Kloster Harvstehude

In 1246, a convent (Kloster) was founded in a place just downstream from Hamburg called Herwardeshude. In 1295, the convent was relocated to the north and officially renamed, but the original name stuck in the vernacular and eventually morphed into Harvstehude (which is now the name of a Hamburg Stadtteil). It began acquiring land shortly after its founding and eventually acquired more than the city of Hamburg itself. During the reformation, the convent was destroyed and monks were evicted from the nearby monastery of St. Johannis. The nuns were allowed to occupy the monastery on the condition that they convert to Protestantism and cease to call themselves nuns. They were also permitted to retain their land holdings. The buildings continued to be named after St. Johannis, but I choose to retain the name Kloster Harvstehude for the entity that held the land—both because Harvstehude evokes a female-run entity, while St. Johannis had been a male-run entity, and because I want to clearly distinguish it from the St. Johanniskloster in Lübeck.

 

In 1803, the Kloster undertook a trade with Holstein in which it surrendered Bilsen (an exclave surrounded by Holstein) in exchange for Alsterdorf (about 2 miles northeast of Harvstehude). It was part of the Imperial City of Hamburg throughout the period covered by the database..