Founding legend of the Fraumünster
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The founding legend of the Fraumünster Monastery tells, using the story “The Shining Deer”, how the Fraumünster Benedictine Abbey in Zurich came about . Next to a deer, the focus is on the Frankish King Ludwig the German , a grandson of Charlemagne , and his daughters Hildegard and Bertha , who are said to have lived at Baldern Castle on the Albis around the middle of the 9th century .
Legend
First mention
For the first time, the legend is not attested in writing, but through a mural. From the time of Abbess Elisabeth von Wetzikon (1270–1298) came a fresco that showed the sisters Hildegard and Bertha and the stag above the so-called burial niche of the abbesses on the south transept of the Fraumünster on the right. During the Reformation it was whitewashed. It was rediscovered around 1850, exposed and drawn in pencil sketches and watercolor copies by Franz Hegi . It was then repainted and finally destroyed in 1911–1912. A request from Rudolf Rahn to preserve this “monument to Zurich's history” was not granted.
During the renovation work in the 2000s, a picture panel was placed in the place where the original fresco was. Above are the two sisters with the stag, below the transfer of part of the relics of Felix and Regula from the Grossmünster to the Fraumünster on the occasion of the church consecration in 874.
Watercolor copy of the original fresco by Franz Hegi
Situation today
detail
Tapestry from 1539, National Museum Zurich
Written versions
The oldest written version of the legend was written down around 1510 by the Zurich canon Heinrich Brennwald . Brennwald's wording was adopted by the abbot and chronicler Christoph Silberysen in his Swiss chronicle in 1576 :
«From the 5th foundation of the Statt Zürich Künig Lud [wig] and his daughters
Now it was not known whether Zurich on the Albis was almost an alltt splendid castle
called Baldren. Uff dëren was sesshieft Ludwig a Künig vonn Franckrÿch.
He had 2 daughters, namely Hilgarten and Bërthen, who
served God day and night. Because he also shares his grace. And you see
a beautiful shepherd [Hirsch]. The 2 brünnende liechtter uff sinen horned. Everywhere
from the Vesti bit the Aw between the lake and the Aa before
trůg zů a cappel, so that we were asked. And charged [directed] sÿ accordingly
back to the Vesti. That would be something else. Then Jrem Vatter
Künig Ludwigen was done, how the daughters went alone with each other
from the castle at night, since nobody knew what was going on or what was going on. Now the
king defied his daughter and thought it was frum.
Because half inside didn't keep the matter. But he took care of it himself. And alls
once went to the place zů bëtten. Is he lying on the floor and talking about all the
kids and let them go. But do not kill the same against women. Then he asked that God
would be thought of as much as possible again. Call your daughters
once and say dear child, Jr have been for a few days and manageable jars
are coming. This is how kings and gentlemen advertise. Therefore
I wondered about their sake so that I could answer them. Since
sÿ both spoke, we have to serve under stood God unnd same
unnsre künßheÿt [chastity] praised. That is why we pray you, that you are us to
help you. And then we begin to guess when we are
willing to God and to live with the waves.From the foundation of the Frowenmünster and the Seÿl vom himel
Now what Künig Ludwig, a pious gentleman, asks where sÿr lëben
gërten zů close. All the languages sat in the place where the river flows out of the
lake. Before, they prayed all over the place, so he let the
farmstead be visited and no one sent that, so there would be no question, so do
the future daughters understand, that should be granted by God
. Every day and night jnn jr went to bed, until he was heard
and sant a green [fresh, new] Seÿl vonn himel down, that lay rÿngs on
the farm. There the künnig real how knows and how he should be. Diss
Seyl niemant cont wüßen of what made materi'll eat what unnd is
to Hütt by Tag jnn a Sarch [coffin shrine] whether the Fronalltar behallten. All so
Gotzhuss began zebuwen. And dine with
a princely abbot and noble frowen from Fryen and countesses.
Darzů with 7 cor-lords. He decided to know jn with ditches and mudslides. "
- In today's German:
“Not far above Zurich on the Albis was an old, stately castle called Baldern. Ludwig, a Frankish king, lived there. He had two daughters, Hildegard and Bertha, who served God day and night. In his grace, God sent them a beautiful stag with two burning lights on its antlers. He always accompanied them from the fortress to a meadow between the lake and the Aa [Sihl] to a chapel where they prayed. Then he accompanied her back to the castle.
This went on for some time when their father, King Ludwig, was told how his daughters left the castle alone at night and nobody knew where and what they were doing. The king trusted his daughters and considered them pious. He didn't blame them for this, but he did pay attention to them. Once when they went to pray in that place, he followed them and saw what they were doing. But he didn’t show anything, because it saw this as a sign from God.
He wondered what to do. Then he called his daughters to him and said: «Dear children, you have now reached an age where you can get married. Kings and lords woo you. I want to know your will so that I can answer them. " Both replied: «We want to serve God and have promised him our chastity. So we ask you to help us. We only need food for our body, because we want to live with God and not in the world. "
Now King Ludwig was a pious man and asked them where they would like to end their lives. They replied: "At the place where the Aa flows out of the lake, where we have always prayed."
