Erkenbert von Frankenthal

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Blessed Erkenbert with a model of the Frankenthal collegiate church, painting around 1650
The Blessed Erkenbert von Frankenthal, book miniature around 1350

Erkenbert von Frankenthal also Erkenbert von Worms (* around 1079 in Worms ; † December 24, 1132 in Frankenthal ) was a nobleman , monastery founder and provost in the area of ​​what would later become Frankenthal (Pfalz) . Originally in the office of a secular ministerial, Erkenbert transferred to the clergy. He was in the old diocese of Worms and is venerated as a local blessed in today's Diocese of Speyer .

Life

Erkenbert (often also Eckenbert) was born around 1079 in Worms as the son of Riegemar (also Reginmar), episcopal feudal man and chamberlain and Hebiga, a "noble matron". There is no evidence of a relationship to the family who later called themselves Chamberlain von Worms .

Trained in the Limburg Monastery , Erkenbert himself advanced to Ministerial in Worms and owned an estate in the neighboring village of Frankenthal . Even though he was piously brought up and benevolent to the poor, the young nobleman went astray. He bought a low-ranking concubine that his relative Rudiger gave him. That was the " submissive " Richlinde. With her he fathered two illegitimate sons, Wolfram and Cuno. During a serious and very painful illness in which his life was in danger, the custodian Wolfram von St. Paul in Worms implored him to finally legalize the sinful relationship through a Christian marriage and also to recognize the two sons as legitimate. He did this on the sick bed and had communion handed to him. He then fell into a death-like state in which he had a vision him a prosecutor in the hereafter no other serious sins than in concubinage could accuse, he got the hell shown almost but inside crashed unexpectedly from a woman's hand arrested and led away has been. After this experience, he decided to radically change his life.

Erkenbert gave his property away and finally founded a monastery from the rest on his estate near today's Frankenthal. With the consent of his wife, he separated from her to enter. The founding of the Frankenthal Augustinian canons' monastery is documented - its remains are now known as the Erkenbert ruins - on May 27, 1119, which was consecrated six years later by Bishop Burchard II of Worms . At the same time, Erkenbert laid the foundation stone for the development of today's city. First he lived as a frater in his community, took over its leadership as provost in 1127 and was ordained priest in 1129 at the request of the Worms bishop.

Death and memory

The Erkenbert ruin in Frankenthal, west facade
St. Hieronymus , illustration from the Frankenthaler Bible , made in the monastery of Blessed Erkenbert, 1148

Erkenbert died on December 24th, 1132. On St. Stephen's Day, December 26th, the Bishop of Worms Burchard II personally buried him in the Frankenthal collegiate church, today's Erkenbert ruin "at the altar of St. Mary, just on the ascent to the sanctuary" , as the Vita says describes. A little later he was venerated as a saint in the Diocese of Worms and, along with Maria Magdalena, was called upon as patron saint of the Frankenthal monastery. Historians regard the personal burial by the bishop as an indication of the veneration of Erkenbert that already existed at the time of his death. In this regard, his biography also contains an interesting passage: “ An infinite number of people of every gender came together from different places and asked to be shown the body of the deceased. When this happened there was loud weeping ”.

The life of the Blessed Erkenbert is handed down to us through a contemporary vita from the 12th century. The original is lost, a copy was made around 1500 by the Augustinian canon Johannes Heydekyn von Sonsbeck in the Kirschgarten monastery in Worms, and it has been preserved as part of his so-called "Kirschgarten Chronicle" . It lay in the Worms city archive for centuries and was not rediscovered until 1880. A second source on Erkenbert's life is a rhymed résumé, written down by a schoolmaster Heinrich Michael. There are still several copies of this rhyming chronicle, which must have originated around 1300 due to the language. In one of these - made around 1600 - a miniature representation of Erkenbert is glued, which belongs to the 14th century and was probably cut out and transferred from an older manuscript. The information in the rhyming chronicle and in the Kirschgartener Vita are congruent with the exception of insignificant deviations.

After Erkenbert's death, his foundation continued to flourish. It was commonly referred to as the “Groß-Frankenthal” monastery ; In 1163, Pope Viktor IV was elevated to the status of an abbey . There was also a famous scriptorium for manuscripts, the most valuable of which is the so-called " Frankenthal Bible ", a preciously decorated two-volume tome from 1148. It once belonged to the Liebfrauenstift Worms , was sold to England in 1720 and is currently in the British Library in London ( call number "mss Harley 2803 - 2804").

