Castle and monastery history of the community of Pettendorf

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Former Pettendorf Castle
Alternative name (s): Pettendorf Monastery
Creation time : after 1000
Castle type : Location
Conservation status: Destroyed
Standing position : Nobles, nobles
Place: Pettendorf
Geographical location 49 ° 2 '0.2 "  N , 12 ° 0' 7.6"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 2 '0.2 "  N , 12 ° 0' 7.6"  E
Height: 455  m above sea level NN
Castle and monastery history of the municipality of Pettendorf (Bavaria)
Castle and monastery history of the community of Pettendorf

The history of castles and monasteries in the municipality of Pettendorf describes the historical conditions in the Upper Palatinate municipality of Pettendorf near Regensburg . There was a fortress there after the year 1000, which was later converted into a monastery and of which there are no visible remains today. In the 13th century, the monastery complex was moved to the Adlersberg, the church and structure of which are still largely preserved today.

The castle of the Lords of Pettendorf (1000 to 1119)

Headquarters, naming and ancestry of the Lords of Pettendorf

The castle of Pettendorf

In connection with Heinrich IV. (HRR) , the Lords of Pettendorf were first mentioned in a document in 1071
Seal of the throne of Archbishop Rudgar von Magdeburg , brother of Friedrich III. from Pettendorf

Documents prove that there was a castle in Pettendorf in the area of ​​today's church cemetery in the high Middle Ages after the turn of the millennium. It must have been a mighty castle at the highest point in the village. No remains of this castle complex have survived today, but grave diggers repeatedly come across remains of underground walls in the cemetery area, which are very likely to be assigned to the old bulwark. The property of the current owners, the Amann family, between Schloßstraße and Martin-Klob-Straße, is also probably located on the remains of the castle.

The fact that this must have been a mighty castle also results from the fact that in the 11th century the owners of the complex called themselves Lords of Pettendorf . Pettendorf formed the ancestral seat of this noble family and in contemporary records the family always only uses the name “de Pettendorf” or, according to the older spelling, “de Bettendorff”. According to Hans Schneider, other names after the gentlemen in Lengenfeld and Hopfenohe were added to their names later. In the literature, the gentlemen of Pettendorf are therefore sometimes referred to as "Herren von Pettendorf-Lengenfeld-Hopfenohe" or "Herren von Pettendorf-Lengenfeld".

It is unclear whether the Lords of Pettendorf themselves, their ancestors or other nobles built the castle in Pettendorf. It is only certain that the area around Pettendorf was forested until around the year 1000 and was only settled in the course of the development of the northern Gau . The rulers before the appearance of the first Lord von Pettendorf, Friedrich I., are also unclear. Around the year 1000, large parts of the Nordgau belonged to the Margraves of Schweinfurt , whose center of power at that time was what is now Upper Palatinate . Heinrich von Schweinfurt is documented around the year 1000 as “Count on the lower Naab”. At that time Schierstadt (now part of Stadtamhof ) , prüfung , Machendorf (near Parsberg ) and Lindenloh (near Schwandorf ) belonged to the county “an der lower Naab” . Pettendorf lies within these rulership points of the "Grafschaft an der lower Naab", which means that the establishment of a base by the counts ruling at the time cannot be ruled out. It is likely that the Agilolfingers were already settling during the migration period , especially since Pettendorf was one of the most important places in the district in the Middle Ages.

The gentlemen of Pettendorf and their unclear ancestry

In the 11th century , the noble noble family of the Pettendorfer belonged to the most influential and wealthy families in the area north of the central Danube . Their territory stretched from the Danube near Pettendorf in the south to Grafenwöhr in the north, loosely bounded by the rivers Regen , Vils and Naab , and thus covered large parts of today's Upper Palatinate. The property of the Pettendorfer consisted of bailiwick rights , fiefdoms and allodial property in this area. From their castle in Pettendorf, they apparently gradually expanded their dominion to the north from the middle of the 11th century. Important points of rule included Lengenfeld, Hopfenohe, Steinsberg (near Regenstauf ), Ensdorf , Waldeck and Kallmünz . In Lengenfeld they began to build a large castle before 1100 to protect their considerably enlarged territory ( Burglengenfeld Castle ). The turn to the Bamberg diocese, founded in 1007, and her connections to the Salians and Staufers were also obviously decisive for her rise . The Lords of Pettendorf are also seen as an important family of clearing trees in the Upper Palatinate. This begins with the systematic creation of z. Some of the farms still existing today in Eidödlage around Pettendorf Castle (Aignhof, Haselhof, Urtlhof, Tremmelhausen, Aichahof, Hummelberg, Ried) and continues over the Naab (Ebenwies) into the Nordgau. With the Groitzsch family related to them, they are also connected to the colonization in the Elbe region .

During this time, the family of the Lords von Pettendorf also stood out through marriage connections up to the highest nobility and as far as Saxony . These relationships can partly be traced on the basis of the Pegau Annals from 1155.

According to Wilhelm Wegener, the line of the lords of Pettendorf came from the marriage of Heinrich II. Graf an der Pegnitz († around 1043) and a daughter of Kuno I Graf im Sualafeld († after 1020) from the Guelph family . Heinrich II. Was the son of Margrave Heinrich von Schweinfurt (* before 980; † 1017), who ruled over large parts of the northern Gau and on whose (partial) inheritance the lands of the Lords of Pettendorf were probably founded. To what extent this is likely, however, is questionable, since Emperor Heinrich II. Destroyed the lands of the margraves of Schweinfurt after the Schweinfurt feud and transferred a large part of the possessions to the diocese of Bamberg and loyal noblemen.

