Elger IV to Hohenstein

Elger zu Hohenstein (* around 1180 ; † October 14, 1242 , Frankfurt am Main ) was a German Dominican . He was the first prior of the Dominican monastery in Eisenach and, in the last years of his life, adviser and confidante of Heinrich Raspe .

Life

He was born around 1180 as the fourth and youngest child of Count Elger III. to Hohenstein and his wife Oda. It was in keeping with the spirit of the times that Elger embarked on a spiritual career as the youngest born . He was first mentioned as a cleric in 1217. Presumably Frederick II gave him the office of provost of the collegiate church St. Simon and Judas zu Goslar around 1220 , at the same time he held the office of canon of the Halberstadt monastery . Under the influence of the sermons of Francis of Assisi and Dominic , but also in the face of the emerging Inquisition , Hohenstein gave up the career of a church official and turned to Paris in 1226 . There he devoted himself to various studies before leaving his worldly goods behind and joining the Dominican order. Jordan von Sachsen , order general of the Paris Dominicans, sent Elger zu Hohenstein and three other Dominicans to Erfurt in 1228 . There they were warmly welcomed and given the Rastenberger Hof by the city's magistrate , which they converted into a monastery, of which the preacher's church is still preserved today.

Cloister of the Dominican monastery in Eisenach

On his travels through Thuringia , Elger met Heinrich Raspe in Eisenach . He had decided to build a monastery in honor of Saint Elisabeth and as atonement for the atrocities committed by his brother Konrad of Thuringia when Fritzlar was captured in 1232. He called Elger zu Hohenstein first prior , and Hohenstein was confirmed by the Eisenach Convention . On April 13, 1236, the Dominican monastery in Eisenach was opened. Landgrave Heinrich Raspe chose Hohenstein as his personal confessor and advisor.

Despite his poor health, Hohenstein had to accompany the Landgrave to Frankfurt am Main in spring 1242 on the occasion of a Reichstag convened by Friedrich II . There he died on October 14, 1242. His body was transferred by Heinrich to Eisenach, where he was buried with episcopal honors in the crypt of the Preacher's Church.

literature

• Eduard Jacobs:  Hohenstein, Elger Graf zu . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, pp. 705-708.
• Paul-Gundolf Gieraths:  Hohnstein, Elger Graf zu. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , p. 509 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Ekkart Sauser :  Elger, Count of Hohenstein. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 18, Bautz, Herzberg 2001, ISBN 3-88309-086-7 , Sp. 374-375.
• Urania Culture and Education Association Gotha e. V. (Ed.): Eisenach personalities . A biographical lexicon. RhinoVerlag, Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-932081-45-5 , p. 68 f .