Lamspringe, Benedictine Abbey

The female convent of Lamspringe, located in the south of Hildesheim, was founded around 850 and reformed to a Benedictine convent just before the year 1130. The convent benefited from funding obtained from the bishops of Hildesheim, and thus became one of the wealthiest in the diocese during the 14th century. In 1523 the convent was controlled by the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg: after the Reformation Duke Julius (r. 1568–1589) had all books removed from the convent and incorporated into his own library in Wolfenbüttel before they later reached the university library of Helmstedt.

Today we count approximately 25 manuscripts which have found their way from Lamspringe into the HAB’s repository, all dating from around 1200, at which time the nuns maintained an efficient scriptorium. After the Thirty Years’ War the convent again belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim, was recatholicised, and substituted with Benedictine monks from England who arrived with the famous St Albans Psalter, which is one of the most beautiful English illuminated manuscripts from the 12th century. This breath-taking Psalter is nowadays preserved at the Cathedral Library of Hildesheim, and can be explored online via University of Aberdeen.

  • Christian Heitzmann

Further reading:

Helmar Härtel: Geschrieben und gemalt: Gelehrte Bücher aus Frauenhand. Eine Klosterbibliothek sächsischer Benediktinerinnen des 12. Jahrhunderts (Ausstellungskatalog der Herzog August Bibliothek 86), Wolfenbüttel 2006.

Alexander Dylong: “Lamspringe”, in: Niedersächsisches Klosterbuch. Verzeichnis der Klöster, Stifte, Kommenden und Beginenhäuser in Niedersachsen und Bremen von den Anfängen bis 1810, ed. by Josef Dolle, Bielefeld 2012, pp. 901–908.