The Benedictine monastery of Chemnitz and its laity: friends, servants, administration and monastic villages
Lecture by the City Archive on Thursday, 14 March, 6 p.m., at the State Museum of Archaeology
As part of the series "The City Archive Presents", a lecture on "The Benedictine Monastery of Chemnitz and its Laymen: Friends, Servants, Administration and Monastery Villages" will take place on Thursday 14 March at 6 pm at the State Museum of Archaeology, Stefan-Heym-Platz 1. The speaker is the former director of the Schloßberg Museum, Dr Thomas Schuler. Admission is free.
This lecture invites you to change your perspective: How are the town and its surrounding countryside perceived from the monastery's point of view? The inventory from 1541, documents and memorial books for the dead serve as sources. This creates a differentiated picture of the 40 villages under monastic rule. In the town of Chemnitz, too, there were "Gotteshausleute" (people of God) who were obliged to the monastery. Ecclesiastical ties were also important: As archdeacon, the abbot was the regional representative of the bishop, and he had some powers of intervention, especially in the parish of St Jakobi. The monastery also employed around 30 people to administer its territory (e.g. bailiff or forester) and for special services (e.g. cook or organist). Guests were also welcome at the mountain monastery; the hospice offered overnight accommodation for around 60 people. The spiritual environment of the Benedictine abbey included, for example, lay people who had arranged a memorial on the anniversary of the death.
You can find the municipal archive's lecture programme for 2019 at www.chemnitz.de