Based on this initial situation, Wilhelm Störmer suspects that the ancestors of the Lords of Pettendorf were apparently among the winners in the dispute between Heinrich II and Heinrich von Schweinfurt after 1003. He and other historians therefore assign the descent of the Lords of Pettendorf to a sideline of the Counts of Sulzbach or the relatives of the noble free von Kastl . Heinrich Wanderwitz is the only one to name a "Gotscalc de Ensdorf" and a "Heilika" as the parents of Friedrich I. von Pettendorf and thus as the founder of the lineage of the lords of Pettendorf.

The family of the Lords von Pettendorf is mentioned for the first time in 1071 in a document about a donation from Emperor Heinrich IV . In 1091 a "Friedrich de Bettendorf" is mentioned in another document from Emperor Heinrich IV for the Salian house diocese of Speyer . In 1108 a "Friedrich de Pettendorf" acts as a witness for the Bamberg Cathedral Chapter . In 1112 "Friedrich de Bettendorph" was named Heinrich V in the same function in an imperial charter . Since there are three consecutive gentlemen from Pettendorf with the name Friedrich, a specific assignment of names is very difficult.

In a traditional note from the Regensburg St. Emmeram monastery from 1028, a "Friedrich de Pettendorf" and a "Gotscalc de Ensdorf" are named as ministerials of this convent. Heinrich Wanderwitz points out, however, that on closer inspection it is a massive falsification of the note after the year 1100. Wanderwitz cites the reason for the forgery that St. Emmeram possibly wanted to prove claims to his inheritance after the death of the last Pettendorfer dynast around 1119.

The noble-free Pettendorfer often misclassified later records

According to Heinrich Wanderwitz, the lords of Pettendorf are incorrectly referred to in the literature as counts . This is probably due to the fact that the Pettendorfer's possessions were unusually extensive for non-noble people and their marriage connections went far beyond their class boundaries, which led to the fact that they were already imprecisely named in medieval records as "comes de Lenginvelt".

In fact, the lords of Pettendorf belonged to the noble class ("nobilissimus de Pettendorf"), which is evident from many documents from the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th century. Even in the planned house monastery of the Lords of Pettendorf, the Ensdorf Monastery , there is no evidence that the Pettendorfer belonged to the counts ("comes").

Tobias Weller also explains that the records of the Ensdorf monastery should be given preference over the Pegau Annals and that the Ensdorf founding report clearly shows that the Lords of Pettendorf were noble free ( vir nobilis ) and did not belong to the count class.

The coat of arms of the Lords of Pettendorf

Silver ring on a red background - the coat of arms of the Lords of Pettendorf in the coat of arms of the former Kemnath district
The coat of arms of the Bettendorfer appearing from the 15th century
Lintel with the coat of arms of Bishop Dietrich II of Worms von Bettendorf , Ladenburg , area of ​​the bishop's court

The district of Kemnath , which existed until the regional reform in Bavaria on July 1, 1972, also had the coat of arms of the Lords of Pettendorf in its coat of arms. The coat of arms of the Pettendorfer noble free represented a silver ring on a red background. The relation of Kemnath to the Pettendorfer arises from the castle Waldeck , which was about five kilometers east of Kemnath and was owned by the noble family from around 1050. The blue crossbar in the coat of arms of the district of Kemnath refers to the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg , who inherited the rule of Waldeck from the last lord of Pettendorf after marrying one of his daughters between 1112 and 1116/19 .

The coat of arms with the silver ring on a red background was also adopted by the later aristocratic Bettendorff family , who also traced their origins back to the lords of Pettendorf-Lengenfeld-Hopfenohe. This noble family, which appeared from the 15th century, derived its name from Pettendorf Castle near Neunburg vorm Wald. The actual connection to the old Pettendorfern is unclear.

From Friedrich I. von Pettendorf to Count Palatine Heilika

Ensdorf Monastery , final resting place of Friedrich III. von Pettendorf and his daughters

Friedrich I. von Pettendorf (* around 1025, † around 1060) had been married to Sigena von Leinungen (* around 1025; † before 1110), the daughter of Count Goswin the Elder of Groß-Leinungen and heiress of Morungen and Gatersleben , from around 1050 .

For Sigena it was the second marriage after her first husband Gaugraf Wiprecht I. von Groitzsch had passed away. Sigena also survived her second husband and was most recently the 3rd abbess of the Vitzenburg monastery . The important Wiprecht II von Groitzsch emerged from the marriage of Sigena with Wiprecht I. The Pettendorfer gentlemen seemed to have kept in close contact with him even after the death of Friedrich I. Between 1085 and 1106, long after the death of Friedrich I, Sigena called settlers from the Pettendorf-Lengenfeld-Hopfenohe rule to Weißbach , into the territory of her first son Wiprecht von Groitzsch.

Friedrich II von Pettendorf (* around 1050) and his daughter Isingardis (* around 1050), who married Ruotger von Veltheim (* 1048), came from the marriage of Friedrich I with Sigena . There are hardly any records about Frederick II and it is only certain that he died without descendants. From the marriage of Ruotger with Isingardis came among others Friedrich III. von Pettendorf (* around 1070; † 1112–1119) and Rudgar (* around 1072; † 1125), who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg. Rudgar's election as Archbishop of Magdeburg was pushed through by his uncle, Wiprecht von Groitzsch. Rudgar's immediate predecessor in the episcopate, Adalgod , was also a relative of the Margraves of Groitzsch. This is further evidence of the skillful family policy of the Groitzsch-Pettendorf clans. In addition, Frederick II and Isingardis are said to have had a brother named Gorwin.

