Heilsbronn Abbey 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 B ...

monastery at Heilsbronn in the district of

Ansbach Ansbach (; ; East Franconian: ''Anschba'') is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, ...

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It was part of the Diocese of Eichstätt.

History

It was founded in 1132–33 by Saint

Otto of Bamberg Otto of Bamberg (1060 or 1061 – 30 June 1139) was a German missionary and papal legate who converted much of medieval Pomerania to Christianity. He was the bishop of Bamberg from 1102 until his death. He was canonized in 1189. Early life T ...

and was settled by monks from

Ebrach Abbey Ebrach Abbey (german: Kloster Ebrach) is a former Cistercian monastery in Ebrach in Oberfranken, Bavaria, Germany, now used as a young offenders' institution. History Abbey The abbey, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist ...

, under the first abbot Rapotho. It was one of the wealthiest monasteries of Germany, with possessions around

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper ...

as far as

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...

and in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

. These rich endowments were mostly made by the dukes of

Abenberg Abenberg () is a town in the Middle Franconian district of Roth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 9 km west of Roth bei Nürnberg and 25 km southwest of Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Fra ...

and their heirs, the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...

Burgraves of Nuremberg The Burgraviate of Nuremberg (german: Burggrafschaft Nürnberg) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; almost two centuries pas ...

. It was the hereditary burial-place of the

family and ten burgraves of Nuremberg, five margraves and three

electors of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Hol ...

, besides many other persons of note, were buried here.

Reformation and dissolution

Heilsbronn was a flourishing monastery until the time of 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 ...

. In 1530 Abbot John Schopper (1529–1540) founded a monastic school here, which later became a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

school for princes, and the doctrines of

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (gi ...

gradually found favour in the monastery. His successor, Sebastian Wagner, openly supported

Protestantism Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. He married and resigned in 1543. In 1549

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

was restored at Heilsbronn, but only ostensibly, and the abbey seems to have ceased to be a Catholic house in 1555, although it existed for some years longer. The last abbot who made any pretense to Catholic belief was Melchior Wunderer (1562–1578). The five succeeding abbots were Protestants, and in 1631 Heilsbronn ceased to be an abbey. Its valuable library was transferred to

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inha ...

Buildings

The buildings of the monastery have mostly disappeared, with the exception of the fine church, known as ''Münster Heilsbronn'', a Romanesque

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its nam ...

, restored between 1851 and 1866, and possessing paintings by

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

Burials

Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg Albrecht III (9 November 141411 March 1486) was Elector of Brandenburg from 1471 until his death, the third from the House of Hohenzollern. A member of the Order of the Swan, he received the cognomen ''Achilles'' because of his knightly qualit ...

Anna of Saxony, Electress of Brandenburg Anna of Saxony (7 March 1437 – 31 October 1512) was a princess of Saxony by birth and Electress of Brandenburg by marriage to Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg. Life Anna was a daughter of the Elector Frederick II of Saxony fr ...

Barbara of Brandenburg (1464–1515) Barbara of Brandenburg (30 May 1464 – 4 September 1515), a member of the German House of Hohenzollern, was by birth Margravine of Brandenburg, and by her two marriages, Duchess of Głogów from 1472 to 1476, and Queen of Bohemia (although only n ...

The Monk of Heilsbronn

The ''Monk of Heilsbronn'' was a didactic poet of the 14th century, author of the works ''Sieben Graden'', ''Tochter Syon'' and ''Leben des heiligen Alexius''.

References

* Rehm, ''Ein Gang durch und um die Münster-Kirche in Kloster Heilsbronn'' (Ansbach, 1875) * Meyer, J., ''Die Hohenzollerndenkmale in Heilsbronn'' (Ansbach, 1891) * Muck, ''Geschichte von Kloster-Heilsbronn'' (Nördlingen, 1879–1880) * Stillfried, ''Kloster-Heilsbronn, ein Beitrag in den Hohenzollernschen Forschungen'' (Berlin, 1877) * Wagner, A., ''Über den Mönch von Heilsbronn'' (Strassburg, 1876) {{Authority control Cistercian monasteries in Germany Monasteries in Bavaria 1130s establishments in Germany Religious organizations established in the 1130s Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Buildings and structures in Ansbach (district)