House Monastery

A house monastery, family monastery or dynastic monastery () is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

that has a particular relationship with a

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

. Often, but not always, what subsequently became the house monastery was founded by the noble family in question. In each case, the family would grant the monastery estates, provide financial support or make other bequests. In doing so they also ensured that family members might be buried and commemorated there. Frequently the

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

s of the abbey would record the donations of the family, but also their histories in general. Examples of house monasteries include: *

Merovingians The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

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Basilica of St Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

Robertians The Robertians (sometimes called the Robertines in modern scholarship) are a proposed Frankish noble family and royal dynasty, whose members were ancestors of the Capetian dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of France and several other countries ...

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Lorsch Abbey Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (; or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms, Germany, Worms. It was one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ru ...

Carolingians The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid ...

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Prüm Abbey Prüm Abbey is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Franks, Frankish widow Bertrada of Prüm, Bertrada the elder and her son Caribert of Laon, Charibert, Count of Laon, ...

** Abbey of St. Medard *

Salians The Salian Franks, or Salians, sometimes referred to using the Latin word or , were a Frankish people who lived in what was is now the Netherlands in the fourth century. They are only mentioned under this name in historical records relating to ...

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Abbey of Echternach The Abbey of Echternach is a Benedictine monastery in the town of Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. The abbey was founded in the 7th century by St Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg. For three hundred years, it benefited from the pat ...

Liudolfinger The Ottonian dynasty () was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman emperors, especially Otto the Great. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German stem du ...

Ottonians The Ottonian dynasty () was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman emperors, especially Otto the Great. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German stem du ...

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Reichenau Abbey Reichenau Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on Reichenau Island (known in Latin as Augia Dives) in southern Germany. It was founded in 724 by the itinerant Saint Pirmin, who is said to have fled Visigothic Spain ahead of the Moorish invaders, w ...

Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey () is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Count Liudolf of Saxony and his wife, Oda, progenitors of the Liudolfing or Ot ...

Quedlinburg Abbey Quedlinburg Abbey ( or ) is a former abbey of secular canonesses ''( Frauenstift)'' in Quedlinburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was founded in 936 on the initiative of Saint Matilda, the widow of the East Frankish King Henry the Fowler, as h ...

Essen Abbey Essen Abbey () was a community of secular canonesses for women of high nobility that formed the nucleus of modern-day Essen, Germany. A chapter of male priests were also attached to the abbey, under a dean. In the medieval period, the abbess ...

** Mauritius Abbey ** Neuenheerse *

Ascanians The House of Ascania () was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Principality of Anhalt, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ' ...

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Lehnin Abbey Lehnin Abbey () is a former Cistercian monastery in Lehnin in Brandenburg, Germany. Founded in 1180 and secularization, secularized during the Protestant Reformation in 1542, it has accommodated the ''Luise-Henrietten-Stift'', a Protestant deacone ...

Hohenstaufens The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

: ** Adelberg Abbey **

Lorch Abbey Lorch Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery in Lorch from 1102 to 1556 and again from 1630 to 1648. It was originally the house monastery of the Staufer dynasty. Today, many of its buildings remain and are open to visitors. History Lorch was fo ...

Welfs The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconian family from the Meuse-Mo ...

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Weingarten Abbey Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey ( until 1803, then merely ) is a Benedictine monastery on the Martinsberg (''St. Martin's Mount'') in Weingarten near Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). First foundation Originally founded as a n ...

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

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Murbach Abbey Murbach Abbey () was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges. The monastery was founded in 727 by Eberhard, Count of Alsace, and established as a Benedictine house ...

Ottmarsheim Abbey Church Ottmarsheim (; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It lies on the river Rhine and on the A36 autoroute, 14 km east of Mulhouse. Its octagonal parish church was the church of the former Benedictine abbe ...

Muri Abbey Muri Abbey () was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Zürich, Switzerland. While the monastery is currently established as Muri-Gries in South ...

** Königsfelden *

Ezzonids The Ezzonids (, ) were a dynasty of Lotharingian stock dating back as far as the ninth century. They attained prominence only in the eleventh century, through marriage with the Ottonian dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors. Named after Ezzo, Count P ...

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Brauweiler Abbey Brauweiler Abbey () is a former Benedictine monastery located at Brauweiler, now in Pulheim near Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Germany. It is now used as a regional cultural center. History The monastery was founded and endowed in 1024 b ...

House of Zähringen The House of Zähringen () was a dynasty of Duchy of Swabia, Swabian nobility. The family's name derived from Zähringen Castle near Freiburg im Breisgau. The Zähringer in the 12th century used the title of Duke of Zähringen, in compensation fo ...

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Abbey of Saint Peter in the Black Forest St Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest or St. Peter's Abbey, Schwarzwald () is a former Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Peter im Schwarzwald, in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History The monas ...

(from 1093) *

House of Württemberg The House of Württemberg is an uradel, ancient German nobility, German dynasty and former royal family of the Kingdom of Württemberg. History County The House probably originated in the vicinity of the Salian dynasty. Around 1080 the ancestors ...

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Stiftskirche, Stuttgart The Stiftskirche (''Collegiate Church'') is an inner-city church in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the main church of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg (''Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg'') a ...

(since 1321) *

House of Baden A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

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Lichtenthal Abbey Lichtenthal Abbey () is a Cistercian nunnery in Lichtenthal in the town of Baden-Baden, Germany. History and buildings The abbey was founded in 1245 by Irmengard bei Rhein, widow of Margrave Hermann V of Baden, whose body she had brought here ...

in Baden-Baden (1288–1372), **

Stiftskirche In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

in Baden-Baden (Line of Baden-Baden), ** Stiftskirche of St. Michael in

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

(line of Baden-Durlach, from 1535), **

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

in Karlsruhe (grand dukes, from 1807) *

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

(Palatine line): **

in Neustadt a.d. Weinstraße (14th century), **

Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg The Church of the Holy Spirit () is the largest church in Heidelberg, Germany. The church, located in the marketplace in the old town center, was constructed between 1398 and 1515 in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. It receives 1–3 million gues ...

(15th–17th century) * House of Wittelsbach (Old Bavarian line): **

Scheyern Abbey Scheyern Abbey, formerly also Scheyern Priory (), is a house of the Benedictine Order in Scheyern in Bavaria. First foundation The monastery at Scheyern was established in 1119 as the final site of the community founded in around 1077 at Ba ...

, **

Theatine Church, Munich The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan and Adelaide (German: ''Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan und Adelheid'') is a Roman Catholic church in Munich, Southern Germany. Built between 1663 and 1690, it was founded by Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife, ...

(from 1663) * Upper Swabian nobility (

Fugger The House of Fugger () is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. ...

Waldburg Waldburg is a town in the district of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is the home of Waldburg Castle, a medieval castle that sits atop the large hill in the town. The castle dates from the twelfth century, when Waldburg was a ...

, Montford,

Gundelfingen Gundelfingen im Breisgau (Low Alemannic: ''Gundelfinge im Brisgau'') is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzw ...

), Tyrol, Alsace and Austrian hereditary lands of Carinthia and Bohemia **

Buchau Abbey Buchau Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Buchau (), was a self-ruling Imperial Estate and its abbess had a seat and vote at the Imperial Diet. History According to tradition, the monastery was founded around 770 on an island in the Feders ...

* Babonians: ** Walderbach Abbey {{Authority control Christian monasticism Noble families