Kappel Abbey
Encyclopedia
Kappel am Albis
Kappel am Albis is a municipality in the district of Affoltern in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.Its name of Kappel is specified by "on the Albis" to distinguish it from two other villages called Kappel in Switzerland.-History:...
in the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
.
Foundation of the abbey
Kappel Abbey is first mentioned in 1185 by BishopBishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Hermann II of Constance
Bishopric of Constance
The Bishopric of Constance was a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from about 585 until 1821. Its seat was Konstanz at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany...
. The abbey was founded by the Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
of Eschenbach. The name was derived from a chapel in which, according to a foundation legend, hermits used to live. In 1211, Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
gave the monastery the Privilegium commune Cisterciense. Between the 13th to 15th Centuries the Abbey received several Imperial
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
and Royal
Kingdom of Germany
The Kingdom of Germany developed out of the eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire....
privileges.
On the site of the original church (of which parts are preserved in the present structure), a new church was started in about 1255. This early gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
building wouldn't be completed until the early 14th Century. The oldest part of the monastery is the so-called core of the administration buildings, which were probably built in 1209/10 as a hospital (later the residence of the abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
and the prior
Prior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
).
The spiritual and economic golden-age lasted until the middle of the 14th Century. Through donations from the landed gentry (Hallwyl, Hünenberg Bonstetten, Hinwil, Baldegg, Uerzlikon, Gessler and Habsburg-Laufenburg families), purchase and exchange the Abbey had numerous, widely scattered properties. With the help of a number of lay brother
Lay brother
In the most common usage, lay brothers are those members of Catholic religious orders, particularly of monastic orders, occupied primarily with manual labour and with the secular affairs of a monastery or friary, in contrast to the choir monks of the same monastery who are devoted mainly to the...
s, the Abbey ran a number of businesses. These included a vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
on Lake Zurich and granges in Wollishofen
Wollishofen
Wollishofen is a suburb in Zurich's 2nd district.It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zurich in 1893.The suburb has a population of 15,592 distributed on an area of 5.75 km².-Transport:...
and Zug
Zug
Zug , is a German-speaking city in Switzerland. The name ‘Zug’ originates from fishing vocabulary; in the Middle Ages it referred to the right to ‘pull up’ fishing nets and hence to the right to fish.The city of Zug is located in the Canton of Zug and is its capital...
. In the 15th Century the Abbey lost the use of most of these distant businesses, they were limited to products produced at the Abbey and a local dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
.
Due of the involvement of Walters IV von Eschenbach in the regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
of King Albert I of Germany
Albert I of Germany
Albert I of Habsburg was King of the Romans and Duke of Austria, the eldest son of German King Rudolph I of Habsburg and his first wife Gertrude of Hohenburg.-Life:...
near Windisch
Windisch
Windisch is a municipality in the district of Brugg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:Windisch is situated at the site of the Roman legion camp Vindonissa. In 1064 the current municipality was mentioned as Vinse, and in 1175 as Vindisse. Until the 19th Century the official name was...
in 1308, all the Eschenbach possessions were confiscated by the Habsburgs in 1309. In 1339 they were all placed under the authority of the Lords of Hallwyl
Hallwyl Castle
Hallwyl Castle is one of the most important moated castles in Switzerland. It is located on two islands in the River Aabach, near the northern end of Lake Hallwil in the municipality of Seengen in the canton of Aargau...
. In 1344 and then in 1403 the Abbey entered into citizenship contracts with first Zug
Zug
Zug , is a German-speaking city in Switzerland. The name ‘Zug’ originates from fishing vocabulary; in the Middle Ages it referred to the right to ‘pull up’ fishing nets and hence to the right to fish.The city of Zug is located in the Canton of Zug and is its capital...
and then Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. Increasingly, it now fell under Zurich's authority, and after 1473 the monastic economy was under the direct supervision of the Zurich City Council. In the Old Zurich War
Old Zürich War
The Old Zürich War , 1440–46, was a conflict between the canton of Zürich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg....
, the Swiss Confederation
Old Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland....
plundered the monastery, whose monks had fled to Zurich. In 1493, a fire damaged the convent building. Then, in 1495 Zurich acquired, from the lords of Hallwyl, the vogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...
ei or reeve
Reeve (England)
Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve was a senior official with local responsibilities under the Crown e.g. as the chief magistrate of a town or district...
rights over the Abbey. In 1523, the last abbot, Wolfgang Joner (Rüpplin), brought the reformer Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger was a Swiss reformer, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Zurich church and pastor at Grossmünster...
into the Abbey as a teacher. In the following years 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...
was gradually introduced. In 1527 the monastery was abolished, and its property was took over by the city of Zurich.
The Reformation
Through Buillinger the teachings of the Reformation found their way to Kappel, and so were on 9 March 1525 the images were removed from the church. On 4 September of that same year, the MassMass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
was abolished. A year later, on 29 March 1526, the monks celebrated Communion as Protestants and put off their cowls. Many left the monastery and turned crafts or became preachers. The Convention finally handed over the monastery in 1527 to the City of Zurich. Wolfgang Joner, Heinrich Bullinger and four other men remained in Kappel and operated the school as a boys boarding school. The present church became the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Kappel. During the First war of Kappel
First war of Kappel
The first war of Kappel was an armed conflict in 1529 between the Protestant and the Catholic cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the reformation in Switzerland...
, in June 1529, Kappel was the scene of the encounter between Protestant and Catholic troops. The encounter ended peacefully with a negotiation and the legendary Kappeler Milchsuppe. While the leaders negotiated an end to the conflict, the common soldiers began making a meal. This meal, the Kappeler Milchsuppe was a bread and milk soup cooked in a pot placed exactly on the cantonal border between Zurich and Zug
Canton of Zug
The Canton of Zug is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. It is located in central Switzerland and its capital is Zug. With 239 km² the canton is one of the smallest of the cantons in terms of area. It is not subdivided into districts.- History :The earlier history of the canton is...
. For the soup, the Catholics provided the milk, while the Protestants provided the bread. However, the Second war of Kappel
Second war of Kappel
The second war of Kappel was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Protestant and the Catholic cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland.-Cause:...
didn't end as well. On 11 October 1531, the Protestant and Catholic armies met again, and the Zurich reformer Huldrych Zwingli
Huldrych Zwingli
Ulrich Zwingli was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism...
was killed.
The monastery today
Following the Reformation the monastery became property of the Canton of Zurich. As of 1834 the buildings were used for social purposes. Since 1983, the cantonal ReformedSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
church as a spiritual retreat. Today it houses a hotel with 74 rooms.
Literature
- Roland Böhmer: Schweizerische Kunstführer GSK, Band 728: Das ehemalige Zisterzienserkloster Kappel am Albis, Bern 2002, ISBN 3-85782-728-9
- Thomas Huonker und Peter Niederhäuser: 800 Jahre Kloster Kappel – Abtei, Armenanstalt, Bildungshaus, Orell-Füssli Zürich 2008, ISBN 3-280-06074-5