Egbert von Münsterschwarzach

Egbert von Münsterschwarzach (also Ekkebert von Münsterschwarzach , * around 1010; † November 25, 1076/77 in Münsterschwarzach ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Schwarzach from 1047 to 1077 ; he also headed other monasteries such as the Fulda monastery from 1047 to 1058 and established the Reform of Gorze in Germany. He was venerated as a saint shortly after his death.

Life

Egbert was born somewhere in Germany around 1010. He entered a monastery at an early age and later came to the abbey in Gorze. His life only becomes tangible in the sources from the year 1046. At that time he was called to Mainfranken by the Würzburg bishop. In 1047 he began to reform in Schwarzach, appointed abbot of the monastery. A writing room was set up in the abbey and more importance was attached to the monks' chanting .

The reform had an effect and the monastery convent grew to around fifty monks. Confreres gave Egbert the name "Abbas vitae venerabilis" (abbot of a venerable way of life). Now the abbot began to renovate the monastery buildings, which had been destroyed by the turmoil of the previous decades. In 1052 a lay chapel was built in the area of ​​today's gatehouse. In addition, the convent church was expanded in the Romanesque style.

In addition to the reforms, which were limited to the Münsterschwarzach monastery, Egbert was also concerned with the other monasteries in the region. For a time he headed the Neustadt am Main Abbey as abbot, renewed the Bamberg monastery on Michelsberg , the Peter and Paul Abbey in Würzburg and the monastery of the same name in Merseburg. In 1056, Egbert took over Lambach Abbey in what is now Upper Austria through his patron, Bishop Adalbero, and there, too, began to establish the ideas of the Gorz reform.

In 1072 Egbert extended his reform activities to the Rhine area. The reason was the transfer of the St. Peter and Paul Monastery in Saalfeld by the Archbishop of Cologne Anno . In November 1075 the abbot traveled to Rome to reverse the excommunication of Bamberg's Bishop Hermann . When this failed, he took the outcast in Münsterschwarzach until his death.

The admission of the bishop to the convent is Egbert's last act. A few days after his return he died in Münsterschwarzach on November 25th. The year of his death is disputed, most sources date his death to the year 1076, while a few read 1075. In the Book of the Dead of Michelsberg Monastery in Bamberg , the year of the coronation of Rudolf of Rheinfelden as the anti-king, 1077, is assumed.

Adoration

Shortly after Egbert's death, his grave became a destination for pilgrimages. The healing of a deaf and mute man who prayed at the abbot's grave is recorded in 1121. In 1151 a pompous grave was erected in the middle of the Walther Egbert Basilica in Münsterschwarzach in honor of the abbot.

Remembrance day is the day of death, November 25th.

literature

• Franziskus Büll, Gabriel Vogt: The Blessed Abbot Egbert von Münsterschwarzach in Franconia 1047-1077 . Münsterschwarzach 1997.
• Elmar Hochholzer: Egbert († 1077), Abbot of Münsterschwarzach, Neustadt / Main and Lambach . In: Fränkische Lebensbilder 21 . Neustadt ad Aisch 2006.
• Theodor Kramer:  Eckebert from Gorze. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 286 ( digitized version ).
• Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . In: Münsterschwarzacher studies. Volume 49 . Münsterschwarzach 2002.
• Gabriel Vogt: The blessed Egbert, abbot of Münsterschwarzach 1046 / 47-1076 / 77 . Münsterschwarzach 1978.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Elmar Hochholzer: Egbert († 1077) .
2. ↑ Franziskus Büll (among others): The blessed Abbot Egbert von Münsterschwarzach . P. 13.
3. ↑ Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints: Egbert von Münsterschwarzach , accessed on January 14, 2014.

predecessor	Office	successor
Wolfher	Abbot of Münsterschwarzach 1047-1076 / 1077	Burkard I.