Holy Cross Church (Neuenwalde Convent)

The Holy Cross Church (N. Low Saxon: Hilligkrüüzkark; , more formal also: Kirche zum Heiligen Kreuz) is the church of the Neuenwalde Convent. Convent and Holy Cross Church are owned by the , based in Stade.„Ev.-luth. Kirchengemeinde Neuenwalde mit Krempel und Hymendorf“ , on: Internetpräsenz der Ortschaft Neuenwalde, retrieved on 2 December 2014. However, church and parsonage (also part of the Convent property), are used per usufruct by the Lutheran Neuenwalde Congregation in Neuenwalde, a locality of Geestland, Lower Saxony, Germany. Besides the Holy Cross Church, only used, the congregation uses and owns the chapel in .

History After the Convent had moved from Wolde, present Altenwalde, new church and convent buildings were erected on a land spit in the midst of fens at the brink of the Wesermünde Geest, presently known as Neuenwalde. The church adopted its naming from the Holy Cross,„Die Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche“, on: Kloster Neuenwalde: Aktuelles, retrieved on 2 December 2014. a relic of which remained in the incorporated Chapel of the Holy Cross and St. Willehadus on the Mount (i.e. hill; est. 13th century, abandoned between 1590 and 1629) in Altenwalde.Elke Freifrau von Boeselager, „Das Land Hadeln bis zum Beginn der frühen Neuzeit“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg und Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.), Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995), vol. III 'Neuzeit (2008)', (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), ISBN (vol. I) , (vol. II) , (vol. III) , vol. II: pp. 321–388, here p. 374. Since 1181, and on until 1648, the area formed part of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Neuenwalde was made a parish of its own and its precinct was redistricted from that of the in .Nicola Borger-Keweloh, „Das Kloster Neuenwalde – wie es zur Gründung kam“, in: Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt (No. 718, October 2009), p. 2. The convent Church of the Holy Cross thus simultaneously served as parish church for the Neuenwalders.

On 30 November 1390 the convent received a papal indulgence, presumably for repairs to the Holy Cross Church.Heinz-Joachim Schulze, „Neuenwalde“ (article), in: Germania Benedictina: 12 vols. so far, Bayerische Benediktiner-Akademie München / Abt-Herwegen-Institut Maria Laach (ed.), St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 1970seqq., vol. XI: 'Norddeutschland: Die Frauenklöster in Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg' (1984), Ulrich Faust (compil.), pp. 429–446, here p. 441. . In 1400 Prince-Archbishop granted an indulgence of forty days to all who aided with new constructions with the Holy Cross Church. In 1428 renewed the convent's privilege of granting indulgences both for visiting the Holy Cross Church on certain feast days as well as for material aid in building and decorating it.Heinz-Joachim Schulze, „Neuenwalde“ (article), in: Germania Benedictina: 12 vols. so far, Bayerische Benediktiner-Akademie München / Abt-Herwegen-Institut Maria Laach (ed.), St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 1970seqq., vol. XI: 'Norddeutschland: Die Frauenklöster in Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg' (1984), Ulrich Faust (compil.), pp. 429–446, here p. 432. .

On 26 December 1499 the Wursten Frisians had defeated the Great or Black Guard in , hired by Hadeln's Regent Magnus, the heir apparent of Saxe-Lauenburg to subject them.„Neuenwalde“, on: Stadt Geestland, retrieved on 16 February 2015. On New Year's Day 1500, the surviving mercenaries — trekking on towards Saxe-Lauenburgian Hadeln — ravaged and plundered the nunnery, before burning it to ashes.Michael Schütz, „Die Konsolidierung des Erzstiftes unter Johann Rode“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.), Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. II: pp. 263–278, here p. 268. Choirbooks, documents, tapestries, chasubles, and paraments were lost in the fire.Heinz-Joachim Schulze, „Neuenwalde“ (article), in: Germania Benedictina: 12 vols. so far, Bayerische Benediktiner-Akademie München / Abt-Herwegen-Institut Maria Laach (ed.), St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 1970seqq., vol. XI: 'Norddeutschland: Die Frauenklöster in Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg' (1984), Ulrich Faust (compil.), pp. 429–446, here p. 442. . In 1503 the papal legate, Cardinal Raymond Peraudi, granted the convent an indulgence-privilege allowing for the reconstruction of the cloister.June Mecham, "Neuenwalde" (section: Miscellaneous Information), on: Monastic Matrix: A scholarly resource for the study of women's religious communities from 400 to 1600 CE , retrieved on 15 January 2015.

In 1584 the first Lutheran pastor is recorded for the Holy Cross Church.Johann Hinrich Pratje, Nachrichten von dem adlichen Jungfrauenkloster Neuenwalde Herzogthums Bremen: Samt einer Anzeige der Generalkirchenvisitation in der Neuhäusischen Probstey, und Synoden in dem Beverstedter und Osterstadischen Kirchenkreise, Stade: Erbrich, 1758, p. 32. Since the preachers were to be appointed in consensus with the prioress, the employment of a Lutheran pastor indicates the conversion of most Neuenwalde nuns to Lutheranism by then. With their advowson the prioresses blocked the intention of Bremen's Bederkesa bailiffs (the Bailiwick of Bederkesa [Amt Bederkesa] being between 1381/1421 and 1654 under the city's rule) to install Reformed preachers, unlike in Bederkesa proper, Debstedt, Flögeln, , , and Ringstedt () where the conversion then succeeded.Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund, „Einige Nachrichten von den ehemaligen Klöstern im Herzogthum Bremen“, in: Neues vaterländisches Archiv oder Beiträge zur allseitigen Kenntniß des Königreichs Hannover und des Herzogthums Braunschweig, Lunenburg: Herold & Wahlstab, 1822–1832, vol. 6, no. 2 (1828), pp. 191–232, here p. 224.

