Cologne Charterhouse
Cologne Charterhouse was a Carthusian monastery or charterhouse established in the Severinsviertel district, in the present Altstadt-Süd, of Cologne, Germany. Founded in 1334, the monastery developed into the largest charterhouse in Germany until it was forcibly dissolved in 1794 by the invading French Revolutionary troops. The building complex was then neglected until World War II, when it was mostly destroyed. The present building complex is very largely a post-war reconstruction. Since 1928, the Carthusian church, dedicated to Saint Barbara, has belonged to the Protestant congregation of Cologne.
Antecedents and foundation
Prior to the foundation of Cologne Charterhouse there were already 113 charterhouses throughout Europe, of which 30 were in Germany, but none in the Archdiocese of Cologne. Walram of Jülich, who became Archbishop of Cologne in 1332, had become acquainted before his elevation with the Carthusians in France, and had come to respect them. His desire to found a Carthusian monastery in Cologne was doubtless reinforced by the examples of the nearby bishoprics of Mainz and Trier, who had already founded charterhouses in 1312 and 1321/1322 respectively. Over and above that, Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order, had been born in Cologne, and for this reason also it seemed appropriate to establish a Carthusian presence in his home-town. The foundation occurred in a period of mystic piety, which brought about a golden age for the Carthusians generally, in which increasingly the enclosed Carthusian monks settled also in urban environments without giving up their enclosed and secluded way of life.On 6 December 1334, Archbishop Walram issued the foundation charter of Cologne Charterhouse:
From 1389, the Sencte Mertinsvelt in the south of the district of St. Severin was given over for the use of the Carthusians: according to the legend, Saint Martin himself instructed Bishop Walram in a dream to do so. On this plot of land, there had been, since about the beginning of the 13th century, a little chapel dedicated to Saint Barbara, which was now renovated for Carthusian use with the financial assistance of the Cologne patrician families of Scherffgin and Lyskirchen. In addition, the families of Lyskirchen and Overstolz made gifts of extra agricultural land, and in that way the material prerequisites for the commencement of the life of the order were assured.
This was the last monastic foundation in Cologne until the 16th century.
Early years
In early February 1335, the first six Carthusian monks, with their leader Johannes of Echternach, moved from Mainz to Cologne. They retained the dedication to Saint Barbara from the extant chapel, but gave the relics several decades later to the neighbouring Franciscans.The Carthusians' first task was to construct the most essential buildings for the accommodation of the new community. Thanks to further gifts and endowments the new charterhouse was able to be formally incorporated into the order as early as 1338. In the same year, Johannes of Echternach was replaced on the general chapter by Heinrich Sternenberg as the first prior..
Economically the charterhouse started off on a weak foundation. Archbishop Walram had promised more to the charterhouse than he was able to deliver: his budget was diminished by the expenses of military conflict, and the monks were thus entirely dependent on the continuing generosity of the wealthy of Cologne. Their individual endowments and the charterhouse's consequent obligations were recorded in benefactors' books, which until 2009 were preserved in the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne.
There were also bitter wrangles that lasted for years over prebends and other sources of income with the nearby St. Severin's Abbey, whose income was affected by the new charterhouse. Much information about the resulting agreements with St. Severin's has survived, which throws light on the material pressures of monastic life:
When Archbishop Walram died in 1349, the situation became even more precarious, but the following years saw the charterhouse grow in prestige and thus attract an increasing number of affluent novices, which made it wealthier, but also over-burdened the available residential space and the small chapel. Gifts and endowments for the building of a new church are recorded from 1354, and in the same year Charles IV exempted the charterhouse from payment of duty on building materials, which seems to point to construction beginning around this time. The legacy of Canon Johannes of Brandenburg, who in 1365 left the monks an adjoining plot of land, provided the space for a new chapter house and library as well as the continued expansion of the church.
