch and Hesse in October. This did not change anything in terms of the reprisals, because the English in particular greatly oppressed the residents of Speyer, even though the English king had his quarters in Speyer. In April 1744 the French came again, who finally lost to German troops at Worms and fled. After Prussia and Austria war against each other, the French returned in 1745 and forced the monastery to pay war tax. It was also attacked during the night by the French who stole the entire grain supply. The abbess died on March 3, 1745 at the age of 62. Her successor was Barbara Fellner, who increased the debt burden from 2527 guilders by 1358 guilders within three years due to the poor situation. She was removed from office in 1749.

On December 2, 1749, Maria Johanna Meltzhofer from Dorfendingen near Augsburg became abbess. Her debts also grew due to the poor situation. In 1753 she built a new courtyard house. In addition, on the orders of the Prince-Bishop, the monastery had to cut down its chestnut hill, in the place of which a vineyard was planted.

In 1755 the monastery was a station of the Cross Week procession and thus represented the collegiate church of St. Guido, at which on St. Andrew's evening (November 30th) 1754 "a tower and the choir" collapsed and killed a man from Otterstadt and another later buried man rescued alive. When a storm raged over Speyer on the night of February 19, 1756, which also covered some roofs, the Poor Clares feared a similar disaster in their monastery, but this did not occur.

In 1757 and 1758 there was another dispute with the council, this time about money payments. Here, too, the council lost to the Poor Clares, since in the fall of 1758, when Alsatians were encamped in front of the city, the prince-bishop intervened. In addition, there was a violent Rhine flood in 1758, in which the Rhine dams broke and flooded the fields and meadows of the monastery. In addition, from 1760 to 1764 war money had to be paid several times. In addition, in 1764 the episcopal vicariate requested the monastery bills for the first time, which the sisters ultimately issued. The prince-bishop also accused the abbess of disregarding the cloister. However, the proceedings were discontinued under the newly elected Provincial Peter Adrian Mittum. Since the abbess was already very weak due to illness, she asked the provincial for dismissal, which was approved on September 22, 1767. She died on April 30, 1767.

Her successor was Maria Hyazintha Schuster on September 24th. Even under their administration, the mountain of debt grew and finally reached the 5300 guilders mark. In order to support the monastery, a Franciscan even traveled around on the orders of the provincial superior who collected money, but that was hardly enough for the necessary repair work. When this was over, there was a violent thunderstorm on August 3, 1768 at around 4 p.m., during which lightning penetrated the church through the tower, but left the church through a window into the garden and struck there, but luckily none Kindled fire. Then she tried further to bring the monastery forward, with the good harvest of 1772 helping her. On September 6, 1773 she voluntarily gave up her position and died on November 9, 1784 at the age of 74.

She followed on September 6th in the presence of Provincial Peter Christian Hug Maria Elisabetha Böhm. This managed to pay off debts of 2000 guilders within the first two years of office, which contributed to her multiple re-election. In 1781 the mountain of debt was completely cleared away, and in the following years she also managed to save enough money for a new organ, a new pulpit and other embellishments, which at the end of 1857 cost florins. After 19 years in office, the abbess, whom everyone loved as the second mother, died of dropsy on April 1, 1791.

He was succeeded on June 16, 1791 in the presence of Provincial Tiberius Ehren Maria Antonia Klotz, who was born on September 29, 1736 in Schwabminchingen. She made Veronika Steiger from Neustadt prioress. She tried to build on her predecessor and also to improve the economic situation further. But this improvement did not help, as France was already seething and after the outbreak of the French Revolution on August 2, 1792, imperial troops came from Schwetzingen to Speyer and all monasteries except St. Klara used as accommodation or hospital. In return, the monastery took care of the eight field bakers and their families who were housed in the hospital building "am Wormserthore", the former Holy Sepulcher monastery. The troop core withdrew to France just a few days later, so that only 3,000 men from Mainz and Hungary remained in Speyer.