The last Pettendorfer dynast , Friedrich III., Is said to have been married to Heilika von Schwaben († after 1110), an alleged and not clearly verifiable daughter of Duke Friedrich von Schwaben . This assumption goes back to Hansmartin Decker-Hauff and is mostly doubted today. Friedrich III. had two daughters - Heilika (* around 1103; † 1170) and Heilwiga († 1160).

Heilika was an heir to the Pettendorfer family and married Otto V. von Scheyern , the first of the Counts of Scheyern, who named himself Wittelsbach (near Aichach ) after his new castle . Heilika is generally considered to be the ancestral mother of the Wittelsbach family and, through her dowry, enabled the Wittelsbach family to acquire ownership north of the Danube in Nordgau (Bavaria) . At the wedding it was already foreseeable that the last Herr von Pettendorf would die soon and the Wittelsbach family, for whom it represented a lower-ranking association, would lose the inheritance. The image of Heilika was received by a woman's sigil, which served as a template for the coat of arms of today's municipality of Pettendorf and is currently used in relatively detail as the logo of the Heilika pharmacy in the main town. A woman's sigil was very unusual for the Middle Ages and indicates an important position Heilika had at that time.

The second daughter of Friedrich III, Heilwiga , was married to Gebhard I von Leuchtenberg, who died in 1146. Heilwiga brought the rule of Waldeck (Upper Palatinate) into the marriage as a dowry . Heilwiga was thus ancestral mother of the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg , whose ruling family shaped the Upper Palatinate until 1646.

From the will of Otto I from the year 1170 with dispositions of possessions in the Nordgau it can be deduced that around 1119 by his grandfather, Friedrich III. von Pettendorf, inherited property must have included 6 forests and 80 scattered places as well as the areas inherited to the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg.

In addition, the lords of Pettendorf maintained close relationships with the bishops of Bamberg , whose fiefs they were, for example, in the Abbach and Auerbach area (near Amberg). After the line of the Lords of Pettendorf had expired, Bishop Otto I of Bamberg was concerned that Count Palatine Otto V might claim the fiefdom of his deceased father-in-law for himself. Through negotiations between the Count Palatine and the Bishop, a settlement was reached around 1121, which awarded the Wittelsbachers some property and other lands to the Benedictine monastery Michelfeld , the Ensdorf monastery and theChecking monastery . Above all, the document of April 25, 1124 with the imperial recognition of the Ensdorf monastery bears all the signs of a compromise paper between Otto I of Bamberg and Count Palatine Otto V. with a prefabricated "traditional note" that the Reich Chancellery only had to issue.

The master list of the gentlemen from Pettendorf

Based on the documents and on the basis of the Pegau Annals , the following master list of the gentlemen von Pettendorf results:

  1. Friedrich I. (* around 1025, † around 1060) ∞ Sigena von Leinungen (* around 1025, † before 1110), daughter of Count Goswin the Elder, heiress of Morungen and Gatersleben, widow of Graugraf Wiprecht I. von Groitzsch, from the first Married mother of Wiprecht von Groitzsch and, after the death of Friedrich I, third abbess of the Vitzenburg monastery
    1. Friedrich II. (* Around 1050; † unknown)
    2. Isingardis (* around 1050; † unknown) ∞ Ruotger von Veltheim (* 1048; † unknown)
      1. Rudgar von Veltheim (* unknown; † 1125), Archbishop of Magdeburg
      2. Friedrich III. (* around 1070; † 1112–1119) ∞ Helwic (* unknown; † after 1110)
        1. Heilika (* around 1103; † 1170) ∞ Count Palatine Otto V. von Scheyern (* unknown; † 1156). Heilika is considered the "ancestor" of the Wittelsbach family and brought large parts of the legacy of Friedrich III. into marriage
          1. Otto von Wittelsbach (* around 1117, † 1183), the first Duke of Bavaria from the House of Wittelsbach
          2. Konrad von Wittelsbach (* around 1120/1125; † 1200), Cardinal Bishop , Archbishop of Mainz and Archbishop of Salzburg
          3. Friedrich II. († 1198), Count Palatine of Wörth and Lengenfeld
          4. Otto III. († 1189), Count Palatine of Bavaria
          5. Hermann († unknown)
          6. Justizia († unknown) ∞ Otto IV. († 1136), Count of Wolfratshausen
          7. Udalrich II. († unknown), provost of Innichen
          8. Hedwig († 1174) ∞ Berthold V († 1188), Margrave of Istria
        2. Heilwiga (* unknown; † 1160) ∞ Gebhard I. von Leuchtenberg (* around 1118; † 1146); Heilwiga brought the rule of Waldeck into the marriage
          1. Gebhardt II. Von Leuchtenberg († 1168), who was raised to the rank of count by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa
          2. Friedrich I († between 1146 and 1155)
          3. Marquard († between 1166 and 1168)

Other members of the noble von Pettendorf family

In the wake of the Babenbergers , other members of the noble Pettendorf family moved to the southeast as bailiffs and laid the foundation stone for the homonymous town of Pettendorf (municipality of Hausleiten) in Lower Austria, which was first mentioned in a document after 1108.

The Pegauer Annalen state that Wiprecht von Groitzsch, as Vogt of the Vitzenburg monastery, was forced to intervene in the convent because "a niece of Count Friedrich von Pettendorf-Lengenfeld" was responsible for the decline in monastic discipline. It is not possible to determine which of the three gentlemen from Pettendorf with the name Friedrich or which niece it was. It seems clear, however, that there was a niece of one of the gentlemen from Pettendorf who had entered the monastery of the wife of the late Friedrich I, Sigena.

Later there was also an Upper Palatinate line of the Pettendorf family, whose connection to the Lords of Pettendof-Lengenfeld-Hopfenohe cannot be proven. A family member of this line is recorded with Ulrich von Pettendorf, who was Ulrich V abbot of the monastery St. Emmeram in Regensburg from 1402 to 1422. In the 15th century, members of this family branch also built the Pettendorf Castle near Neustadt an der Waldnaab , which is still preserved today . After the 15th century there are no more references to representatives of the Upper Palatinate line.

