In Midlum from 1219 to 1282 The oldest known deed on the convent owning estates in and near
Midlum, founded the
nunnery and endowed them to it. The Diepholz Lords then owned the Hollburg Castle between and Midlum on the brink of the
Wesermünde Geest ridge, allowing a good view over the lower
Land of Wursten, then a corporation of free
Frisian peasants under only loose overlordship of the
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Rather than establishing the nunnery as their
proprietary monastery the Diepholz family made it over to the
cathedral chapter of the Bremen archdiocese. The foundation of the nunnery by six sons of William I, Lord of Diepholz and the disgraced
Gottschalk I, Lord of Diepholz, one of the first rulers of the
Diepholz Lordship, aiming for their readmittance as a princely ruling family, is therefore also seen as an act of atonement with
Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, against whom his cousin
Henry the Lion had rebelled. Gottschalk I, recorded since 1177, and a loyal
vassal of the defeated Henry, is said to have had joined him into his exile with the English king in 1182. In 1227 Prince-Archbishop confirmed and thus recognised the foundation of the convent. The nuns had the privilege to freely elect their
provost, their legal warden. which existed before, was integrated into the convent. In 1232
Emperor Frederick II issued a writ of protection in favour of the convent The convent's actual original affiliation to a monastic order is not documented. No hint is recorded that the convent strove to be incorporated into the Cistercian Order. The convent started the typical Cistercian practice to build up a large autark integrated production (Eigenwirtschaft). Unlike unsettled and undeveloped areas where Cistercians usually founded new monasteries the farmlands donated to the convent were held by feudal tenants and sparsed in and around Midlum. The convent (cf.
Lowland Clearances) transforming them into dependent agrarian workers or
cotters (smallholders who need additional work) and (most of) their fields into the convent's
demesne. Northum, Wenckebüttel and Esigstedt, the convent acquired the overlordship to farmlands from those lords who held it before, While the Wursten Frisians claimed the Sietland as their
commons, the convent started to include it into its demesnes. The convent's desmesne but also
manorial expansion just added up to these tensions. Soon the Midlum parish and its peasant population became integral parts of the Land of Wursten. Already in 1187 Prince-Archbishop
Hartwig of Uthlede had acquired a site in Wolde with all pertinences for Mk. 160. The charter of transfer of January 1282 states that the nuns suffered from poverty and lived without a secure and regulated supervision in the midst of unruly peasants. In August that year Prince-Archbishop Gilbert placed the nuns in their new community, and on September 20 he consecrated convent church and cloister in Wolde, present Altenwalde. The relic attracted
pilgrims to Wolde, whose expenses added up to the nunnery's revenues. In the new location the convent became a
Benedictine nunnery. Gilbert considered the convent his outpost to wield influence in the free peasant areas of the
Lands of Hadeln and of Wursten as well as among separatist noble vassals such as the Lappes. The convent further acquired the villages and Da(h)lem. The farmers in
Arensch,
Berensch, , and , together termed as the heath villages (Heidedörfer), held the land they tilled in feudal tenancy (), subject to
soccage and
serjeanty for the convent. The convent subsequently cleared Holte from its feudally dependent peasants. Even after the move the convent asserted most of its feudal possessions and privileges in the Midlum parish. In 1331 the commoner Gerhard de Merne (= Marren, Süder- and Nordermarren near Midlum) usurped the tithe from Esigstedt, protested by the convent, the enfranchised beneficiary, and left it again to the nuns only after the pastors of the Wursten parishes had intervened. The still hostile Wursten Frisians, looting pilgrims on their way to the Holy Cross relic, added up to the decision to move from Wolde. this time into the undeveloped vicinity of its watermill. The new site, a sandy geest spit in the midst of mostly
