Daugavgrīva Abbey or Dünamünde Abbey ( lv, Daugavgrīvas klosteris; german: Kloster Dünamünde; la, Mons S. Nicolai) was a Cistercian

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 whi ...

in Daugavgrīva (german: Dünamünde) in Latvia, about 12 kilometres from Riga, of which Daugavgrīva has formed a district since 1959. The site was re-developed from 1305 as Daugavgrīva Castle.

History

The

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 con ...

was founded in 1205 by

Albert of Buxhoeveden Albert of Riga or Albert of Livonia or Albrecht (german: Albert von Buxthoeven, lv, Alberts fon Buksthēvdens; c.1165 – 17 January 1229) was the third Bishop of Riga in Livonia. In 1201 he allegedly founded Riga, the modern capital of Latvi ...

bishop of Riga The Archbishopric of Riga ( la, Archiepiscopatus Rigensis, nds, Erzbisdom Riga) was an archbishopric in Medieval Livonia, a subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1186 as the bishopric of Livonia at Ikšķile, then after moving to Rig ...

, on the right bank of the

Daugava , be, Заходняя Дзвіна (), liv, Vēna, et, Väina, german: Düna , image = Fluss-lv-Düna.png , image_caption = The drainage basin of the Daugava , source1_location = Valdai Hills, Russia , mouth_location = Gulf of Riga, Baltic ...

river, and settled by monks from

Pforta Abbey The Pforta monastery is a former Cistercian monastery located near Naumburg in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was established in the 1130s and prospered in the Middle Ages. In the course of the Reformation the monastery was disbanded in 1540. Today th ...

, of the filiation of Morimond. The first abbot, Theoderich of Treyden, also known as Theoderich of Estland, had already been active in the mission to

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

. The second abbot, in the 1210s, was Bernard II of Lippe. The abbey's estates were in part extremely distant. For example, it owned 30

oxgang An oxgang or bovate ( ang, oxangang; da, oxgang; gd, damh-imir; lat-med, bovāta) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English a ...

s (''Hufen'') of land at Rägelin in Temnitzquell in Brandenburg that had been given to it by the Edler von Plote, on which it ran a farm. During a revolt of the

Curonians :''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs ( lv, kurši; lt, kuršiai; german: Kuren; non, Kúrir; orv, кърсь) were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in what are now the western p ...

and

Semigallians Semigallians ( Latvian ''Zemgaļi''; lt, Žiemgaliai, also ''Zemgalians, Semigalls, Semigalians'') were the Baltic tribe that lived in the southcentral part of contemporary Latvia and northern Lithuania. They are noted for their long resistance ...

in 1228 the monks were killed and the monastery destroyed, although soon rebuilt. In 1263 the wooden church was destroyed by a fire. In 1305 the abbey was sold to the Livonian Order, which established its

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

there and converted the site to a fortress, Daugavgrīva Castle or Dünamünde Castle. The monks moved to

Padise Abbey Padise Abbey ( et, Padise klooster) was a former Cistercian monastery in Padise in Harju County, Estonia, settled in 1310 by the dispossessed monks of Dünamünde Abbey in Latvia. It was converted into a fortress after its dissolution in 1 ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Site and buildings

The church abutted on its east side onto a strong square tower. Along the east wall of the abbey precinct were two buildings for the use of the monks, while the lay brothers had a building on the west wall. To the north were two towers. The entrance was located in the south-west corner of the outer defensive perimeter, which was surrounded by a moat more than 40 metres wide.

Bibliography

* Dimier, M.-Anselme (1971): ''L'art cistercien hors de France'', p 55. Zodiaque: La Pierre-qui-Vire * Schneider, Ambrosius (1986): ''Lexikale Übersicht der Männerklöster der Cistercienser im deutschen Sprach- und Kulturraum'', in: Schneider, Ambrosius; Wienand, Adam; Bickel, Wolfgang; Coester, Ernst (eds.): ''Die Cistercienser, Geschichte – Geist – Kunst'', 3rd edn., pp 650f. Wienand Verlag Köln

External links

Dünamünde Fortress
History of Riga Roman Catholic monasteries in Latvia Cistercian monasteries Christian monasteries established in the 13th century 13th century in Latvia Religious buildings and structures completed in 1205 {{Latvia-struct-stub