The French revolution

On Sunday, September 30, 1792, around noon, French troops appeared under General Custine . They besieged Speyer with cannons, which caused the nuns, who had no one at their side, to pray in the church, and when the soldiers knocked on the gate, it opened and fell at the feet of the soldiers begging for mercy. They calmed down the nuns in broken German and searched the monastery while the nuns cooked something quickly. With the festive meal, the abbess prevented attacks on the nuns and also made sure that the soldiers left the monastery and moved into the city. In the following days, French soldiers armed several times penetrated the monastery and wanted to devastate it, but this was prevented by food cooked to order. Around noon on October 2nd, the confessor of the Poor Clares came back from town to the monastery. He had apparently made an agreement with the occupiers and joined the revolution, which is why the general's two body guards who came with him drove the soldiers out of the monastery and one of the two stayed in the monastery to protect the nuns. So the nuns were able to hold their services in peace again. On October 10th, all monks and nuns were called to the war commissioner and were instructed that they had to pay 2100 guilders within 24 hours. But since they had hardly any money, they joined forces with the other monasteries and asked General Custine , with a white and red cockade pinned to their clothes, for a reduction in the amount, which he refused on the grounds that the monasteries had enough hidden money reserves . So the nuns returned to the monastery and soon received a visit from horsemen who took the abbess and prioress hostage for the sum demanded. At midnight, the nuns managed to get the money, supported by a loan from the merchant Uslaub and one from the cattle keeper in Freiburg. At 2 a.m. Sister Rosa and the prioress brought the money to the war commissioner. Her confessor and the St. Magdalena monastery , on the other hand, had less luck , who did not manage to collect the money, so that the confessor and a lay sister were brought to Landau in the Palatinate at 5 a.m. and could only leave after the money had been handed over. After a 10-day stay, the French left Speyer and moved to their camp near Edesheim and Rußdorf. Before that, they had taught or destroyed the Austrian provisions stores , set all ships on fire, tore down parts of the city wall and filled in the trenches. The troops advanced to Mainz on October 18 and took over the fortress . Shortly afterwards, French troops came to Speyer again, and on November 12th they ate all the food from the monasteries, which aroused fear in the nuns that they would have to give it up. The first freedom tree was erected on November 13th . On November 25th, the old administration was dissolved, the councilor Petersen was appointed mayor and another tree of freedom was erected. The fear of the nuns, like the monasteries in France, of losing all their possessions, increased day by day. Because of the guarding, it was impossible to bring the valuable objects across the Rhine. Fortunately, on November 26th the brother of sister Agnes came from Buchen near Waldthüren and wanted to bring her back to her homeland. The nuns gave permission and he returned home with Agnes, Sister Rosa, the monastic silver and some church decorations.

For the residents of the city, the burdens caused by billeting increased, and the raw behavior of the soldiers was also a great burden. In addition, the soldiers confiscated signs and locked the shops. The only thing that spared the monastery was its location outside the city. However, on January 5, 1793, messengers appeared in the monastery with the instruction that the abbess should draw up an exact list of all property, mortgage letters and income of the monastery within one week and send it to the administration in Mainz . However, the abbess managed to bring two boxes with the most important documents and letters, including the proceeds from the wine sale, to the Carmelite monastery in Heidelberg. On February 21st, members of the Mairie appeared with the order of the Maire to the nuns to take the new oath , which the nuns refused. After the order was repeated to the clergy on February 27th, the clergy fled secretly and in disguise at night. The nuns' confessor was hidden by them in the monastery.

