St. Catherine's Priory, Roskilde
in Roskilde, DenmarkCategory: Attraction
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Sankt Peders Stræde 8D, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark Print route »
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St. Catherine's Priory, Roskilde, was a priory of Dominican friars located in Roskilde. It was dissolved in the Reformation and a private house built on the site, which in 1699 became the Lutheran Roskilde Adelige Jomfrukloster (now known as Roskilde Kloster), a women's collegiate foundation.The Dominicans established St. Catherine's Priory in Roskilde (the ancient capital of Denmark and the seat of the most important Danish diocese, the Diocese of Roskilde, or Zealand) in 1231. Source material for the Dominican priory in Roskilde is sparse, but it is clear that Roskilde ranked second only to Lund among the Dominican houses of Scandinavia during the Middle Ages. On several occasions the head of the regional order, the prior provincial, was elected from Roskilde.
Only a few of the friars are named. Friar Bo is named in a 1267 letter connected with the conflict between Archbishop Jacob Erlandsen and King Valdemar. Friar Bo was excommunicated for violating the decree of interdict laid down by the archbishop. Prior Petrus Brackæ gave all his worldly possessions to Sorø Abbey in 1312 and then became a Dominican at Roskilde. Perhaps the most famous Dominican friar of Roskilde was Johan Nyborg who was made Bishop of Roskilde in 1330.
The geatest patron of the Dominican friars of Roskilde was the immensely powerful Dowager Duchess Ingeborg (1301-c.1360), mother of King Magnus IV of Sweden and VII of Norway, who made them frequent gifts from at least 1330 onwards and also remembered them in her will.
The main work of the friars was to preach and teach, so it has been supposed that a school of some sort formed part of the duties of the priory at Roskilde, perhaps in conjunction with the town's cathedral school. The Black Friars, as they were known, were a mendicant order, which means that they relied on donations to keep food on the table, candles burning, and the work of the friars. The Roskilde friars forged over time a close connection with the cathedral chapter in the city, which to an extent insulated them from the ebb and flow of events in Denmark's turbulent Middle Ages. After St. Agnes' priory for Dominican nuns was built, the friars also became responsible for the priestly functions required there.
Few details are known of the priory buildings, which were sited a little to the north of the modern Roskilde Kloster, but they consisted of a brick church consecrated to Saint Catherine in 1254, dormitory, scriptorium, refectory and a garden, which included an apple orchard. To the north of the buildings the friars owned a spring and by 1329 dams had been constructed to build at least one mill. The priory also owned at least one farm outside Roskilde, at Slagelse.
