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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > B > Brunswick (Braunschweig)


BRUNSWICK (BRAUNSCHWEIG)

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A duchy situated in the mountainous central part of Northern Germany, comprising
the region of the Harz mountains. Territorially, the duchy is not a unit, but
parcelled into three large, and six smaller, sections. Both in extent of
territory and in population it ranks tenth among the confederated states of the
German Empire. The inhabitants are of the Lower Saxon race. The census of 1900
enumerated 464,333 inhabitants. Of these 432,570 were Lutherans, 4406 Reformed,
24,175 Catholics, and 1824 Jews. The Government is a constitutional monarchy,
hereditary in the male line of the House of Brunswick-Luneberg. The elder line
having become extinct in 1884 by the death of Duke Wilhelm, the younger line,
represented by the Duke of Cumberland, should have succeeded to the throne. For
political reasons, however, Prussia objected to his taking possession, and by
decree of the Bundesrat he was excluded. The present regent, chosen by the
legislature, is Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenberg. Agriculture, industries,
and commerce are highly developed in the duchy. It is stated that the first
potatoes raised in Germany were planted in Brunswick from five of the tubers
brought to Europe by Francis Drake. The town Brunswick (Brunonis vicus, Bruno's
village), which has given its name to the duchy, was founded in the second half
of the ninth century. The country was part of the allodial lands of Henry the
Lion. After his defeat and exile in 1180, he lost all his possessions.
Brunswick, however, was restored to his grandson Otto, who was made first Duke
of Brunswick by Frederick II. In the fourteenth century the town became a centre
of the Hanseatic League, as well as of the confederation of the Lower Saxon
towns.



Christianity dates from Charlemagne's conquest of the Saxon country of which
Brunswick is a part. Charlemagne found and destroyed an ancient German idol in
the place where now Brunswick stands. At Kissenbruck many of the conquered
Saxons were baptized. During the Middle Ages the country was partly under the
jurisdiction of the Diocese of Halberstadt, partly under that of Hildesheim. At
the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century St. Ludger laboured
in the neighbourhood of Helmstedt, where he founded a monastery. The pious Duke
of Eastphalia and his devout wife founded, in 852, the monastery of Brunshausen,
near Gandersheim, for Benedictine nuns, where his daughter Hathumod was first
abbess. It was her brother Bruno who some years later founded the town of
Brunswick. When, in 881, the church and monastery of Gandersheim were completed,
the community was transferred thither, under the abbess Gerberga, sister of
Hathumod. This monastery reached its highest point of prosperity in the tenth
century, as is shown by the life of Hrotswitha, the celebrated "nun of
Gandersheim", who sang the praises of Otto the Great and wrote Latin comedies
after the manner of Terence. Other Benedictine monasteries founded in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries were Steterburg, Lutter, and Clus. The great
Cistercian Order also flourished in Brunswick. The three monasteries of
Amelungsborn, Marienthal, and Riddaghausen were founded in the twelfth century.
The Augustinians also had a monastery for men and one for women at Helmstedt.

In the town of Brunswick religion flourished from an early period. Among the
older monasteries should be mentioned St. Blasius and St. Cyriacus, also the
Benedictine monastery built in honour of St. Autor, whose relics were brought
from Trier, and who became the patron saint of the town. In the twelfth century
Henry the Lion did much for his town of Brunswick. He rebuilt some monasteries
and erected several churches. The Franciscans made a foundation in the town in
the thirteenth, the Dominicans, early in the fourteenth, century. The town also
possessed several hospitals and Beguinages. Mention must here be made of the
great reform of monasteries which was wrought in North Germany in the fifteenth
century. The celebrated reformer of monasteries, Johannes Busch, canon regular
of Windesheim, extended his beneficent labours to Brunswick. The Benedictine
Congregation of Bursfeld, which at the end of the fifteenth century counted 142
monasteries, may be said to have sprung from the monastery of Clus near
Gandersheim. (See Bursfeld.)

