Bruno Fleischmann

Bruno Fleischmann (* 1580 in Kronach ; † October 6, 1639 in Astheim , today Volkach ) was rector and prior of the Carthusian monastery in Erfurt from 1615 to 1620 . He then headed the monastery in Astheim from 1620 until his death .

Astheim before Fleischmann

The 16th century was marked in the monasteries by the rise of the Reformation . After both monasteries were affected by the events of the German Peasants' War in 1525 , Prior Jodokus Hess began with the reconstruction in Astheim. He was later transferred to Erfurt to revitalize the convent. Under Hess' successors, the destroyed buildings in Astheim were restored. Under Ludwig Hager, even new building projects, such as the construction of a representative archway, were tackled and the monastery church was renovated. In addition, important writers could be won for the convention .

The problems experienced then under the Würzburg prince bishop of the Charterhouse Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn promoted Counter-Reformation . In 1599, the bishop refused to renew the episcopal letter of protection for the Catholic Carthusians from Astheim. It was not until the Schwarzenbergs intervened that the letter was issued. Perhaps the bishop no longer considered it necessary to give preference to the Carthusians.

Life

Bruno Fleischmann was born in the Franconian town of Kronach, which, as the northernmost part of the bishopric of Bamberg, was a Catholic stronghold. The sources are silent about the family of the future prior, probably they were respected citizens of the city. The young Bruno probably attended a Latin school before he moved to Würzburg . Fleischmann studied ius civile (Latin civil law) at the local university and at that time had not yet made up his mind to join an order of monks.

On August 10, 1606 he made his profession in the Carthusian monastery in Astheim, which was about 20 kilometers from the city of Würzburg. He rose quickly within the monastery, also because the convent consisted of only a few monks. In 1612 Bruno became vicar . In 1615 the General Chapter called him to Erfurt in the branch of the order there. The Erfurt Charterhouse was in poor condition; there were not enough monks to choose the prior independently.

After the death of Prior Ludwig Hager in Astheim, the monks there then elected the Erfurt prior, who came from their convent. Bruno Fleischmann returned and was installed in Astheim on July 30, 1620. Soon he also took on important functions for his order, for example he was appointed a Konvisitator in 1623, and in 1629 a visitor to the Rhine Province. At the same time he acted as a special commissioner in the Rhine Province and in Upper Germany . In this function he also brought the Christgarten Carthusian monastery back to the order, which was at times supervised by Lutheran pastors, and set up their first priors.

The dispute between the two denominations had triggered the Thirty Years' War since 1618 , which began in Main Franconia at the beginning of the 1630s with the Protestant Swedes . Fleischmann and his convent hid the monastery's valuables and fled with the holders of the higher monastic offices on October 16, 1631 to his native Kronach. After the Swedish invasion in 1632 , the Charterhouse received a secular administrator who began to plunder the Carthusian possessions.

Several stories were already circulating among contemporaries about the exile of the Astheimer Prior, because the hidden treasures finally fell into the hands of the occupiers. So Fleischmann said to have learned that the Swedish queen Maria Eleonora of Coburg from Würzburg departed. He disguised himself as a musician, succeeded in approaching the queen and made her promise to spare the charterhouse. But on the way to Würzburg he was betrayed and returned to Kronach.

Another narrative assumes that the prior informed some relatives about the hiding place of the treasure. They went to Astheim together with Bruno Fleischmann and were able to take some pieces with them to Kronach. In addition, it was said that the Astheimer Mainmüller had told a relative about the only confidante who betrayed him to the Swedes. They then tortured the last Carthusian in Astheim, Valentin, until he revealed the hiding place.

In 1634 Fleischmann traveled unrecognized to Würzburg and received a letter of protection from the imperial-Catholic general Octavio Piccolomini . As a result, Fleischmann was able to take possession of the Charterhouse again in 1635. The prior had the damage estimated, resulting in destruction worth 100,000 Reichsthalers . At the same time, the convent only consisted of four monks and the Charterhouse had to continue to pay war money to the Würzburg prince-bishop. Bruno Fleischmann died on October 6, 1639 and was buried in the larger chapel.

literature

• James Hogg: The Astheim Charterhouse . In: Michael Koller (ed.): Carthusians in Franconia (= Church, Art and Culture in Franconia. Volume 5) . Würzburg 1996. pp. 109-118.
• Ignaz Schwarz: The Astheim Karthaus. A picture of history . Gerolzhofen 1903.
• Friedrich Stöhlker: The Astheim Charterhouse and its residents . In: Ute Feuerbach (ed.): Our Main Loop. 1978-1992 . Volkach 2008. pp. 59-63.
• Michael Wieland: The Karthaus Ostheim and its residents . In: Archive of the historical association of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Vol. 38 . Würzburg 1896. pp. 1-35.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stöhlker, Friedrich: The Astheim Charterhouse and its residents . P. 62.
2. ↑ Schwarz, Ignaz: The Astheim Charterhouse . P. 22.
3. ↑ Wieland, Michael: The Karthaus Ostheim and its residents . P. 20.
4. ↑ Wieland, Michael: The Karthaus Ostheim and its residents . P. 21.
5. ↑ Hogg, James: Astheim Charterhouse . P. 115 f.
6. ↑ See: Schwarz, Ignaz: Die Karthaus Astheim . P. 30.
7. ↑ Wieland, Michael: The Karthaus Ostheim and its residents . P. 22 f.
8. ↑ Schwarz, Ignaz: The Astheim Charterhouse . P. 34.
9. ↑ Hogg, James: Astheim Charterhouse . P. 116.