Chagnoald

Chagnoald , also Cagnoald , Cagnou or Canoaldus , (* around 583 , † around 638 in Laon ) was the 6th Bishop of Laon under the rule of the Merovingians . He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church .

Life

The existence of Chagnoald is next to the Vita sancti Columbani of Jonas von Bobbio , which he wrote around the years 640 to 643 as a monk of the Abbey of Bobbio , in particular still through the Vita Faronis of Hildegar von Meaux.

Chagnoald was born in the Franconian part of Austrasia , probably on the Villa Pipimisiacum estate , today's Poincy . He was the eldest son of Chagnerich , Comes in the Pagus Meldensis around the main town of Meaux and his wife Leudegundis. Chagnoald came from the noble family of the Burgundofarones , which are considered to be an outstanding family of the Austrasian ruling class until the rise of the Pippinids and Arnulfingers and who were related to the clans of the Agilolfinger and Waltriche .

Chagnoald's father was one of the most influential promoters of the missionary work of St. Columban , which contributed decisively to the Christianization of the areas north of the Alps. The missionary made a deep impression on the Comes von Meaux and, like his relatives Waldelenus and son Donatus , Columban managed to get Chagnerich to entrust his elders to that monastery for education and further training.

At the age of eleven, 594, Chagnoald entered the Luxeuil monastery in the Franconian part of Burgundy . He was educated there by Columban and instructed in Latin and Greek literature and the Holy Scriptures . Donatus was ordained a monk in the Abbey of Luxeuil during Columban's abbatiat . In the following decade, Chagnoald became one of Columban's closest confidants and in 610 accompanied him with Gallus and other monks on his flight from the Burgundian ruler Theuderich II to the Lake Constance area . After several years of missionary work, he followed Colomban to northern Italy and supported him in founding the Bobbio Abbey . After Columban's death in 615, Chagnoald returned to the Luxeuil monastery and lived as a monk in the Burgundian abbey, which was now under the direction of his relative Eustasius . Because of the fraternal connection, it is very likely that he was part of the delegation of Luxeuiler monks sent by Eustasius under the direction of St. Waldebert to assist Chagnoald's sister Burgundofara in founding her Abbey of Faremoutiers .

Later Chagnoald took over the abbot dignity of Saint-Vincent de Laon Abbey , which was founded around 590 by Queen Brunichild . In the year 625, Chagnoald was finally appointed bishop of the diocese of Laon and was in charge of one of the most important bishoprics of the Franconian Empire. The great importance of both his office and his origins are reflected in his participation in the synods of Clichy (626) and Reims (627–630), which were important from an imperial political point of view , and which reorganized the distribution of power among the Merovingians in the Frankish Empire.

Chagnoald died in Laon in 633 and was buried in the burial place of the bishops in Saint-Vincent Abbey. His grave site has not been preserved, however, as the monastery was destroyed by the English in 1359 during the Hundred Years War .

siblings

Chagnoald had four brothers and sisters:

• Chagnulf (Comes de Meaux; murdered 641)
• Burgundofaro (trainee lawyer Dagoberts I after 633 - around 672 Bishop of Meaux and there founder of the monastery of St-Faron)
• Burgundofara (founder of Faremoutiers Abbey, † after 633/34)
• Agnetrade († after 633/34)

Adoration

The day of remembrance for Chagnoald is celebrated by the Catholic Church on September 6th .

Source edition

• Vita Columbani - Bruno Krusch (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 37: Ionae Vitae sanctorum Columbani, Vedastis, Iohannis. Hanover 1905, pp. 1–294 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
• Vita Faronis - Bruno Krusch , Wilhelm Levison (eds.): Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 5: Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici (III). Hanover 1910, pp. 171–203 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )

literature

• Ekkart Sauser:  Cagnoald. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 251-252.
• Yaniv Fox: Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Formation of the Frankish Aristocracy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2014, ISBN 978-1-107-58764-9 , pp. 66, 198.
• Yaniv Fox: Image of Kings Past. The Gibichung Legacy in Post-Conquest Burgundy. in: Beihefte der Francia, Volume 42, Paris 2015, pp. 19-20.
• Jo Ann McNamara, John E. Halborg, E. Gordon Whatley (Eds.): Sainted Women of the Dark Ages Duke University Press, Durham 1992, ISBN 978-0-822-31216-1 , pp. 156-158.
• Margarete Weidemann: Noble families in the Chlotharreich. Relationships of the Frankish aristocracy in the first third of the 7th century in: Beihefte der Francia, Volume 15, Paris 1987, pp. 843–845, 849.
• Horst Ebling: Burgundofarones in: Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume II, Column 1098/99.
• Eugen Ewig: The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire . Verlag W. Kohlhammer Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, 1993, p. 125.
• Eugen Ewig: The Franconian part-rich in the 7th century (613-714) , in: Trier magazine for the history and art of the Trier country and its neighboring areas, Volume 22, Trier 1953, pp. 85-144.
• Rolf Sprandel: Structure and history of the Merovingian nobility in Theodor Schrieder, Walter Kienast (Hrsg.): Historische Zeitschrift, Volume 193. Oldenbourg, Munich 1961, p. 45.
• Martin Heinzelmann: L'aristocratie et les évêchés entre Loire et Rhin, jusqu'à la fin du VIIe siècle , in: Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France, tome 62, n ° 168, 1976. La christianisation des pays entre Loire et Rhin (IVe-VIIe siècle) pp. 75-90.
• Gilles Cugnier: Histoire du monastère de Luxeuil à travers ses abbés, 590–1790: Volume 1, les trois premiers siècles, 590-888 . Editions Dominique Guéniot, Langres 2006, ISBN 978-2-878-25308-5 , pp. 16-17.

Web links

• Heiligenlexikon.de