Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg

Coat of arms of Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg as abbot of Fulda

Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg (born in 1584 in Schweinsberg ; died on November 16, 1632 in Lützen ) was Prince Abbot of the Imperial Abbey of Fulda from 1623 until his death and, as Imperial Prince, lord of the Hochstift Fulda .

Life

Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg came from the Hermannstein line of the Schenck zu Schweinsberg family, which belonged to the Hessian nobility . His father was Friedrich Schenk zu Schweinsberg, his mother Binhildis was born from Schwalbach. Not much is known about his youth and upbringing. Originally baptized and raised Protestant by his parents, he converted to the Catholic faith before joining the Fulda Abbey in Altenberg Monastery near Wetzlar in early 1608 . He completed his novitiate in the Erfurt Peterskloster ; In the fall of 1608 he enrolled in Erfurt at the university there .

He made his profession in Fulda on February 27, 1609, and was ordained a priest on April 18 of the same year . Also in 1609 Johann Bernhard was admitted as a chapter of the Fulda collegiate chapter. As early as 1610 he received the Provost Blankenau as a benefice , followed by the Provost Michaelsberg from 1616. In 1614 he also appeared as a foreman of the monastery. On November 28, 1618 he was elected dean of Fulda Abbey, where he gave up the Michaelsberg provost, but remained provost of Blankenau. In addition, he received the Propstei Neuenberg and the cellar office of the monastery. After the death of his predecessor Johann Friedrich von Schwalbach , Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg was unanimously elected Abbot of Fulda by the Chapter on January 12, 1623, whereupon the request for confirmation to Pope Gregor XV. was sent. However, the papal confirmation only took place on 2 December of the same year by the newly elected Pope Urban VIII. After the confirmation in Fulda had arrived, the new Abbot received on 11 February 1624 Abtsbenediktion . On October 22nd of the same year, Emperor Ferdinand II enfeoffed him with the regalia .

Abbot Johann Bernhard was extremely committed to the Counter-Reformation and promoted the Jesuits , in whose retreat he also regularly participated as abbot, in the area of ​​the bishopric of Fulda. With regular visitations of the parishes in the bishopric he tried to strengthen the Catholic faith and to push back the evangelical doctrine, which had found followers through the neighboring Protestant areas also in the area of ​​the bishopric and also among the pen nobility . He also tried to promote Catholicism by founding monasteries and new settlements, for example by founding the Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary, which still exists in Fulda in 1626 . He had Protestant clergy established in various places in the monastery area expelled and replaced by Jesuits. These efforts brought him into conflict with the Fulda knighthood. Abbot Johann Bernhard also wanted to reform the imperial abbey itself, whose chapter only consisted of a few, sometimes quite secular, noble capitulars, and to fill it with spiritual life again. For this purpose he brought monks from the St. Gallen monastery . The abbot also traveled to St. Gallen and Einsiedeln Abbey in 1626 . The previous capitulars protested against the proposed reforms and stricter rules and also turned to Landgrave Moritz von Hessen-Kassel . Pope Urban VIII then sent him Bishop Pier Luigi Carafa , the nuncio of Cologne , as apostolic visitor with special powers, who implemented a reform of the chapter by means of decrees, including the admission of non-noble members. In 1631 the Fulda Abbey also joined the Bursfeld Congregation under Abbot Johann Bernhard . In the turmoil of the Thirty Years War , however, many of his measures did not last.

In 1629 the emperor had appointed the abbot of Fulda as vice-administrator of the imperial abbey of Hersfeld , which after the death of the last abbot, Joachim Roell , came under the secular administration of the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1606 despite imperial and papal protests . After General Johann T'Serclaes von Tilly had occupied Hersfeld in 1623, Emperor Ferdinand II tried to lead the abbey, which had become Protestant for almost 100 years, back to Catholicism. He appointed his son, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, as Commendatar Abbot for Hersfeld . Abbot Johann Bernhard made a solemn entry into Hersfeld in February 1629 and paid homage on behalf of the Archduke. In addition to Benedictines, he also established Jesuits in Hersfeld and expelled the previous Protestant clergy and teachers.

After Tilly's defeat in the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf , Abbot Johann Bernhard had to flee from the approaching Swedish troops. Gustav II Adolf transferred the areas of the abbeys Fulda and Hersfeld to the Hessian Landgrave Wilhelm V. Initially, however, the Landgrave did not succeed in taking Fulda into possession, but at the end of October 1631 Hessian troops occupied the city and bishopric of Fulda. Abbot Johann Bernhard turned first to Cologne , then to Vienna . Finally he accompanied the imperial troops, initially under Tilly, with whom he had corresponded regularly for several years. After Tilly's death due to injuries sustained in the Battle of Rain am Lech , Abbot Johann Bernhard stayed with the imperial troops under Albrecht von Wallenstein . In the battle of Lützen , Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg, who was watching the battle on the edge of the battlefield, was fatally hit by a stray bullet. His body was first buried in the monastery of Sankt Emmeram in Regensburg . His successor Johann Adolf von Hoheneck could only return to Fulda temporarily, only his successor Hermann Georg von Neuhof succeeded in making a permanent return. After the Peace of Westphalia was concluded , in which the independence of the bishopric was secured, the body of Abbot Johann Bernhard von Regensburg was also transferred to Fulda and buried in the collegiate church.

literature

• Georg Ignaz Komp : Prince Abbot Johann Bernhard Schenk zu Schweinsberg: the second restorer of Catholicism in the Hochstifte Fulda ; Fulda, Verlag A. Maier, 1878

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website of Fulda Abbey: History , accessed on April 3, 2019
2. ^ German biography: Schen (c) k zu Schweinsberg , accessed on April 3, 2019

Web links

• Schenk zu Schweinsberg, Johann Bernhard in the Hessian biography

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Friedrich von Schwalbach	Prince Abbot of Fulda 1623 - 1632	Johann Adolf von Hoheneck