As a participant in the Worms Reichstag of 1495 , the Freising Prince-Bishop Sixtus von Tannberg died here on July 14th of this year and was transferred to Freising Cathedral .

Elector Friedrich III. von der Pfalz was forcibly dissolved in the course of the Reformation and the monks were expelled. The last conventuals were in 1562, the year in which the monastery buildings were handed over to the Protestant religious refugees who had just arrived from the Netherlands.

In the old monastery area there are significant remains of the Romanesque collegiate church, called " Erkenbertruine ", which probably still contain the grave of the Blessed. His name is also known in Frankenthal through the Erkenbert School, the municipal Erkenbert Museum and the Erkenbert fountain on Rathausplatz. An early baroque painting showing Erkenbert as the founder of the monastery hangs in the Frankenthal town hall. Experts date the creation of the picture to around 1650. The painter has not been determined, but it could have come to Frankenthal through the Worms Jesuits, who had to leave the city in 1652, but previously, with the support of the Dalbergers, temporarily came into the possession of the profaned Erkenbert-Klosters. The life-size oil painting (1.88 × 1.21 m) bears a striking resemblance to the miniature representation of Erkenbert in the old manuscript and, like this, bears the coat of arms of the Dalberg family . The Dalbergers took special care of the Blessed, as they now - like Erkenbert once - carried the title of Chamberlain of Worms. They literally "claimed" Erkenbert as one of their ancestors, but this is not true. The New German Biography (NDB) explains:

“ ... The unrelated blessed Erkenbert († 1132), son of the bishop. Chamberlain Reginmar, was usurped as an ancestor only since the humanist era. The actual progenitor is Giselbert I. von Rüdesheim (ext. 1130–1152), whose grandson Gerhard (ext. 1208–1239) appeared as Vicedom in Worms, while the great-grandson Gerhard the Younger (ext. 1220–1248) took office for the first time since 1239 of a chamberlain who became hereditary in his descendants. "

- Article "Dalberg" NDB Volume 3, page 488, addition

The veneration of Erkenbert was mainly limited to the diocese of Worms , to whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction Frankenthal belonged until 1801. After its downfall, the city came to the newly founded diocese of Speyer , which took over the traditional cult. The day of death, December 24th, is the feast day of the Blessed.

Wife and children

Erkenbert's wife Richlinde (Richlindis) followed her husband's example. A little later she founded the nearby Augustiner women's choir , called "Klein-Frankenthal" (to distinguish it from Erkenbert's monastery), which the Bishop of Worms Burchard II consecrated in 1139. Richlinde became head of the community of sisters, survived her husband by almost 20 years and, according to tradition, died on December 26, 1150 in her convent. Like him, she was venerated as a blessed because of her piety and benevolence, although her cult had no independent expression, but always remained associated with Erkenbert. December 26th (day of death) is considered the day of remembrance of Blessed Richlinde. The Klein-Frankenthal monastery was abolished in 1431 by Pope Eugene IV and there are no remains of it. It is said to have been in Omersheim (not Ormsheim or Ormsheimer Hof ), in the south of today's city, in the area of ​​the current Karolinen-Gymnasium . There, when the school was rebuilt after the Second World War , graves and other relics were found.

According to the Vita, the sons of Erkenbert and Richlinde also chose the clergy, but died before they were ordained a priest; Wolfram as deacon and Cuno as sub-deacon .