Then he looked at the place, but he didn't like the place. The noble daughters understood this to mean that they should ask God for the place. They prayed day and night until he heard them and sent a green [new] rope down from heaven. It wrapped itself around the square like a ring. The king saw this and realized how big the building should be. Nobody could tell about this rope what it was made of, and it is still kept in a shrine above the altar. So they began to build the worthy place of worship. A princess, noblewomen and countesses were appointed, plus seven canons. The building was surrounded with ditches and walls. "
The legend of the shining deer later found its way into numerous collections of sagas under various titles. They differ in detail and narrative style, but all share the elements of Brennwald's «Ursage»: the king and his daughters, Baldern Castle, the stag that accompanies the sisters on their excursions, the spot near the meadow, the initial displeasure the father, the rope falling from the sky, the building of the monastery.
Historical background
people
As in most legends, this story also mixes historical facts with fantastic elements. The real core here is that on July 21, 853 King Ludwig the German founded the Fraumünster by transferring an already existing small royal monastery to his daughter Hildegard . The Cappel mentioned in the legend should mean this little monastery. The charter was issued in the royal chancellery in Regensburg ; it is the oldest written document in the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich . Ludwig was also actually very pious and showed interest in theological questions.
However, it has not been proven that King Ludwig actually lived at Baldern Castle . If this had actually been a royal palace , it would have been documented. Nothing is known about a stay of his daughters Hildegard and Bertha on the Baldern. Hildegard had been abbess of the Münsterschwarzach monastery near Würzburg since 844 . After the founding of the Fraumünster, she became the first abbess there in 853; her younger sister Bertha followed her in office in Münsterschwarzach. It was also she who, after Hildegard's early death - she was not even 30 years old - became her successor as abbess in the year 856 or 859 in Fraumünster.
The motif of the glowing stag can also be found in Ida von Toggenburg , who is said to have been accompanied by a stag with glowing antlers on the way from her hermitage to a church.
geography
The stag is said to have accompanied the two sisters bit jnn the Aw between the lake and the Aa vorrůg to a cappel , where the monastery was then built, so the legend reports. This location was outside the Roman settlement area on an isolated area threatened by flooding. At that time some arms of the Sihl flowed through openings in the moraine wall, which closes Lake Zurich in the north, to the southeast into Lake Zurich via the area of today's Paradeplatz and Münsterhof . The area must have been swampy accordingly. Crucial to the location near the on the opposite bank could Limmat standing canons Grossmünsterplatz have been; A provost's office founded by Charlemagne is said to have stood at the tomb of the city saints Felix and Regula as early as the 8th century.
The writer and journalist Georg Clemens Kohlrusch mentioned a chapel consecrated to Saint Stephen and Cyriacus in his Swiss Book of Legends in 1856 , to which the two sisters each went. Such is not mentioned in a document, however, a St. Stephen's Church stood there in front of the city wall, where today the Coop-City / St. Annahof stands, so not that far from the Fraumünster. According to another legend, the green rope that fell from the sky was said to have hung over the high altar in the Fraumünster until the Reformation. Heinrich Bullinger, on the other hand, reports that it was lying in a coffin along with other "fools' work" and is said to have been used as a bell rope, not more than four to five fathoms long (approx. 8 meters), in the house of Mayor Diethelm Röist.
Further pictorial representations
- The painter Paul Bodmer also represented the founding legend in his painting of the Fraumünster cloister from 1924 to 1934.
- On the west portal of the church - only visible under infrared - the sisters and the deer are shown. The bad condition does not allow dating.
- The Fraumünster Society, founded in 1988, incorporated the legend into its coat of arms, which shows a white stag on a blue background with three lights in its antlers.
literature
- Heinrich Brennwald : Swiss Chronicle I. Ed. By Rudolf Luginbühl . Basel 1908, p. 81.
- Karl Werner Glaettli: Zurich Legends. Publisher Hans Rohr, Zurich 1959.
- Meinrad Lienert : Tales from Swiss History. Marix Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009
- Walter Oberholzer: Local history of the city of Zurich. Verlag Schul- und Büromaterialverwaltung, Zurich 1969, pp. 8–9.
- Peter Ziegler : sagas and legends about Lake Zurich. Gut Verlag, Stäfa 2012.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Regine Abegg, Christine Barraud Wiener: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich , New Edition II.I. The city of Zurich II.I: old town on the left of the Limmat, religious buildings. Society for Swiss Art History, Bern 2002, pp. 54–56.
- ^ Regine Abegg, Christine Barraud Wiener: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich , New Edition II.I. The city of Zurich II.I: old town on the left of the Limmat, religious buildings. Society for Swiss Art History, Bern 2002, p. 56.
- ^ Heinrich Brennwald : Swiss Chronicle I. Ed. By Rudolf Luginbühl. Basel 1908, p. 81. online
- ↑ Zurich State Archives
- ^ Wilfried Hartmann: Ludwig the German. Darmstadt 2002, pp. 22, 218-222.
- ↑ Heiligenlexikon.de
- ^ Regine Abegg, Christine Barraud Wiener: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich , New Edition II.I. The city of Zurich II.I: old town on the left of the Limmat, religious buildings. Society for Swiss Art History, Bern 2002, p. 15.
- ↑ Dölf Wild: Zurich City under water - interaction between nature and people in Zurich's early days . In: City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Archeology and Monument Preservation. Report 2006–2008 . gta Verlag, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85676-238-4 , p. 21–23 ( online version, PDF, 507 KB ).
- ^ City of Zurich urban planning
- ↑ Georg Clemens Kohlrusch: Sagenbuch, p. 307
- ^ Regine Abegg, Christine Barraud Wiener: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Zürich , New Edition II.I. The city of Zurich II.I: old town on the left of the Limmat, religious buildings. Society for Swiss Art History, Bern 2002, p. 79.