Other members of the Pettendorf family founded the noble Bettendorff family active in the Baden-Württemberg area . From this branch of the family came Dietrich II , who was Bishop of Worms from 1552 to 1580 , as well as Johann Philipp Freiherr von Bettendorff and Philipp Ludwig Freiherr von Bettendorff, who both had the rank of general at the beginning of the 18th century.

First monastery founded in Pettendorf (1119 to 1180)

Romanesque church in Pettendorf - probably the last remnant of the monastery from the 13th century
Presumably north exit to the burned down convent building from the 13th century at the Pettendorfer church

After Friedrich III. As the last lord of Pettendorf died without a male heir around or before 1119, according to medieval tradition he decreed that his ancestral seat in Pettendorf should be converted into a monastery after his death . This legacy was probably fulfilled by his heir, Heilika, and his son-in-law, Otto V. von Scheyern. In addition, at the request of Friedrich III. In 1121 - to create a burial place for the family - the much more important Ensdorf Monastery was founded, in which, among other things, he himself, his daughter Heilika, her husband Otto V as well as her son Friedrich and also the second daughter of Friedrich III., Heilwig, with her husband, Gebhard von Leuchtenberg, were buried.

This first monastery in Pettendorf was probably located in the former castle area. It was a very small monastery whose order can no longer be determined today. A connection to the Ensdorf monastery, which was founded around the same time, is obvious. The Pettendorfer monastery closed again after just a few decades and the monastery area thus fell back to the donor family. The background to the failure of the first founding of the monastery in Pettendorf is not mentioned anywhere, but it seems to be related to the activities of the Wittelsbach family around Regensburg that immediately followed.

According to Hans Schneider, Pettendorf remained the namesake and administrative center of the district even after the Wittelsbach family took possession in 1119, while Lengenfeld rose to become the main castle of the rule. The Wittelsbacher Ministeriale is documented at Lengenfeld Castle as early as the 1120s and, according to Hans Schneider, it can be assumed that the Wittelsbachers continued to employ individual administrators and castle men of the Lords of Pettendorf.

Administrative seat of the Wittelsbach family (1180 to 1262)

For the period from 1197 to 1199, Eckebrecht von Pettendorf ("Eckebrehen de Pettendorf") is named as a servant of the Wittelsbachers at Pettendorf Castle, which proves that the monastery has been rededicated as a castle. At that time the castle in Pettendorf represented an important strategic position for the Wittelsbachers in the struggle for the free imperial city of Regensburg , which had recently become independent . In addition to the castle in Pettendorf, the Wittelsbachers also had other fortresses around Regensburg at that time. In 1209, the first verifiable clergyman in Pettendorf is named in a Scheyerer document.

Many documents refer to the “Office of Pettendorf” and prove that the Wittelsbachers occupied the castle with a knight as ministerial from this time . The occupation of the castle by one of the few ministerials of the ruling house shows that the fortress suddenly became important to the Wittelsbachers after they took over the office of duke in Bavaria in 1180. The first ducal Urbar of 1231/1237 defines the Office Pettendorf the terms of area ausgedehntesten district among the 36 official residences of the Wittelsbach to and is at this time probably still mainly from the estate of Frederick III. from Pettendorf. The “Amt Pettendorf” is also named in the Wittelsbacher Salbuch from 1240.

From Pettendorf, the office administered sovereign property up to the middle Upper Palatinate. In the Herzogsurbar from the beginning of the 13th century, properties in Rohrdorf, Steinsberg, Vilshofen, Rieden, Siegenhofen, Sinzenhofen, Teublitz , Klardorf, Haugenried or Neukirchen bei Schwandorf are assigned to the office. The majority of the Wittelsbach possessions north of the Danube were thus administered from this base.

In 1258 war broke out between the Wittelsbach Duchy of Bavaria and the free imperial city of Regensburg, which ended with the peace treaty of March 3, 1259. Regensburg undertook to pay a substantial sum of money to Bavaria if in return the latter would vacate some of its castles around Regensburg and restrict its territorial policy towards the free imperial city. This led to the castle in Pettendorf being converted back into a monastery. In 1270, Duke Ludwig the Strict Pettendorf was only listed as a henchman's office for the " Lengenfeld Office " in the land register. Pettendorf also later lost his position as a henchman to the neighboring Hainsacker .

Second founding of the monastery in Pettendorf (1262 to 1274)

A second monastery was founded in Pettendorf before the year 1262. The apostle Bartholomäus is handed down as the patron saint of the Pettendorf Monastery . Additional patronage at that time was St. Andrew and the Holy Cross . These patron saints point to the origin of a castle chapel and are the patron saints of the Pettendorf parish church until the fire in 1666. Only after the later reconstruction does the parish church of Pettendorf St. Margaretha become a patronage that is still valid today.

On April 28, 1262, Brother Thomas, Bishop of Squillace , issued a letter of indulgence "for those who help the sisters of the St. Bartholomew Monastery in Pettendorf to set up their convent". Further indulgences for the Pettendorf monastery were pronounced in 1262 by Bishop Hildebrand von Eichstätt , in 1271 by Bishop Otto of Münster, in 1274 by Bishop Heinrich of Trient and in 1278 by Bishop Conrad of Regensburg. In a document from 1264, Pope Urban IV handed over the parish of Pettendorf to the newly founded monastery.

