Söflingen Abbey
Imperial Abbey of Söflingen Reichsabtei Söflingen | |||||||||
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Status | Secularised to Bavaria | 1803 | |||||||
• To Württemberg | 1810 | ||||||||
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Today part of | Germany |
Söflingen Abbey was a nunnery of the
Foundation
Söflingen Abbey originated from a
Development
After initially accepting the rule for the Second Order of St Francis of Assisi as laid down by Pope Gregory IX, the nuns accepted the amendments by Pope Innocent IV only to finally follow the rules as promulgated by Pope Urban IV (1261–64). When exactly this happened is not known. However, the monastery followed this rule in the 14th century.
From its very beginning, Söflingen Abbey was under the ecclesiastical protection of the Papal See. This was confirmed several times by privileges issued by Innocent IV and Alexander IV (1254–61). The latter also relieved them from the duty to pay taxes to the papacy due to the nuns' oath of poverty. Pope Nicholas III (1277–80) widened this protection to include all the subjects and all the possessions of Söflingen Abbey. Finally, Pope John XXII (1316–34) explicitly appointed the Bishop of Constance as the official protector of the nunnery.
The task of secular protection passed at first from the
During the
In the 15th century, an echo of the mysticism of the 13th and 14th century became to characterise the spiritual life of the monastery as witnessed by the Söflinger Briefe and the Söflinger Lieder. These letters and songs document an increasing tendency towards spiritualisation and a more poetic approach of piety. A further expression of this change is the reform of the abbey which was completed with the replacement of Abbess Christina Strölin (1469–84) by the reform-oriented Abbess Elisabeth Reichner (1484–1508/13)[3] and the rebuilding of the abbey under the latter when not only the ecclesiastical buildings were either rebuilt or renewed but also had a wall surrounding the monastery added.[4]
During the
From this time on, Söflingen Abbey attempted to discard Ulm's protection and claimed
During the
After the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 it took some decades before the general recovery made itself felt at Söflingen Abbey. Under the rule of abbesses Euphrosinia Rampf (1684–1687), Kleopha Veeser (1687) and Angela Gräfin Slawata (1687–1701) the abbey church was rebuilt in early Baroque style. The building was designed and erected under the supervision of architect Kaspar Feichtmayr from Wessobrunn.
In the 18th century Söflingen Abbey owned the villages of Söflingen, Harthausen and Schaffelkingen (now all part of the city of Ulm) as well as parts of the villages of Bettingen, Burlafingen and Eckingen. In several other villages mostly belonging to the Imperial City of Ulm, the abbey had the right to levy certain taxes and was in possession of estates there. In 1773 the abbey reached a legal settlement with the city of Ulm whereby it relinquished its rights on the villages of Mähringen, Lehr,
Dissolution
Following the
See also
- Imperial Abbey
- Order of Poor Ladies
- Ulm
- Upper Swabia
Notes
- ^ "Klarissenkloster St. Klara Söflingen — Geschichte" (in German). Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- ^ K.S. Frank, Das Klarissenkloster Söflingen bis zur Aufhebung 1803, p. 165
- ^ "Reforms in Germany". Retrieved 2008-03-03.
- ^ "Mariä Himmelfahrt in Ulm-Söflingen" (in German). Retrieved 2008-03-01. [dead link]
- ^ "Klarissenkloster St. Klara Söflingen — Geschichte" (in German). Retrieved 2010-10-11.
- ^ "Klarissenkloster St. Klara Söflingen" (in German). Retrieved 2010-10-11.
Further reading
- Erzberger, Matthias (1974). Die Säkularisation in Württemberg von 1802 bis 1810: ihr Verlauf und ihre Nachwirkungen. Aalen: Scienta-Verlag, repr. (orig. publ. 1902). ISBN 3-511-00775-5.
- Frank, Karl Suso (1979), "Das Klarissenkloster Söflingen bis zur Aufhebung 1803" in: Kirchen und Klöster in Ulm. Ein Beitrag zum katholischen Leben in Ulm und Neu-Ulm von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Hans Eugen Specker (ed.), pp. 163–199, Ulm: Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, ISBN 3-88294-019-0
- Frank, Karl Suso (1980). Das Klarissenkloster Söflingen. Ein Beitrag zur franziskanischen Ordensgeschichte Süddeutschlands und zur Ulmer Kirchengeschichte. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. ISBN 3-17-005129-6.
- Klaiber, Hans Andreas; Wortmann, Reinhard (1978). Die Kunstdenkmäler des ehemaligen Oberamts Ulm. München: ISBN 3-422-00553-6.
- Miller, Max (1940). "Die Söflinger Briefe und das Klarissenkloster Söflingen bei Ulm an der Donau im Spätmittelalter" (Document). Würzburg: Triltsch.
- Zimmermann, Wolfgang; Priesching, Nicole (2003). Klöster, Stifte und Ordensgemeinschaften von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart. Ostfildern: Thorbecke. ISBN 3-7995-0220-3.