Leitzkau, Premonstratensian Canons

First mentioned in a document by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III dating from 18 August 995, Leitzkau gained attention principally through its Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1138/39. Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg and Bishop Wigger of Brandenburg consecrated the recently constructed church of the Leitzkau monastery in September 1155. Within the scope of the re-establishment of the Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg and its cathedral chapter between 1161 and 1165 the convent of Leitzkau lost its leading position in the Diocese of Brandenburg. Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, controlled the secularised cathedral chapter from 1535 onwards until Hilmar of Münchhausen, a colonel from the Weser region, acquired the monastic buildings and had them reconstructed into an impressive castle. Today, the castle is considered as the most eastern example of the Weser Renaissance and praised as a gem of German architectural history.

Only ten manuscripts from the medieval Premonstratensian library have survived. These are primarily 12th-century manuscripts, thus written around the time when the convent was founded. Around 1658/59 Duke August acquired five of those for his own collection which Marquard Gude later extended by two codices from Leitzkau that were part of his collection. Apart from that, there are no more than three further manuscripts that can be ascribed with certainty to the medieval library in Leitzkau: two at the city library in Dessau and one (Clm 28911) in the Bavarian State Library in Munich, the latter of which has been digitized and made available online.

  • Christian Heitzmann

Further reading:

Helmar Härtel: “Die Geschichte der Leitzkauer Klosterbibliothek im Spiegel ihrer erhaltenen Handschriften”, in: Schloß Leitzkau, ed. by Boje E. H. Schmuhl, Halle an der Saale 2005, pp. 81–116 (incl. catalogue entries on the ten surviving manuscripts).