Kugelherrenstift Königstein

The Kugelherrenstift Königstein was a small monastery of the Brothers of the Common Life in Königstein im Taunus. It stood below the castle gate from 1446 until 1540. The founder, Eberhard III of Eppstein-Münzenberg, gave the site and income from fourteen hectares of land to support twelve monks. Pope Paul II approved the plan in March 1465 and the Mainz archbishop, Adolph II of Nassau, granted the charter in August 1466. The parish church of St Marien was attached, bringing its funds and seven altar endowments. The monastery’s main building, the Kugelhaus, was begun at once. Its two towers each held a bell, and inside was a chapel with an organ of 150 tin pipes and a library of valuable manuscripts. Heinrich de Tulpeto, formerly of Cologne, became the first rector in July 1467. Later leaders included Antonius Holycher and Wilhelmus Stenbach, whose death is recorded in 1525. By the 1530s the Reformation divided the community, and many monks left for Catholic regions. Today only the name Kugelherrnstraße recalls the site. The two-towered Kugelhaus survived into the 17th century, first as a steward’s residence, then as a merchant’s home. In 1646 it passed to the Capuchins, who used it until the order moved to new quarters. The old building vanished, but the memory of the twelve monks and their library lives on in the street’s title.