Schönau Abbey (''Kloster Schönau'') in Schönau in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried' ...

, in the

Rhein-Neckar-Kreis The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis is a district in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The administrative headquarters are based in the city Heidelberg, which is a district-free city. As of 2019, the district is the most populous in Baden-Württe ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, was a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, 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 Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery founded in 1142 from

Eberbach Abbey Eberbach Abbey (German: Kloster Eberbach) is a former Cistercian monastery in Eltville in the Rheingau, Germany. On account of its Romanesque architecture, Romanesque and Gothic (architecture), early Gothic buildings it is considered one of the m ...

. The present settlement of Schönau grew up round the monastery.

History

Schönau Abbey was founded in 1142 by Burchard II von Asorn, Prince-Bishop of Worms, with Cistercians from Eberbach Abbey. The monastery came under the patronage of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine. In 1156 Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

conferred upon his half-brother the ''

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

ei'' of Schönau Abbey. Around 1190,

Rudolph I, Count Palatine of Tübingen Rudolph I, Count Palatine of Tübingen (1160 – 17 March 1219) was the eldest son of Count Palatine Hugo II, Count Palatine of Tübingen. Around 1183, he founded the Premonstratensian Bebenhausen Abbey as a burial place for his family. He ...

gave the Cistercians the abandoned

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 in the Catholic Chur ...

abbey of

Bebenhausen Bebenhausen () is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of t ...

. It became a daughter house of Schönau. During the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

the abbey was dissolved, in 1558. In 1562,

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 ...

used the empty buildings to provide housing for

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

refugees from

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

.Thomas, Andrew L., ''A House Divided: Wittelsbach Confessional Court Cultures in the Holy Roman Empire, C. 1550-1650'', BRILL, 2010, p. 138

Burials

By the end of the 12th century Schönau was already in use as a burial place of the Staufen family: in 1195

Conrad of Hohenstaufen Conrad of Hohenstaufen ( – 8 November 1195) was the first hereditary Count Palatine of the Rhine. His parents were Frederick II of Swabia (1090–1147), Duke of Swabia, and his second wife Agnes of Saarbrücken, daughter of Frederick, ...

Count Palatine of the Rhine This article lists counts palatine of Lotharingia, counts palatine of the Rhine, and electors of the Palatinate (), the titles of three counts palatine who ruled some part of the Rhine region in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire b ...

, was buried here, as were his son of the same name, probably in 1186, and both his wives. Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (d. 1327),

Rupert II, Elector Palatine Rupert II, Count Palatine of the Rhine () (12 May 1325, Amberg – 6 January 1398, Amberg). He was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine from the house of Wittelsbach in 1390–1398. Life Rupert was the elder son of Adolf, Count Palatine of the ...

(d. 1398) and other members of the family were also buried here. Conrad II, Bishop of Hildesheim, died here and was presumably also buried here. In the 14th century Schönau was also the burial place of the Counts of Erbach.

Buildings

Physical remains of the abbey include the abbey church of c. 1230, and also the abbey gateway (c. 1200), the former

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

, and the "Walloon forge" (the former abbey forge, renovated by the Huguenot refugees from Wallonia after 1558).

References

Literature

*''Die Stadt- und Landkreise Heidelberg und Mannheim. Amtliche Kreisbeschreibung''. Heidelberg 1968 *Berendes, H.U., 1984: ''Die Bischöfe von Worms und ihr Hochstift im 12. Jahrhundert''. Diss. Köln *de Gudenus, V.F., 1728: ''Sylloge I variorum diplomatariorum monumentorumque veterum ineditorum adhuc et res germanicas in primis vero moguntinas illustrantium''. Frankfurt *Derwein, Herbert, 1931: ''Das Zisterzienserkloster Schönau. Mit den Zeichnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts aus dem Germanischen Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg''. Franzmathes: Frankfur
Online-Publikation der Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg
*Edelmaier, Robert, 1915: ''Das Kloster Schönau bei Heidelberg. Ein Beitrag zur Baugeschichte der Cisterzienser.'' (Dissertation TH Karlsruhe 1913). Gustav Koester: Heidelberg *Huffschmid, Maximilian: ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der Cisterzienserabtei Schönau bei Heidelberg''. in: ZGO 45 (1891), pp. 415–449; ZGO 46 (1892), pp. 69–103 *Kaiser, Jürgen, and Götz von Roman, 2000: ''Schönau. Evangelische Stadtkirche, ehemalige Zisterzienserabtei.'' Schnell & Steiner: Regensburg *Kreisarchiv und Referat für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit des Rhein-Neckar-Kreises in Verbindung mit der Stadt Schönau und dem Verein Alt Schönau e.V. (ed.), 2002: ''Kloster und Hühnerfautei Schönau''. Heidelberg *Neumüllers-Klauser, Renate, 1970: ''Die Inschriften der Stadt und des Landkreises Heidelberg''. Stuttgart *Rothfuss, Virto-Christian: ''Die Schönauer Epitaphien der Pfalzgrafen bei Rhein''. in: Der Odenwald 54 (2007), pp. 99–102 *Schaab, Meinrad, 1990: ''Die Zisterzienserabtei Schönau im Odenwald'' (2nd edition). Winter: Heidelberg (Heidelberger Veröffentlichungen zur Landesgeschichte und Landeskunde, 8)

External links

Kloster Schönau: digital reconstruction of the abbey buildings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonau Abbey Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg Cistercian monasteries in Germany 1140s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1142 establishments in Europe Christian monasteries established in the 1140s Burials sites of the House of Hohenstaufen Burial sites of the House of Wittelsbach