Burtscheid Abbey

Last updated
Imperial Abbey of Burtscheid
Abtei Burtscheid
1138–1802
Wappen Abtei Burtscheid.svg
Coat of arms
Burtscheid abbey.jpg
Burtscheid Abbey church
StatusImperial Abbey
CapitalBurtscheid Abbey
Common languages Moselle Franconian
GovernmentTheocracy
Historical era Middle Ages
 Founded by Benedictines
997
 Made Reichsfrei
1138
 Taken over by Cistercians,
     immediacy confirmed

1220
 Purchased its own Vogtei
1649
 Established gambling house
1779
 Occupied by France
1792, 1794–1804
1802
  Awarded to Prussia
1815
Succeeded by
Roer (department) Flag of France.svg
Today part of Germany

Burtscheid Abbey (German : Abtei Burtscheid) was a Benedictine monastery, after 1220 a Cistercian nunnery, located at Burtscheid, near Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany.

Contents

History

The abbey was founded in 997 under Emperor Otto III. The first abbot, Gregor, who came to Burtscheid from Calabria, is sometimes said to have been the brother of Theophanu, Byzantine mother of the Emperor. He was buried beneath the altar after his death in 999, and his date of death, 4 November, was kept as a feast day until the dissolution of the abbey.

In 1018 the Emperor Henry II endowed it with the surrounding territory. Also at about this time the monastery was raised to the status of an abbey, and the dedication was changed from Saints Nicholas and Apollinaris to Saints John the Baptist and Nicholas.

In 1138, the abbey was made reichsfrei by Conrad III, being granted Imperial immediacy, the privilege of being subject only to the Holy Roman Emperor, rather than to an intermediate lord. The abbey was under the Vogtei (loosely "protectorship") of the Barony of Mérode until the abbey purchased its Vogtei from them, in 1649.

In 1220, under Emperor Frederick II and his chancellor, Archbishop Engelbert of Cologne, the Benedictines were evicted and replaced by Cistercian nuns who had previously been living at the Salvatorberg in Aachen, to whom the abbey's possessions were transferred. At the same time the abbey's reichsfreiheit was confirmed.

The abbey church was rebuilt in the mid-14th century, and again between 1735 and 1754 by the architect J.J. Couven.

In 1779, despite the refusal of permission by the council of Aachen, who by that time were responsible for local government in Burtscheid, the then abbess introduced a gambling house, and the street is still known today as Krugenofen Kasinostrasse.

Burtscheid was occupied by French troops in December 1792, and from September 1794 until 1804. They used the abbey church for the manufacture of balloons. In August 1802 the nunnery was secularised and dissolved.

The remaining abbey buildings are now used by a school and for residential and administrative purposes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aachen Cathedral</span> Catholic cathedral in Aachen, Germany

Aachen Cathedral is a Catholic church in Aachen, Germany and the cathedral of the Diocese of Aachen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brauweiler Abbey</span>

Brauweiler Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery located at Brauweiler, now in Pulheim near Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. It is now used as a regional cultural center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garsten Abbey</span> Building in Upper Austria, Austria

Garsten Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery located in Garsten near Steyr in Upper Austria. Since 1851, the former monastery buildings have accommodated a prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baindt Abbey</span>

Baindt Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Baindt, was a Cistercian nunnery in Baindt in the district of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gengenbach Abbey</span>

Gengenbach Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Gengenbach in the district of Ortenau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was an Imperial Abbey from the late Carolingian period to 1803.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weissenau Abbey</span>

Weissenau Abbey was an Imperial abbey (Reichsabtei) of the Holy Roman Empire located near Ravensburg in the Swabian Circle. The abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery, was an Imperial Estate and therefore its abbot had seat and vote in the Reichstag as a prelate of the Swabian Bench. The abbey existed from 1145 until the secularisation of 1802-1803.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kornelimünster Abbey</span>

Kornelimünster Abbey, also known as Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius, is a Benedictine monastery that has been integrated since 1972. The abbey is located in Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herford Abbey</span> Oldest womens religious house in the Duchy of Saxony

Herford Abbey was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst by a nobleman called Waltger, who moved it in about 800 onto the lands of his estate Herivurth which stood at the crossing of a number of important roads and fords over the Aa and the Werre. The present city of Herford grew up on this site around the abbey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medingen Abbey</span> Church in Lower Saxony, Germany

Medingen Abbey or Medingen Convent is a former Cistercian nunnery. Today it is a residence for women of the Protestant Lutheran faith near the Lower Saxon town of Bad Bevensen and is supervised by the Monastic Chamber of Hanover. The current director of the abbey (Äbtissin) is the art historian Dr Kristin Püttmann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Marienthal Abbey</span>

St. Marienthal Abbey is a Cistercian nunnery in Saxon Upper Lusatia. The abbey is the oldest nunnery of the Cistercian Order in Germany to have maintained unbroken occupation of its house since its foundation.

Gregor von Burtscheid, also known as Gregor von Calabria or Gregory of Cassano, was the first abbot of the Burtscheid Abbey, founded on the order of Otto III, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aachen Town Hall</span> Town hall in Aachen, Germany

Aachen Town Hall is a landmark of cultural significance located in the Altstadt of Aachen, Germany. It was built in the Gothic style in the first half of the 14th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankenberg Castle (Aachen)</span>

The Frankenberg Castle is a castle in the Frankenberg area of Aachen-Mitte, itself a district of Aachen, Germany. Its name comes from the concept of a "Franke", which was a type of castle that did not owe fealty to any others. Of course, shortly after its construction, the lowland castle became a fief of a Graf, and later belonged to the Duchy of Jülich-Cleves-Berg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Aachen</span> Timeline of the history of Aachen, North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Aachen, Germany.

Rottenmünster Abbey, also the Imperial Nunnery of Rottenmünster, was a Cistercian abbey located near Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. The self-ruling Imperial Abbey was secularized in the course of the German mediatization of 1802–1803 and its territory annexed to the Duchy of Württemberg. The monastery was closed in 1850. The buildings of the former abbey now house a hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günterstal Abbey</span>

Günterstal Abbey, earlier also Güntersthal Abbey, was a Cistercian nunnery that existed from 1221 to 1806 located in Günterstal, which today is a district in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

Marienschloss Abbey is a former Cistercian nunnery in Rockenberg, a town in Hesse, Germany. It is now used as Rockenberg Prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altenberger Dom</span> Church in Altenberg, Germany

The Altenberger Dom is the former abbey church of Altenberg Abbey which was built from 1259 in Gothic style by Cistercians. Listed as a cultural heritage, it is located in Altenberg, now part of Odenthal in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Until 1511, the church was the burial site of counts and dukes of Berg and the dukes of Jülich-Berg.

Heinz Hubert Baumann was a German Roman-Catholic priest in Aachen.

References

    Further reading

    50°45′47″N6°05′36″E / 50.76306°N 6.09333°E / 50.76306; 6.09333