Eppenberg Charterhouse was a Carthusian

Carthusian

The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...

 monastery, or charterhouse, now a ruin, situated on the Eppenberg next to the Heiligenberg in Gensungen, now part of Felsberg

Felsberg, Germany

- Geography :The landscape around Felsberg is marked by hills and small lakes, as well as the remains of gravel quarrying. As part of the West Hesse Basin, it lies in a sunken area formed by volcanic activity in the Tertiary subera. The change from partly basaltic hills to smooth river valleys is...

 in Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Eppenberg Priory

In about 1217 the Premonstratensian

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 canonesses of Ahnaberg Priory near Kassel

Kassel

Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

 were permitted to establish a subsidiary house on the Eppenberg, on the shoulder of the Heiligenberg. This foundation was confirmed on 3 March 1219 by Siegfried II, Archbishop of Mainz, who took it under his protection. The total number of canonesses in Ahnaberg was set at 40, and the remainder moved to the newly established daughter house at Eppenberg.

The relationship of the new priory to its mother house was clearly not without friction. In 1223 the provost and community of Ahnaberg re-stated their rights in Eppenberg. On 17 February 1224 Archbishop Siegfried once more confirmed the rights of Ahnaberg Priory. But in 1250, for reasons now unknown, the prioress of Eppenberg openly rejected the rights of Ahnaberg, and Eppenberg became an independent house, now, like Ahnaberg, under the supervision and protection of Spieskappel Abbey.

The newly independent priory rapidly flourished, mostly because of gifts and acquisitions of land in the nearby villages of Altenbrunslar, Böddiger, Besse and Gensungen. In 1269 Eppenberg was able to undertake the foundation of a daughter house at Homberg an der Efze. Growing prosperity however led to a decline in morals and discipline, and eventually to prodigality, mismanagement and economic collapse.

Charterhouse

Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse, greatly offended at the conditions in the priory, the neglected estates and buildings, and the loss of discipline, rigour and order, obtained a Papal bull

Papal bull

A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

 in 1438 which dissolved the Premonstratensian priory and replaced it by a charterhouse, to be settled by monks from Erfurt

Erfurt

Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...

, who moved in in 1440. The monastery was re-dedicated to Saint John the Baptist

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

 and was generously and extensively rebuilt. In 1471 Landgrave Ludwig II of Hesse gave the monastery the estate of Wimmenhof (now Domäne Mittelhof) and the nearby, half-derelict castle Burg Heiligenberg, with the one condition that the monks should pray weekly in the castle chapel for his salvation.

Secularisation

In 1527, in the wake of the Synod of Homberg

Synod of Homberg

Synod of Homberg consisted of the clergy, the nobility, and the representatives of cities, and was held October 20–22, 1526. The synod is remarkable for a premature scheme of democratic church government and discipline, which failed for the time, but contained fruitful germs for the future and for...

 of 1526, which introduced the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 in Hesse, the monastery was dissolved and taken over by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse

Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse

Philip I of Hesse, , nicknamed der Großmütige was a leading champion of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany....

 for use as a hunting lodge and farm. In about 1610 Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel

Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

-External links:...

 had the hunting lodge remodelled on the pattern of Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

. The buildings and lands were maintained from the nearby Mittelhof.

In the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

 the building complex was mostly destroyed, and afterwards became a subsidiary building and sheep-farm to the state-owned Domäne Mittelhof. In the Seven Year's War (1756–63) French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 troops were holed up here for seven weeks after losing the Battle of Grebenstein

Grebenstein

Grebenstein is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 16 km northwest of Kassel on the German Framework Road. In 1762 it was the scene of a skirmish between British and French troops during the Seven Years War.-External links:...

; two dugouts on the slopes of the Heiligenberg remain as a reminder of their camp.

Present day

In 1957 the principal building was struck by lightning and burnt down, leaving only the bare walls. The buildings and the monastery church fell increasingly into dereliction, until in 1984 the Felsberg Beekeepers' Association took on the task of restoring and caring for the site. In the former gatehouse they established a highly-regarded museum of bee-keeping. Of the monastery itself the only remains are those of the church.

The area round the charterhouse site and the ruins themselves were declared a nature reserve in December 1988.

Sources and external links

• Helmerich, Gisela, 1979: Stift und Kartause zu Eppenberg. (Quellen und Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Abtei und Diözese Fulda; 23). Parzeller: Fulda. ISBN 3-7900-0090-6
• Klosterruine Kartause
• Domäne Mittelhof