For the monastery, the previous fortress was apparently razed and the new monastery was built on the remains of the castle. In documents and indulgences from 1274 and 1277 it is mentioned that the almost completed monastery complex in Pettendorf was destroyed by fire and robbery. The Romanesque church in Pettendorf, which can be seen on an elevated point and thus possibly on the remains of a previous building, is likely to be the last architectural remnant of the destroyed monastery, which also suggests a walled north exit to the burned down convent buildings that is still visible today .

The destruction of the monastery can be dated between 1271 and 1274. Traditionally, the robber barons from the nearby Löweneck Castle were blamed for the raid , who at that time attracted attention due to many misdeeds. The pillage of the monastery took place in the imperial period of the interregnum , which was characterized by great legal uncertainty and violence in many places.

The monastery on the Adlersberg (1274 to 1542)

The beginnings on the Adlersberg

Former monastery church in Adlersberg

The construction of the new monastery on the Adlersberg began in 1274 , about two kilometers south of the farm estate there. Ludwig the Strict is named as the founder of the monastery , who in 1276 “allowed the nuns of Weißenburg to move into the convent he established in Pettendorf”. More nuns were brought from the Heilig-Kreuz monastery in Regensburg . The convent is also listed on the Adlersberg under the name “Kloster Pettendorf” and several times even as “Neu-Pettendorf” in the documents, which clearly shows the connection with the former monastery in Pettendorf.

It was a female monastery of the Dominican order , whose pastoral care and supervision was incumbent on the Regensburg monastery of St. Blasius . The Dominicans were mostly represented as mendicant orders in cities and founded one of their few monasteries in rural areas in Pettendorf-Adlersberg. It is unclear, but not unlikely, whether there was a connection between the election of the order and Albertus Magnus , who was Bishop of Regensburg between 1260 and 1262 .

On June 18, 1292 Otto von Vaulwisen, a citizen of Regensburg, gave his court in "Swezzendorf" (Schwetzendorf) to the "Dominican Convent in Neu-Pettendorf". In 1303 a document states that the Pettendorf monastery owned the church in Kneiting . On August 28, 1311, Bishop Konrad von Regensburg issued a letter of indulgence “for those who help the sisters of the Pettendorf monastery because of their low income”.

During the long construction phase, several supporters of the monastery appear, in addition to the Wittelsbachers, the bishops of Regensburg as well as other dioceses and various noble families. A consecration of the monastery is only reported in 1341.

In the early days, the monastery was a place where unmarried daughters could be accommodated, especially for wealthy families from the landed gentry and the free imperial city of Regensburg. The donations thus obtained secured the construction of the monastery on the Adlersberg. It is documented that many of the prioresses of the monastery came from the central Bavarian city and country nobility. The families Nabburger, Auer von Brennberg, Portner, Steflinger, Ingolstädter, Königsfeld, Paulsdorfer , Leonsberger or Gumprecht should be mentioned here.

The heyday, buildings and monastery economy

Altar of the Adlersberg church with the "Mother of God in abandonment"

The heyday of the monastery was during the reign of Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian . In the years 1316, 1318 and 1323 he made substantial donations to the monastery. Emperor Ludwig was venerated as the second founder of the monastery. As a result of the donations, the monastery’s economy expanded considerably. While the economy was initially still from the dowry of Friedrich III. came from Pettendorf and roughly comprised the area of ​​the old community of Pettendorf, in the 14th century properties in Baiern, Laub, Geiersberg, Kneiting, Regensburg, Trischlberg, Lappersdorf and Winzer as well as more distant properties near Amberg , Neumarkt , Kelheim or belonged Schwandorf to the monastery property. A brewery operated by the monastery can also be found from the middle of the 16th century.

The buildings of the monastery are stylistically set in the early Gothic period . On the processed stones of the monastery church in Adlersberg there are 30 stonemasons' marks , which were also found on the Regensburg Cathedral and prove the exchange of craftsmen between the two construction sites. The interior of the monastery church is somewhat similar to the Dominican Church of St. Blasius in Regensburg, which was built a few years earlier or at the same time , which also suggests a parallel construction plan .

The Adlersberg Madonna and the important wall paintings in the monastery church were probably created around the year 1400. It is assumed that these works of art originate from the Wittelsbach family. In particular, the oldest documented Madonna wearing a protective cloak is depicted in the Adlersberg Church . The two founders, Duke Ludwig der Strenge and Kaiser Ludwig der Bayern, were also immortalized in frescoes that are significant today.

The Pettendorf Monastery was never characterized by special activities and evidently only spent the time managing its economy. The monastery was only entitled to the incorporation right for two parishes - on the one hand for the local parish of Pettendorf and on the other hand for the far away parish of Berg near Neumarkt. Over time, the importance of the monastery therefore gradually decreased. It was then only worn by the lower nobility.

The consequences of the Landshut War of Succession

In the course of the Landshut War of Succession , the northern area around Regensburg was the deployment area of ​​the Bavarian troops in September 1504, who had pitched their camp on the Greifenberg near Kneiting . From there, the troops devastated the surrounding area to such an extent that some farms in the area of ​​the old town of Pettendorf lay fallow fifty years later as a result of the fighting. The Bavarian troops then moved from the camp on the Greifenberg to Wenzenbach, where the Battle of Schönberg took place, which decided the Landshut War of Succession. This battle is also known as the last great knight battle of the Middle Ages.

As a result of the Landshut War of Succession, the territory around the monastery no longer belonged to the Duchy of Bavaria from mid-1505 , but to the newly founded Principality of Pfalz-Neuburg . In addition to the loss of importance, the monastery on the Adlersberg also suffered the consequences of the war. With these burdens, the monastery went into the time of the Reformation from 1517/18. The flight of the prioress , Katharina Sinzenhofer, in 1525 is characteristic of this troubled time (→ article on the Adlersberg Church ).