Literature and Sources

  • Hans Soldan: “Contributions to the history of the city of Worms” , Verlag Eugen Kranzbühler, Worms, 1896 (the original wording of the vita is also printed there).
  • Pilgrim calendar (yearbook of the Speyer diocese) 1962: "The Foundation of the Blessed Erkenbert."
  • Jutta Hofmann, Rainer Stocké: "Frankenthal Pfalz" , Landau 1986, ISBN 3-87629-086-4 .
  • Volker Christmann: "Frankenthal - Pictures from the Past" , Frankenthal 1977.
  • Walther Albrechtm Klaus Bolte: "Frankenthal and surroundings" , Grünstadt 1986, ISBN 3-922579-20-5 .
  • Sonja Steiner-Welz: "Mannheim, a thousand questions and answers" , Mannheim, 2001; Book scan of the page about the Blessed Erkenbert.
  • Joseph Bader : "Badenia or the Badische Land und Volk, Zeitschrift für Badische Landeskunde" , 1st year 1839, pages 198/199; Scan of the section about Erkenbert, footnote no. 5 quotes the fair copy of the text on the Frankenthal baroque painting .
  • L. Eisenhöfer: “The Saints Philipp von Zell and Erkenbert von Worms in a litany fragment from Groß-Frankenthal, in Darmstadt” , in “Archive for Liturgy Science” , year 15, 1973/74, pp. 165–167.
  • Edgar Hürkey (Director Erkenbertmuseum Frankenthal): “Treasures from Parchment” , 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-022493-5 .
  • Ekkart Sauser :  Erkenbert. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 17, Bautz, Herzberg 2000, ISBN 3-88309-080-8 , Sp. 346-347.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Elmar Worgull : Stone Geometry. The equilateral triangle as a construction principle for the Romanesque church of the Augustinian Canons in Frankenthal . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2005, ISBN 3-88462-214-5 .
  • Elmar Worgull: Frankenthal's Romanesque monastery basilica in the context of the reform architecture of Cluny and Hirsau. Insights into their building history from the Middle Ages to the present . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-343-5 .
  • Elmar Worgull: The architectural sculpture of the Frankenthaler Erkenbertruine in contradiction to the history of art . In: Frankenthal then and now . Frankenthal 1989, p. 71 ff .
  • Elmar Worgull: Numbers, compasses, rulers. Arithmetic and geometry in medieval sacred buildings and their evidence in Frankenthal's former church of the Augustinian Canons' Monastery . In: Edgar J. Hürkey (Ed.): Treasures from Parchment. Medieval manuscripts from Frankenthal . Erkenbert Museum Frankenthal, Frankenthal 2007, p. 81 ff .
  • Elmar Worgull: Frankenthal's Romanesque monastery basilica and its national significance. Latest knowledge of the history of architecture and art . In: Der Wormsgau  : Scientific journal of the city of Worms and the Altertumsverein Worms e. V. ( Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Dr. Otto Böcher ). City of Worms and Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2015. 31 (2014/15), pp. 19–32.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See: Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables. Family tables on the history of the European states . New series, vol. 9: Families from the Middle and Upper Rhine and from Burgundy . Marburg 1986. Without ISBN, plate 53; so - but without any evidence: Johannes Bollinger: 100 families of the chamberlain from Worms and the gentlemen from Dalberg . Bollinger, Worms-Herrnsheim 1989. Without ISBN, p. 7.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Haubrichs : Wolfram Studies XVIII: Narrative Techniques and Narrative Strategies in the German Literature of the Middle Ages, Saarbrücker Kolloquium 2002 , Volume 18 of: Publications of the Wolfram von Eschenbach Society , Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH, 2004, p. 215 u. 216, ISBN 3503079181 ; Digital scan with excerpts from the Vita of the Blessed Erkenbert.
  3. ^ Franz Xaver Remling : Documented history of the former abbeys and monasteries in what is now Rhine Bavaria , 2 vols., Neustadt adH 1836, reprint Munich 1913 (Palatinate library, vol. 1, 1-2), reprint Pirmasens 1973
  4. ↑ On Johannes Heydekyn von Sonsbeck
  5. ↑ Website for the Kirschgarten Chronicle
  6. ^ Hans Soldan, "Contributions to the History of the City of Worms" , Eugen Kranzbühler Verlag, Worms, 1896
  7. ↑ Stadtverwaltung Frankenthal, “Treasures from Parchment” , 2007, pp. 98-101.
  8. ^ Elevation to the abbey in 1163
  9. ↑ Jakob Obersteiner: Die Bischöfe von Gurk , Volume 1, p. 251, Verlag des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten, 1969; (Detail scan)
  10. ^ Website of the Blessed Richlinde von Frankenthal
  11. ↑ The Blessed Richlindis in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
personal data
SURNAME Erkenbert von Frankenthal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eckenbert; Erkenbert von Worms; Eckenbert of Worms
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catholic priest, monastery founder, blessed in the diocese of Speyer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1079
PLACE OF BIRTH Worms
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1132
Place of death Frankenthal (Palatinate)