Eichstätt Monastery

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Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Eichstätt Monastery
coat of arms
Hochstift Eichstaett coat of arms.svg
Coat of arms of the Hochstift
Location in the Reichskreis
Bavarian Imperial Circle
Alternative names Prince diocese , Hochstift Eichstätt
Arose from formed in the 14th century
Form of rule Electoral principality / corporate state
Ruler / government Prince-bishop , administrator or vacant : cathedral chapter
Today's region / s DE-BY
Parliament 1 virile vote on the ecclesiastical bench in the Reichsfürstenrat



Denomination / Religions Roman Catholic



Incorporated into sunk in 1802 to the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Electorate of Salzburg


Hochstift Eichstätt was the name of the territory of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the bishops of Eichstätt in their capacity as imperial princes , as it had developed since the 13th century. The bishopric covered only a third of the diocesan area .

Map of the approximate location of the Eichstätt bishopric around 1717

Spatial expansion

Eichstätt Cathedral , founded as a mission monastery in 741 by the first bishop, St. Willibald
Map of the Hochstift Eichstätt around 1717

The "Mittel- und Unterstift" was a largely contiguous territory on the Altmühl around the episcopal city itself with the country towns of Beilngries , Berching and Greding . The Hochstift bordered there on the Upper Palatinate , Bavaria , Palatinate-Neuburg , the Pappenheim rule and the Principality of Ansbach . The "Upper Abbey" comprised various smaller territories in what is now Middle Franconia (especially around Herrieden , Ornbau , Spalt , Abenberg and Pleinfeld ). After the Reformation, the entire Hochstift had about 58,000 Catholic inhabitants on 1,100 km². Before the secularization in 1802, the income of the chamber treasury was 135,000 guilders. It was one of the territorially smallest and economically rather insignificant monasteries within the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.

history

In 740 the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibald came to Eichstätt and was ordained a priest there by Bonifatius . In 741 Willibald was ordained bishop by Bonifatius in Sülzenbrücken near Erfurt. Soon afterwards he returned to Eichstätt. The episcopal ordination and the final settlement in Eichstätt marked the beginnings of the diocese of Eichstätt.

1305 died out the dynasty of the Counts von Hirschberg , who held the bailiwick rights over the area of ​​the bishopric. The inherited bailiwick rights as well as a large part of the Hirschberg legacy fell to the Eichstatt bishops from 1305 according to a regulation in the Gaimersheim contract with the Bavarian Duke Rudolf. The prince-bishop gained a contiguous territory. As imperial prince, he sat in the imperial prince council between the bishops of Worms and Speyer .

Between 1351 and 1365, the Chancellor Emperor Charles IV and Bishop of Eichstätt Berthold von Zollern built Willibaldsburg , until 1725 it was the bishop's residence. In 1440 the Lords of Heideck sold the Dollnstein castle and market to the prince-bishopric. Under Bishop Wilhelm von Reichenau (ruled 1464–1496) the fortifications of numerous cities in the area of ​​the bishopric were renewed. The farmers came under increasing economic pressure due to the high burden of taxes and compulsory labor. The humanistically educated Prince-Bishop Gabriel von Eyb (r. 1496–1535) tried to reform the bishopric on the eve of the Reformation . The Hochstift Eichstätt became part of the new Franconian Empire in 1500 . Nevertheless, in 1525 there was an uprising in the Peasants' War, which was suppressed by the prince-bishop . During this time the Reformation found its way into more than half of the diocese area and led to the dissolution of numerous monasteries; Eyb was able to prevent the Reformation from entering his secular area, the Hochstift.

Prince-Bishop Johann Christoph von Westerstetten (r. 1612–1637) summoned the Jesuits to Eichstätt in 1614. In 1617 he led the diocese to the Catholic League , vigorously pursued the Counter Reformation and was able to re-Catholicize half of the areas of his diocese that had become Protestant. During his tenure, the witch hunt in the Hochstift Eichstätt took on the greatest proportions. From 1613 to 1630 there are at least 199 witch trials and 176 executions of 150 women and 26 men for witchcraft. Even his contemporaries considered him one of the notorious Franconian witch bishops.