The last prioress is Katharina Merklin zu Pettendorf in an exchange of letters with the diocese administrator of Regensburg, Johann III. , documented from 1537.

List of prioresses of the Pettendorf Monastery

The following list of prioresses of the Pettendorf Monastery is based on documents in which the head of the convent is named and which is therefore not exhaustive and only covers individual years:

year prioress year prioress year prioress year prioress
1291 Diemut 1299 Gertrud 1303 Diemud 1313 Chunegunde
1325 Agnes 1328 Elspet 1331 Gertrut 1341 Agnes von Paulstorf
1372 Agnes von Leonprecht 1381 Anna 1403 Anna Stainkircherin 1441 Cäcilia the Turnau woman
1460 Cecilia 1471 Anna Vischlin 1525 Katharina Hinzenhauserin 1537 Katharina Merklin

A prioress Aurilia the Gumbrechtin cannot be precisely classified in terms of time, but should probably be in 1373 and 1380. Between 1403 and 1414 a Margaret was probably the prioress.

Protestant interlude (1542 to 1613)

Count Palatine Elector Ottheinrich abolished the monastery on the Adlersberg in 1542

In the course of the conversion of the Count Palatine of Palatinate-Neuburg, Ottheinrich , to the Protestant faith, the monastery located in the dominion was dissolved in 1542. The prioress living in the monastery and the remaining four nuns were given safe conduct and the free choice of a new place of residence after the monastery was dissolved by the new ruler.

The minutes of the annulment commission from 1542 record a poor life for the nuns in the final phase of the monastery. In the monastery economy only a court master, six servants and a blacksmith were employed. The Neuburg commissioners no longer found any valuables in the monastery, but only came across the most important utensils for holding church services. The furnishings of the priory and the convent buildings were described by the commissioners as “poor” and they noted that the laundry was worn out from years of use and had been mended several times. The monastery evidently did not have a library worth mentioning either, so that only the documents were closed and transferred to the lordly archives in Neuburg.

During the Schmalkaldic War, Emperor Karl V occupied the possessions of the princes of Pfalz-Neuburg. Karl V then started thinking about bringing the Pettendorf Monastery back to the old faith. Specifically, he was considering leaving the monastery area to his confessor, the Dominican and theologian Pedro de Soto . However, the political developments that followed did not allow Charles V to implement his plan, and the possessions were ultimately taken back by the princes of Pfalz-Neuburg.

During the Protestant interlude, the former convent buildings were temporarily inhabited by the Protestant pastor, who looked after the Pettendorf parish from there. Among the evangelical pastors in Pettendorf, Kaspar Brusch deserves special mention, who lived in the parish with his wife and father. Brusch also made it possible for the Regensburg book printer Hans Kohl to produce politically explosive printed matter in the spacious rooms of the former monastery on the Adlersberg, the printing of which he was prohibited from printing in Regensburg. Some pamphlets from the Adlersberger Winkeldruckerei are still preserved today.

In 1613, the princes of Pfalz-Neuburg converted to Catholicism again. From 1617 Catholic clergy were again appointed by the sovereign in the parish of Pettendorf.

From the Thirty Years War to Secularization (1613 to 1803)

In the later years the owners of the monastery complex and the associated economy changed several times.

In 1628 the Dominican nunnery Heilig-Kreuz in Regensburg acquired the former monastery on the Adlersberg and tried to repopulate it in the following years. During the middle phase of the Thirty Years' War , however, the area around Regensburg got involved in fighting in 1632 and 1641, and the property on the Adlersberg suffered from the looting and billeting associated with it. A planned management of the economy was not possible. The burdens on the Heilig-Kreuz monastery became so high that it drove the monastery to the brink of ruin and the latter then had to sell the property on the Adlersberg to the St. Blasius monastery in Regensburg in 1660 .

Crux Dominicana, the Dominican Cross - the Dominicans of Heilig-Kreuz from Regensburg failed in the 17th century when the Pettendorf Monastery was repopulated

The chronicle of the Heilig-Kreuz monastery gives detailed information about the purchase, the administration and the problems with the former monastery on the Adlersberg:

“Anno 1645 on March 31st we reached a settlement with the Hopf heirs because of the purchased Arlesberg estate. This property was bought against the will of the convent for nine and a half thousand guilders in 1628. In addition, 300 guilders leikauf. Our old mother Prioress Barbara Danner asked many of the sisters even before her death not to consent to the purchase, as the monastery would be ruined, which would happen. As soon as this mother died in the Easter week of April 16, 1626, M. Anna Maria Ehenröder and other councilors persuaded the subsequent prioress Anna Scholastika Schuster that this pious mother would consent to the purchase. Many distinguished spiritual and worldly gentlemen have advised us to do so, even our confessor, Fr. David Winkler, and said that if they did not make the purchase, not only the souls but also the stones would scream against us. But in the end it turned out that the creditors screamed angrily at us until they were paid. Other gentlemen have also advised buying it because it used to be a spiritual good, so that it would like to come back to spiritual status.

