Bernward (Würzburg)

Bernward († 995 on the island of Euboea ) was Bishop of Würzburg from 990 to 995 .

The five-year tenure of Bernwards was determined by his attempt to restore the monasteries, which had fallen in the 10th century after looting and destruction in the course of numerous armed conflicts. The monastery communities had been driven out after the destruction and their return was made difficult by the destruction. Bernward extended the efforts of his predecessor Hugo to revitalize the monasteries. Hugo had already tried to revive the Burkard monastery as a priority . In order to reestablish the legal status that the monasteries had assumed before their decline, Bernward devised a way that we today would call a forgery of documents. At that time, the clergy apparently did not have any concerns about such a procedure, because they substantiated the earlier claims of the monasteries in writing by means of subsequently drawn up documents. So alleged documents from Pippin and Charlemagne led to the restitution of the places Neustadt am Main , Homburg am Main , Amorbach , Schlüchtern and Murrhardt . Only for the Münsterschwarzach Abbey could one refer to an original document from Ludwig the German from 857.

Bernward was apparently already active in rich official offices before his appointment as bishop, because he was soon entrusted with a political task of great importance: Together with the Greek Johannes Philagathos he was supposed to court the marriageable Otto III. organize in Byzantium . Bernward died on the outward journey in 995 on the island of Euboea .

literature

• Peter Kolb, Ernst-Günter Krenig (Hrsg.): Lower Franconian history. Volume 1: From the Germanic conquest to the high Middle Ages. Echter, Würzburg 1989, ISBN 3-429-01263-5 , p. 218 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Hugo	Bishop of Würzburg 990–995	Heinrich I.