Anian Reform

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The monastic reform in the Franconian Empire of the late 8th and early 9th centuries is called Anian Reform , initiated by the Aniane monastery in southern France and its abbot Benedict von Aniane and promoted by the emperors Charlemagne and Louis the Pious . As a result, the previous practice of mixed rules was abandoned in favor of an exclusive application of the Regula Benedicti . The liturgical orientation and cultivation of culture were also promoted. The more recent research (Dieter Geuenich, Walter Kettemann) questions the term because it doubts that one can assume a uniform reform work. The outstanding role of Benedict is also increasingly being denied.

Course under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious

The Admonitio generalis of 789 is significant for the Anian Reform. In these synodal resolutions, observance of the Regula Benedicti was set as the top priority for all monks, nuns and abbesses. But the fact that this had to be demanded again and again at further synods shows that it was not yet possible to speak of a uniform image of the monasteries. The royal messengers ( missi ), who checked the correct observance of the rule, presented an unpleasant report at the meeting of autumn 802, so that from now on the “Regula Benedicti” was to be regarded as the only binding norm of life and only this in the monasteries admitted "should be.

Charlemagne had thus created the basis for the standardization of the monasteries, but even he could not fully complete his project. On September 11, 813, a year before his death, Karl crowned his son Ludwig as co-emperor. On January 28, 814, after Charles's death, he moved to Aachen and became sole emperor. Ludwig brought his previous advisor Benedikt von Aniane with him from Aquitaine. Ludwig is said to have turned to the church from an early age, which is why a reformation of the monastery system seemed very desirable for him. In his biographies we repeatedly find hagiographical perspectives added, which are intended to emphasize his turn to church life and monasticism.

In 814 Ludwig Benedict commissioned the standardization of the monasteries. At that time Benedict was already a great proponent of the Benedictine Rule and had been working in the south of France for almost 30 years. Between 816 and 819 the Rule of Benedict was finally declared mandatory for all nuns and monks at the Aachen Reform Synods .

Benedict was appointed Abbot General for the monasteries in regnum francorum and founded the Inden Monastery near Aachen in 815 , which was to serve as a model monastery .

swell

literature

  • Dieter Geuenich: Prayer Remembrance and Anian Reform. Observations on the fraternization of the abbots in the kingdom of Louis the Pious . In: Raymund Kottje , Helmut Maurer (ed.): Monastic reforms in the 9th and 10th centuries (lectures and research 38). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1989, pp. 79-106.
  • Dieter Geuenich: Comments on the so-called “Anian Reform” . In: Dieter Bauer et al. (Ed.): Mönchtum, Kirche, Herrschaft 750-1000. Festschrift for Josef Semmler on his 65th birthday . Thorbeck, Sigmaringen 1998, pp. 99-112.
  • Walter Kettemann: Subsidia Anianensia. Studies of tradition and textual history on the history of Witiza-Benedict, his Aniane monastery and the so-called "Anian Reform" . Duisburg / Essen 2008 ( PDF; 10.2 MB ).
  • Josef Semmler: Benedictine Reform and Imperial Privilege. On the question of the institutional union of the monasteries around Benedict von Aniane . In: Gert Melville (ed.): Institutions and history. Theoretical aspects and medieval findings . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1992, pp. 259–293.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gudrun Gleba: Monasteries and orders in the Middle Ages . Darmstadt 4 2011.