House monastery

A house monastery, family monastery or dynastic monastery (German: Hauskloster) is a Christian monastery that has a particular relationship with a noble family.¹

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 chronicles of the abbey would record the donations of the family, but also their histories in general. House monasteries were present in many areas of Europe where nobles held great sway, including Merovingian France, medieval Ireland, and the Holy Roman Empire.²³⁴⁵

Examples of house monasteries include:

Merovingians:
- Basilica of St Denis
Robertians:
- Lorsch Abbey
Carolingians:
- Prüm Abbey
- Abbey of St. Medard
Salians:
- Abbey of Echternach
Liudolfinger, Ottonians:
- Reichenau Abbey
- Gandersheim Abbey
- Quedlinburg Abbey
- Essen Abbey
- Mauritius Abbey
- Neuenheerse
Ascanians:
- Lehnin Abbey
Hohenstaufens:
- Adelberg Abbey
- Lorch Abbey
Welfs:
- Weingarten Abbey
Habsburgs:
- Murbach Abbey
- Ottmarsheim Abbey Church
- Muri Abbey
- Königsfelden
Ezzonids:
- Brauweiler Abbey
House of Wettin
- Altzella Abbey⁶
House of Zähringen:
- Abbey of Saint Peter in the Black Forest (from 1093)
House of Württemberg:
- Stiftskirche, Stuttgart (since 1321)
House of Baden:
- Lichtenthal Abbey in Baden-Baden (1288–1372),
- Stiftskirche in Baden-Baden (Line of Baden-Baden),
- Stiftskirche of St. Michael in Pforzheim (line of Baden-Durlach, from 1535),
- Evangelical Church in Karlsruhe (grand dukes, from 1807)
House of Fürstenberg (Swabia)
- Neudingen Abbey⁷
House of Wittelsbach (Palatine line):
- Stiftskirche in Neustadt a.d. Weinstraße (14th century),
- Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg (15th–17th century)
House of Wittelsbach (Old Bavarian line):
- Scheyern Abbey,
- Theatine Church, Munich (from 1663)
Upper Swabian nobility (Fugger, Waldburg, Montford, Gundelfingen), Tyrol, Alsace and Austrian hereditary lands of Carinthia and Bohemia
- Buchau Abbey
Babonians:
- Walderbach Abbey

References

Schell, Rüdiger (2022-05-23). Das Dominikanerinnenkloster Auf Hof bei Neudingen als Hauskloster der Grafen von Fürstenberg (in German). BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-86628-217-9.
Auge, Oliver; Biermann, Felix; Herrmann, Christofer (30 November 2003). Glaube, Macht und Pracht: Geistliche Gemeinschaften des Ostseeraums im Zeitalter der Backsteingotik (in German). Greifswald: Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg. p. 312.
Dendorfer, Jürgen. "Gescheiterte Memoria? – Anmerkungen zu den "Hausklöstern" des hochmittelalterlichen Adels" [Failed Memoria? Notes on the "House Monasteries" of High Medieval Nobility]. Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte (in German). 73: 17–38.
Thacker, Alan (2001). "Dynastic Monasteries And Family Cults: Edward the Elder's sainted kindred". Edward the Elder. Routledge. ISBN 9781315010816.
Maddox, Melanie C. "Early Irish Monasteries and their Dynastic Connections". Studia Celtica Fennica. IV: 69–71.
Schattkowsky, Martina; Thieme, André (2002). Altzelle: Zisterzienserabtei in Mitteldeutschland und Hauskloster der Wettiner (in German). Leipziger Universitätsverlag. ISBN 978-3-935693-55-4.
Schell, Rüdiger (2011). "Das Kloster Auf Hof bei Neudingen : das Hauskloster der Grafen und Fürsten zu Fürstenberg". Villingen im Wandel der Zeit. 34: 71–84. doi:10.57962/regionalia-16498.

[1] Schell, Rüdiger (2022-05-23). Das Dominikanerinnenkloster Auf Hof bei Neudingen als Hauskloster der Grafen von Fürstenberg (in German). BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-86628-217-9.

[2] Auge, Oliver; Biermann, Felix; Herrmann, Christofer (30 November 2003). Glaube, Macht und Pracht: Geistliche Gemeinschaften des Ostseeraums im Zeitalter der Backsteingotik (in German). Greifswald: Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg. p. 312.

[3] Dendorfer, Jürgen. "Gescheiterte Memoria? – Anmerkungen zu den "Hausklöstern" des hochmittelalterlichen Adels" [Failed Memoria? Notes on the "House Monasteries" of High Medieval Nobility]. Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte (in German). 73: 17–38.

[4] Thacker, Alan (2001). "Dynastic Monasteries And Family Cults: Edward the Elder's sainted kindred". Edward the Elder. Routledge. ISBN 9781315010816.

[5] Maddox, Melanie C. "Early Irish Monasteries and their Dynastic Connections". Studia Celtica Fennica. IV: 69–71.

[6] Schattkowsky, Martina; Thieme, André (2002). Altzelle: Zisterzienserabtei in Mitteldeutschland und Hauskloster der Wettiner (in German). Leipziger Universitätsverlag. ISBN 978-3-935693-55-4.

[7] Schell, Rüdiger (2011). "Das Kloster Auf Hof bei Neudingen : das Hauskloster der Grafen und Fürsten zu Fürstenberg". Villingen im Wandel der Zeit. 34: 71–84. doi:10.57962/regionalia-16498.

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