In addition to the respective bishops, the Jesuits and Capuchins in particular were responsible for rebuilding Catholic life. Not only in Eichstätt , but in large areas of the diocese a new form of baroque religiosity emerged, which was reflected in lively building activity.

Under Marquard II. Schenk von Castell , the internal and external reconstruction of the city and the Eichstätt monastery began in 1637 after the destruction of the Swedish War . It was also the beginning of the transformation of Eichstatt into a baroque town, primarily by master builders and plasterers from Graubünden. Schenk von Castell reorganized the bishopric and brought order to the broken finances through customs duties and taxes. Johann Martin von Eyb (r. 1697 / 1698–1704) published the “Puncta synodalia”, new guidelines for pastoral care and had the Heilig-Geist-Spital rebuilt. Prince-Bishop Johann Anton III. In 1781, Baron von Zehmen introduced an enlightened reform in the Eichstätt Monastery, which included the reduction of national debt, the improvement of administration, made industry and agriculture more effective, reformed welfare for the poor and the school system, and introduced fire protection insurance . During his reign there were two major challenges: the Zehm reform program and the Illuminati in Eichstätt.

The last prince-bishop was Joseph Graf von Stubenberg (ruled 1790–1824). Under his rule, the prince-bishopric of Bavaria was secularized in 1802 , most of it to the Grand Duke of Toscana Ferdinand III in the same year . ceded as future Elector of Salzburg . In 1805 Eichstätt came back to Bavaria in the Peace of Pressburg . In the years 1803 to 1807 the monasteries as well as the German Order Coming founded there in 1216 were abolished. From 1808 to 1810 Eichstätt was the capital of the Altmühl district , until 1814 of the Upper Danube district , from 1817 to 1833 the residence of Eugène de Beauharnais , the Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstätt .

Princely residences

literature

  • Georg Paul Hönn : Hochstift Eichstätt . In: Lexicon Topographicum of the Franconian Craises . Johann Georg Lochner, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1747, p. 197-222 ( digitized version ).
  • Karl Röttel: The Hochstift Eichstätt . Ingolstadt 1987, ISBN 3-920253-19-1 .
  • Josef Seger: The Peasants' War in the Eichstätt Monastery . Regensburg 1997.
  • Roland Schmidt: Forest history of the Hochstift Eichstätt from the beginnings to secularization . Forest Research Reports Munich, No. 203. Published by the Weihenstephan Science Center for Nutrition, Land Use and Environment of the Technical University of Munich and the Bavarian State Institute for Forests and Forestry. Frank, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-933506-34-4 .
  • Wolfgang Wüst : Sovranità principesco-vescovile nella prima età moderna. Un confronto tra le situazioni al di qua e al di là delle Alpi: Augusta, Bressanone, Eichstätt, Costanza e Trento - Princely monastic rule in the early modern era. A comparison of south and north alpine conditions in Augsburg, Brixen, Eichstätt, Constance and Trento. In: Annali dell 'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento - yearbook of the Italian-German historical institute in Trento. 30, 2004, Bologna 2005, ISBN 88-15-10729-0 , pp. 285-332.
  • Wolfgang Wüst (Ed.): The "good" Policey in the Reichskreis. On the early modern setting of standards in the core regions of the Old Reich , Volume 6: Police regulations in the Franconian monasteries of Bamberg, Eichstätt and Würzburg . A source work. Erlangen 2013, ISBN 978-3-940804-04-4 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Eichstätter Raum in the past and present, Sparkasse Eichstätt, 2nd edition 1984, page 126
  2. ↑ a b The Eichstätter Raum in the past and present, Sparkasse Eichstätt, 2nd edition 1984, page 128
  3. ↑ Dr Bruno Lengenfelder: "The Eichstätt Diocese between Enlightenment and Restoration, Church and State 1773-1821", Verlag Friedrich Pustet, published 1990, ISBN 3-7917-1216-0 .