mires, was then named in
N. Low Saxon Nig(h)enwolde (i.e. new Wolde; Germanised as Neuenwalde), whereas Wolde gradually adopted the naming Olenwoold (so in 1348, =old Wolde; Germanised as Altenwalde). Its settlers came, among other places, from Da(h)lem which itself turned into an
abandoned village in today's
Dahlemer Holz forest (near today's
Flögeln), part of the convent's property. Neuenwalde, like Debstedt, formed part of the
Archdeaconry of Hadeln and Wursten, held in personal union by the
dean of
Bremen Cathedral. On the occasion of the move the convent received the
ius patronatus to the Altenwalde Ss. Cosmas and Damian Church from Hadeln's archdeacon who was compensated with the patronate to the of . The convent
Church of the Holy Cross simultaneously served the Neuenwalders as
parish church. (rose), and east and south thereof the Bremen Prince-Archbishopric (later Duchy; yellow). By way of enfeoffment and purchase the nunnery became the
liege lord of
serfs in surrounding villages mainly on the sandy geest ridge of the . Territorially the convent and its immediate seigniorial precinct ([Kloster]Amt Neuenwalde, i.e. [convent] bailiwick) formed a wedge between the
Saxe-Lauenburgian semi-autonomous Land of Hadeln (east; then including the convent's former location in Altenwalde) and the autonomous Land of Wursten (west), even northerly pointing to
Hamburg's Ritzebüttel Bailiwick. Militarily and politically the Neuenwalde Bailiwick formed a prince-archiepiscopal
bridgehead amidst the autonomous peasant corporations (Hadeln, Wursten) and the upstream outposts of the cities of Hamburg and Bremen (Ritzebüttel, Bederkesa). The Tiebusch, a hill of height, within the Neuenwalde boundary allows to look deeply into the Land of Hadeln. The convent wielded the feudal overlordship as well as the seigniorial jurisdiction over the villages of Neuenwalde proper, Krempel, the outlying farm Neumühlen, the Vorwerk Kransburg,
Wanhöden, and the Altenwalde windmill. The feudal tenants in Holßel, e.g., were subject to three days of serjeanty labour in the convent's premises or fields, as recorded for 1509. The inhabitants of Neuenwalde proper, forming a
free dam, were considered part of the convent's
familia. They were subject to regular serjeanty and to additional services on demand (so-called unmeasured services; ). On their emigration to Hamburg in 1375, where the
Ministeriales of Flögeln adopted a civic career, they made over Flögeln proper and six more villages to the convent. So Bremen gained its foothold as to uphold peace and order in its forecourt on the lower
Weser course. At that time the nunnery experienced a period of economic and political stability. 15 to 20 nuns were sustained at a time, women from Bremian prince-archiepiscopal knighthood, daughters of free peasants from the Land of Hadeln, as well as
patrician daughters from Bremen and Hamburg. The nuns also produced cloth for sale, as recorded by a Hamburg merchant, who in 1386 sold 44
ells of cloth woven by a Neuenwalde nun. In 1389 the convent opened a tile-making and brick-works and acquired the necessary rights, land and wood for this purpose from the Knights of Elm in
Elmlohe. The relations with the Land of Wursten improved and on 24 June 1383 the Wursten Consuls donated several estates left by people without heirs to the convent in order to pray
requiem masses for the deceased. In 1399 the convent concluded with the consuls of the Land of Wursten that they guaranteed safe-conduct through the Midlum parish for the pilgrims on their way to the Altenwalde Holy Cross Chapel. Again, the nuns were described as poor at this time. Choirbooks, documents, partially self-woven tapestries,
chasubles and
paraments were lost in the fire. In 1503 the convent received an indulgence-privilege allowing for the reconstruction of the cloister, granted by the
papal legate, Cardinal
Raymond Peraudi. John III promoted a stronger adherence to the
Benedictine rule and stricter
