Hermann II of Buchenau

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Coat of arms Hermann II. Von Buchenau, prince abbot of Fulda 1440–1449

Hermann II von Buchenau († 1449 ) was coadjutor and administrator from 1419 to 1427 and abbot of Fulda from 1440 to 1449 .

Life

Coadjutor

Serious feuds and disputes with knight families in the area, including the Landgraves of Hesse , brought the abbey into considerable financial difficulties. At the turn of the century the debt amounted to over 400,000 guilders . Archbishop Conrad III. von Mainz appointed Hermann von Buchenau as coadjutor in 1419 at the request of the Fulda collegiate chapter. Prince Abbot Johann I von Merlau did not agree with a steward, he continued to insist on his rights, but was attacked and expelled from Neustadt Castle by Hermann von Buchenau in 1420. Johann von Merlau asked Archbishop Konrad and the Würzburg bishop Johann II von Brunn for help; the two of them ignored his request and instead appointed Eberhard von Buchenau, a relative of the coadjutor, to the bishopric's chief bailiff. Johann was finally chased completely from the Principality of Fulda in 1425 by Hermann von Buchenau; he allied himself with the Hessian Landgrave Ludwig I , with whose help he was able to return to Fulda as abbot in 1427. Archbishop Konrad von Mainz had declared the feud to the Landgrave on July 21 because of a controversial pledge pending on the county of Waldeck . The Landgrave, for whom the close attachment of the Fulda Abbey under the coadjutor Hermann von Buchenau to Mainz posed a considerable threat, defeated a Mainz army decisively at Fritzlar (23 July) in the Mainz-Hessian War of 1427 and then pursued the Mainz people to after Fulda. There, the city and the abbey refused to grant the Mainz protection within their walls. The landgrave defeated the Mainz a second time (August 10th), occupied the city, drove out Hermann von Buchenau, and reinstated Abbot Johann.

Prince abbot

After the death of Johann I von Merlau in 1440, Hermann von Buchenau was elected Prince Abbot of Fulda. In doing so, he became Arch Chancellor of the Empress and abbot primate of all Benedictine abbots of Germania and Gaul.

With the reform of the financial system, he now tried to solve the financial difficulties in his abbey by using the ministerials to make payments. He also intervened against attacks by the ministerials against subjects of the abbey. These actions and other circumstances led to growing tensions between the convent and the abbot. During his time as prince abbot of Fulda he was apparently most of the time with his friend Dietrich Schenk von Erbach, the archbishop of Mainz. This probably had other reasons as well, because in 1427, after his decisive victory over Mainz, Landgrave Ludwig I of Hesse had reached an agreement with Konrad of Mainz that in financial transactions (pledges, sales, etc.) Mainz and Hesse mutually agreed Wanted to secure rights to the abbey of Fulda. Since Hermann von Buchenau and Konrad von Mainz were friends, this agreement did not come into effect. Against this background, the abuse of the Fulda Convention appears in a different light. It is also significant that Hermann von Buchenau is only mentioned as counting prince in the register; in the actual elaboration, ie in the text, it is ignored. This fact still makes a certain disharmony towards Hermann von Buchenau recognizable today, or rather makes the sources or the state of elaboration clear. An analogous statement by Hermann von Buchenau was: He does not want to become an uncomfortable burden for those affected (after the financial reform measures, see above).

Seal of Prince Abbot Hermann II of Buchenau

In spite of everything, he did not get a regular household. He did not manage to complete the "New Church" begun by his predecessor, instead he built a new Johannesberg provost on the destroyed foundation walls .

Five seals have survived from his time of abbot . The Fulda coinage was reorganized; he set up a mint in Hammelburg .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Berthold Jäger: The ecclesiastical principality of Fulda in the early modern period: sovereignty, estates and princely administration. A contribution to the constitution and Administrative history of small territories of the Old Kingdom. Elwert, Marburg 1986 (dissertation, University of Gießen 1982)
  2. ↑ The Benedictine monasteries in Hesse (2004)
  3. ↑ Chronicle of Fulda and its surroundings from 744 up to and including 1838 , Vacha 1839, p. 64/65
predecessor Office successor
Johann I of Merlau Prince Abbot of Fulda
1440–1449 		Reinhard von Weilnau
personal data
SURNAME Hermann II of Buchenau
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hermann von Buchenau
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince Abbot of Fulda
DATE OF BIRTH 14th Century
DATE OF DEATH 1449