{"id":16109,"date":"2020-03-12T13:15:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T12:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/klosterkultur\/economy\/kloester-maerkte-und-marken\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:18:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:18:50","slug":"kloester-maerkte-und-marken","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/klosterkultur\/economy\/kloester-maerkte-und-marken\/","title":{"rendered":"Monasteries, markets and brands"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=\u201d2\/3\u2033][vc_column_text]According to the rule of St. Benedict of Nursia, who laid down this important foundation for monastic life in the Christian West in the 6th century, monks should not be idle. The works of their hands (opera manuum<\/em>) should provide them with their livelihood: \u00bbThey are truly monks when they live from the work of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did.\u00ab[1]<\/a> However, it is always necessary to find the right balance. Although the work should provide for the monastery\u2019s livelihood, the sale of products must not be profit-oriented: \u00bbWhen setting prices, the evil of greed must not creep in. In fact, one should always sell something slightly cheaper than is otherwise possible outside the monastery.\u00ab[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

When we speak of the work of the hands here, we do not primarily mean craftsmanship as opposed to the work of farmers. The Regula Benedicti<\/em> distinguishes between general manual labour and craftsmen, who are referred to as artifices<\/em> (artists). They, in turn, should \u00bbperform their work in all humility, if the abbot allows it. But if any of them become haughty because they are proud of their professional skills (\u2026), their work shall be taken away from them. They may only resume it when they show humility (\u2026)\u00ab[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

It was primarily agricultural products that were produced by the monastic community. The foundations of the monastic economy were grain cultivation and livestock farming. One example of this is Lehnin Abbey in the Mark of Brandenburg. Here, wheat and rye as well as oats and barley were grown, and there is evidence of poppy cultivation. The monastics[4]<\/a>.\u00a0also devoted their efforts to wine and fruit growing. Livestock was kept to provide wool and hides for their own supply, but also to enable transport. Felt shoes were made because the monks needed warm shoes for nightly prayers in the unheated church. It soon became apparent that the products enjoyed a good reputation beyond the monastery, even though they were not produced directly for the market: \u00bbSecular and ecclesiastical lords had their coveted footwear \u2013 including hunting boots \u2013 delivered from their Cistercian monastery. Others claimed the annual levy of cloth, including high-quality J\u00e4gertuch<\/em> cloth.\u00ab[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

The monasteries were primarily meant to produce for their own needs. Because the monks and nuns in their convents were considered instruments of the spiritual art of living abstemiously and not indulging in the pleasures of food, it was inevitable that they would generate surpluses. The French historian Georges Duby (1919\u20131996) summarised the economic activity of the Cistercians as follows:<\/p>\n

\u00bbOf all the furs, hides, beams, pig iron bars and shoes, they used only a tiny fraction for themselves. They sold the rest. The Rule of St. Benedict<\/em> did not prohibit this. The regulations issued by the general chapter of the order allowed the monastic people to go to the markets to buy salt and other essential goods, but above all to exchange their surplus produce for money. The Cistercian abbeys more and more concentrated on trade; from 1140 onwards, they repeatedly called on the lords of the roads, rivers and bridges for exemption from tolls, and established warehouses at the trade centres.\u00ab[6]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These warehouses were stores, a so called Klosterhof <\/em>or Stadthof<\/em>, in cities with well-established markets where the monasteries could sell their products. Such Klosterh\u00f6fe<\/em> in cities usually consisted of several buildings: in addition to a residential building, there were also storage buildings. However, it was particularly important that these Klosterh\u00f6fe<\/em> differed from other urban tenements in terms of special liberties. They were exempt from municipal taxes and municipal jurisdiction. These places were also exempt from permanent duties such as contributing to the guard on the walls and at the gates of the city. In return, however, a lump sum contribution often had to be paid to the city. For the Cistercian monasteries, Stadth\u00f6fe<\/em> were often essential for their survival: \u00bbUnlike the Stadth\u00f6fe <\/em>of some other ecclesiastical institutions, they did not serve solely or primarily as lodgings (for bishops or abbots), but, especially in economic terms, were almost indispensable. Given the large number of Cistercian monasteries founded in the 12th and 13th centuries, by the beginning of the 14th century the Cistercian monastery Klosterhof <\/em>was a common feature of large to medium-sized German cities.\u00ab[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Further economic life could flourish around the Klosterh\u00f6fe<\/em>. They were granted liquor licences: wine and beer were available here. Since the monasteries needed animals for transport and for their hides and skins \u2013 however, hardly any meat was consumed due to the precepts of abstinence \u2013 meat products also often appeared on the market. In some towns, the Cistercians maintained their own meat stalls (e.g. in Hanover and Munich) in order to be able to offer meat on the market[8]<\/a>. Various special goods, such as glassware, could also be found on the markets.[9]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At this point, it is instructive to mention a field of markets and goods that were not traded in the marketplaces of cities, but which were nevertheless to become trendsetters in an innovative area of the world of goods. Especially research into art and architectural history has made significant contributions to their investigation. It became apparent that sales opportunities for special services were established in the vicinity of monasteries for which otherwise there were no specialists. One indication of this is the work of certain church masons\u2019 guilds: special decorative forms on urban churches may indicate that master-builders were at work here who in monastery buildings had already introduced the most modern techniques of the time to the respective region. One example of this is the town church of St. Nicolai in Treuenbrietzen, Brandenburg. It features \u00bbimported architectural elements, including the crossing tower, which is unique in the Mark.\u00ab[10] <\/a><\/p>\n