With regard to the religious revolution of the sixteenth century it will be
necessary to consider the town of Brunswick separately. It was a proud and rich
town and had long sought to make itself independent of the authority of its
dukes. Hence the revolutionary doctrines of the Reformers were readily accepted
by the townsmen. Lutheranism was introduced as early as 1521, and firmly
established by Burgenhagen in 1528, not without ruthless fanaticism. In the
country, however, Duke Henry's authority prevailed, and the Reformers gained no
foothold until 1542, when, owing to the victory of the Smalkaldic League, the
duke fell into captivity, Bugenhagen was recalled, and the external observance
of the new religion was forced upon the people with much violence and cruelty.
When Henry recovered his duchy, in 1547, he re-established the Catholic
religion. His son and successor made the whole district Lutheran, and it has
since remained a Protestant stronghold. Duke Julius did not destroy all the
monasteries, but allowed many of them to persist as so-called Protestant
convents. Among these was the once celebrated Gandersheim which was only
suppressed during the general spoliation and secularization of 1802. Prominent
among the Dukes of Brunswick in post-Reformation times is Anton Ulrich, said to
have been the most learned prince of his time, a patron of the arts and
sciences, himself a poet, and a student of the early Fathers. He took a lively
interest in the movement for the reconciliation of the Protestant sects with the
Church, the same movement with which Leibniz was identified. Early in 1710 the
duke abjured Protestantism and a few months later published his "Fifty Reasons
Why the Catholic Church is Preferable to Protestantism". (See Räss, Convertiten,
IX.) Two of his daughters followed him into the Catholic Church. The only result
of his conversion so far as the duchy was concerned was his erection of two
Catholic churches, one in Brunswick, the other in Wolfenbuttel, to which
according to his desire Franciscans were appointed.



Pope Gregory XVI placed the Catholics of the Duchy of Brunswick under the
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Hildesheim. They are merely tolerated in the
duchy. The Constitution of 1832, it is true, granted liberty of conscience and
the rights of public worship, but subjected all churches to the "supervision of
the Government", that is to say, of the Lutheran church authorities. The law of
1848 brought little relief to the Catholics. No ecclesiastical ordinance or
pontifical constitution may be published without the government's placet; all
Catholic congregations were incorporated in Protestant parishes. The last
intolerable law was abolished in 1867 for three Catholic parishes, henceforth
recognized as such by the State, viz., Brunswick, Wolfenbuttel, and Helmstedt,
all the others remaining parts of Protestant parishes. Catholic priests (with
the three aforesaid exceptions) may not perform baptisms, marriages, or hold
funeral services without giving previous notice to the Protestant pastor and
obtaining his leave. And no priest, unless duly recognized by the State, may
perform any ecclesiastical function without falling under the penalty of the
law. Non-recognized priests are even fined for conferring baptism in the case of
necessity, and for administering the last sacraments. The same intolerance
prevails with regard to schools and the education of children of mixed
marriages. The State contributes nothing towards the support of Catholic
worship. In the year 1864 a law was passed abolishing Stolgebühren, i.e., all
perquisites and fees received by the priest for certain ecclesiastical
functions, such as marriages and funerals, which had previously to be handed
over to the Protestant pastor. The general statement, therefore, in the
"Kirchenlexicon", that the law of 1867 has rendered the condition of the
Catholics in the Duchy of Brunswick "wholly satisfactory", needs recension; it
must be restricted to the three above-named parishes; in the rest of the duchy
the condition of Catholics is far from satisfactory. It is for this reason that
the Centre Party in the Reichstag has brought in the Toleration Bill, which, if
carried, would sweep away all Catholic disabilities throughout the empire, in
Brunswick as well as in Mecklenburg, and in the Kingdom of Saxony.




SOURCES

Daniel, Handbuch der Geographie (5th ed., Leipzig), IV, 568-82; Bruck, Gesichte
der kath. Kirch in Deutschland im 19. Jahrh. (Mainz and Kirchheim), III; Woker
in Kirchenlex., s.v.; Janssen-Pastor, Gesch. des deutsch. Volkes (18th ed.,
Freiburg), III, Bk. II, xvii; IV, Bk. II, viii, Bk. III, xi; Staatslexikon (2nd
ed.), I, s.v. Konversations-Lex. (3rd ed., Freiburg), s.v.


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Guldner, B. (1908). Brunswick (Braunschweig). In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03019a.htm

MLA citation. Guldner, Benedict. "Brunswick (Braunschweig)." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03019a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by William D.
Neville.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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