As Prussian and Austrian troops drew closer, the Republicans began to drive away everything they could transport and set fire to the hay and straw stacks on March 31, Easter Sunday 1793. Those loyal to the republic also wanted to set fire to the Franciscan monastery, but could be stopped by bribery. Since the powder magazine at the Wormser Tor was also to be set on fire, danger threatened the St. Klara Monastery, which was however averted by the attention of the gatekeeper who had smashed the bottom of the barrel and threw the barrels into the Nonnenbach. Around three o'clock Austrian troops with about 7,000 men entered Speyer, who were to be provided with food immediately, in which the nuns also took part. On April 2, an additional 5,000 soldiers from Hessen-Darmstadt came to the city with their landgrave. They were followed by other troops and prisoners over the next few days. The artillery was housed at St. Klara Monastery, which is why 50 field blacksmiths and wagons were housed in the monastery. On May 15, the monastery was broken into and robbed by gunners who were now also nearby. On May 21st, order seemed to be restored, because the old city council was reinstated and the revolutionary order was abolished. Now that the peace also seemed certain, the nuns had all the things brought back brought back. In contrast to the other monasteries, which were often used as military quarters, hospital or prison for prisoners of war, which is why the monks and nuns had to look for other accommodation, the Klara monastery was spared from being converted. In return, the nuns, who believed the danger was over, had to make sanitary towels for the hospitals.

On December 27th, the abbess received the disturbing news from the brother of sister Hyazintia from Salmbach that the German troops had suffered a defeat near Salmbach and were in retreat. Therefore, the church decorations, all silver objects and documents were stowed in 5 boxes and brought into the sacristy. The other valuables were placed in well hidden containers. The next morning everyone heard of the retreat of the Germans, so that the confessor got a car to transport the boxes to Mannheim while each nun tied up a small package. Since the wagons ordered from the farmers belonging to the monastery in Böhl and Iggelheim did not come, the nuns fled on foot, but had to leave their supplies and cattle behind. Before that, they gathered around 1 p.m. in the church, where the confessor packed the oils and hosts, extinguished the Eternal Light , hung the altar and blessed the nuns. Only the nun Martha stayed in the monastery because she “declared that she would rather die than leave the monastery”. The sometimes very frail nuns moved across Wormser Straße, where their train moved the soldiers so that the old nuns were allowed to ride on the carts. During the night they crossed the Rhine near Mannheim with the imperial troops and 2000 people with countless carts. In Mannheim they stayed partly in the house, partly in the vicinity of the house of the valet Fück, while in Speyer the French already ruled. Those who stayed behind had already fled. The soldiers looted the stables, barns and the wine cellar of the monastery. After just three days, "4,000 guilders of wine were lost". The abbess received similar disturbing news almost every day. In addition, the French advanced in the direction of Mannheim, making their quarters no longer safe. Since there was no wagon to find it was impossible to escape, so the abbess asked the nuns of Our Lady to be admitted. Ten nuns were given accommodation there, and other nuns were taken to other monasteries by Sister Cäzilia's brother-in-law. No accommodation was found for the confessor, so he brought the hosts with the chalices to the Mannheim hospital church and traveled with two sisters to his mother monastery in Mayingen on January 2, 1794 . On January 4th, the monastery in Mannheim had to be evacuated because it was needed as barracks, so that the next day the nuns moved to Heidelberg with three cars and were taken to the local monastery of Our Lady, where they had to sleep in the choir. Here, too, new terrible news from Speyer arrived. On January 9th, all the bells, the cathedral library and the wine were brought to Landau, the houses were looted and all ferrous objects confiscated. On January 26th, even the miraculous image from the cathedral was burned. On March 20, one of the maids who stayed behind came to Heidelberg and reported on the conversion of the monastery into a slaughterhouse, the destruction of the church furnishings and the discovery of some hidden containers. Since the expected losses were very high, the abbess looked for cheaper accommodation and wrote to the provincial, who invited her to Mayingen, where she arrived on March 30th. With his help, the sisters were able to be accommodated in other monasteries or with relatives, while the abbess stayed with her brother, the Baisweiler pastor.

