Himmelpforten
Encyclopedia
Himmelpforten is a municipality west of Hamburg
(Germany
) in the district of Stade
in Lower Saxony
. Himmelpforten is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Himmelpforten
.
The families von Brobergen and von Haseldorf donated a Cistercian nunnery in Rhaden near Lamstedt
. In 1255 it moved to Himmelpforten, then named Eulsete. The nunnery used to be called in (heaven's gate), which became the place's name Himmelporten (in Low Saxon
) or Himmelpforten (in High German) respectively. The church of the nunnery was also used as a parish church, headed by a provost
, first mentioned in 1255 (a certain Albert). The provost had the privilege to provide priests to the churches in the Himmelpforten parish.
Nunnery had traditionally been institutions to provide unmarried daughters of the better off, who couldn't be provided a husband befitting their social status or who didn't want to marry, with a decent livelihood. So when an unmarried woman of that status joined a nunnery she would bestow earning assets (real estate) or – restricted to her lifetime – regular revenues paid by her male relatives, on the nunnery, making up in the former case part of the nunnery's estates
.
In 1556 Himmelpforten's then Lutheran Provost Segebade II von der Hude appointed the first Lutheran pastor, Peter Schlichting, in Himmelpforten. When in the mid of the 16th c. the majority of the population in the Prince-Archbishopric adopted Lutheranism
, the function of the nunnery, to provide sustenance for unmarried women, wasn't to be given up. So the formerly Roman Catholic nunnery of Himmelpforten with its estates turned into a Lutheran foundation .
During the Leaguist
occupation under Johan 't Serclaes, Count of Tilly (1628-1630), the Administrator of the Bremian See
, John Frederick
had to agree to Catholic visitations
in the nunneries. By November 1629 the Roman Catholic visitors issued an ultimatum to the Prioress of the Lutheran conventuals to convert to Catholicism
or to leave the nunnery. No conversion had been recorded, so on 6 August 1630 all Lutheran conventuals had been thrown out from the nunnery. In accordance with the Edict of Restitution
the estates of Himmelpforten's nunnery were then bestowed to the Catholic Jesuits
, in order to finance them and their missioning in the course of the Counter-Reformation in the Prince-Archbishopric. The expelled conventuals were denied to get the real estate restituted, which they bestowed on the nunnery, when they entered it.
After the Leaguist troops left Himmelpforten, the Lutheran conventuals returned and elected a new provost in 1638, Casper Schulte. After the Swedes had occupied Himmelpforten in 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden
donated Himmelpforten's nunnery and its estates to Count Gustav Adolf Lewenhaupt as a fief for life (27 October 1647). On 30 July 1651 Lewenhaupt was officially invested with the nunnery, while the eleven still remaining conventuals under Prioress Gertrud von Campe were to be supplied a livelihood until their death. New conventuals were not to be accepted anymore.
In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union
by the Swedish and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. In 1807 the ephemeric Kingdom of Westphalia
annexed the Duchy, before France
annexed it in 1810. In 1813 the Duchy was restored to the Electorate of Hanover
, which - after its upgrade to the Kingdom of Hanover
in 1814 - incorporated the Duchy in a real union
and the Ducal territory, including Himmelpforten, became part of the Stade Region
, established in 1823.
highway with the net of federal routes. Since 1881 the town is connected to the railway net by the Niederelbebahn
line.
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
(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...
) in the district of Stade
Stade (district)
Stade is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Harburg, Rotenburg and Cuxhaven, the Elbe River, and the city state of Hamburg.-History:...
in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
. Himmelpforten is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Himmelpforten
Himmelpforten (Samtgemeinde)
Himmelpforten is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Stade, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its seat is in the village Himmelpforten.The Samtgemeinde Himmelpforten consists of the following municipalities:#Düdenbüttel#Engelschoff...
.
History
Himmelpforten belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen.The families von Brobergen and von Haseldorf donated a Cistercian nunnery in Rhaden near Lamstedt
Lamstedt
Lamstedt is a municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geography:The low ridge of the Westerberg, an end moraine from the Saale glaciation period lies in the vicinity of Lamstedt....
. In 1255 it moved to Himmelpforten, then named Eulsete. The nunnery used to be called in (heaven's gate), which became the place's name Himmelporten (in Low Saxon
Northern Low Saxon
Northern Low Saxon is a West Low German dialect.As such, it covers a great part of the West Low-German-speaking areas of northern Germany, with the exception of the border regions where Eastphalian and Westphalian are spoken...