As in the field of architecture, other artistic products emerged, such as book illumination, which became the distinctive feature of certain monasteries[11]<\/a>.\u00a0Admittedly, trademarks by which certain companies can be recognised are a development of modern industrial culture. Trademark law in the modern sense was certainly foreign to the people of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, certain features already shine through in buildings and illuminated manuscripts, with which individual monasteries brought out their own traits, which could certainly have the effect of a modern brand.<\/p>\n

\"Klosterhof<\/a>

Klosterhof Zinna<\/p><\/div>\n

However, the monastics\u2019 preoccupation with their own innovative products also went through bad times. While in the High Middle Ages, a period when many new monasteries and towns were founded, the market-based orientation of many monasteries strongly surged, this demand later waned. The fact that the once central economic function of the Stadth\u00f6fe<\/em> faded into the background could also be interpreted by the fact that, for example, the former Stadthof<\/em> of Zinna Abbey in the town of J\u00fcterbog was only regarded as guest quarters for the abbot since the end of the Middle Ages and thus was called the Abtshof<\/em>, but was no longer seen as a kind of market hall: \u00bbIn the late Middle Ages, the economic importance of these independently run establishments continued to decline; the spread of the term Abtshaus<\/em> (abbot\u2019s house) for urban branches perhaps reflects this trend.\u00ab[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, products from monasteries, monastery markets and even trademarks of monastic origin are playing a role again. For some monasteries, they are a contribution to their economic security and, at the same time, provide a meaningful way of life, for example, according the Rule of St. Benedict. In France, monasteries have created a trademark to document the authenticity of their products. The Belgian Trappists with their breweries are doing the same to distinguish themselves from the many now secular abbey beers. For customers, the idea of supporting a monastery may be just as important as their confidence in a special quality and the magic of the genius loci: taking a piece of the monastery home with them as a souvenir. Apart from these more idealistic aspects, many monastery businesses today are in strong competition with their secular counterparts.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\u201d1\/3\u2033][vc_column_text]\"Buch<\/p>\n

Gestaltung von Kulturraum im Wandel der Zeit<\/h3>\n

Edited by Lara Buschmann and Martin Erdmann<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=\u201dMehr Informationen\u201d style=\u201dflat\u201d shape=\u201dsquare\u201d size=\u201dlg\u201d align=\u201dcenter\u201d link=\u201durl:http{b6d0881c9296a961f5769758df4dbb38852050b6c8ec49eaf531a9e02d002656}3A{b6d0881c9296a961f5769758df4dbb38852050b6c8ec49eaf531a9e02d002656}2F{b6d0881c9296a961f5769758df4dbb38852050b6c8ec49eaf531a9e02d002656}2Fklosterland.de{b6d0881c9296a961f5769758df4dbb38852050b6c8ec49eaf531a9e02d002656}2Fbuecher{b6d0881c9296a961f5769758df4dbb38852050b6c8ec49eaf531a9e02d002656}2F|||\u201d][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_toggle title=\u201dLiteratur\u201d]Badst\u00fcbner, Ernst (1998): Brandenburg. Das Land um Berlin. Kunst und Geschichte zwischen Elbe und Oder, K\u00f6ln.<\/p>\n