claustration. In 1509, at Eytzen's request, John III issued a writ confirming her election and her power in all conventual matters. For the elections of Neuenwalde's prioresses in 1515 (Margarethe von Reden) and 1517 (Wommella Wachmans) appeared Abbot Johannes Hesse of , Abbot Hinrich Wildeshusen (aka Heinrich Junge) of St. Paul's Friary and the abbess of Heiligenrode Nunnery. Both abbesses, von Reden and Wachmans, were nuns from , and resigned after short times in office. In 1517 Prince-Archbishop opened a campaign to subject the Wursten Frisians. and envoys of the prince-archbishop met on the Wursten
thingstead in order to fix the amount and to discuss the levying of the taxes. The parties flew into a fury and in the end the Wursten Frisians slew Dean , archdeacon of Hadeln and Wursten, Engelbert von der Malsburg, prince-archiepiscopal
landdrost, and 16 more prince-archiepiscopal envoys. For the upcoming prince-archiepiscopal response the Wursten Frisians allied with their former enemy Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg, who confirmed their autonomy in return for rendering him homage. On 8 September 1518 ducal forces arriving by ship and Wursten fighters attacking from the land side razed the brandnew prince-archiepiscopal in Weddewarden. The Wursten Frisians saw their chance and covered the borderland adjacent to Wursten, including the Neuenwalde seigniorial bailiwick, with raids and attacks. In 1518 Prioress Wachmans appealed to the Wursten Consuls not to incite or even undertake the ravaging of houses and looting of grain and firewood from the convent's feudal tenants. The tenants in Sievern were supported in their renitence by the Bremian Bailiff of Bederkesa who thus deprived Neuenwalde of the village in favour of the Bederkesa Bailiwick. Zierenberg helped to set up a comprehensive inventory of the convent's estates and privileges. Northerly adjacent to the convent's seigniorial precinct in Hamburg's , the inhabitants — including the convent's vassals in the heath villages — adopted
Bugenhagen's
Lutheran church order of 1529. Southerly and easterly neighbouring parishes in the Land of Hadeln also adopted
Lutheranism, turning the nunnery and its immediate parish district into a Catholic
diaspora. The convent held the
ius patronatus over the Holy Cross Church in Neuenwalde, to which the
Holy Cross and St. Willehadus Chapel in Altenwalde was
incorporated, in Altenwalde, St. James the Greater in Holßel, St. Pancras in Midlum, St. George in
Spieka, and St. George in Wanna. Neuenwalde serfs evaded Catholic
Holy Masses and attended
Lutheran services in churches outside their parish, they further refused performing
tithe and serjeanty. The steadfastly Catholic Prioress Dorothea von der Hude upheld
Catholic faith in the nunnery and its seigniorial precinct, supported by Hadeln's and Wursten's Archdeacon Ludolf Klencke, also cathedral dean in Bremen. With the death of Bremen's last Catholic Prince-Archbishop in 1566 Neuenwalde's position as a Catholic stronghold became more difficult. In 1568 von der Hude negotiated with envoys of the Lutheran Senate of Hamburg and of George's successor on the Bremen
see, the Lutheran
Administrator regnant Henry III of Saxe-Lauenburg, on the Altenwalde church affairs, In Neuenwalde von der Hude defended the Catholic faith throughout 30 years until her death in 1571. Prioress von der Hude was succeeded by the likewise Catholic Anna Brummers. The bailiff further billeted his beadles with the convent's tenant farmers in the heath villages, whom he further made swear allegiance to the Hamburg senate. Brummers was reproached with a too intimate interaction with Father Hesius and the convent's forest manager as well as with her careless management of the convent's possessions. The recess further provided that Hamburg's bailiff in Ritzebüttel, then Joachim Beckendorff, ended billetting beadles in the heath villages and prompted the restitution of the abducted liturgical devices to the Ss. Cosmas and Damian Church in Altenwalde. which measured about at that time. In 1595 Father Antonius Meyer (then , formerly St. Paul's Friary outside of Bremen) visited the convent in order to
invest new Catholic nuns. On 20 January 1628 in his encampment near
Buxtehude Tilly personally wrote out a for the Neuenwalde Convent. In 1628 he beleaguering
Stade with its remaining garrison of 3,500 Danish and English soldiers. On 25 April/5 May 1628O.S./N.S. Tilly granted them safe-conduct to
England and