After the Arlesberg was made into a secular and aristocratic manor estate and was taken care of by the Rehlinger and other noble people until finally a Mr. Samuel Hopfer bought it. The later purchase by the monastery was to our greatest detriment and brought only corruption, misery and heartache. Because when our old mother Prioress Barbara Danner died in 1626, we were not yet owed a cruiser and from 1626 to 1640 we owed 20,510 guilders and 51 cruisers. In 1640 one was still owed the Hopf heirs 5,162 guilders and 47 kreuzers. Herr Hopfer pressed the monastery very hard, often came to the monastery to ask for interest and repayment, and ordered what he wanted to eat in advance. In 1651 a request was made to the Dominican general to be allowed to sell the estate, but Father General was occupied with more important things. In 1654 the monastery wanted to sell the estate under inheritance law as a feudal estate. Only all buyers demanded a guarantee from the monastery for indemnification in the event that the Prince of Neuburg should become Protestant again and Arlesberg would move in as a spiritual property. The monastery could not agree to that. The Arlesberg should be converted back into a secular Hofmark so that it could be sold in its entirety. "

In 1676 the Cistercian monastery Kaisham acquired the Klosterhofmark zu Pettendorf from the monastery of St. Blasius through its subpriorate in the monastery of Pielenhofen for the amount of 18,000 guilders . The Kaisheim Abbey campaigned for the rebuilding of the economy and the building stock, but did not try to repopulate the Adlersberg. From this time on, Pettendorf Monastery was once again mentioned as a separate legal entity in registers and documents in terms of church and administrative law. The problem of alienated church property is also dealt with in a treatise by the Prüfingen scholar Veremund Gufl from 1757 using the example of the Pettendorf monastery.

From the time of the Counter Reformation , a small pilgrimage to the Adlersberg established itself . The Mother of God was worshiped as a miraculous image on the high altar of the former monastery church. The pilgrimage to the Adlersberg was one of a total of 44 pilgrimages in the Diocese of Regensburg. The catchment area of ​​the pilgrimage was probably limited to the area around Regensburg. Votive tablets and other votive offerings in the church prove the importance of the pilgrimage. It is worth mentioning a votive tablet from 1736, which is still present today, with some treasures set in silver.

As early as 1703, the Pettendorfer area was again included in the war. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Bavarian Elector Max Emanuel besieged the imperial city of Regensburg in order to incorporate it into his principality. Again, the farms in the surrounding area and thus also the estate on the Adlersberg were used to supply the Soldateska.

In terms of church law, the monastery on the Adlersberg only went under with the secularization in 1803 - the property of the Imperial Monastery of Kaisheim was expropriated and passed to the Bavarian state.

From secularization to today (1803 to today)

Joseph Rudolf Schuegraf wrote a memorandum on the Adlersberg Church and thus contributed to preventing its demolition

The first owner after secularization was the Burglengenfeld district judge Ferdinand Mayer in 1803, who acquired the Hofmark for 31,000 guilders from the Bavarian state and resold it to Jakob Söldern in 1808. At this time, too, a brewery was still in use on the Adlersberg.

As a result of the Napoleonic Wars , the area around Pettendorf again became the scene of warlike events in 1809. After the Battle of Regensburg, the Imperial Austrian troops withdrew, among other things, over the hilly municipal area. The Adlersberg estate was sacked for a long time by Austrian soldiers and Napoleon's troops advancing. According to the parish's records, all supplies were confiscated and the furniture smashed.

In 1838, the current owners, the Prößl family, bought the property, which has been running a brewery with an adjoining restaurant to this day.

The former monastery church was not included in the sale and remained state property. Between 1818 and 1838 there were negotiations about the demolition of the monastery church, which in some cases was not even completely rejected by the local pastors and the episcopal ordinariate of Regensburg. However, the demolition failed due to the resolute resistance of the local population, who absolutely wanted to preserve the church on the Adlersberg. Decisive for the preservation was later the commitment of Pastor Severin Fuchs and his friend Joseph Rudolf Schuegraf , who, as a recognized historian, wrote a memorandum on the historical importance of the church and thus finally forced the government to give in.

In 1878 a contract was signed between the Bavarian Ministry of Finance and the Pettendorf church clergy, in which the state building load was finally determined and the local parish was obliged to perform all manual and tension services.

The last offshoots of the pilgrimage to the Adlersberg experienced an upswing in 1944, when the Second World War also struck Regensburg. Pictures of the Adlersberg "Mother of God in Abandonment" were even put up in Regensburg at this time. After Regensburg survived the Second World War relatively unscathed thanks to a lot of luck, many believers ascribed this to the Adlersberg Madonna. After the end of the war, many Regensburg residents gathered once a month to thank them in Adlersberg, although this tradition was extinguished again in the 1950s.

Today the monastery church is used regularly by the parish of Pettendorf. The former monastery complex can still be guessed in large parts, especially through the preserved, complete monastery wall. There is hardly a medieval monastery complex from the early Gothic period in the Regensburg area that can still be viewed today in this inventory.

Picture gallery

  • Vitzenburg Monastery was the retirement home of Sigena, the widow of Friedrich I von Pettendorf

  • Wiprecht II von Groitzsch was the half-brother of Friedrich II von Pettendorf

  • Bishop Otto von Bamberg , whose feudal husband Friedrich III. von Pettendorf was in the Auersbach and Abbach area

  • Sigel of Heilika von Pettendorf , daughter of Friedrich III. from Pettendorf

  • Equestrian statue of Otto von Wittelsbach, the son of Heilika, in the Munich court garden

  • Monastery Prüfening received in 1119, after the death of Frederick III. von Pettendorf, goods transferred from the fiefdoms of the Bamberg diocese administered by him

  • Also the michelfeld abbey was 1,119 from goods of the fief of the late Frederick III. founded by Pettendorf

