Elisabeth of Weida
Elisabeth von Weida (* 1460 / 61 ; † 11. April 1532 in Gernrode ) was from 1504 to 1532 abbess of free secular pin Gernrode and Frose . She is considered one of the most important abbesses in the late period of the Gernrode monastery. Protestant teaching was introduced into the monastery under her rule. This made the place Gernrode one of the first evangelical sites after Wittenberg . It is thanks to her negotiating skills during the Peasant Wars that the pen was spared from destruction. She turned out to be a good administrator and she succeeded in restoring the desolate finances of the monastery when she took office.
origin
Elisabeth von Weida was the fourth of five children from the marriage of Heinrich XXI., Vogt von Weida , with Agnes Schenkin von Landsberg. Her brothers were Heinrich XXII. the elder , Vogt von Weida (1465 to 1507), Heinrich XXIII. the middle , Vogt von Weida (1507 to 1510), and Heinrich XXIV. the Younger , Vogt von Weida (1510 to 1531). Little information is known about her youth, and her exact date of birth is not known. But from a letter from Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony and his brother Johann to Ernst II of Saxony , the Archbishop of Magdeburg, it may be possible to infer their approximate year of birth. The letter mentions that the abbess Elisabeth turned to the princes with a request and they did not want to refuse her, because the abbess raised with us . From this one can conclude that she was born in 1460 or 1461. The inscription on her grave slab is damaged at the place where her exact age is given; the rest of the inscription only shows that Elisabeth died on April 11, 1532.
Elisabeth seems to have entered the St. Servatius Abbey in Quedlinburg at an early age together with her younger sister Brigitte . Quedlinburg may have been chosen because of the close ties between the Quedlinburg monastery and the Vogtland . Because King Heinrich I had given the land between Meissen and Bohemia to the monastery as a donation. The abbesses of Quedlinburg had the land administered by bailiffs from four places, hence the name Vogtland. One of these places was Weida , Elisabeth's home. The bailiffs of Weida belonged to the ancestors of the Reuss in the Vogtland, which is why Elisabeth von Weida can be considered a member of the Reuss family .
Until she was elected abbess of the free secular Gernrode and Frose monastery in 1504, Elisabeth lived in the Quedlinburg monastery.
Rule as abbess of the Gernrode monastery
administration
After being elected abbess, Elisabeth von Weida came to Gernrode with two servants and her sister Brigitte from the St. Servatius monastery in Quedlinburg in 1504 . She was to become the successor of Scholastica von Anhalt, who died on July 31, 1504, in the office of abbess of the monastery of Gernrode and Frose. She was chosen after the candidate Margarete von Warberg refused to accept the election and left the monastery due to the monastery’s serious financial problems and health reasons.
Pope Julius II confirmed her choice in a bull dated November 19, 1504. The introduction to the office was presided over by the Provost of Halberstadt.
When she took office she was confronted with serious problems, because the abbey, whose annual income was estimated at four silver marks , was so in debt that she had to come to help with private funds.
The main cause of the indebtedness lay in a legal dispute that had already begun against the Bishop of Halberstadt under her predecessor Scholastica . The dispute had dragged on for 24 years and there was no end in sight. The content was about an artificial lake created by the Halberstadt diocese between Aschersleben and Gatersleben , the so-called Aschersleber lake . When the new lake was to be used, the Halberstadt diocese and Gernrode monastery each claimed the fishing rights for themselves. The people of Halberstadt stated that they had created the lake, whereas the Gernröder stated that the lake was largely located on areas of the Frose monastery and that the abbess of Gernrode was in charge of supervision. In addition, Frose complained to the abbess that the lake was flooding the collegiate sacks and meadows. Scholastika had sued Ernst II of Saxony, the Archbishop of Magdeburg, as administrator of the Halberstadt diocese before the spiritual court in Rome. Her brothers, the Askanians Waldemar and Georg von Anhalt, advised the trial. A formal contract was signed with the Gernröder Chapter on December 13, 1484, in which the princes were to be enfeoffed with half of the goods to be fought for for the litigation costs (ZR 991, 992). As the process lasted longer and longer and the expenses became higher and higher, they refused the extension of the contract planned for November 18, 1485 and the abbess had to continue the process alone. The pen now had to pay the costs alone. In addition, the agents of the monastery in Rome spent the money that had been given to them to conduct the trial, without the trial before the spiritual court having ended.
