Eppenberg Charterhouse (german: Kartause Eppenberg) was a charterhouse, or Carthusian monastery, now a ruin, situated on the Eppenberg next to the Heiligenberg in Gensungen, now part of

Felsberg Felsberg (german: rock hill, link=no) may refer to: * Felsberg, Hessen, a town in Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Hessen, Germany * , a part of Überherrn, Landkreis Saarlouis, Saarland, Germany * Felsberg (Odenwald), a mountain in the Odenwald hills, Landk ...

in Hesse, Germany. It was established to replace a failing monastery of

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

canonesses.

History

Premonstratensian priory

About 1217 the canonesses of Ahnaberg Priory near

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

were permitted to establish a daughter-house on the Eppenberg, on the shoulder of the Heiligenberg. This foundation was confirmed on 3 March 1219 by

Siegfried II, Archbishop of Mainz Siegfried II von Eppstein (died 9 September 1230, in Erfurt) was archbishop of Mainz from 1200 to 1230. Siegfried was born the second son Gerhard I of Eppstein and hit an ecclesiastical career. Already in 1189 he was the owner of the parish of St ...

, who took it under his protection. The total number of canonesses in Ahnaberg was set at 40, and the remainder moved to a newly established daughter-house at Eppenberg. The relationship of the new priory to its mother house was clearly not without friction. In 1223 the provost and community of Ahnaberg re-stated their rights in Eppenberg. On 17 February 1224 Archbishop Siegfried once more confirmed the rights of Ahnaberg Priory. But in 1250, for reasons now unknown, the prioress of Eppenberg openly rejected the rights of Ahnaberg, and Eppenberg, like Ahnaberg itself, became an independent house under the supervision and protection of Spieskappel Abbey. The newly independent priory rapidly flourished, mostly because of gifts and acquisitions of land in the nearby villages of Altenbrunslar, Böddiger, Besse and Gensungen. In 1269 Eppenberg was able to found a daughter-house at Homberg an der Efze. Growing prosperity however led to a decline in morals and discipline, and eventually to prodigality, mismanagement, and economic collapse.

Charterhouse

Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse, greatly offended at the conditions in the priory, the neglected estates and buildings, and the loss of discipline, rigour and order, obtained a Papal bull in 1438 to dissolve the Premonstratensian priory and replaced it by a charterhouse, which was settled by hermits from

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

in 1440. The buildings were generously and extensively rebuilt for Carthusian use and re-dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. In 1471 Landgrave Ludwig II of Hesse gave the charterhouse the estate of Wimmenhof (now Domäne Mittelhof) and the nearby, half-derelict

Heiligenburg Castle Heiligenburg Castle (german: link=no, Burg Heiligenburg) is a castle on the hill of Heiligenberg in the district of Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Hesse, Germany. Heilgenberg is a high hill close to the town of Felsberg-Gensungen in North Hesse. The hill i ...

, on the condition that the monks should pray weekly in the castle chapel for his salvation.

Secularisation

In 1527, in the wake of the Synod of Homberg of 1526, which introduced the Protestant Reformation in Hesse, the monastery was dissolved and taken over by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse for use as a hunting lodge and farm. In about 1610 Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel had the hunting lodge remodelled in Italian Renaissance style. The buildings and lands were maintained by the nearby Mittelhof. In the Thirty Years' War the building complex was mostly destroyed, and afterwards it became a subsidiary building and sheep-farm to the state-owned Domäne Mittelhof. In the Seven Years' War (1756–63)

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

troops were holed up there for seven weeks after losing the Battle of

Grebenstein Grebenstein () is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 16 km northwest of Kassel on the German Timber-Frame Road. In 1762 it was the scene of a skirmish between British and French troops during the Seven Years' ...

; two dugouts on the slopes of the Heiligenberg remain as a reminder of their camp.

Present day

In 1957 the principal building was struck by lightning and burnt down, leaving only the bare walls. The claustral buildings and the monastery church fell increasingly into dereliction, until in 1984 the Bezirks-Imkerverein Felsberg ("Felsberg Beekeepers' Association") took on the task of restoring and caring for the site. In the former gatehouse they established a highly regarded museum of bee-keeping. Of the monastery itself the only remains are those of the church. The area around the charterhouse site and the ruins themselves were declared a nature reserve in December 1988.

References

External links

Klosterruine Kartause