Emelrich

Emelrich (also Amalrich, Emil; * around 1100 ; † 1163 ) was a charismatic penitential preacher who was one of the pioneers of the Premonstratensian order founded by Norbert von Xanten .

Life

In Floreffe , one of the first premonstratensic monasteries , he was abbot until 1131 Norbert appointed him first provost of the newly founded monastery Gratia Dei near Calbe . However, Emelrich did not remain provost here for long.

Pope Innocent II ordered Emelrich to Palestine because he believed that the energetic Premonstratensian could be deployed more efficiently there than in Calbe. The Christian King Fulk of Jerusalem had asked the famous Bernhard von Clairvaux for Cistercians for a monastery foundation which he was to provide richly. However, because of the constant Saracen raids and the uncomfortable climate, Bernhard was reluctant to send his brothers there. In a letter he described the Premonstratensians as better suited for the Palestine mission because of their energy and enthusiasm for the holy cause . After a brief activity as provost in Gratia Dei , Emelrich set off across the Mediterranean from 1133 to 1134 with a group of capable brothers whom he had recruited from the Floreffe monastery and who had been given a papal bull .

Particularly supported by the King of Jerusalem and the local Patriarch Wilhelm , the Emelrich troop traveled through Palestine and soon achieved great prestige. However , Emelrich did not accept the troubled Jerusalem . That is why he and his group settled a little further from the capital to build a monastery in honor of these two on the military road between Jaffa (today: Tel Aviv) and Jerusalem, allegedly in the home of the prophet Habakkuk and Joseph of Arimathäa to found biblical personalities. In 1152 Emelrich was ordained Archbishop of Lydda (today: Lod , 20 kilometers southeast of Tel Aviv). In 1163 the highly revered Premonstratensian died. His new monastery in the Holy Land and its inmates came to a cruel and bloody end under Sultan Saladin in 1187.

literature

• Max Dietrich: Calbens resting places . Calbe 1894.
• Chronicon Gratiae Dei , in: Franz Winter: The Premonstratensians of the twelfth century and their importance for north-eastern Germany (A contribution to the history of Christianization and Germanization of the Wendenland) . Berlin 1865.
• Hugo von Fosses: Annales Ordinis Praemonstratensis II. Quoted in: Franz Winter : The Premonstratensians of the twelfth century and their importance for north-eastern Germany (a contribution to the history of Christianization and Germanization of the Wendenland). Berlin 1865.
• Dieter H. Steinmetz: In search of historical traces - a city tour in Calbe an der Saale (see web link ).