Eigil from Fulda

Eigil von Fulda (also Aeigil, Aegil, Aigil, Egil, Eygil, Fiegil, Figil; * around 750 in Bavaria; † June 15 or August 6, 822 in Fulda ) came from the Bavarian nobility and was the fourth abbot of the Fulda monastery in 818 .

Life

He was a student of Abbot Sturmi , his uncle, under whom he was handed over to the Fulda Monastery as an oblate by his parents as a child and later became provost and lay judge in the abbey court. In the existence-threatening crisis that his predecessor Ratgar had triggered through a tough and uncompromising regiment, through interventions in the traditional consuetudines and through his forced construction program, Eigil was one of his opponents, was one of the authors of the letter of complaint directed against his administration ( Supplex Libellus ) and to the members of a group of monks who fled the monastery at the height of the dispute. As abbot he later campaigned for the pardon and return of his predecessor to the Frauenberg secondary monastery in Fulda . During the interregnum after Ratger's dismissal, the reform of Benedict von Aniane was introduced in Fulda on the orders of Emperor Ludwig the Pious , which Eigil had to accept as a new basis, but without following it in detail. So he continued to let monks manage the outposts and not lay people as prescribed. During his tenure, through compensatory measures, a cooperative leadership style and by resorting to the integrative reform ideas of Benedict von Aniane with their combination of old monastic spirituality, asceticism, Benedictine tradition and reform, he succeeded in overcoming the crisis and reconciling those who clung to the ideal of an ascetic solitude monastery Traditionalists and the group open to the innovations of the Carolingian Renaissance in education, art and culture. It was probably Eigil who appointed the head of the monastery school, Hrabanus Maurus, a representative of the new spirit with whom he worked closely on the building and liturgical projects of his abbey (see below), as provost and presumptive successor. He died very old in 822 with his brothers. His grave, which he modeled after Benedict of Nursia should have dug with his own hands, is located in the crypt of the conceived as Abtsgrablege given it commissioned Michael Church . The monk Brun Candidus von Fulda wrote a biography of Eigil as Opus geminum in two books in prose (Book I) and verse (Book II) around 840.

plant

Eigil wrote the biography, the Vita Sturmi primi abbatis et fundatoris Fuldensis coenobii , probably in the run-up to the translation of the bones of the founding abbot, which was carried out in 820 . He induced the Fulda monk Brun Candidus to write the vita of the second Fulda abbot Baugulf . He is the founder of the impressive Fulda series of vites, which includes the first five abbots ( Sturmi , Baugulf , Ratgar , Eigil, Rabanus Maurus ) as well as the Fulda saints Bonifatius and Lioba . Fulda students are Ermenrich von Ellwangen , the author of the Sermo de Vita B. Soli of the hermit Sola von Solnhofen, a Fulda provost, and the emperor biographer Einhard and Walahfrid Strabo , the author and editor of numerous vitae (Vita S. Galli , Vita Mammae , Vita Blaithmaic , Vita S. Otmari ; Einhart's vita Karoli, Thegans Gesta Hludowici ). He completed the Salvator Basilica begun by his two predecessors in Fulda, which, after its builder, is usually called Ratgar Basilica today, and had two crypts built in, which are among the earliest hall crypts . He also had a cemetery chapel designed by Hrabanus Maurus, St. Michael , built, a central building that was preserved with later additions and alterations over eight columns with a keystone in the dome or vault and a crypt, which is vaulted over a central column with a jonizing capital. He took special care of the cult of the founding abbot Sturmius, his relative, by having his grave rebuilt in the south aisle of the Salvator Basilica , having his translation carried out and his liturgical memoria rearranged. This also included the reading of the aforementioned Vita Sturmi. Probably is this liturgical specific measure within the context of a liturgical reform , through a new, compiled by Rabanus Maurus Sacramentary , a Gregorio - Gelasianum was introduced Mixtum in Fulda. He could no longer finish the new convent building. Under his brief abbatiat, monastery life flourished and the prerequisites were created for Fulda to become one of the most important centers of spiritual culture under his successor Hrabanus Maurus. Catholic Memorial Day is June 15th.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The dating is controversial, for the early dating ("between 792 and 814 ..., most likely in the nineties of the eighth century") Pius Engelbert, When did Eigil's Vita Sturmi originate? In: Walter Heinemeyer (Ed.), Hundred Years Historical Commission for Hesse 1897–1997. Ceremony presented by authors of the Historical Commission (publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse 61). Elwert, Marburg 1991, Part 1, pp. 35–45, esp. Note 2–21, pp. 35–39 with further literature. For the late dating 820 Gereon Becht-Jördens, The murder of Archbishop Bonifatius by the Frisians, note 13, p. 98.
2. ↑ G. Becht-Jördens, Litterae illuminatae (see lit. below), note 72, p. 348; Pp. 355-361; the other, Sturmi or Boniface? (see ref. below).

literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Eigil (Egil). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 1, Bautz, Hamm 1975. 2nd, unchanged edition Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-013-1 , Sp. 1479.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Sturmi or Bonifatius. A conflict in the age of the Anian reform about identity and monastic self-image as reflected in the altar rituals of Hrabanus Maurus for the Salvator Basilica in Fulda. With appendices to the tradition and critical edition of the tituli as well as to text sources on the architecture and building history of the Salvator Basilica . In: Marc-Aeilko Aris, Susanna Bullido del Barrio (ed.): Hrabanus Maurus in Fulda. With a Hrabanus Maurus bibliography (1979-2009) (Fuldaer Studien 13). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 2010, pp. 123-187 ISBN 978-3-7820-0919-5
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Litterae illuminatae. On the history of a literary form type in Fulda . In: Gangolf Schrimpf (Hrsg.): Fulda monastery in the world of the Carolingians and Ottonians (Fuldaer Studien 7). Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 325–364
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis a Candido ad Modestum edita prosa et versibus . An opus geminum of IX. Century. Introduction and critical edition . Marburg 1994.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: Text, image and architecture as carriers of an ecclesiological conception of monastery history. The Carolingian Vita Aegil by Brun Candidus von Fulda (approx. 840) . In: Gottfried Kerscher (Ed.): Hagiography and Art. The cult of saints in writing, images and architecture . Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1993, pp. 75-106.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: The Vita Aegil abbatis Fuldensis of Brun Candidus. An opus geminum from the age of the Anian reform in a biblical-figural background style. (Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 17). Frankfurt am Main 1992.
• Gereon Becht-Jördens: The Vita Aegil of Brun Candidus as a source for questions from the history of Fulda in the age of the Anian reform . In: Hessisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 42 . 1992, pp. 19-48.
• Otfried Ellger: The Michaelskirche in Fulda as evidence of the care for the dead. For the conception of a cemetery and grave church in the Carolingian monastery of Fulda . In: Publications of the Fulda History Association 55 . Fulda 1989.
• Pius Engelbert : The Vita Sturmi of the Eigil of Fulda. Literary-critical-historical investigation and edition (= publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse and Waldeck , Vol. 29). Elwert, Marburg 1968.
• Theodor Henner:  Eigil . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 749 f.
• Wolfgang Heßler:  Eigil. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 391 ( digitized version ).
• Eva Krause: The councilor basilica in Fulda. An investigation into the history of research . In: Sources and treatises on the history of the abbey and diocese of Fulda 27 . Fulda 2002.
• Mechthild Sandmann: Eigil . In: K. Schmid (Hrsg.): The monastery community of Fulda in the early Middle Ages In: Münstersche Mittelalterschriften 8, 1 . Vol. 1, Munich 1978, p. 184.

Web links

• Eigil abbas Fuldensis in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"

predecessor	Office	successor
Ratgar	Abbot of Fulda 818–822	Rabanus Maurus