Agana (food)

The inner crypt of the Essen Minster is ascribed to Agana.

Agana was abbess of the Essen monastery in the 10th century. Her exact life dates are not known, after an entry in the Essen Necrolog , she died on November 17th of a year not mentioned there. Agana is considered builder of the first crypt of Essen Minster .

Sources

There are probably no contemporary sources on Agana, only significantly later Essen sources, some of which are based on older, lost sources, allow speculations about Agana's reign, together with other sources. Agana is mentioned in the Essen Necrolog , which was written around 1300 on the basis of older traditions, on November 17th: “Florini confessoris. Obiit Yda abbatissa domine iehsu christe. Obiit Agana abbatissa domine iehsu christe ”. The date of death on the feast of St. Florinus is considered certain, as it is confirmed by other Essen sources. The liber ordinarius , in which the mass obligations and liturgy of the Essen monastery are recorded, was also created around 1370 on an older tradition and ordered a mass for Agana for this day. The liber ordinarius also stipulated that four candles were to be placed on her grave in the crypt on the night of November 16-17, the remains of these candles had to be kept in order to be re-lit in the crypt on January 5th.

research

Agana is believed to be responsible for building the first crypt. This assumption is based on an entry in an addendum in the so-called Sacramentary D 2 of the Essen monastery, which was written in Essen and is dated to the first half of the 10th century. There is the entry dedicatio cripte for January 5th, i.e. consecration of the crypt. Since the surviving dedicatory inscription makes it impossible for the entry to refer to the abbess Theophanu's crypt consecrated on September 9, 1051, January 5 is clearly the consecration date of a previous building. In connection with the fact that the candles from Agana's memorial illumination were to be kept until January 5th and then re-lit in the crypt, Agana is likely to be the builder of the first crypt.

From the results of his archaeological excavations in Essen Minster, Walter Zimmermann found the first Essen crypt in 1958 as the reception of the crypt of St. Maximin in Trier, of which the consecration in 952 is documented. Because of this, Agana must have managed the monastery after 952 and should therefore be regarded as the successor of Abbess Hadwig , who received confirmation of the privileges of King Otto I in 947 after the devastating fire of the Essen collegiate church .

However, Agana's position is not undisputed, as it can hardly be reconciled with other sources. First of all, according to one opinion, the entry of Aganas should have occurred earlier than the entry of Luitgart, the wife of Conrad the Red and daughter of Otto I; she died in 953. Since Abbess Hadwig survived the fire in 946 for several years according to her burial inscription, this would result in a very short term of office for Agana. However, entries in the Necrolog may have been mixed up when copying from older sources. More serious is the objection that arises from the evaluation of the oldest necrology of the Borghorst monastery . The Borghorst Abbey was founded in Essen in 968, and the new women's community took the memorial tradition from the Essen Abbey with it. The Essen abbesses Hadwig and Ida appear in the Borghorster necrology. If the appointment of Agana as Hadwig's successor is correct, Ida would again have to have been Agana's successor. Agana is missing in the Borghorster Nekrolog, while her predecessor and successor would be mentioned. Memorial research has no explanation for such an omission. The problem could be solved if Agana had not ruled between Hadwig and Ida, since the first canons of Borghorst probably only included the canons of Essen in their necrology, who they had experienced themselves and who had already died when Borghorst was founded. In this case, Agana could have ruled after Abbess Ida, the predecessor of the most important Abbess Mathilde , which for her abbatiate, however, was only the short period of time from the year 971, in which, according to a tradition of unclear origin, Ida died, to the year 973, in which Mathilde is documented as abbess. The second possible explanation is that Agana was abbess of the Essen monastery before Hadwig, was no longer co-sanctimonials to the new Borghorster canonesses and was therefore not included in their memorials. In this case, the first Essen crypt could not have been influenced by the Trier crypt of St. Maximin. This influence is not mandatory; contrary to Zimmermann's assumption, it could have occurred the other way around, or both structures could follow a common, unknown predecessor. The possibility of considering Agana as Hadwig's predecessor is therefore not ruled out in terms of building history. Another argument in favor of Aganas dating to the early 10th century is that, according to a source from the 17th century, an abbess Hagana was said to have walled the freedom of the castle , i.e. the monastery district, at the time of King Henry I ; this ruled from 919 to 936. The excavation findings of Zimmermann in the crypt provide further evidence of an early settlement. Zimmermann found two graves one above the other at the place corresponding to the liber ordinarius , the upper grave (designated as No. 152) the lower grave ( No. 104). Zimmermann assigned the upper grave to Abbess Suanhild (1058-1085), but now it is held for the grave of Abbess Mathilde (973-1011) for a long time. The lower grave could then be that of Abbess Agana. The fact that it was touched on when the tomb was being laid out for Mathilde could also suggest that other abbesses held office between the two.

It is therefore likely that Agana officiated as abbess of the Essen monastery in the first half of the 10th century.

literature

• Katrinette Bodarwé: Sanctimoniales litteratae: Writing and education in the Ottonian women's communities Gandersheim, Essen and Quedlinburg , Aschendorff'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-402-06249-6 .
• Klaus Lange: The crypt of the Essen collegiate church. In: Essen and the Saxon women's pencils in the early Middle Ages. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2003. ISBN 3-89861-238-4 .
• Tobias Nüssel: Reflections on the Essen abbesses between Wicburg and Mathilde In: Das Münster am Hellweg , yearbook of the association for the preservation of the Essen Münsters-Münsterbauverein eV, Essen 2010, pp. 7–31.
• Alfred Pothmann: The abbesses of the Essen monastery. In: Das Münster am Hellweg , bulletin of the Association for the Preservation of the Essen Minster. Essen 1987, pp. 5-11.
• Alfred Pothmann: The Abbess Agana - The builder of the first Essen crypt. In: Das Münster am Hellweg , bulletin of the Association for the Preservation of the Essen Minster. Essen 1987, pp. 11-13.

swell

1. ↑ Saint Florinus. Abbess Ida went home to the Lord Jesus Christ. Abbess Agana went home to the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. ^ Hermann Stangefol, Annales Circuli Westphalica , Cologne 1656