How bad things were for the pen can be seen from the fact that the chapter under Scholastica was unable to raise the two marks of silver that had to be paid annually for the exemption of the pen to the Holy See . The collector of the papal chamber released the monastery on August 12, 1489 from the outstanding amount of 50 Rhenish floras. He agreed with Scholastica that because of the impoverishment of the monastery, only eight Rhenish florins should be paid each year instead of the previous two silver marks.
Initially, Elisabeth continued the process, but tried to find an amicable settlement in 1506, which failed because of new controversial points. There were border marks on the lake that determined the area in which the parties were allowed to fish. Often enough, these signs were not heeded by the other side, and there was also friction between the fishermen. Nothing is known about the further course of the process. The prospects for the Gernröder party were favorable; it would probably never have been enforced. Therefore, the two parties decided, probably at the instigation of the Pope, to reach a settlement. The papal commissioner Dr. Levin von Veltheim, provost in Hildesheim, called the two parties to Halle. Elisabeth did not take part in the negotiations personally, but sent the notary Dr. Otto Spiegel and the Prefect of Gernrode, Johannes von Minnigerode . On December 20, 1510 the settlement was concluded. The abbess renounced all rights to the lake in favor of the bishop of Halberstadt and the council of the city of Aschersleben . The bishop paid 3000 Rhenish guilders to the Gernrode monastery, which were deposited in Quedlinburg. In addition, he undertook to deliver two hundredweights of pike from the lake every year or, if there were not enough fish, to pay eight guilders. Elisabeth used the 3,000 guilders with the consent of Guardian Wolfgang von Anhalt to redeem the tithe to Frose, which was pledged to the city of Aschersleben. The created lake existed until 1703, then it was drained.
However, the process had an aftermath. The Frose monastery disputed the 3000 guilders paid by the archbishop to the monastery in Gernrode on the grounds that the flooded fields and meadows belonged to Frose. The abbess, however, claimed the sum because Frose was placed under her supervision. Elisabeth managed to bring about a balance. At that time only two women lived in Frose apart from the dean Elisabeth Gutemann. The abbess convinced them to move to Gernrode and to transfer the remaining income and possessions to the Gernrode monastery. The canons agreed and moved to Gernrode in 1511.
Elisabeth not only managed to end the lawsuit around the lake at Frose, but also successfully tried to increase the income of the impoverished monastery, ward off unjustified claims and regain former property of the monastery. In 1516 she wrote to the Archbishop of Magdeburg that the citizens of Staßfurt had not paid the interest of 40 Rhenish guilders due to the monastery and asked him to urge the citizens to pay the money. She protested with Emperor Karl V against the fact that the Bishop of Halberstadt had imposed a tax on the villages of Frose, Nachterstedt , Groß and Klein Alsleben, and Alikendorf , which belonged to Gernrode, even though the Gernrode monastery was directly imperial . Charles V saw it as an encroachment on the imperial sovereignty and prohibited Archbishop Albrecht from taxation in a decree of June 4, 1527. He asked him to pay 20 marks of soldered gold half to the imperial chamber and half to the abbess and to repay the unjustly levied taxes to the subjects of the monastery within three weeks. However, the effect of this decree was doubtful, because at the end of 1531 the abbess again turned to the emperor on this matter. She informed him that after three years the archbishop was still collecting the tax. Since the citizens had refused to pay the taxes, the captain of Gröningen, Heinrich von Brandenstein, had collected them by force. As a result, the monastery had no income and was unable to pay its priests and church servants for four weeks. The Emperor then issued an order to the Archbishop of Magdeburg to refrain from taxation and to pay another 20 marks of soldered gold as a punishment.
During her tenure, the abbess managed to reorganize the monastery finances. While the monastery used to have to borrow money itself, it was even able to lend 1,800 guilders to the Counts of Regenstein in 1531 .
Construction activity
The high grave erected in the crossing of the collegiate church for Margrave Gero was built in 1519. The grave was donated by the abbess and the provost Ursula von Kittlitz. The coat of arms of the two is depicted on the sides of the tumba . It is made of sandstone and measures 94 centimeters in height, 99 centimeters in width and 212 centimeters in length.