Denmark–Norway and on 27 April/7 May 1628O.S./N.S. the complete prince-archbishopric was in his hands. The Holy Cross Church was restored between 1630 and 1634 with most of its interior dating back to the following decades. On 17/27 July 1630O.S./N.S. the convent was then conveyanced to
Jesuits, represented by Father Matthias Kalkhoven, superior of the Stade Jesuits, expelling the conventuals, after they had refused to convert to Catholicism, but granting them a small compensation. In the second half of April 1632, after the
Swedish victory in the
Battle of Rain, the
Imperialist and Leaguist forces left the prince-archbishopric and with them the foreign Catholic clergy. Then the allied troops of Sweden, of the city of Bremen and of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, under command of
Achatius Tott, captured the prince-archbishopric and John Frederick resumed his office as Administrator regnant. Highly indebted as he was after recruiting and arming his troops allied with the Swedes, he brought in a bill to confiscate all the monasteries in the prince-archbishopric. However, on 20 and 28 May 1633O.S. on the diet in
Basdahl the estates of the prince-archbishopric rejected that, but allowed Administrator John Frederick to collect the revenues of the monasteries until the Thirty Years' War would end. By 1634 the convent had been reëstablished. Since 1634 Frese took care of the reconstruction of convent and cloister. On 10 October 1635 provost and conventuals elected a new prioress, then titled domina, Margarete Drewes. On 20 June 1648 Queen
Christina of Sweden invested the veteran and former
Paymaster General
Melchior Degingk (Degens) 1616–1683; later ennobled von Schlangenfel[d]t) with the convent as a
fief heritable in the male line (). The revenues of the convent then amounted to
Rixdollar (Rtlr) 1,214 annually. New conventuals were not admitted any more, the convent was to die out.
Since the Knighthood runs the convent The Knighthood objected the Swedish closure of all damsels' convents in the Duchy of Bremen and tried to rescue at least one of them. On 17 April 1676
Charles XI of Sweden finally promised Neuenwalde to the Knighthood on Degingk's death. After the
Bremen-Verden Campaign troops of
Duke George William of Brunswick and Lunenburg, Prince of Lunenburg-Celle occupied among others the
Neuenwalde Bailiwick from August 1676 to 1679. In 1683 Degingk died without heirs and the former convent with its estates
reverted to the crown, i.e. Charles XI. On 3 July 1683 he conveyanced the convent to the Knighthood for the "sustenance and education of the non-provided daughters" (). On 3 and 4 June 1684 the Knighthood convened for a diet in Basdahl and passed a new convent statute (Klosterordnung), confirmed that year on October 21 in
Stockholm by Charles XI. The statute stipulated that on its diets the Knighthood — in case of a vacancy — would elect prioresses, directors, and bailiffs (Amtleute). The conventuals, however, were granted the right to present two candidates to the Knighthood which then elects one of them the prioress. Through the statute the Knighthood committed itself to provide "necessary sustenance of noble damsels" (). Women aspirants from other families had to bring evidence that they were of knightly origin. On its diets, convening twice a year, the Knighthood admitted the new conventuals. Due to the restricted resources never more than two sisters or half-sisters at a time were to be admitted as conventuals or aspirants. Their minimum age was fixed at 18 years. They had to be of Augsburg Confession Conventuals were allowed to temporarily leave the convent, e.g. for travels, only with a permit of the prioress. Conventuals were allowed to quit the convent in order to marry if they paid Rtlr 80 to it, and each conventual was allowed to host one noble young damsel for education.), Gerdruth von der Lieth, In 1684 the Knighthood had claimed the advowson, including it in the monastic statute (Klosterordnung) royally confirmed in the same year, erroneously assuming the advowson had been with Degingk before. Thus on the occasion of the next vacancy at the Holy Cross Church the Knighthood elected Pastor Valentin Bothe in 1687. In the dispute on appointing preachers to the Holy Cross Church the general government conceded only the
