User:Dr Gangrene/Franciscan Monastery

The former Franciscan Monastery in Luxembourg City was located on what is now the Place Guillaume II or the Knuedler until it was demolished in 1830.

The term Knuedler in fact derives from the Luxembourgish term Knued, meaning "knot": the Franciscan monks were in the habit of fastening their monk's habit with a cord tied round their waist into a large knot, which was visible from a distance.

The monastery was founded around the late 13th century, and in any case after the death of Countess Ermesinde (1196-1247). In her will, she left donations to all the monasteries of the city, without mentioning the Franciscans. One may conclude from this that the monastery's establishment was later. The Franciscans' living quarters bordered on the church they had constructed parallel to the current Rue Notre-Dame. The monastery was thus established in a cohesive set of gardens and lawns extending to the outside of the second wall, but was separated both from the Saint-Nicholas Church and the New Market, which were both on the inside of the fortress walls.

Initially, the surface occupied by the monastery was around one hectar, but bit by bit this increased to two or three times this amount. Such an amound of land could only come from several centuries' worth of donations by the House of the Counts of Luxembourg. Since few empty plots of land remained available in this area, no commoner could have been able to bring together such a large surface area of land, to cede this to the Franciscans.