Burtscheid Abbey (german: Abtei Burtscheid) was a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monastery, after 1220 a
Cistercian nunnery
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.
History
The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in t ...
, located at
Burtscheid
Burtscheid ( la, Porcetum) is a district of the city of Aachen, part of the Aachen-Mitte Stadtbezirk. It is a health resort.
History
It was inhabited since ancient times by Celts and Romans, who were attracted by the presence of hot springs.
...
, near
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
, in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
History
The abbey was founded in 997 under Emperor
Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
. The first
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
,
Gregor
Gregor is a masculine given name. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:
People
* Gregor Abel (born 1949), Scottish footballer
* Gregor Adlercreutz (1898–1944), Swedish equestrian
* Gregor Aichinger (c. 1565–1628), G ...
, who came to Burtscheid from
Calabria
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, is sometimes said to have been the brother of
Theophanu
Theophanu (; also ''Theophania'', ''Theophana'', or ''Theophano''; Medieval Greek ; AD 955 15 June 991) was empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Emperor Otto II, and regent of the Empire during the minority of their son, Emperor Ott ...
,
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
mother of the Emperor. He was buried beneath the
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
after his death in 999, and his date of death, 4 November, was kept as a
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
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
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
was raised to the status of an
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
, and the dedication was changed from Saints
Nicholas
Nicholas is a male given name and a surname.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...
and
Apollinaris to Saints
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
and Nicholas.
In 1138, the abbey was made ''reichsfrei'' by
Conrad III, being granted
Imperial immediacy
Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular pri ...
, the privilege of being subject only to the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
, rather than to an intermediate lord. The abbey was under the ''
Vogt
During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...
ei'' (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
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
were evicted and replaced by
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s who had previously been living at the ''Salvatorberg'' in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, 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.
References
Further reading
* Christian Quix: ''Geschichte der ehemaligen Reichsabtei Burtscheid, von ihrer Gründung im 7ten Jahrhunderte bis 1400''. Verlag Jakob Anton Mayer, Aachen 1834; new edition 1977
online
* Heinrich Schnock: ''Studien über die Reihenfolge der Äbte und Äbtissinnen in der ehemaligen Herrlichkeit Burtscheid''. In: ''Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins''. Band 41, 1919, pp. 205–253
online
* Franz Bock: ''Die Reliquienschätze der ehemaligen gefürsteten Reichs-Abteien Burtscheid und Cornelimünster, nebst den Heiligthümern der früheren Stiftskirche St. Adalbert und der Theresianer-Kirche zu Aachen''. Köln 1867
online
* Hans Königs: ''Eine unbekannte Darstellung der Reichsabtei Burtscheid aus dem Jahr 1754''. In: ''Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsvereins''. Band 84/85, Aachen 1977/1978, pp. 499–552
* Wilhelm Zimmermann: ''St. Johann, Aachen-Burtscheid''. (= ''Rheinische Kunststätten''. 230). Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz, Köln 1979
* Thomas Wurzel: ''Die Reichsabtei Burtscheid von der Gründung bis zur frühen Neuzeit'. Aachen 1984
* Heinrich von Schwartzenberg: ''Familien-Wappen und Denksteine der Burtscheider Äbtissinnen''. Verein für wissenschaftliches Schrifttum e.V., Göttingen 1987
* Ernst Günther Grimme: ''Kirchenschätze der ehemaligen Abteikirche St. Johann und der Pfarrkirche St. Michael in Aachen-Burtscheid''. Thouet Verlag, Aachen/ Leipzig/ Paris 1996
* Herta Lepie: ''Abteischatz St. Johann Baptist in Aachen-Burtscheid''. In: Clemens M. M. Bayer (ed.): ''Schatzkunst in rheinischen Kirchen und Museen''. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2013 , pp. 165–172
* August Schaake: ''Zur Verfassung und Verwaltung der Cisterzienserinnenabtei Burtscheid von ihrer Entstehung bis um die Mitte des 14. Jahrhunderts'' (inaugural dissertation, University of Münster), Aachen 1913
online.
External links
*
KuLaDig.de database: Benediktinerabtei Burtscheid, später Zisterzienserinnenkloster*
Germania Sacra: Benediktinerabtei Aachen Burtscheid*
Official website of the town of Burtscheid*
{{Authority control
990s in the Holy Roman Empire
Buildings and structures completed in 1138
Christian monasteries established in the 10th century
Monasteries in North Rhine-Westphalia
Benedictine monasteries in Germany
Cistercian nunneries in Germany
990s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
10th-century establishments in Germany
Imperial abbeys disestablished in 1802–03
Religious organizations established in the 1220s
Buildings and structures in Aachen
997 establishments
999
1220 in Europe
1220s in the Holy Roman Empire