THE REFORMED CHURCH AT WINDESHEIM

 

Is there a relationship?

HET HUIS MET KLOOSTER -

 

 

 

 

In 1386 Mr.Barthol ten Hove*, donates his property, “De hof te Windesheim” to Florens Radewijnsz, one of the members of “Broeders van het Gemene Leven” from Deventer and close friend of Geert Grote (1340-1384), in order to build a monastery there. Together with six colleagues, the monastery is founded on the sand hill of Windesheim and on 17 October 1387 the monastery and church are inaugurated.  After many renovations, expansions and linking up with related monasteries, this monastery expands to the main monastery of the Congregation of Windesheim, a union of monasteries inspired by the spirit of the late medieval renovation movements of Geert Grote, the “Moderne Devotie”. In 1511 the Congregation reaches its height when there are one hundred monasteries (male and female monasteries) connected from all parts of Western and Middle Europe.

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Shortly after the reformation, in 1596-1599, the monastery is demolished. Of the whole complex only the brewery remains. Today in other places in Windesheim some medieval cellars can be found beneath two farmhouses, which were probably part of the large monastery complex. The city of Zwolle became the owners of the monastery properties and appointed an administrator to manage and control the goods.

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Thanks to the chronicle of the monastery, ”Het Chronicon Windeshemense” by Jan Busch, it has been made possible to retrieve an accurate reconstruction of the map of the monastery building, which probably was situated south of the “Dorpsstraat”.

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The present-day Reformed Church at Windesheim is the former brewery of the famous monastery of “De Reguliere Kanunniken van Augustinus”. The building is dated in the second half of the 16th century. After the restoration in 1987 the building has been restored to the situation of 1565-1575. Between 1580 and 1590 the reformation took place here. Because of the fact that the brewery was used as church since 1634, the first floor, demolished in the 17th century, was not restored anymore. The present-day upper floor is in fact the second floor. In the church itself the location of the beams of the first floor are still visible. On these upper floors were the corn silos, the drying lofts and the place for the cooling of the brew. This was enhanced by the use of cooling hatches.

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DE ZUIDELIJKE KANT

 

To the east side, the side of the Rijksstraatweg, the building for the confirmation-classes is located, dating back to 1915. To the west side in the form of a farm cut in half is the sexton’s .

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*   Elsewhere named Bartholdus ten Have, coming from Holland; donates his landed property for the erection of the monastery Windesheim. On October 17 1387 he receives, together with 5 others, the signs for the “Reguliere Kanunniken” and makes his vow to the rule of Augustinus, after the church, the monastery and the graveyard have been consecrated by the bishop of Utrecht. Bertholdus died in 1433 and was buried on the graveyard of the monastery. How far the family Ten Have, of which a pedigree is included, is descended from possible brothers of Bartholdus can not be verified anymore.

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