Tomb of Rudolf of Rheinfelden
The grave slab of Rudolf von Rheinfelden was made in his honor around 1080 by a workshop that has not been handed down. The bronze plate is considered to be the first figural grave plate in Central Europe. The tomb was given additional importance as the first profane of its kind to be placed in a church. The tombstone is one of the most important preserved cathedral treasures in Merseburg and can still be viewed there.
Historical background
Rudolf von Rheinfelden was born as the son of Kuno von Rheinfelden around 1030. In 1057 Rudolf was appointed Duke of Swabia by Agnes, the mother of Heinrich IV . This initially tried to mediate between Rudolf and Heinrich IV, which initially seemed successful, since Rudolf fought on the side of the king when the Saxon uprising broke out in 1073-1075. After Pope Gregory VII's ban against the king in 1076 and at the beginning of the investiture controversy, Rudolf openly directed himself against him and took the side of his opponent. The investiture controversy between Pope and King supported the hope of the prince opposition, a revision of royal power and a strengthening of their own position. However, the papal position won a large following among the princes, as they saw their goals better supported by it.
After the pope and king mutually agreed in 1076, Henry IV's absolution came in January 1077. Through his penance, he was lawfully acquitted of the pope's ban, but this was not enough for the German princes and the king was dismissed. In March of the same year Rudolf von Rheinfelden was elected king through a public election at the Fürstentag in Forchheim. Heinrich did not give up, however, which made Rudolf the first anti-king in history. The election of Rudolf as the opposing king was tolerated by the papal side, but Pope Gregory VII only later joined the vote and supported the decision. This development of the story was very revolutionary, because the election negated the right of inheritance when the king was raised, which Rudolf also addressed in his address after the election by saying that he did not claim any hereditary right for himself and his son to the royal throne. He also protested that he did not want to regard the empire as property, but saw it as transferred to administration. These statements earned him the support of the Saxon princes, since this last point was decisive for the war between the Saxons and Heinrich VI when the war began to take place. In 1079 Rudolf was withdrawn from the Swabian duchy and, as a natural continuation of the Saxony uprising, the so-called Saxon war between the opposing king Rudolf and King Heinrich IV came about. In 1080 Pope Gregory VII finally positioned himself by once again pronouncing a ban against Heinrich IV. At the same time he declared Rudolf the rightful king of the Germans and assured him the apostolic benediction for this as well as for all future lives. Pope Gregory VII also uttered a prophecy that foretold the death of Henry IV and thus underlined the legitimacy of Rudolf.
When the battle of Hohenmölsen broke out in 1080 , Rudolf was fatally wounded despite his military victory. His right hand was cut off in the fight, which was later interpreted by many as a sign of God, since this was Rudolf's oath hand, with which he had once sworn allegiance to King Heinrich. The previously uttered prophecy was also reinterpreted to the effect that the false king should die, which was seen as confirmed by a divine sign through the severing of the hand of the oath. Thus the actual victory of Rudolf through his death became a victory for the rightful king. In order to counteract the allegations and anti-Rudolf propaganda, the anti-king was buried in the most honorable way in Merseburg Cathedral with a magnificent tomb, which was intended to underline his position as king and to honor comparisons with Charlemagne in the inscription on the plate. This comparison with one of the greatest German kings was a clear blow to Henry IV, since this comparison was intended to place him strongly in Rudolf's shadow and to negate him as king.
The tomb
Object analysis
The grave slab of the opposing king was cast in one piece and consists of bronze in the basic material. With its dimensions of 1.97 m in length and 0.68 m in width, it is almost life-size. Originally, like many later tombs of this type, it was gilded and decorated with enamel and stone inlays, but none of this has survived today. It was placed on the instructions of Merseburg Bishop Werner in the transept of Merseburg Cathedral, according to various records directly above Rudolf's burial chamber. Originally, the grave slab was at ground level, which could explain the abrasions, cracks and dents caused by treads. Later the grave slab was placed on a sandstone tumba with coffered side panels, which measures a length of 2.06 m, height of 0.29 m and width of 0.77 m in order to avoid further wear and tear of the tomb.
The middle field of the plate shows a frontal full-body representation of the opposing king, whereby it rises 2–8 cm from the surface as a bas-relief . The depiction shows Rudolf von Rheinfelden with the royal insignia, which he never legally possessed as an anti-king. The facial features of the opposing king are strongly mirror-symmetrical. Due to the high cheekbones and the wide open eyes, which were originally covered with enamel, they appear very rigid and support the assumption that the relief does not take up any external characteristics of the person, but only tries to represent a king type. On his head he wears a tight-fitting bow - shaped crown which, with the lost gemstone decorations , forms the highest elevation of the relief.