On the side surfaces there are several figures standing on the base. On the north side: Andreas , Matthias , Johannes and Petrus . The south side is provided with the following figures: Antonius , Hedwig (the figure is holding a model of the church in his hand, possibly the first abbess of the Hathui monastery (Hedwig) should be represented here), next to it the figures of Maria , Elisabeth (possibly the Abbess), as well as Onofrius. The two narrow sides only offer space for two figures each. On the west side are shown: Cyriakus as canon saint and Bishop Benno von Meißen . The east side is provided with the figures of the apostles Philip and Thomas . The cover plate shows the margrave in high relief in armor from the beginning of the 16th century. He holds the sword in his right hand and the flag in his left. The feet are supported by a lion holding a heraldic shield.
In earlier centuries, commemorations in honor of Gero took place at the tomb on May 20th. The chronicler Andreas Popperodt reports about it.
In addition to the new thumba for Margrave Gero, the abbess also had a grave slab made for herself, which was preserved. It depicts the abbess in relief, in official costume under a canopy, holding a palm tree in her left hand and a book in her right hand. At the lower end of the plate, the coat of arms of the Lords of Weida can be seen, the rising lion. An inscription with many abbreviations and partly damaged runs around the image. It reads: Elisabet ex nobili familia de Wyda clara hujus ecclesiae abbatissa, quae prima evangelium Christi per Dei gratiam amplexa hueque suis impensis invectum multorum invidia enravit et Diem - - - etate in fide filii Dei paceque bona anno domini 1532 April 11th clausit . The translation of the inscription according to Schubart in the communications of the Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde 1904 reads: Elisabeth from the noble von Weida family, the famous abbess of this church, who first accepted the gospel of Christ by God's grace and introduced it here at her own expense, despite many hostilities, ended her days of life at an age - - - in faith in the Son of God and in good peace on April 11th in the year of the Lord 1532 . Originally the grave slab was in the north aisle. It was moved upright to northern Epistelambo in 1921, where it is still located today.
During a restoration of the collegiate church in 1832/1833, other grave slabs were made into the steps leading up to the choir.
Introduction of the Reformation
The exact time of the introduction of the Reformation in the monastery is not known. The data on this are contradictory. Johann Christoph Beckmann stated in his book "Accesiones Historia Anhaltinae" from 1716 the year 1521 and thus took over the data of Andreas Popperodt from the Annales Gernrodensis of 1560. On the one hand, the oath of loyalty that the Stiftsuntertanen after their unsuccessful survey in December of 1525 had to do. This closes with the words: "As God help me and all the saints". If the Reformation had already been introduced in the monastery at this point in time, the formula of the oath would certainly have been different. The second clue is in a letter from a lawyer for the Anhalt princes of November 6, 1527 to the Imperial Court of Justice: "until about two years ago, since the abbess adopted the Lutheran religion and teachings for herself". The date is probably at the beginning of 1526.
Even if the Reformation in Gernrode Abbey was only introduced in 1526, this point in time is still very early, because all the princes, monasteries in the area, even parts of their own chapter, still followed the old belief. Why was Elisabeth so early on to be attracted to Luther's teaching, although she did not know him personally and apparently did not correspond with him? One reason for this could be the pre-Reformation spirit that already seems to have ruled under her predecessor in Gernrode. Heinrich Basse, the last prior of the Benedictine monastery in Ballenstedt - he lived at the beginning of the 16th century - reported the following: that the abbess Scholastica von Anhalt got into great conscience because of the then valid church doctrine and the customs of worship . Scholastica confessed that although she had to swear by them, in the meantime she had recognized that many of them were contrary to the holy scriptures and did not correspond to the teaching of the holy fathers, the early church and their statutes . The abbess had turned to her cousin Prince Wilhelm Ludwig with her problems. This was a member of the Franciscan order. He tried to calm her down and offered to negotiate with her in writing. However, it is not known whether Scholastika's concerns have been resolved.
Apparently, the Reformation also found supporters early on among the canons of the monastery. Some professed their Reformation teaching as early as 1517. The most talented of them, who later became the first Protestant superintendent of the Gernrode monastery, Stefan Molitor or Mylius, who had been a deacon at the monastery church as early as 1511, Elisabeth sent to Wittenberg to study Luther's teachings from 1519 and 1521 . His personal reports and the reading of Luther's pamphlets that he brought to Gernrode - the former monastery library of Gernrode contains six large volumes of them - should have promoted the introduction of the Reformation.
