Bursfelde Congregation

The Bursfeld Congregation (also Bursfeld Union ) was a coalition of mainly western and central Germany, but also Dutch, Belgian, Danish and Luxembourg Benedictine (lbs) monasteries emanating from the reform movement in the monasteries cluster and Bursfelde.

Prehistory

How many Benedictine monasteries also witnessed the monastery Bursfelde at the beginning of the 15th century a time of moral and material decline. The monks led an increasingly secular life, they shared the monastic property among themselves and kept mistresses. The church even served temporarily as a warehouse for pull-through dealers. Under these conditions, the desire of many clerics took place after a return to the rule of St. Benedict and the old ideals of the monastic life more and more popular. 1430 John Dedenroth was, thanks to Duke Otto II of Brunswick, the abbot of the monastery called clusters, where he began to implement his reform ideas. 1433, he was named abbot of the monastery Bursfelde. The following year he traveled to Trier and met with John Rode, who had already reformed the lifestyle of the monks in his abbey. This gave him not only four clergymen from his monastery of St. Matthias with, but also the new statutes of the Trier Abbey. Dedenroth reformed the life in his two monasteries by Rodes model. An important cornerstone of his reform was the ban on all private property and the focus on the solemn service and the common coexistence. In this way, he managed to resuscitate monastery Bursfelde and to lead to a new moral and economic recovery. Shortly after Roth's Dede reform also took over the monastery Reinhausen the new practiced in Bursfelde Consuetudines. Dedenroth died of the plague in 1439. His successor as abbot of Bursfelde was Johannes von Hagen ( † 1469 ), under whose leadership saw the founding of the Congregation Bursfeld.

Goals and implementation

The costs incurred in conjunction with the Modern Devotion Bursfeld Congregation wanted to bring the Rule of St. Benedict in its original austerity and purity to comply. The primary objective was the unification of the monastic observances in the Member monasteries. The abbot every monastery, confessed to the Congregation, committed themselves to implement the Bursfeld consuetudo in his monastery and thus take over the liturgy and life habits Bursfeldes. This meant that the abbot gave many of his rights to the congregation and no longer completely arbitrarily could prevail in the monastery - as well as in financial matters, where the Chapter of the Congregation had a right of veto on sales. In return, each member could monastery, which had come into financial or legal trouble, count on the support of the General Chapter. Another advantage of the membership was that this dependence on the bishop or sovereigns, under which the Benedictine monasteries stood for centuries, could be greatly reduced. The belonging annually in each of the Congregation convent held visitations by abbots of other monasteries should ensure that the spirit of reform was not missed. The also held annual general chapters of the Union, to which all abbots of the monasteries reform had to participate, the reports of the Visitors were presented. The decisions of the General Chapter had to follow strictly the member monasteries.

Development of the Congregation

After Reinhausen had already connected early in the reform movement, was added in 1444 Huysburg monastery. On March 11, 1446 was the official recognition of the merger by the Council of Basel. In the same year the first meeting of the general chapter followed in Bursfelde. As President of the Union was on lifetime of the respective abbot of the monastery Bursfelde. In the following decades, more and more monasteries of the Congregation joined, in 1455 there were 12, in 1460 already 23 Among these were increasingly important abbeys such as Great St. Martin in Cologne ( 1455 ), St. Mary ( 1455 ) in Trier, Hirsau ( 1458 ), Monastery Herzebrock ( 1465 ), Khajuraho ( 1474 ) or Corvey ( 1505). In 1508 the monastery to county joined the last of the ten Benedictine Congregation of Westphalia. 1459, Pope Pius II of the Congregation the recognition of the Council of Basel and granted her more privileges. Two years later, the Pope entrusted the Congregation even formally with the reformation of all German Benedictine monasteries. Soon, convents and abbeys joined beyond the German-speaking countries of the Union. In 1500, the Congregation Bursfeld counted 79 member monasteries and the number increased over the next three decades to 95 at. The Reformation eventually marked a decisive turning point for the Union. The General Chapter fought initially all Protestant tendencies, but could not prevent that more and more monasteries, partly by force, joined the Reformation. Within ten years, 1520-1530, the Union lost as 34 monasteries. There were other losses, including one of the founding monasteries - Huysburg - and finally, the main monastery of the reform movement, Monastery Bursfelde even after Abbot John Rappe had known perforce to Protestantism. This could no longer be President of the Congregation of the Abbot of Bursfelde. In the 1530s and 1540s, most abbots stayed away from the chapter meetings, including John Rappe, of 1554 again took part in only the re-conversion Bursfeldes the General Chapter. Mid-16th century there were only about 30 abbeys in the Congregation, which permanently suffered from money and staff shortages now active. The Bursfeld Union was in deep crisis, which also is revealed that from 1583 to 1595 held no meetings of the General Chapter. It was not until the 17th century brought the remaining abbeys of the Union again a boom that they owed the privilege of Emperor Ferdinand II and the Edict of Restitution. The orden hostile criticism in the age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution brought about by the war then led quickly to the end of the Congregation. At the 1785 invitees in the Westphalian Abbey Liesborn chapter appeared only five or six abbots. The last president of the Congregation, Abbot Bernard Bierbaum of Werden Abbey and Helmstedt, died in 1798 on the run from the French troops in the Abbey Helmstedt. With the enactment of Reichsdeputationshauptschluss conclusion in 1803 of the Union lost the last of monasteries and the Bursfeld Congregation presented its existence a final.

Known members

Abbot John of Hagen ( † 1469 ), Monastery Bursfelde
Abbot Heinrich von Kleve ( † 1490 ), Monastery Liesborn
Abbot Johann Fart of Deidesheim († 1491 ), Abbey Laach
Abbot Adam Meyer ( † 1499 ), Gross St. Martin Cologne
Abbot Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), the monastery of Sponheim, humanist
P. Adam Adami (1610-1663), participant in the negotiations for the Peace of Westphalia in Muenster, later Auxiliary Bishop of Hildesheim
Abt Emericus Quincken (1639-1707), Monastery County
P. Oliver Legipont (1698-1758), historian

Bursfelde Abbey Devotio moderna Hirsau Abbey Grafschaft Abbey Protestant Reformation

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