) or Himmelpforten (in High German) respectively. The church of the nunnery was also used as a parish church, headed by a provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
, first mentioned in 1255 (a certain Albert). The provost had the privilege to provide priests to the churches in the Himmelpforten parish.
Nunnery had traditionally been institutions to provide unmarried daughters of the better off, who couldn't be provided a husband befitting their social status or who didn't want to marry, with a decent livelihood. So when an unmarried woman of that status joined a nunnery she would bestow earning assets (real estate) or – restricted to her lifetime – regular revenues paid by her male relatives, on the nunnery, making up in the former case part of the nunnery's estates
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
.
In 1556 Himmelpforten's then Lutheran Provost Segebade II von der Hude appointed the first Lutheran pastor, Peter Schlichting, in Himmelpforten. When in the mid of the 16th c. the majority of the population in the Prince-Archbishopric adopted Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
, the function of the nunnery, to provide sustenance for unmarried women, wasn't to be given up. So the formerly Roman Catholic nunnery of Himmelpforten with its estates turned into a Lutheran foundation .
During the Leaguist
Catholic League (German)
The German Catholic League was initially a loose confederation of Roman Catholic German states formed on July 10, 1609 to counteract the Protestant Union , whereby the participating states concluded an alliance "for the defence of the Catholic religion and peace within the Empire." Modeled...
occupation under Johan 't Serclaes, Count of Tilly (1628-1630), the Administrator of the Bremian See
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
, John Frederick
John Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
John Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp was the Lutheran Administrator of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck and the Prince-Bishopric of Verden.His parents were Adolf I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and Christine,...
had to agree to Catholic visitations
Canonical Visitation
A canonical visitation is the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits persons or places with a view of maintaining faith and discipline, and of correcting abuses by the application of proper remedies.-Catholic usage:...
in the nunneries. By November 1629 the Roman Catholic visitors issued an ultimatum to the Prioress of the Lutheran conventuals to convert to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
or to leave the nunnery. No conversion had been recorded, so on 6 August 1630 all Lutheran conventuals had been thrown out from the nunnery. In accordance with the Edict of Restitution
Edict of Restitution
The Edict of Restitution, passed eleven years into the Thirty Years' Wars on March 6, 1629 following Catholic successes at arms, was a belated attempt by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to impose and restore the religious and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg...
the estates of Himmelpforten's nunnery were then bestowed to the Catholic Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, in order to finance them and their missioning in the course of the Counter-Reformation in the Prince-Archbishopric. The expelled conventuals were denied to get the real estate restituted, which they bestowed on the nunnery, when they entered it.
After the Leaguist troops left Himmelpforten, the Lutheran conventuals returned and elected a new provost in 1638, Casper Schulte. After the Swedes had occupied Himmelpforten in 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
donated Himmelpforten's nunnery and its estates to Count Gustav Adolf Lewenhaupt as a fief for life (27 October 1647). On 30 July 1651 Lewenhaupt was officially invested with the nunnery, while the eleven still remaining conventuals under Prioress Gertrud von Campe were to be supplied a livelihood until their death. New conventuals were not to be accepted anymore.
In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
by the Swedish and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. In 1807 the ephemeric Kingdom of Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...
annexed the Duchy, before France
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
annexed it in 1810. In 1813 the Duchy was restored to the Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
, which - after its upgrade to the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
in 1814 - incorporated the Duchy in a real union
Real union
Real union is a union of two or more states, which share some state institutions as in contrast to personal unions; however they are not as unified as states in a political union...
and the Ducal territory, including Himmelpforten, became part of the Stade Region
Stade (region)
The Stade Region emerged in 1823 by an administrative reorganisation of the dominions of the Kingdom of Hanover, a sovereign state, whose then territory is almost completely part of today's German federal state of Lower Saxony...
, established in 1823.
Traffic
Himmelpforten is connected by the B 73Bundesstraße 73
The Bundesstraße 73 or B73 is a German federal highway running in a northwesterly to southeasterly direction from Cuxhaven to Hamburg. It runs partially beside the Bundesautobahn 26....
highway with the net of federal routes. Since 1881 the town is connected to the railway net by the Niederelbebahn
Niederelbebahn
The Lower Elbe Railway , is a railway line between Hamburg and Cuxhaven in northwestern Germany, which was opened in 1881 by the Lower Elbe Railway Company...
line.