Wilhelmitenkloster Düren

Plan of the Wilhelmitenkloster

The Wilhelmitenkloster stood in Düren , North Rhine-Westphalia , on Paradiesstrasse .

In 1252, the Archbishop of Cologne, Konrad von Hochstaden , referred monks of the Wilhelmite Order from the Belgian monastery of Bernardfagne to Düren. Hereditary Bailiff Anselm von Drove gave them a house in front of the Philippstor . The monks called it To Paradise .

In 1358 the Wilhelmites received the patronage rights of the church of Gürzenich . Later the parish was granted to them in full. More and more parishes and donations were added.

In 1536, Duke Johann von Jülich gave the order to fortify the city with new bulwarks, ramparts and rondelles. Because it was believed that the “Zum Paradies” monastery , which was located outside this fortification on Paradiesstrasse, would make the city unsafe from the west in the event of enemy raids and that the enemy could establish themselves there, the prince ordered the monks to move into their apartments should leave and move to Grevenbroich, where there was a monastery of the same order. Instead of moving to another Wilhelmitenkloster in Grevenbroich , the monks moved to the Augustinerhof on the farm . They called this new apartment "New Paradise", which was destroyed in the Geldrian War in 1543. The monastery on Paradiesstrasse was demolished in 1536/37 and the stones were used to build the new fortress. Due to the order of the Duke of Jülich's spiritual council, Jakob Masius, to transfer the entire income to the Jülich Collegiate Foundation, the Wilhelmites could no longer exist in Düren. The monastery was dissolved in 1570.

literature

• Wilhelm Heinrichs: Order and its branches in the old Düren , Hahne and Schloemer Verlag, Düren 2003, ISBN 3-927312-55-X , pp. 25–37

Coordinates: 50 ° 48 ′ 14.9 "  N , 6 ° 28 ′ 36.8"  E