Gebhard II of Urach

Coat of arms of the Counts of Urach

Gebhard II von Urach († March 1, 1110 ) was a Benedictine , abbot of the Hirsau and Lorsch monasteries , and from 1105 to 1107 Bishop of Speyer .

Live and act

Gebhard II. Von Urach, also Gerhard, came from the dynasty of the Counts of Urach and was born as the son of Count Egino I of Dettingen (the elder). His brother was Cardinal Bishop Kuno von Urach († 1122), an ardent supporter of the Gregorian reforms and confidante of Pope Paschal II (1099-1118). Together with his brother Liutold, Kuno founded the Zwiefalten monastery in 1089, which was settled by Hirsau monks.

Before his time at Hirsau Abbey, Gebhard was likely to have received training in the context of the Strasbourg Cathedral Foundation. His paternal uncle was Bishop Werner II of Strasbourg, who entered the history of Hirsau ingloriously due to a punitive expedition against the Hirsau Monastery. The circumstances of his entry into the monastery are controversial, as we only have the sources from the Hirsau environment, which are significantly influenced by the later events around him. The Codex Hirsaugiensis describes that Gebhard had initially cheated out of the monastery before he turned to monastic life. The tendentious Vita of Wilhelm von Hirsau also tells of a Strasbourg canon who is punished for his worldly inclinations. In this description one could certainly see a late invective against Gebhard.

Gebhard lived as a Benedictine monastery in Hirsau, later became prior , and in 1091 abbot and successor to Wilhelm von Hirsau . He is venerated as a blessed and is said to have sent Gebhard von Urach as his prior and confidante to the Abbey of Cluny to ask for relics of St. Peter for the new monastery church. After Heinrich V had allied himself with the Bavarian and Saxon reform nobility against his father Heinrich IV in 1104 , he occupied Speyer, the central place of Salian rule, at the end of October 1105 and appointed Gebhard, a vehement opponent of Heinrich IV, in addition to his Hirsau abbot to the Bishop of Speyer and Abbot of Lorsch . In the meantime, internal camps were formed in the Hirsau Monastery and Bruno von Beutelsbach († 1120) was elected as abbot in his place.

As Bishop of Speyer, Gebhard was the liege lord of Böckelheim Castle , where Heinrich IV interned his father for Christmas 1105. In 1106, under his episcopate, the excommunicated Emperor Heinrich IV was buried in Speyer, the chief shepherd insisting on strict adherence to the canonical regulations, according to which the banned person was not allowed to be buried in the family grave of the Speyer Cathedral . Therefore, one built on the north side of the cathedral, the preserved to this day Afrakapelle where the ruler was provisionally buried until he posthumously by excommunication was liberated.

Gebhard von Urach renounced his office of bishop in 1107 due to illness. He is described as obese and of medium height, suffered from gout and therefore had a walking disability in one foot. Likewise, this decision seems to have been significantly influenced by the oppositional attitude of the Speyer citizens, who had not forgiven the bishop for this affront to the still popular Salier.

According to the Seelbuch of the Speyer Cathedral, he died on March 1, 1110, but was buried in the Hirsau Abbey, as he wished.

The Annales Hirsaugienses by Johannes Trithemius provide many details on the life and person of Bishop Gebhard von Urach, which are noted by cathedral capitular Franz Xaver Remling in his history of the bishops of Speyer (Volume 1, 1852) with the corresponding source. The historical accuracy of these annals is doubtful, however.

Gebhard von Urach († 1141), nephew of the Speyer bishop, was bishop of Strasbourg from 1131 to 1140 .

literature

• Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical picture in the 12th century: Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval (= writings on Southwest German regional studies 77). Thorbecke. Ostfildern 2016. ISBN 978-3-7995-5277-6
• Franz Xaver Remling: History of the Bishops of Speyer , Volume 1, Speyer, 1852, pp. 334–345

Remarks

1. ↑ The Zwiefalter Chronicles Ortlieb and Berthold . In: Luitpold Wallach / Erich König / Karl Otto Müller (ed.): Swabian Chronicles of the Staufer Period . tape 2 . Sigmaringen 1978, p. 10 .
2. ^ Friedrich Knöpp: Gebhard, Abbot of Hirsau 1091-1105, Bishop of Speyer 1105-1107 . In: Friedrich Knöpp (ed.): The Reichsabtei Lorsch. Festschrift in memory of their foundation 764 . tape 1 . Darmstadt 1973, p. 353-356 .
3. ↑ Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical image in the 12th century: Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval . In: Writings on Southwest German regional studies . tape 77 . Ostfildern 2016, p. 41 .
4. ↑ Codex Hirsaugiensis . In: Eugen Schneider (Ed.): Württembergische Geschichtsquellen . tape 1 . Stuttgart 1887, p. 5b .
5. ↑ Vita Willihelmi Abbatis Hirsaugiensis . In: Wilhelms Wattenbach (Ed.): MGH Scriptores in folio . tape 12 . Hanover 1856, p. 214 .
6. ↑ Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical image in the 12th century: Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval . In: Writings on Southwest German regional studies . tape 77 . Ostfildern 2016, p. 42 .
7. ^ Franz Xaver Remling: History of the Bishops of Speyer , Volume 1, 1852, p. 338.
8. ^ Annalista Saxo: Chronicle . In: Klaus Naß (Ed.): MGH Scriptores . tape 37 . Hanover 2006, p. 518 .
9. ↑ Karl Glöckner (Ed.): Codex Laureshamensis . Darmstadt 1929, p. 417 .
10. ↑ Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical image in the 12th century: Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval . In: Writings on Southwest German regional studies . tape 77 . Ostfildern 2016, p. 43-44 .
11. ↑ Annales Hildesheimenses . In: Georg Waitz (Ed.): MGH Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum . tape 8 . Hanover 1878, p. 57 .
12. ^ Franz Xaver Remling: History of the Bishops of Speyer , Volume 1, 1852, p. 337.
13. ^ Stefan Weinfurter: Salic understanding of rule in change. Heinrich V and his privilege for the citizens of Speyer . In: Early Medieval Studies . tape 36 , 2002, p. 332 .

predecessor	Office	successor
John I of Kraichgau	Bishop of Speyer 1104–1107	Bruno of Saarbrücken