On January 28, 1521, the year Molitor returned to Gernrode, a diet was held in Worms. Elisabeth sent Johannes von Minnigerode to him as a representative of the Gernrode monastery, which was directly under the Empire. The simmering religious dispute was to be settled at the Reichstag set by Emperor Charles V. First, on behalf of the abbess, Johannes asked the emperor to confirm the possessions belonging to the monastery. He received this confirmation on February 25, 1521. On April 16, Luther then arrived in Worms. Johannes von Minnigerode probably heard him speak and told his mistress about it after his return to Gernrode.
The reports and the events in the monastery seem to have moved Elisabeth after some time to publicly acknowledge Luther's teaching. Most of the chapter seems to have disagreed with the introduction of the Reformation in the monastery and wanted to hold on to the Catholic faith. The service should continue to be held in the traditional form. To resolve the dispute, Elisabeth called a quorum meeting at which she convincingly explained her reasons for introducing Luther's teaching. In 1523, Molitor drew up a proposal to reform worship. With reference to Luther, he planned to replace the mass with a reading of the gospel or an epistle ; Vespers should be held in German. In addition, the cult of saints should be abolished, as it finds no justification in the Holy Scriptures.
The proposals were only implemented later, as the oath of the peasants who were subjected to in 1525 shows. However, in the course of the 1520s, the priestly marriage in Gernrode prevailed. One of the first to get married was Stephan Molitor. The complete take-up of the Protestant teaching in all churches belonging to the monastery took place slowly. Some elements of the Catholic liturgy lasted until the middle of the century. The first church visit, in which Superintendent Stefan Molitor took part, took place in 1545.
There was resistance against the introduction of the Reformation in the monastery in the ranks of the parish clergy. The abbess tried to break it by removing priests who wanted to remain faithful to the Catholic creed. The priest Hermann Heinze, to whom she had transferred the parish in Waldau in 1512 , was replaced by the evangelically minded pastor Johann, because Heinze had resisted the implementation of the Reformation in his parish. The newly appointed pastor was driven out by Prince Johann von Anhalt. The abbess objected to this approach to the emperor and obtained a decision that was favorable to the monastery. In the period that followed, the abbess assigned the pastoral posts only to evangelical clergy. Pastor Konrad Rüde, who received the parish of Ströbeck from the abbess in 1533 , had to take the oath to carry out his office according to the pure word of God in the evangelical sense.
Peasant Wars
In 1525 there were arguments between the monastery and its subjects. This happened in the course of the German Peasants' War , which also affected Gernrode, especially since Thomas Müntzer , one of the leaders, had his quarters in nearby Stolberg.
At that time the situation of the monastery subjects was bad. They had been forcibly prevented from cutting wood in the monastery forests in the traditional manner. In addition, the fees and services for the monastery had increased significantly in the last few years and decades, as stated in a letter of complaint from the mayor and the councilors of Gernrode dated August 18, 1525 to Prince Wolfgang von Anhalt. The same complaints had probably been made to the abbess before, but neither she nor the prince seem to have responded. On May 5, 1525, the farmers of Gernrode banded together, moved to the monastery grounds and tried to gain a hearing and access, also to plunder. The abbess opposed the rebels at the head of the convent. According to Beckmann, she accused them of being guilty of indignation and of neglecting their duties. With the words: "You should not allow yourself to be carried away to foolishness and not bring great misfortune to yourself and your family," she spoke to the insurgents in the conscience. The determined demeanor must have had an effect, in any case a violent penetration of the peasants into the monastery district could be prevented. But she probably also had to make concessions.
After the peasants had withdrawn, the abbess was able to improve her position because her brother Heinrich XXIV, Vogt von Weida, came to his sister's aid with a group of armed men. However, the abbess refused to take armed action against the peasants, as suggested by him. After the Central German peasantry had been defeated, the monastery subjects also gave up their resistance. They submitted to the abbess on December 21, 1525 and recognized "that they had forfeited body, life, honor and property" because they "had forgotten themselves against God, law and duty, had become dishonorable, unfaithful and perjured". The abbess's punishment was very mild, she had to pay a fine of 200 guilders over a period of two years "for poetry, penance, and punishment". The brewery in Gernrode with all property and all fairness also had to be returned for a certain time. The negotiators were faced with "new oaths, duties and hand vows with their fingers up." They vowed constant loyalty and obedience to the abbess as "their natural lord" and also undertook to repay stolen property, to pay all duties punctually and to refuse all other oaths and associations. The oath closed with the formula: "All of this as it has been read to me, and I have tied it down, I want to keep steady and firm as God and all the saints help me".
