Heiligengrabe
Encyclopedia
Heiligengrabe is a municipality
in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin
district, in Brandenburg
, Germany
.
in the form of a Bleeding Host
which, so it was said, had been violated in a host desecration
by a Jew.
The nunnery acquired considerable wealth and estates in the area, partly through the revenue from pilgrims to the Bleeding Host, and partly through donations from the noble families round about, especially when one of their daughters entered the convent. Among the nuns of local great houses were members of the families Gans Edle Herren zu Putlitz, von Quitzow
, von Rohr
, von Winterfeld and von Blumenthal
. Some of the abbesses were great characters. One had a quarrel with the Duke of Mecklenburg, who refused to pay a debt to the abbey. So she borrowed a large artillery piece and declared war on Mecklenburg, bombarding it across the nearby frontier. At the time of the Reformation
, Abbess Anna von Quitzow would have nothing to do with the new denomination, and refused to pay tax.
After the Reformation the prior function of the nunnery, to provide sustenance for unmarried women mostly from local noble families, wasn't to be given up with its secularisation. So the formerly Roman Catholic nunnery turned into a Lutheran convent , with its conventuals now called secular canonesses (Stiftsdamen). The canonesses of nobility were obliged to show sixteen quarterings
in their arms before being permitted to enter.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin
Ostprignitz-Ruppin
Ostprignitz-Ruppin is a Kreis in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are the districts Müritz and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the districts...
district, in Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, 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...
.
Geography
The munciipality counts 13 villages (Ortsteil): Blandikow, Blesendorf, Blumenthal, Grabow bei Blumenthal, Herzsprung, Jabel, Königsberg, Liebenthal, Maulbeerwalde, Papenbruch, Rosenwinkel, Wernikow and Zaatzke.Abbey
Heiligengrabe Abbey (literally in Holy Sepulchre; formerly also known as Techow) was founded here as a Cistercian nunnery in 1289 by Heinrich, Bishop of Havelberg and the Margrave Otto of Brandenburg, initially for 12 nuns. It held an important relicRelic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
in the form of a Bleeding Host
Sacramental bread
Sacramental bread, sometimes called the lamb, altar bread, host or simply Communion bread, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.-Eastern Catholic and Orthodox:...
which, so it was said, had been violated in a host desecration
Host desecration
Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christianity involving the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host— the sacred bread used in the Eucharistic service or Mass...
by a Jew.
The nunnery acquired considerable wealth and estates in the area, partly through the revenue from pilgrims to the Bleeding Host, and partly through donations from the noble families round about, especially when one of their daughters entered the convent. Among the nuns of local great houses were members of the families Gans Edle Herren zu Putlitz, von Quitzow
Von Quitzow
The von Quitzow family is a noble family of Brandenburg, whose power in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century was so great that this period of Brandenburg history is sometimes called the "Age of the von Quitzows." Its most famous sons were the robber barons, the brothers Dietrich and...
, von Rohr
Von Rohr
von Rohr is a surname and may refer to:* Bernhard von Rohr , Salzburg archbishop* Ferdinand von Rohr , Prussian general and minister of war* Götz von Rohr , German geographer and professor...
, von Winterfeld and von Blumenthal
Von Blumenthal
The von Blumenthal family are German nobility from Brandenburg-Prussia. Other, unrelated, families of this name exist in Switzerland and formerly in Russia, and many unrelated families called "Blumenthal" without "von" are to be found worldwide.The family was already noble from earliest times ,...
. Some of the abbesses were great characters. One had a quarrel with the Duke of Mecklenburg, who refused to pay a debt to the abbey. So she borrowed a large artillery piece and declared war on Mecklenburg, bombarding it across the nearby frontier. At the time of 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...
, Abbess Anna von Quitzow would have nothing to do with the new denomination, and refused to pay tax.
After the Reformation the prior function of the nunnery, to provide sustenance for unmarried women mostly from local noble families, wasn't to be given up with its secularisation. So the formerly Roman Catholic nunnery turned into a Lutheran convent , with its conventuals now called secular canonesses (Stiftsdamen). The canonesses of nobility were obliged to show sixteen quarterings
Seize Quartiers
Seize Quartiers are literally a person's "sixteen quarters", the coat-of-arms of their sixteen great-great-grandparents, which are typically accompanied by a five generation genealogy outlining the relationship between them and their descendant...
in their arms before being permitted to enter.