A glimmer of hope for the nuns was the transfer of German troops across the Rhine on May 22, 1794 and the expulsion of the French from Speyer on May 25. The lay sister Colleta came to Speyer on the same day, but returned to Heidelberg in the evening. The next day she came back with Sister Magdalena, but received no permission to live in the monastery from the troops living in the monastery. Hope burst on July 14th when the French, after defeating the Austrians and Prussians, pursued the defeated troops and again conquered Speyer. The monastery has now been devastated again, so the abbess received a letter on March 4, 1795, which reported that the altars had been completely destroyed. In addition, all the wooden parts were torn out, even the roof was torn off. When it had calmed down a bit, the abbess decided to return to the monastery on December 9, 1795, as she wanted to be buried there. The other nuns also returned to Speyer. The abbess died on September 2, 1796 at 6 o'clock in the evening.

End of the monastery

The previous prioress Veronika Seiger followed her in her office. As the monastery was almost completely destroyed, a courtyard house served as accommodation. They held the first service on June 25, 1798 in the monastery angel choir. But the end of the monastery was approaching inexorably, because they had to gradually write down their goods and other income and finally also take off their costume. On March 21, 1799, Maundy Thursday, they celebrated Mass for the last time in their church with the Franciscan Guardian and then had to vacate it because the building was supposed to serve as a powder magazine. On the same day, the monastery and properties were leased, while the nuns initially stayed in the monastery of St. Magdalena. Most of them, however, ended up going to friends or relatives with a meager living allowance. The last abbess Veronika Seiger died on March 21, 1821 in Neustadt. In 1803 the monastery buildings, which were then designated as national property, were sold to private individuals. The church was demolished shortly before it was sold or shortly afterwards, although its position was still recognizable, as described by Franz Xaver Remling , during whose time day laborers lived in the buildings. The remaining buildings fell victim to a fire in 1870, so that only small remains are left.

Today's remains

Today only the St.-Klara-Kloster-Weg and the Nonnenbach remind of the monastery. In addition, there is a monastery chronicle that was kept in the district archive (today probably the city or state archive) during Remling's time. There are pictorial representations on a woodcut from the year 1550 from Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia , on which the plant can be seen on the right edge, on a copper engraving from Frans Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum from 1537, a similar city view from 1600 and on the from the city view from 1637 by Matthäus Merian . The complex can be seen very well in Philipp Stürmer's picture The Free Imperial City of Speyer before its destruction in the Palatine War of Succession in 1689 .

literature

• Franz Xaver Remling: Documented history of the former abbeys and monasteries in what is now Rhine Bavaria . tape 2 . Christmann, Neustadt an der Haardt 1836, p. 240–272 ( full text in Google Book Search).
• Helmut Steiner: Contributions to the economic history of the St. Klara monastery in Speyer on the Rhine . In: Archive for Middle Rhine Church History . tape 8 , 1956, pp. 133-180 ( online ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brief historical description of the ruins and main public buildings of the district capital Speyer . Lang, 1853, p. 15 ( full text in the Google Book Search - in the Google Books version, pages 1 and 2 are at the end of the book).
2. ^ ^{A b} Fritz Klotz: Speyer: small town history . District group Speyer of the Historical Association of the Palatinate, 1988, p. 54 .
3. ^ Hans Ammerich: Brief history of the city of Speyer . 1st edition. G. Braun Buchverlag, Karlsruhe 2008, ISBN 978-3-7650-8367-9 , p. 33-34 .
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Franz Xaver Remling: Documented history of the former abbeys and monasteries in what is now Rhine Bavaria . tape 2 . Christmann, Neustadt an der Haardt 1836 ( full text in the Google book search).
5. ↑ Wolfgang Schieder (Ed.): Secularization and Mediatization in the Four Rhenish Departments 1803-1813. Edition of the data of the national goods to be sold. Part 4. Donnersberg Department . Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1991, ISBN 3-7646-1911-2 , p. 398 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Coordinates: 49 ° 19 '32.7 "  N , 8 ° 26' 3.8"  E