The Gernröder subjects got off quite well, considering the penalties that were usually imposed on the participants in the peasant uprising. In this way Elisabeth may have prevented new unrest.
Aftermath of their rule
After the death of Abbess Elisabeth von Weida, the Reformation was continued by her successors in the office of Abbess Anna von Plauen and Anna von Kittlitz.
One step in this direction was the lifting of the exclusivity of the collegiate church, which in 1533 became the general parish church of Gernrode. The previously existing special position of the inmates of the monastery was thus partially canceled and they were included in the parish.
An important milestone was the establishment of a school in Gernrode . The initiative came from Stephan Molitor. He advised Elisabeth von Weida to build a school and a hospital and to provide it with annual income. Under her successor Anna von Plauen, the school was built and furnished in 1533. The first principal at the school was Petrus Eilemann, previously the private tutor of several young barons who were related to the abbess Anna von Plauen and who lived in Gernrode. As early as 1533 he was assigned a cantor and a schoolmaster. According to the oldest surviving lesson plan from 1779, religion, reading, writing and arithmetic were taught in the school. It can be assumed that this was also the case when it was founded.
It is not possible to determine where the first school building was located; it can be assumed that it stood on the site of the current house at Cyriacusstrasse 2. The elementary school was located there in the first half of the 19th century until the move to the new school building, the former St. Stephen's Church . The cultural association Andreas Popperodt has set up a local history and school museum in this building .
The introduction of the Reformation in all the churches of the monastery took a long time. In 1548, however, Luther's doctrine had already become so prevalent in the monastery that every new abbess had to undertake never to change the evangelical religion as it was introduced in the monastery by God's grace, and never to move the religious services as they existed at that time want .
Elisabeth von Weida died on April 11, 1532. She was buried on April 13th in the collegiate church of Gernrode with great sympathy. Their final resting place was in the north aisle.
After Elisabeth's death, her sister Brigitte left the monastery and returned to her brother.
Individual evidence
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 315
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 314
- ^ Hermann Waschke : Regest of the documents of the Ducal House and State Archives in Zerbst from the years 1401–1500 (ZR). Dessau 1909.
- ^ Franz Kindscher, Scholastica, Abbess von Gernrode In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1893, p. 193.
- ^ Franz Kindscher, Scholastica, Abbess von Gernrode In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1893, p. 192.
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, pp. 321–322
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 322
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 319
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 320
- ↑ Klaus Voigtländer: The Collegiate Church of Gernrode and its restoration 1858–1872 , Berlin 1980, pp. 107–108
- ^ Schubart, Gernröder inscriptions and memorial stones. In: Communications from the Association for Anhalt History and Antiquity, 1904, p. 35
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 325
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, pp. 323–325
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 327
- ^ Hartung, Hans on the past of Gernrode , 1912, p. 167
- ^ Franke, Elisabeth von Weida and Wildenfels, abbess of the free secular monastery of Gernrode. 1505–1532 In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Anhaltische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, 1899, p. 331
literature
- Andreas Popperodt: Historia Ecclesiae Gerenrodensis 1560. In: Johann Christoph Beckmann (Hrsg.): Accessiones Historiae Anhaltinae as Annales Gernrodenses . 1716.
- Otto von Heinemann : History of the abbey and description of the collegiate church at Gernrode . Published by HC Huch, Quedlinburg 1877.
- Otto von Heinemann: Codex diplomaticus Anhaltinus (CDA). 6 volumes 1867–1883.
- Hans Hartung: On the past of Gernrode . Verlag Carl Mittag, Gernrode 1912.
- Hans Schulze, Reinhold Specht, Günther Vorbrodt: The Gernrode Abbey . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 1965.
- Klaus Voigtländer: The collegiate church of Gernrode and its restoration 1858–1872 . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1980.
Web links
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elisabeth of Weida |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | abbess |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1460 or 1461 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 11, 1532 |
| Place of death | Gernrode |