David von Winkelsheim

David von Winkelsheim * probably at Girsberg Castle before 1460 ; † November 11, 1526 in Radolfzell , was the last abbot in St. Georgen Monastery in Stein am Rhein . His greatest merit lies in the structural completion of the monastery, which he probably had mainly Thomas Schmid and Ambrosius Holbein decorated with excellent carvings and magnificent paintings .

life and work

Coats-of-arms in the All Saints Museum

Abbot's room in the St. Georgen monastery in Stein am Rhein

His father was Hans von Winkelsheim (or in Winkel) from Schaffhausen , his mother Verena von Gachnang . He became a monk in the St. Georgen monastery in the neighboring town of Stein am Rhein and was elected its abbot in 1499. As such, he zealously championed the rights of his foundation, which was established by the Swabian ruling house, later the Dukes of Austria, and then against the class of Zurich the citizens of Stein, who denied his powers in the city and the surrounding area, than against those of Konstanz and Diessenhofen , who denied his fishing rights in the Rhine. From about 1505 to 1516 he was busy building. Under Winkelsheim, the entire south wing of the monastery complex, the abbot's apartment, the entrance door of which bears the year 1506, was rebuilt or at least rebuilt, as well as the cloister, the priesthood, the inn and probably also the (now disappeared) choir stalls of the monastery church were made. At the end of the entire construction period (1516), he had clerical and secular neighbors donate coats of arms , some of which have been preserved as property of the city of Stein; a corresponding disk with his coat of arms is in the Museum Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen, a splendid gift rack from his time in the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

Escape

Abbot David did not enjoy his beautiful creation for long. Initially not hostile to the Reformation and associating with Zwingli , he soon came into opposition to the new revolutionary endeavors. A dispute with the Reformation-minded city over the occupation of the Leutkirche (1523/24), as well as the consequences of the Steiner storming of Ittingen Monastery (1524) made his position unacceptable. On July 5, 1525, his monastery was abolished by the authorities in Zurich; he himself received a modest apartment in the monastery, including an annual trousseau. But since the contract with him was not fully complied with, the money with which he intended to buy the house he was born in Girsberg was withheld from him and he was finally kept strictly guarded in the monastery, he evaded the agreement by following the night on October 29, 1525 Radolfzell fled and there, with the help of others, threw himself up to be abbot. But after just one year, which was filled by a small war waged by him and his brother Wolf over the monastery gradient, as well as by multiple negotiations with the Zurich government, Abbot David died of an attack of sore throat on November 11, 1526 in Radolfzell, where A beautiful brass plate was erected for him as a tomb in the town church .

literature

• Wilhelm Lübke : History of the German Renaissance. (Gesch. D. Baukunst v. Kugler V), p. 235 f.
• Ferdinand Vetter : The Reformation of the city and monastery Stein am Rhein. In: Yearbook for Swiss. Business IX (1884), p. 213 ff.
• F. Netter, The St. Georgenkloster zu Stein am Rhein A contribution to history and art history. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings XIII (1884), pp. 23-109.
• Johann Rudolf Rahn : On the statistics of Swiss art monuments. In: Anzeiger für Schweizerische Alterthumskunde 1889 , No. 2–4, supplement.
• B. Haendtke, The Swiss. Painting .
• Federal farewells . 1499 ff.
• Art monuments of Thurgau 2, 1955, p. 89 ff.
• Albert Knoepfli : Art History of the Lake Constance Area 2, 1969, pp. 135-138.
• Carl Pfaff : von Winkelsheim, David. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Carl Pfaff: von Winkelsheim, David. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Ferdinand Vetter :  Winkelsheim, David von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 537-539.