Also in 1365 Henry Eger of Kalkar entered the charterhouse, becoming after three years the prior of Monnikhuizen Charterhouse near Arnhem, then of the newly-established Vogelsang Charterhouse, and finally of Koenigshoffen Charterhouse near Strasbourg before retiring to Cologne as a simple monk, where he died in 1408. Leaving aside his administrative importance, he was a prominent theologian who exercised much influence on the development of the Devotio Moderna movement. His reputation was such that he was often credited with the authorship of The Imitation of Christ.
By the beginning of the 15th century the crisis of the beginning had finally been overcome. The charterhouse had scarcely been affected by either the Western Schism or the Black Death. In 1393, the new church was consecrated, which in its essential features has lasted until today, and the charterhouse entered a period of prosperity which was to make it one of the richest monasteries in Cologne.
Development and golden age
The building and dedication of the Carthusian church took place during the period of office of Prior Hermann of Deventer. After the dedication an unusually large number of altars were set up in the church, which was magnificently furnished and decorated: this was extremely unusual for a Carthusian church, in which normally only a single altar was permitted. An explanation for this is the atypically high number of monks here who were also ordained priests and therefore obliged to celebrate Mass daily.Besides further extensions to the monastery church, including the Angel Chapel and the Lady Chapel, progress continued to be made to the conventual buildings, supported as always by endowments. It is presumed that the first modest cells and buildings were of wood and plaster, and were gradually replaced by a refectory, cloister and 25 cells of worked stone.
The monks lived a strictly contemplative life in which work on books and manuscripts was of especial importance. Through gifts of books and the entry to the community of wealthy and educated men who brought entire libraries with them, St. Barbara's possessed by the middle of the 15th century one of the largest collections of manuscripts in medieval Cologne. Each cell was equipped with a workshop where the monk could copy writings: unlike in other monasteries, the copyists were not required to work in the library, but could take the manuscripts they were copying to their cells.
The Carthusians of Cologne must also during this period have risen in prestige within their order, as their prior Roland von Luysteringen was sent as the Carthusian representative to the Council of Constance, where regrettably he died of the plague. Pope Martin V freed Cologne Charterhouse of episcopal jurisdiction in 1425, so that from then on it answered directly to the popes.
This flourishing monastic life experienced an abrupt interruption when a catastrophic fire on 6 November 1451 totally destroyed the chapter house and adjacent buildings, including the entire library and its contents, except for those manuscripts which happened to be in individual cells for copying.
Restoration
Generous gifts to the charterhouse – particularly from Peter Rinck, Rector of Cologne University – made it possible to rebuild the chapter house and library within two years. It took a great deal longer to recover from the financial and intellectual loss of the books and manuscripts. The charterhouse authorities addressed themselves to the task of making good the losses with great energy and single-mindedness. New manuscripts were acquired outright or borrowed to be copied either by the monastery's own monks or even by hired copyists. Prior Hermann of Appeldorn counts as the driving force during this period of reconstruction; at his death he was honoured for his financial acumen as "reformator et recuperator huius domus". While he was prior not only was the library largely restored but also a new gatehouse was built and an altarpiece painted by Meister Christoph for the Angels' Altar in the charterhouse church.In 1459, even before the charterhouse had begun to recover financially, Prior Johannes Castoris was appointed by Pope Pius II as abbot of the Benedictine St. Pantaleon's Abbey in Cologne, which was seriously in debt. This extraordinary step of seconding a non-Benedictine head of house in order to reform St. Pantaleon's and bring it back onto the right track, is an indication of the high degree of trust within the church that the Carthusians in Cologne had come to enjoy through their strict adherence to the discipline of their order and way of life.
The successors to Appeldorn and Castoris followed their lead, and under their direction the charterhouse made further progress. Under Johann of Bonn there was further substantial construction work, particularly in the service buildings such as the kitchen and the store rooms, but also in additions to the decoration of the church. By the end of the 15th century the library had grown again to comprise some 500 volumes, and the church had gained two new triptychs by the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece, now considered masterpieces of European painting, and displayed in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, as well as the monumental cycle of paintings, made for display in the small cloister, by the Master of the Legend of Saint Bruno.