The Ägidienkirche was a church in the German city of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

. Dedicated to

saint Giles Saint Giles (, , , , ; 650 - 710), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 7th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly legendary. A ...

, it was founded around 1140 as part of a hospital complex by bishop Burchard on land owned by himself and his mother in what was then the city outskirts. In 1148, after his mother's death, he granted it to the Augustinian

canonry Canon () is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an canon law, ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the p ...

Hördt Hördt is a municipality in the Germersheim (district), district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Personalities *Jakob Baumann (1862-1922), cathedral vicar in Speyer, author, long-standing editor of the diocese newspaper "Der ...

. It soon became one of Speyer's parish churches, with clergy supplied or appointed by the canonry. Its last Roman Catholic priest, Jost Neblich, was presented in 1565. The Protestant

Frederick III, Elector Palatine Frederick III of Simmern, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine (14 February 1515 – 16 October 1576) was a ruler from the house of Wittelsbach, specifically the cadet branch of Palatinate-Simmern- Sponheim. He was a son of John II of S ...

took control of the canonry in 1566, forcibly expelled the canons from the Ägidienkirche and in spring 1572 installed its first Protestant pastor, Johann Willing. Leopold V's troops occupied Speyer during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

and he handed the church over to a new Capuchin foundation in the city on 1 May 1623. It was in such a poor state that they laid the foundation stone for a new

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

, designed by the Capuchin brother Peter of Cologne, completed in 1628 and costing Leopold 10,000 florins. The

bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

ordered that the new church's main altar retain the dedication to St Giles. New monastic buildings and hospitals were also built on the old site. The Capuchins were expelled in 1650 following the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

and a priest was even dragged from the altar during mass. The new church became a Protestant parish church, although the monastery was given back to the Capuchins in 1688 when the French took control of the areas during the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between France and the Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial possessions in the Americas, India, and West Africa. Relat ...

, although it was damaged when the French burned the city the following year. Monks had returned by 1694 and the order's minister general visited early in 1766. It refused the

Civil Constitution of the Clergy The Civil Constitution of the Clergy () was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that sought the Caesaropapism, complete control over the Catholic Church in France by the National Constituent Assembly (France), French gove ...

after the French occupied the city in the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...

but returned to the monastery in 1796. The

Treaty of Campo Formio The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The trea ...

in 1797 formally annexed Speyer to France and the following year the monastery was declared state property and the church made the city's main parish church, since it was planned to demolish the city's ruined cathedral. Instead the cathedral was saved and the monastery sold off in 1806, though the deconsecrated church (by then a tobacco store) was acquired by the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

in 1807 for use as a customs warehouse. In 1979 it was turned into a community centre named the Ägidienhaus.

Sources

*Jakob Baumann: Geschichte der St. Ägidienkirche und des Kapuzinerkonventes in der freien Reichsstadt Speier, Speyer, 1918, Jägerscher Verlag {{coord, 49.3165, N, 8.4295, E, source:wikidata, display=title, format=dms Churches in Speyer category:Former churches in Germany Roman Catholic monasteries in Germany