Lamspringe Abbey (Stift Lamspringe, later Kloster Lamspringe) is a former religious house of the

English Benedictines English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

in exile, at

Lamspringe Lamspringe is a village and a municipality in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km south of Hildesheim. Since 1 November 2016, the former municipalities Harbarnsen, Neuhof, Sehlem and W ...

near

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

in Germany.

First foundation

The foundation by Count Ricdag of the first religious house at Lamspringe for

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

canonesses Canoness is a member of a religious community of women living a simple life. Many communities observe the monastic Rule of St. Augustine. The name corresponds to the male equivalent, a canon. The origin and Rule are common to both. As with the ca ...

is conventionally dated around 850. It was founded by a Count Riddagus, whose daughter, Richburga, became the first abbess. Lamspringe became a reformed Benedictine convent just before 1130. The convent received generous support from the bishops of Hildesheim, and became one of the wealthiest in the diocese during the 14th century. The

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

became

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

in 1571 during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, but Catholics regained it in 1629.Agius, O.S.B., Dom Denis. "Daily Life at Lamspringe during the Eighteenth Century", English Benedictine Congregation History Symposium 1995
/ref> Little remains of the early medieval buildings.

Second foundation

In 1628 English Benedictine monks in exile approached the

Bursfelde Congregation The Bursfelde Congregation, also called Bursfelde Union, was a union of predominantly west and central German Benedictine monasteries, of both men and women, working for the reform of Benedictine practice. It was named after Bursfelde Abbey. Backg ...

with a request for a conventual building and in 1630 were granted the derelict buildings at Lamspringe. However, they were unable to take possession and begin work on the monastery until the early 1640s, after the end of the Thirty Years' War. The English Benedictines rebuilt the abbey, dedicated to St Adrian of Corinth, a 3rd-century

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

, and St. Denis. Lamspringe Abbey was the only English Benedictine Congregation abbey of the English Benedictines in exile. From 1671 they ran a good though small school for English Catholic boys, mostly from Yorkshire and the north, necessitated by England's then anti-Catholic laws. [https://www.downsideabbey.co.uk/downside-library/the-library-collections/the-lambspringe-collection/ "The Lamspringe Collection", Downside Abbey">Scott, Geoffrey. "Review of Lamspringe. An English Abbey in Germany, 1643-1803". ''The Catholic Historical Review'', vol. 90 no. 4, 2004, p. 803-804. Project MUSE, Lamspringe Abbey was the only English Benedictine Congregation abbey of the English Benedictines in exile. From 1671 they ran a good though small school for English Catholic boys, mostly from Yorkshire and the north, necessitated by England's then anti-Catholic laws.
/ref> English gentry families (primarily in the north) and German princes were generous supporters. Unlike the other English monasteries in exile, Lamspringe was a large abbey rather than a small priory, and was wealthy, with wide estates. The community's wealth and status were reflected in the quality of the building works undertaken. The abbey church, serious work on which began in 1691 under abbot Maurus Corker">"The Lamspringe Collection", Downside Abbey
/ref> English gentry families (primarily in the north) and German princes were generous supporters. Unlike the other English monasteries in exile, Lamspringe was a large abbey rather than a small priory, and was wealthy, with wide estates. The community's wealth and status were reflected in the quality of the building works undertaken. The abbey church, serious work on which began in 1691 under abbot Maurus Corker
, and the remaining monastery buildings, executed in rather grand style by Yorkshireman abbot Joseph Rokeby up to 1731, still remain virtually intact. Lamspringe Abbey housed the relics of St Oliver Plunkett, taken there in 1684 by the later Abbot of Lamspringe, Corker, who had been with him in Newgate Prison in London, as well as the head of St Thomas of Hereford. Plunkett's relics are now at

Downside Abbey Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged eleven to eighteen. Both t ...

, along with a reliquary containing Hereford's skull and much of the monks' library. It is believed that it was via Lamspringe that Fr. Corker brought the Relic of the Head of St. Oliver to Rome and gave it to Oliver's old Dominican friend and correspondent, Philip Howard, Cardinal of Norfolk.National Shrine to Saint Oliver Plunkett, Drogheda
/ref> Lamspringe had 500 acres under direct cultivation, 3,500 acres of woodland, and extensive fishponds. The monastery brewery was established in 1717. The "Lamb's Spring" supplied water for the mill pond which supplied power to the monastery mill. From 1644 until 1802, 172 monks were professed, most came from northern England. There were regular vistitations by the president of the English Congregation or his representative. The abbey was

secularised In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

in 1803 by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

, and the monks returned to England. The library was dispersed; it had contained as its most famous item the St. Albans Psalter, which is now at the basilica of St. Godehard, Hildesheim. The school was transferred to the then newly established

Ampleforth Abbey Ampleforth Abbey is a monastery of Benedictine monks a mile to the east of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England, part of the English Benedictine Congregation. It claims descent from the pre-Reformation community at Westminster Abbey through th ...

and formed the basis of the present

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

."Lamspringe - An English Abbey in Germany", Ampleforth Abbey
/ref> The monks, after a period of dispersal, reformed as a community at

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

between 1828 and 1841, after which they were spread among other houses, although the community was never formally disbanded. The last surviving members joined the abbey at

Fort Augustus Fort Augustus is a settlement in the parish of Boleskine and Abertarff, at the south-west end of Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands. The village has a population of around 646 (2001). Its economy is heavily reliant on tourism. History The Gaeli ...

(1876-1998) at its foundation.

Present day

The church still serves as the parish church, and the still impressive monastic buildings are put to a variety of parish and community uses. The abbey garden also survives and is one of the attractions of Lamspringe. Much of the monastery building now houses the local town council. The annual "St. Oliver Fest" in Lamspringe is held on the last Saturday of August.

Abbots

Clement Reyner Clement Reyner D.D. (1589–1651) was an English Benedictine monk, who became abbot of Lamspringe in Germany. Life Born Lawrence Reyner in Ripon, Yorkshire, he made his profession as a Benedictine monk in the monastery of St. Laurence at Dieulouar ...

1645-1651 * Wilfrid Selby 1651-1657 * John Placid Gascoigne 1657-1681 * Joseph Sherwood 1681-1690 * Maurus Corker 1690-1695 * Maurus Knightley 1697-1708 * Joseph Rokeby 1730-1762 * Maurus Heatley 1762-1802

Notes

Sources

*
Lamspringe Municipality official website: History

* Cramer, A., OSB (ed.), 2004. ''Lamspringe: an English Abbey in Germany 1643-1803''. Saint Laurence Papers VII, Ampleforth. {{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 9th century Monasteries of Canonesses Regular Monasteries in Lower Saxony 1620s disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire Christian monasteries established in the 17th century Benedictine monasteries in Germany Monasteries of the English Benedictine Congregation 17th-century churches in Germany Buildings and structures in Hildesheim (district)