His arms, bent to his chest, hold the regal insignia. In his left hand he holds the imperial orb with a cross, which is modeled flat as a disc , while in his right he holds a double lily scepter, which protrudes over the shoulder arch. The index finger of the right hand points in the direction of the cross on the orb. Furthermore, he is shown with a chlamys closed over the right shoulder , which is a royal cloak adopted from ancient tradition and which is an integral part of the royal iconography. The gathering of the chlamys over the shoulder would actually require an asymmetrical drapery, instead a single panel of the chlamys divides the skirt underneath in symmetrical bowl folds. The three middle folds of the bowl are decorated with a generous shell decoration, which underlines the flawed folds. The tunic lies in tubular folds and allows the viewer to look into it, which specifies the actual frontal perspective at this point as a perspective starting from the feet, slightly below. The robes were richly chased and provided with various patterns and decorations, of which not much can be seen today.
His feet are clad in pointed leather boots and hang slightly to the side, evenly arched. Fastened to the boots, one can see spurs that lead to a perspective break, as they appear to be placed on the frontal view of the rest of the relief. It is particularly noticeable that in the depiction Rudolf is not lying on a pillow, but is shown against a completely undefined background, which suggests the assumption that Rudolf should not be depicted in death, but in his earthly existence. This is important because most figural grave slabs up to this time show those to be honored in a form in which they left the earthly kingdom, i.e. mostly lying on a pillow or a bed-like bier.
The relief is framed by an inscription that is legible around the grave slab from the inside out. It is profiled by an edge stepped four times on the inside and five times on the outside, the height of the letters being 3 cm. The inscription clearly names Rudolf as king:
" REX HOC RODVLFVS PATRUM PRO LEGE PEREMPTUS / PLORANDUS MERITO CONDITUR IN TUMVLO. / REX ILLI SIMILIS, SI REGNET TEMPORE PACIS, / CONSILIO GLADIO NON FUIT A KAROLO. / QVA VICERE SUI, RVIT HIC SACRA UICTIMA BELLI./ MORS SIBI VITA FVIT, ECCLESIAE CECIDIT. "
“ King Rudolf, killed for the law of the fathers, is rightly buried in this grave, which is a mournful place. A king like this, if he had ruled in peacetime, would not have existed in council or in battle since Charles. When his own were victorious, he fell as a holy sacrifice of war. Death was life to him, he fell for the church. "
meaning
The grave slab is of great importance in various ways. First of all, it is the first and therefore oldest surviving figural grave slab. Although earlier grave sculptures are known that represented the dead, these sculptures were immortalized on upright gravestones and not as a lying grave slab. On such gravestones, the deceased were mostly shown alive in movement and action. It is different with Rudolf's tomb, as it is also shown alive, with open eyes and without the typical pillow of the dead, but not in a scene of his life that depicts his virtues. In addition, it is finely worked out as a bas-relief and richly chased, while the tombstones were often only roughly carved and more primitive notch cuts, which lacked detail and fine work. The grave slab of Rudolf von Rheinfelden is the first grave sculpture of this kind with an estimated date of origin at 1080 as a model for later grave slabs in Europe, which only appeared two centuries later in Rudolf von Habsburg's tomb in 1291.
Much greater importance is attributed to the grave slab with regard to the decision to bury the opposing king in a liturgical room, i.e. in the cathedral itself, and to also grant him such a magnificent tomb. Because the tomb of Rudolf von Rheinfelden is the earliest preserved tomb of a layman and the earliest figurative tomb depicting a German king. Even Charlemagne was buried in an ancient sarcophagus without a portrait. Since the church taught the worthlessness of earthly existence, it was surprising that so great importance was attached to the figurative character of the tomb. In addition, originally only clergymen were allowed to be buried in the church, only in the course of time more and more exceptions were made and thus deserved lay people also found a place in the liturgical area. Nevertheless, marking the graves and memorials for the deceased was strictly forbidden. Salic emperors were already buried in front of the choir of a church, but without writing or images. So it is even more surprising that Rudolf's grave slab was so richly decorated and placed directly in the crossing of the cathedral, since he was only an anti-king with a short reign of almost 4 years, during which he was never really able to consolidate his rule.
This phenomenon can most likely be explained by the political significance of the anti-king, as a political example against Heinrich IV, to underline that Rudolf von Rheinfelden enjoyed the support of the church and that the views regarding the rightful king did not differ even after Rudolf's death have changed.
History / requirements
If you consider that this grave image was the first of its kind and stood alone in history for over two centuries, the question arises as to how a monument of this shape could come about. It was widespread early on in northern Europe to depict the deceased as a portrait on the tomb, but this Roman custom was only applied to steles and the upright gravestones derived from them in the 7th and 8th centuries. They showed the deceased alive and mostly in full possession of his strength. This shows that the idea of depicting the deceased in a portrait was widespread and that the workshop that made the plate in Merseburg may have been aware of it. However, neither the stele nor the tombstone have anything to do with a tombstone, as can be found in the cathedral.