Duby, Georges (1991): Der heilige Bernhard und die Kunst der Zisterzienser (Original: Saint Bernard, l\u2019art cistercien<\/em>, 1979), Frankfurt am Main.<\/p>\n

Kirsche, Albrecht (2005): Zisterzienser, Glasmacher und Drechsler. Glas-h\u00fctten in Erzgebirge und Vogtland und ihr Einfluss auf die Seiffener Holzkunst, Cottbuser Studien zur Geschichte von Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt 27, M\u00fcnster.<\/p>\n

Schich, Winfried (1980): \u00bbDie Wirtschaftst\u00e4tigkeit der Zisterzienser im Mittelalter: Handel und Gewerbe\u00ab. In: Elm, Kaspar; Joerissen, Peter; Roth, Hermann Josef (Hrsg.): Die Zisterzienser. Ordensleben zwischen Ideal und Wirklichkeit. Eine Ausstellung des Landschaftsverbandes Rheinland. Rheinisches Museumsamt, Brauweiler. Aachen, Kr\u00f6nungssaal des Rathauses 3. Juli \u2013 28. September 1980, Schriften des Rheinischen Museumsamtes 10, K\u00f6ln, S. 217\u2013236.<\/p>\n

Schich, Winfried (2007): \u00bbTopographische Lage und Funktion zisterziensischer Stadth\u00f6fe im Mittelalter\u00ab. In: Schich, Winfried (Hrsg.): Wirtschaft und Kulturlandschaft. Gesammelte Beitr\u00e4ge 1977 bis 1999 zur Geschichte der Zisterzienser und der Germania Slavica<\/em>. Hrsg. von Gebuhr, Ralf und Neumeister, Peter, Berlin, S. 127\u2013142.<\/p>\n

V\u00e4th, Paula (2007): \u00bbDie Buchkunst der Zisterzienser\u00ab. In: Behrendt, Andreas\/R\u00fcffer, Jens (Hrsg.): Spiritualit\u00e4t in Raum und Bild, Berlin: Lukas-Verlag (Studien zur Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur der Zisterzienser 26), S. 96\u2013128.<\/p>\n

Warnatsch, Stephan (2005): \u00bbWirtschaftliche Faktoren der Gr\u00fcndung des Klosters Lehnin\u00ab. In: P\u00f6tschke, Dieter (Hrsg.): Albrecht Kirsche: Zisterzienser, Glasmacher und Drechsler. Glash\u00fctten in Erzgebirge und Vogtland und ihr Einfluss auf die Seiffener Holzkunst, Cottbuser Studien zur Geschichte von Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt 27, M\u00fcnster.[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=\u201dQuellen\u201d]<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. RB 48,8.<\/li>\n
  2. RB 57,8.<\/li>\n
  3. RB 57,3.<\/li>\n
  4. Warnatsch 2005 : 12.<\/li>\n
  5. Schich 1980 : 217.<\/li>\n
  6. Duby 1991 : 98.<\/li>\n
  7. Schich 2007: 127.<\/li>\n
  8. Schich 1980 : 225.<\/li>\n
  9. Kirsche 2005.<\/li>\n
  10. Badst\u00fcbner 1998: 131.<\/li>\n
  11. V\u00e4th 2007.<\/li>\n
  12. Schich 2007 : 172.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    [vc_row][vc_column width=\u201d2\/3\u2033][vc_column_text]According to the rule of St. Benedict of Nursia, who laid down this important foundation for monastic life in the Christian West in the 6th century, monks should not be idle. The works of their hands (opera manuum) should… mehr lesen ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5587,"parent":9877,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[707,1123,576,1124],"tags":[640,594,462,1126,1127,636,434],"class_list":["post-16109","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garten-en","category-geschichte-en","category-klosterkultur-en","category-produkte-en","tag-bier-en","tag-geschichte-en","tag-produkte-en","tag-ralf-gebuhr-en","tag-selbstversorgung-en","tag-wirtschaft-en","tag-zisterzienser-en","dazugehrige-experte-lara-buschmann","dazugehrige-experte-martin-erdmann","dazugehrige-experte-ralf-gebuhr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16111,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16109\/revisions\/16111"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klosterland.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}