  • The former monastery on the Adlersberg

  • Interior of the church in Adlersberg

  • View of the organ and gallery in the Adlersberg monastery church

literature

  • Parish Pettendorf (Ed.): Parish Pettendorf: Past and present , ISBN 978-3-7847-1151-5 .
  • Eva Schlotheuber (Ed.): Nuns, canons and mystics: Religious women's communities in southern Germany. Publications of the Max Planck Institute for History , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1st edition (January 23, 2008), ISBN 978-3-525-35891-7 .
  • Alois Schmid : The gentlemen from Pettendorf - Lengenfeld - Hopfenohe. In Ferdinand Kramer ; Wilhelm Störmer (Ed.), High medieval noble families in Old Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia . Commission for Bavarian State History , Munich 2005. ISBN 376966874X , pp. 319–340.
  • Negotiations of the Historical Association of the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, Volume 1844, pp. 1–27, Joseph von Fink Pettendorf. Under Duke Otto the Illustrious of Bavaria.
  • Negotiations of the Historical Association of the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, Volume 1844, pp. 28–30, Julie von Zerzog's sketches about Pettendorf
  • Negotiations of the Historical Association of the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, Volume 1973, pp. 129–144, Georg Brunner Adlersberg and his history
  • Heinrich Wanderwitz : Studies on the North Gauze nobility in the high Middle Ages. Negotiations of the Historical Association of the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, 1993, 133, pp. 29–60.
  • Heinrich Wanderwitz: The Middle Ages. In the municipality of Pettendorf (ed.): Municipality of Pettendorf: history and present , Pettendorf, Kallmünz 1991, pp. 29–43.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monuments in Pettendorf. (PDF; 0.3 MB) Ground monument D-3-6938-0532. Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation , April 30, 2020, accessed on June 20, 2020 .
  2. ^ A b c d e Hans Schneider : Burglengenfeld - old center of power of the Wittelsbacher in today's Upper Palatinate. (PDF; 3 MB) In: Festschrift for the 26th Nordgau Day . 1986, pp. 34-39 , accessed June 20, 2020 .
  3. ^ Manfred Hiebl: Heinrich von Schweinfurt Margrave in the Bavarian Nordgau † 1017. Family of the Counts of Schweinfurt. In: Genealogy Middle Ages. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  4. ^ The story of Pettendorf in Chronicle of the Pettendorf Voluntary Fire Brigade, p. 108
  5. ↑ Alois Schmid, 2005, p. 336.
  6. ^ Genealogical tables on Central European history, Heinz Reise-Verlag Göttingen 1962–1969, page 82
  7. ↑ von Burglengenfeld, Friedrich I. In: Genealogical database drill. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  8. ^ A b Wilhelm Störmer:  Lengenfeld, Lords of. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , pp. 205 f. ( Digitized version ).
  9. ↑ See Heinrich Wanderwitz in Pettendorf Community - Past and Present , p. 35
  10. ↑ a b Bernhard Peter, Dominik Smasal: Palatinate Museum, Palais Morass. Gallery: Photos of beautiful old coats of arms No. 1018. In: welt-der-wappen.de. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  11. ↑ See Heinrich Wanderwitz in Pettendorf community - history and present , p. 31/32
  12. ↑ See Heinrich Wanderwitz in Pettendorf community - history and present , p. 34
  13. ↑ a b cf. Heinrich Wanderwitz in the community of Pettendorf - history and present , p. 36
  14. ^ A b c Manfred Hiebl: Heilika von Lengenfeld Countess Palatine of Bavaria † 1170. Family of the Lords of Lengenfeld. In: Genealogy Middle Ages. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  15. ↑ a b From the history of the city of Kemnath ( Memento from April 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Heimatkundlicher Arbeits- und Förderkreis Kemnath und Umgebung e. V., 2007.
  16. ↑ Kemnath's story ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), City of Kemnath.
  17. ^ Manfred Hiebl: Friedrich I. Lord of Burglengenfeld † after 1050. Family of the Lords of Lengenfeld. In: Genealogy Middle Ages. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  18. ^ A b Manfred Hiebl: Sigena von Groß-Leinungen Mistress von Lengenfeld † 1123. Family of the Lords von Lengenfeld. In: Genealogy Middle Ages. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  19. ^ Salt road to Weißbach. Kirchberger Natur- und Heimatfreunde des NABU Germany local group Kirchberg e. V., accessed on June 20, 2020 .
  20. ^ Tobias Weller : The marriage policy of the German high nobility in the 12th century. Cologne 2004, pp. 29–34, 211–220; Tobias Weller: On the way to the “Hohenstaufen house”. On the descent, relationship and connubium of the early Hohenstaufen. In: Hubertus Seibert , Jürgen Dendorfer (Ed.): Counts, dukes, kings. The rise of the Hohenstaufen and the empire (1079–1152). Ostfildern 2005, pp. 41–63, here pp. 56–63 ( online ).
  21. ↑ Manfred Hiebl: Friedrich III. Lord of Hopfenhohe-Pettendorf-Lengenfeld † 1119. Family of the Lords of Lengenfeld. In: Genealogy Middle Ages. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  22. ^ Bernhard Steibl: History of the health resort Bad Abbach in the Danube valley. In: personenschiffahrt.de. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  23. ↑ See Heinrich Wanderwitz in Pettendorf community - history and present , p. 37
  24. ↑ a b Manfred Hiebl: Family table of the Landgraves of Leuchtenberg. In: Genealogy Middle Ages. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  25. ^ Castle Pettendorf, Neunburg vorm Wald, Cham district, Upper Palatinate. In: Castles in Bavaria. August 2008, accessed June 20, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Cf. Alois Schmid in the Pettendorf community - history and present , p. 252
  27. ^ Georg Brunner in "Adlersberg und seine Geschichte" in VHVO Volume 113 (1973), pp. 137/138
  28. ^ Richard Newald:  Brusch, Kaspar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 690 ( digitized version ).
  29. ^ Hans Lülfing:  Kohl, Hans. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 420 f. ( Digitized version ).
  30. ^ Chronicle of the Holy Cross Monastery in Regensburg
  31. ↑ The history of the Adlersberg. Prösslbräu Adlersberg, accessed on June 20, 2020 .