Grave slabs and sarcophagus lids were also widespread. For example, they have been preserved in large numbers from the Franconian period, but in no case are they provided with a portrait or a figure of the deceased. The older grave slabs and sarcophagus lids are mostly smooth and without any decoration, symbols and coats of arms were incorporated as decoration and to underline the status of the deceased from the early days to the Middle Ages. There are a few and widely scattered grave slabs that have been proven, on which a human figure is indicated in a very rough, primitive and raw form, but these exceptions cannot have served as a direct model for the tomb in Merseburg, they only show that the idea of depicting the dead on the grave existed, but these few examples show no evidence of a type formation that amounts to a medieval figural tomb.
So where could the idea of a grave slab with a figurative representation of the dead come from? If one goes back in history to before the birth of Christ, one finds sarcophagi, especially in Italy, which show a strong resemblance, since their lids were often provided with life-size figures of the deceased carved in stone. Since the birth of Christ, the dead have usually been depicted lying on their backs in a kind of bed, there are also preserved sarcophagus lids, which depict the people standing, sometimes even walking with clearly recognizable legs and legs. However, since the emergence or relocation of these early Christian, Roman tombs in the north cannot be proven, the question remains how a tomb of Rudolf von Rheinfelden could emerge from what appeared to be nothing. However, a recourse to the Roman traditions must be assumed, since the independent creation of a type of grave slab, which shows the deceased people figuratively, is rather unlikely. Rudolf's tomb can only be partially explained by the fact that the many trips by emperors and their advisors to Italy, and especially to Rome, made a suggestion there and carried it back to Germany. Nevertheless, the Roman sculpture was not adopted for the work, which may be due to a purely pictorial tradition of such a tomb. Metal sculpting and goldsmithing were used in the manufacture of the grave slab.
comparison
Rudolf von Habsburg's grave slab was only created around 1285, two centuries after that of Rudolf von Rheinfelden. It was also made in memory of the king and was installed in Speyer Cathedral in 1291 . The parallels between the two monuments are unmistakable, so the assumption that the older grave image served as a template for Rudolf von Habsburg's is not very absurd. Both tombs are surrounded by a stepped frame on which there is an inscription ("Rudolf von Habsburg / King of the Romans / died in the 18th year of his reign / in the year of the Lord in 1291 / in the month of July / on the day the apostles were sent out") ). In addition, the king is shown upright on the younger plate, against a background that is not further defined. Only the foot area differs, as Rudolf von Habsburg appears to be standing on a lion, the heraldic animal of the Habsburgs. The hand position of both figures is also very similar, the right hand holding the scepter, the left the imperial orb. A coat of arms with an imperial eagle is emblazoned on his chest and his head is decorated with a crown. His robe falls in slightly more curved folds than Rudolf's robe on the Merseburg plate. The feet are also wrapped in leather boots, although these are not as pointed as Rudolf von Rheinfelden's. Significant differences can be found in the basic material of the tomb. While the Merseburg tombstone was cast from bronze, the Speyer tombstone was carved out of sandstone. Rudolf von Habsburg's tomb is also designed as a high relief and has portrait-like features. While Rudolf von Rheinfelden was depicted as a pure royal type without showing any noticeable characteristic features, the distinctive nose can be recognized in the relief of Rudolf von Habsburg. The wrinkles on the face also refer to the king in his later reign.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. Monument of propaganda and paradigm of the genre. Frankfurt am Main, 1996, pp. 77-78.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. Pp. 28-30.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. P. 30.
- ↑ Norbert Schneider: History of medieval sculpture. From early Christian antiquity to late Gothic. Cologne, 2004, p. 60.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. Figurative tombs from the 11th to 15th centuries in Europe. Berlin, 1976, p. 11.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. P. 11.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. P. 11.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The grave monument of Rudolf of Swabia. P. 48.
- ↑ Norbert Schneider: History of medieval sculpture. Pp. 60-61.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. P. 11.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. Pp. 16-17.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. Pp. 8-9.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. Pp. 8-9.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. P. 15.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. 13-15.
- ↑ Hinz Berthold: The tomb of Rudolf of Swabia. Pp. 23-24.
- ↑ Harald Busch: Romanesque sculpture in Europe. Frankfurt am Main, 1961, p. XVI.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. P. 15.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. P. 15.
- ↑ Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. Pp. 16-18.
- ↑ Kaiserdom zu Speyer - virtual tour . Retrieved May 11, 2013.
literature
- Bauch, Kurt: The medieval grave picture. Figurative tombs from the 11th to 15th centuries in Europe , Berlin, 1976.
- Hinz, Berthold: The grave monument of Rudolf of Swabia. Monument of Propaganda and Paradigm of the Genus , Frankfurt am Main, 1996.
- Busch, Harald : Romanesque sculpture in Europe. Frankfurt am Main, 1961.
- Schneider, Norbert: History of medieval sculpture. From early Christian antiquity to late Gothic , Cologne, 2004.
