Eldena Abbey (German : Kloster Eldena), originally Hilda Abbey (German : Kloster Hilda) is a former Cistercian monastery near the present town of Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Only ruins survive, which are well known as a frequent subject of Caspar David Friedrich's paintings, including the famous Abtei im Eichwald ("Abbey in the Oak Forest").
In the 12th century the Baltic coast south of the island of Rügen belonged to the Rani principality of Rügen, which in its turn was subject to the Danes. The Danish Cistercian monastery, Esrum Abbey, was thus able to found a daughter house in the area, Dargun Abbey, at Dargun, west of Demmin, in 1172. When in 1198 this monastery was destroyed in fighting between Denmark and Brandenburg, Jaromar I, Prince of the Rani, whose wife was of the Danish royal house, offered to re-settle the monks at a new site at the mouth of the River Ryck, close to the boundary between the territory of the Princes of Rügen, and the County of Gützkow, [1] since the early 1120s subordinate to the Duchy of Pomerania.
The offer of the site, which included profitable salt pans, [1] was accepted, and in 1199 Hilda Abbey, now Eldena Abbey, [2] was founded, [1] and confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1204. [3] The princes of Rügen further endowed the new monastery with extensive lands in the border country between the Rügen-owned territories of Gristow and Wostrose (Wusterhusen), the area of Lositz (Loitz) which was debated between Rügen and Mecklenburg, and the County of Gützkow.
The monastery became wealthy from the salt trade and was very influential in the Christianisation of Western Pomerania. It also brought about the foundation at the beginning of the 13th century of the town of Greifswald, which started out as the monastery's trading settlement opposite the salt pans, near the point where the via regia, an important trade route, crossed the river. After the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227 the Danes withdrew from this part of their former territories, and despite some competition from the princes of Rügen, the Duke of Pomerania, Wartislaw III, was able in 1248/49 to press the abbey into subinfeudating Greifswald to him. Wartislaw was later buried in Eldena Abbey, as were later members of the ducal family, the House of Pomerania.
Throughout the 13th century, Eldena Abbey organized the cultivation and settlement of its growing estates in the Ostsiedlung process, allocating and founding Wendish, Danish and German villages. [4] In the growing town of Greifswald however, the Cistercians of Eldena lost much of their influence the foundation in the town in the mid-13th century of friaries of the Franciscans (Greyfriars) and the Dominicans (Blackfriars).
The east end of the abbey church was built in about 1200, while the conventual buildings date from the mid-13th and 14th centuries, all in Brick Gothic. The final stages of construction were the west front and the nave of the church, which were completed in the 15th century.
The abbey was dissolved in 1535, when the Reformation was introduced into Pomerania by Duke Philip I, who took over its estates. The buildings were severely damaged during the Thirty Years' War. In 1634 the site was given to the University of Greifswald. The buildings fell derelict during the Swedish occupation of western Pomerania (1648–1815), and bricks were taken away to build fortifications.
By the beginning of the 19th century, when the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich knew the abbey, it was a ruin, which he made the subject of several paintings. Renewed public interest led to the beginning of restoration work in 1828, and on the basis of designs by the Prussian landscape gardener Peter Joseph Lenné a park was laid out on the abbey precinct.
In 1926-1927, scientific excavations were carried out in order to reconstruct the exact layout of the site. In the 1960s further work was carried out to make the site suitable for use for public and cultural events. Still more works were authorised from 1996 onwards jointly by both the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (Landesamt für Denkmalpflege) and the town of Greifswald, which eventually led to the declaration of the ruins as a cultural site of the Pomerania Euroregion.
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Greifswald, officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpassed Stralsund for the first time, and became the largest city in the Pomeranian part of the state. It sits on the River Ryck, at its mouth into the Danish Wiek, a sub-bay of the Bay of Greifswald, which is itself a sub-bay of the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea.
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The Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (Griffins). The country had existed in the Middle Ages, in years 1121–1160, 1264–1295, 1478–1531 and 1625–1637.
Jaromar I was a Prince of Rügen between 1170 and 1218.
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Casimir II was the duke of Pomerania-Demmin from 1187 until his death. He was succeeded by Wartislaw III, Casimir's son with princess Ingardis of Denmark.
Esrum Abbey, also Esrom Abbey, was the second Cistercian monastery founded in Denmark, located near Hillerød in Region Hovedstaden, on the island of Zealand (Sjælland), on the north side of the Esrum Sø near Esbønderup and Græsted.
Dargun Palace, previously Dargun Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Dargun, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, in the former Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, converted after its dissolution into a palace.
Eric II or Erich II was a member of the House of Pomerania and was the ruling Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1457 to 1474. He was the son of Wartislaw IX of Pomerania-Wolgast and Sophia, daughter of Eric IV of Saxe-Lauenburg.
The Principality of Rügen was a Danish principality, formerly a duchy, consisting of the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland from 1168 until 1325. It was governed by a local dynasty of princes of the Wizlawiden dynasty. For at least part of this period, Rügen was subject to the Holy Roman Empire.
The County of Gützkow was a county located within the Duchy of Pomerania in the High Middle Ages. It was established in 1129 from the Castellany of Gützkow. Following the death of its last count in 1359, it was re-established into the Vogtei Gützkow.
Stolpe Abbey was the first monastery in Pomerania. It was located on the southern bank of the Peene River between Gützkow and Anklam near the village of Stolpe an der Peene.
The Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald, Western Pomerania, is a public museum primarily dedicated to Pomeranian history and arts. The largest exhibitions show archeological findings and artefacts from the Pomerania region and paintings, e.g. of Caspar David Friedrich, a Greifswald local, such as Ruins of Eldena Abbey in the Riesengebirge. The museum was established in the years of 1998 to 2005 at the site of the historical Franziskaner abbey.
Pomerania during the High Middle Ages covers the history of Pomerania in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Germania Slavica is a historiographic term used since the 1950s to denote the landscape of the medieval language border zone between Germans and Slavs in Central Europe on the one hand and a 20th-century scientific working group to research the conditions in that area during the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages on the other.
Bogislaw II was Duke of Pomerania-Stettin from 1187 until his death.
Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania,Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania, is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Western Pomerania's boundaries have changed through the centuries as it belonged to various countries such as Poland, the Duchy of Pomerania, Sweden, Denmark, as well as Prussia which incorporated it as the Province of Pomerania.
The Wars of the Rügen Succession were two early 14th century conflicts fought primarily between Mecklenburg and Pomerania for control of the Danish Principality of Rügen on the southern Baltic Sea coast.
Jaromar II, Prince of Rügen was a Slavic nobleman. He was the ruling Prince of Rügen from 1249 until his death.
