Fürstenfeld Monastery

The foundation of the monastery is connected with the complicated history of the relationship between the Bavarian Duke Ludwig II the Strict and the Catholic Church : the foundation was the “act of redemption” that Pope Alexander IV demanded of Ludwig, accusing him of having executed (only on the basis of suspicion) illegally in 1256 his wife Maria von Brabant . In 1258, the monastery was founded in Dolten Saltental, but already in 1263 it was moved to the "Princely Fields" in Brookka. Only in 1265 did Pope Clement IV agree to the request of Bishop Freising Conrad II for the occupation of the new monastery by the Cistercians from Aldersbach . In 1266, Fürstenfeld finally received his charter, according to which the Bavarian Duke "generously" gave the monastery both land and privileges.

The son of Ludwig II, Emperor Ludwig IV of Bavaria , continued to show mercy to the monastery, which he supported in 1322 - during his struggle against the Habsburg rival Frederick III : the monks of Fürstenfeld intercepted the ambassadors of Friedrich immediately before the battle of Mühldorf on September 28, 1322, which ended in victory for b troops. After Louis IV died in 1347, hunting a bear near the monastery, his heart was buried in the royal royal crypt .

Between 1270 and 1290 the first Gothic complex of monastery buildings was built, which included a significant library; in the future, he repeatedly expanded and rebuilt. The monastery gradually rose in status, but soon signs of spiritual decline appeared in Fürstenfeld; The Reformation finally split the monastic community and the Bavarian Duke had to repeatedly intervene in the direct management of the monastery. Only the reforms of the Catholic Church adopted at the Council of Trent ended a difficult period: under the leadership of Abbot Sito in 1595, the foundations of religious reform were adopted in Fürstenfeld, which was supposed to be completed by the 18th century; The stated goal of the reforms was to return the monastery to the rigors and limitations of monastic life.

During the Thirty Years' War of 1632-1633, the monastery was looted by the troops of the Swedish Protestant King Gustav II Adolf . The monks managed to escape: among other places, they settled in Munich , where two of them were among 42 hostages and spent three years in prison. Since 1640, the monastery began to gradually recover; during the abbot Baldwin Helme, the reconstruction of the monastery began in the Baroque style , and in 1700 the foundation stone of the new church was laid. In 1741, the church was consecrated by Prince Bishop of Freising, Cardinal Johann Theodore of Bavaria . It took another 25 years to complete the interior decoration - not least because of the high tax burden that the monastery regularly paid to the Bavarian Wittelsbach , who often fought with Austrian rulers.

• Fürstenzell Monastery
• Langheim Monastery
• Aldersbach Monastery

• Bauer, Hermann und Anna: Klöster in Bayern. Eine Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte der Klöster in Oberbayern, Niederbayern und der Oberpfalz, München 1985, S. 107-110;
• In Tal und Einsamkeit. 725 Jahre Kloster Fürstenfeld. Die Zisterzienser im alten Bayern. Drei Bände hg. von Angelika Ehrmann, Peter Pfister, Klaus Wollenberg, München 1988;
• Klemenz, Brigitta: Das Zisterzienserkloster Fürstenfeld zur Zeit von Abt Martin Dallmayr 1640-1690, Weissenhorn 1997;
• Krausen, Edgar: Die Klöster der Zisterzienser in Bayern, München 1953, S. 40-43;
• Lehner, Wolfgang: Die Zisterzienserabtei Fürstenfeld in der Reformationszeit 1496-1623, Weissenhorn 2001;
• Schneider, Ambrosius (Hg.): Die Cistercienser. Geschichte-Geist-Kunst, Köln 1986;
• Wollenberg, Klaus: Die Zisterzienser in Altbayern, Franken und Schwaben (Hefte zur Bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur Band 7), München 1988.

• Stephanie Haberer. Fürstenfeld - “In Tal und Einsamkeit” (German) . hdbg.eu. Klöster in Bayern, Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte . Date of treatment April 22, 2019.