Solberga Abbey (Swedish: Solberga kloster), was a

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 ...

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, in operation from 1246 until at least 1469. It was located outside

Visby Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

until 1404, and then in Visby. It was the only nunnery on the island of Gotland.

History

Solberga Abbey was likely a daughter convent of

Vreta Abbey Vreta Abbey ( sv, Vreta kloster), in operation from the beginning of the 12th century to 1582, was the first nunnery in Sweden, initially Benedictine and later Cistercian, and one of the oldest in Scandinavia. It was located in the present-day m ...

. On 12 August 1246, Bishop Laurentius of Linköping mentions that the first nuns had been sent to

. This likely refers to Solberga, which was the only nunnery on the island. In contrast to what was previously believed, Solberga was a large convent with many members. It had both an

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

and a prioress. In 1361, many fallen from the

Battle of Visby The Battle of Visby was fought in 1361 near the town of Visby on the island of Gotland, between the forces of the Danish king and the Gutnish country yeomen. The Danish force was victorious. Background On 22July 1361, King Valdemar IV of Denmark ...

was buried on the abbey's land, where a cross, which still stands, was erected. The abbey was presumably destroyed by the war between the

Victual Brothers , native_name_lang = , named_after = french: vitailleurs (provisioners, Hundred Years' War) , image = Vitalienbrueder, Wandmalerei in d, Kirche zu Bunge auf Gotland, gemalt ca. 1405.JPG , image_size = 250px ...

, the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

and the forces of the

Kalmar Union The Kalmar Union (Danish language, Danish, Norwegian language, Norwegian, and sv, Kalmarunionen; fi, Kalmarin unioni; la, Unio Calmariensis) was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden, that from 1397 to 1523 joined under ...

in 1398–1403. In 1404, the abbess applied for help from the Master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, then in control of Gotland, to found a new abbey. The nuns were allowed to reside in the St. Jacob chapel in Visby. From 1469, they lived by the St. Gertrud chapel in Visby. During the 15th century, the nuns were still, event though no longer in residence at Solberga, referred to as the Solberga nuns. It is not known exactly when the nunnery was dissolved. It may not have lasted until the reformation. By 1469, the nuns were described as "the diminished nuns of Visby".

Sources

* Thordeman, Bengt: Korsbetningen och Solberga kloster utanför Visby, 1930, . * Dick Wase, Kyrkorna i Visby, i Gotländskt arkiv 1990. * Dick Wase, Kyrkorna i Visby - nya rön, i Gotländskt arkiv 2002. {{Coord, 57, 38, 0.70, N, 18, 17, 55.50, E, region:SE_type:landmark, display=title Cistercian nunneries in Sweden 1246 establishments in Europe 13th-century establishments in Sweden Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Medieval Sweden