ius praesentandi to the Knighthood. In 1701 Christoph and Arp von Düring (1728–1732 president of the Knighthood) erected an additional lodging (
Düringsches Haus) for their sister Auguste Hedwig von Düring in order to get her accepted into the convent.) in order to sustain two more conventuals (thus 10). On 11/22 June 1717O.S./N.S. George I ordered the Hanoverian
Privy Council to defray the payments. The
Christmas Flood of 1717 and the one on 15 February 1718 destroyed the dikes and flooded Neuenfelde, acreages in the Land of Wursten in which the convent had the major share. The dike reconstruction was a lengthy and costly effort for the convent and the other parties holding land in the area. In 1718 Sebastian von der Lieth donated Rtlr 600 for another place (thus 11), first given to his sister Lücke Judith von der Lieth. paid Rtlr 300 for the installation of another lodging for herself as additional conventual (thus 12). In autumn of 1805, at the beginning of the
War of the Third Coalition against France (1805–1806) the
Imperial French occupational troops left in a campaign against the
Archduchy of Austria. British, Swedish and Russian coalition forces took over. In early 1806 the French-Allied
Brandenburg-Prussia captured Bremen-Verden. But when
Prussia had turned against France, entailing the latter's victory over the former (Jena-Auerstedt, 11 November 1806), France recaptured the area.
Napoléon ceded Bremen-Verden to his client state, the
Kingdom of Westphalia. On 7 October 1810 King
Jérôme Bonaparte seized the convent with all its pertinent estates, revenues and dues in favour of the royal government. After the French annexation of all the Westphalian coastal departments in December 1810, Despite the Napoleonic discourse about freedom there was no emancipation of the serfs in the Hanseatic Departments, neither under Westphalian nor under French rule. thus effectuating the emancipation of the serfs in the
Kingdom of Hanover, of which Bremen-Verden formed part since 1814. However, the laws paved the way for the emancipation, but specific procedures, in order to find out the actual dues, monetarised or in kind alike, the lands subject to socage, the services to be delivered to the masters, and fixing the payments redeeming these burdens, and finally assigning the lands as property to the former tenants and the former lords, only started on request of the tenants wishing their emancipation. Unlike the earlier emancipation of the serfs in Prussia (1810, with redemption procedures starting in 1811) the Hanoverian laws provided only for payments, in instalments, but not generally for cessions of land the tenants tilled, in order to compensate their former feudal lords. In 1841 the convent still concluded a new feudal tenancy. an authorised agent prepared the redemption procedure of dues and service duties, annulling the convent of its feudal privileges and fixing annuity payments to the convent by which its former tenants would redeem their former feudal duties. In 1852 Neuenwalde comprised
Calenberg Morgen (Mg) 11,662 (=), of which Mg 8225 (=) were to be redistributed. The overall arable surface was divided into forests amounting to Mg 622 (), village green (Angerweiden) to Mg 218 (), heaths to Mg 3,353 (), mires to Mg 4,030 (), lakes () to Mg 221 (), specific convent possessions to Mg 676 (), and private possessions to Mg 2,541 (). Therefore, the cabinet concluded, "it is only up to the Knighthood to update the antiquated convent statute." The new heating system reduces the fuel bill by €18,800 or 75% annually and will thus amortise within seven to eight years. Since 2012 the Neuenwalde Convent coöperates with the
Evangelisches Bildungszentrum Bad Bederkesa. ,
land superintendent of the Lutheran and head of the board of the Bildungszentrum, aims to broaden the role of the Neuenwalde Convent as a centre of encounter and education for the people in the
Elbe–Weser triangle. Jörg Matzen, chief manager of the Bildungszentrum, announced that in future guests will be offered opportunities to retreat. Groups and single guests as well as delegations from institutions and enterprises will be addressed. ==Convent buildings==