On 6 June 1629 playing children caused a fire, destroying the Holy Cross Church and all the convent buildings.Christa Kraemer, „675 Jahre Kloster Neuenwalde – Rückblick auf viele Jahrhunderte Klosterleben“, in: Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt (No. 718, October 2009), p. 1. The reconstruction started right away.Otto Edert, Neuenwalde: Reformen im ländlichen Raum, Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2010, p. 33. . The Holy Cross Church was restored between 1630 and 1634 with most of its interior dating back to the following decades. During the Catholic Leaguist and Imperialist occupation of the Bremen prince-archbishopric, on 17/27 July 1630O.S./N.S. church and convent, still under reconstruction, were conveyanced to Roman Catholic Jesuits, as provided by the Edict of Restitution.Matthias Nistal, „Die Zeit der Reformation und der Gegenreformation und die Anfänge des Dreißigjährigen Krieges (1511–1632)“, in: Geschichte des Landes zwischen Elbe und Weser: 3 vols., Hans-Eckhard Dannenberg and Heinz-Joachim Schulze (eds.) on behalf of the Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade: Landschaftsverband der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 1995 and 2008, vol. I 'Vor- und Frühgeschichte' (1995; ), vol. II 'Mittelalter (einschl. Kunstgeschichte)' (1995; ), vol. III 'Neuzeit' (2008; ), (=Schriftenreihe des Landschaftsverbandes der ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden; vols. 7–9), vol. III: pp. 1–158, here p. 82. However, this did not last for long but until the second half of April 1632, after the Swedish victory in the Battle of Rain, the Imperialist and Leaguist occupiers left the prince-archbishopric again and with them the foreign Catholic clergy.Georg von Issendorff, Kloster und Amt Himmelpforten. Nach Akten und Urkunden dargestellt, reprint of the edition by "Stader Archiv", 1911/1913, extended by Clemens Förster, Stade and Buxtehude: Krause, 1979, p. 38. No ISBN.

Church building The Holy Cross Church was started in 1334 and its erection and embellishment lasted quite some time as shown by the indulgences granted to further its construction and decoration. The tower, like the church proper, based on erratic boulders, stands west of the church, but separately, and its western façade forms a building sightline with the southerly adjacent but structurally unconnected convent building called the Altes Kloster.

Today's church building, covering , is divided from west to east into eight bays.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde: Bauhistorische Untersuchung , Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2005, p. 25. The six older, westerly bays are built from brick in Klosterformat (height: , length: , and width: Klosterformat (i.e.literally cloister size) is a rather bigger size of brick used in mediaeval constructions, especially for ecclesiastical edifices. There were many regional or even local standards, altering over time too, so that there is no single measurement of Klosterformat, but a variety of brick sizes measuring between of length, of width and of height. So-called Altes Klosterformat (about ) differs from the Großes Klosterformat (about ), which only in its height differs again from the Kleines Klosterformat (about ). Cf. , „Backstein ist nicht gleich Backstein: Die Entwicklung vom Mittelalter bis ins 20. Jahrhundert“, on: Monumente: Online-Magazin der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz (Quarterly of the German foundation for monument preservation), June 2009, retrieved on 10 September 2014.) which is why the western part of the church is dated to the 1330s.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde (expertise), Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2004, p. 5.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde (expertise), Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2004, p. 10. Also the structure of the individual bricks and the alternating but irregular bonding of headers and stretchers there speaks for this dating.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde (expertise), Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2004, pp. 8seq. Since the 15th century bricklaying usually followed regular bondings.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde: Bauhistorische Untersuchung , Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2005, p. 33.

After the fires of 1500 and 1629 the church had been reconstructed either times using the surviving outside brickwork structures.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde: Bauhistorische Untersuchung , Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2005, p. 40. Stefan Amt's constructional examinations in 2005 – during the renovation – revealed that the present building is no completely new construction but only the present roof and interior date to the repair after 1630. However, today's ceiling is flat, the original vaults have not been reconstructed.Stefan Amt, Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Neuenwalde: Bauhistorische Untersuchung , Hanover: Büro für Historische Bauforschung, 2005, p. 34. As of 1634 the convent's new Provost Otto Asche(n) looked after the reconstruction. By 1636 the major structure was restored.Cuxland: Kirchen, Orgeln, Kunstschätze, Cuxland-Tourismus: Agentur für Wirtschaftsförderung Cuxhaven (ed.), Cuxhaven: no publ., , chapter 12 'Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche und Kloster Neuenwalde' . The completion and decoration of the interior extended until the end of the 17th century.