Lage Abbey

The origins of Kommende Lage date back to 1245, when Count Otto I of Tecklenburg donated a farm to the Order of St. John. From 1260, the Hospitallers settled there, and the community grew rapidly. By 1262, twelve religious lived in Lage, and by 1341, the establishment counted 45 Hospitallers, making it the largest within the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian bailiwick. In the 14th century, a pilgrimage to the Lage Cross, a crucifix consecrated in 1315, developed. In 1384, the Kommende was attacked during a conflict with the Prince-Bishop Dietrich von Horne of Osnabrück, and the buildings were rendered uninhabitable. After his excommunication, the bishop returned the Kommende to the order in 1395 and supported its reconstruction, but Lage never regained its former significance. After the Reformation, the Kommende remained a Catholic enclave in the Protestant surroundings. The Thirty Years' War brought further looting and occupations by Danish and Swedish troops, causing severe damage. Under Commander Johann Jakob von Pallandt, new buildings were erected from 1646. The Kommende was dissolved in 1810 during secularization and later fell to the Klosterkammer Hannover.