Eisenach Charterhouse (german: Kartause Eisenach) is a former charterhouse, or Carthusian monastery, in Eisenach in Thüringia, Germany, founded in 1378 and suppressed in 1525.

History

The charterhouse ''Domus Vallis Sanctae Elisabeth'', dedicated to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (by her marriage Landgravine of Thuringia), was established in Eisenach in 1378 with the support of Landgraves Frederick III and Balthasar and of William I, Margrave of Meissen.Johann Karl Salomo Thon: ''Schloß Wartburg - Eyn Beytrag zur Kunde der Vorzeit'', Verlag Carl Wilhelm Ettinger, Gotha 1792, pp. 121 ff The first monks arrived in the years from 1378 to 1383 from Erfurt Charterhouse.Sönke Lorenz, Oliver Auge, Robert Zagolla: ''Bücher, Bibliotheken und Schriftkultur der Kartäuser - Festgabe zum 65. Geburtstag von Edward Potkowski'', Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, p. 7 The monastic premises were sited just outside the town of Eisenach, in front of the ''Frauentor'' ("women's gate") to the south of the town. In 1382 the Carthusian Chapter General officially accepted the new foundation into the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

. The charterhouse flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries. Prominent scholars of

Scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...

originated here, such as Johannes de Indagine (real name Johann Bremer von Hagen, 1415−1475), who was prior of Eisenach from 1454 to 1456, and later prior of Erfurt Charterhouse.Johann Wolf: ''Politische Geschichte des Eichsfeldes'', Band 2, Verlag Rosenbusch, Göttingen 1793Jakob Dominikus: ''Erfurt und das Erfurtische Gebiet'', Verlag C.W. Ettinger, Gotha 1793, p. 261 His successor Heinrich Nemritz (prior 1457−1474), served from 1477 to 1482 as General Visitor of the Lower German province of the Carthusian Order.Hans Patze: ''Geschichte Thüringens - Grundlagen und frühes Mittelalter'', Band 1, Verlag Böhlau, Köln 1968, p. 105 The Reformation divided the monks. In the early 1520s some had already become adherents of the teachings of Martin Luther.Georg Heinrich Albert Ukert, Friedrich August Ukert: ''Dr. Martin Luther's Leben'', Verlag Justus Perthes, Gotha 1817

Dissolution and later use

In the ''"Eisenacher Pfaffensturm"'' ("Eisenach Priest Storm") on 24 April 1525, the buildings were looted and badly damaged. The monks and nuns from all monastic houses in Eisenach were driven from the town. The charterhouse was dissolved and its premises were confiscated by the Elector John. The Elector John Frederick I had the secularised monastery repaired by 1537 and used it as a country house. During the Thirty Years' War it was looted. In 1694 Duke John George II of Saxe-Eisenach established an orphanage and a textile mill in the buildings.Karl Limmer: ''Entwurf einer urkundlich-pragmatischen Geschichte von Thüringen'', Verlag Friedrich Weber, Ronneburg 1837 The garden was used as a ducal kitchen garden. Between 1717 and 1721 a new prison and orphanage (''Zucht- und Waisenhaus'') was set up alongside a cloth manufactory.Stefan Wolter: ''"Bedenket das Armuth". Das Armenwesen der Stadt Eisenach im ausgehenden 17. und im 18. Jahrhundert'', Göttingen 2003, pp. 234-381. After the orphanage was closed in 1819, the buildings were used as a house of correction. Around 1790 the court gardener Johann Georg Sckell successfully transformed the former ducal kitchen garden into a landscape garden, which was given its present form as the Charterhouse Garden from 1845 by

Hermann Jäger Hermann Jäger (7 October 1815 – 5 January 1890) was born at Münchenbernsdorf, Saxony (now Germany). A botanist specializing in medicinal plants and horticulture, he was Associate Editor of the journal ''Gartenflora'', founded in 1852 by Eduar ...

(1815−1890).

Buildings

The gardener's house in the centre of the charterhouse garden with its Neoclassical "tearoom", contains the last remains of the monastery.

References

Bibliography

* Sönke Lorenz (ed.): ''Bücher, Bibliotheken und Schriftkultur der Kartäuser - Festgabe zum 65. Geburtstag von Edward Potkowski'', Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, * Gottfried Kühn: ''Das Karthäuserkloster in Eisenach'', Verlag Kahle, Eisenach 1896 * {{Coord, 50, 58, 4, N, 10, 19, 26, E, type:landmark_region:DE-TH, display=title Carthusian monasteries in Germany Buildings and structures in Eisenach