Johannes II. Leiterbach

The epitaph of Johannes II. Leiterbach in the monastery church

Johannes II. Leiterbach (also Johann Leiterbach ; * in Burgwindheim ; † August 3, 1533 in Ebrach ) was abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Ebrach from 1503 until his deposition in 1531 .

Life

Conflicts with Würzburg

Johannes Leiterbach was probably born in the second half of the 15th century in Burgwindheim in Upper Franconia . The sources are silent about his parents. Likewise, his youth and education are nowhere mentioned. Only with the death of his predecessor in the abbot, Veit Vendt in October 1503, did Leiterbach become tangible again. In the same year he was elected the thirtieth abbot of the Ebrach monastery as John II .

John took over a large convent with a total of 75 religious . However, the Reformation that was soon triggered by Martin Luther led to 15 Ebrach monks joining the new denomination at the beginning of the 16th century, which weakened the monastery. At the same time, the bishop of Würzburg, Konrad II von Thüngen , began to take action against the monastery, because due to its many privileges it was no longer part of Würzburg, but not yet imperial.

At the Diet in Worms in 1521, Johannes Leiterbach received the imperial privileges confirmed by Charles V and was also able to lodge a complaint against the bishop. A final decision, however, was postponed to the next Reichstag in Nuremberg . Konrad von Thüngen did not remain idle either and was also assured of his rights to the monastery. This stalemate further exacerbated tensions between the two parties.

Konrad von Thüngen then planned to have the rebellious abbot deposed and pursued Johannes Leiterbach on the journey home from Worms . The abbot fled to the befriended Bronnbach monastery and was brought from here to the Bronnbach monastery courtyard in Würzburg . From here he escaped to the Heiligenthal monastery and soon came to the Ebracher Hof in Schweinfurt . Here he refused to continue to his monastery, because Konrad von Thüngen had appeared with soldiers at the gates of the abbey.

The bishop had the newly issued privileges of the emperor read out in Ebrach and hoped that this would encourage the monks to give in. However, they waited for the abbot to return, who appeared a few days later. However, Johannes Leiterbach denied the bishop's privileges to agree, which prompted Konrad von Thüngen to plunder the monastic office in Mönchherrnsdorf . Again the abbot had to flee, this time to Bayreuth . From here he initiated a trial against Würzburg, which was settled by a compromise in 1523. Hostilities of the bishop were henceforth to be refrained from.

Peasants' War and Visitation

Just two years later, the Peasants' War began to reach the area around the monastery. On the 3rd Easter holiday in 1525, Johannes Leiterbach had to leave for Schwabach in Central Franconia to negotiate the parish, which has now become Protestant. In order to avoid the rebels, Leiterbach had to take off his monk's habit. Nevertheless, he was caught and taken to Mühlhausen. The farmers soon set him free for a ransom and the abbot traveled on to Mönchherrnsdorf.

But Herrnsdorf was also occupied by the peasant heaps, but Johannes Leiterbach was allowed to travel on to the monastery. In the meantime, however, farmers coming from Schlüsselfeld had destroyed the monastery registers and supplies, so that Johannes was again forced to flee. First he traveled to Bamberg , from there to the monastery courtyard in Nuremberg. Only after the uprisings were put down in September 1525 was Leiterbach able to return to the monastery.

The monastery had been pretty much destroyed by the peasants: the whole library had been destroyed by flames, the church had been looted. The Margrave Georg von Brandenburg-Ansbach had taken advantage of the situation and annexed the monastic office of Katzwang . Abbot Johannes Leiterbach, however, renounced the punishment of the farmers under his jurisdiction. The damage to the surrounding monasteries was so great that the Würzburg bishop planned to secularize the convents. These plans could be averted by paying a tax.

After the Peasants' War, the Pope also tried to restore the monastic order and therefore began to carry out more visits to the abbeys. In 1525, Clement VII commissioned the Würzburg abbot of St. Stephan , Peter Faut, to see to it that everything was in order in the Ebrach monastery. However, this visit was deemed ineffective, so another visit was scheduled in 1529. This time the Würzburg Bishop Konrad had been chosen as the visitor.

The inventory began on January 12, 1531. It quickly became clear that Abbot Johannes Leiterbach had created a private treasure and that the services in the monastery were no longer regularly celebrated. The monks also regularly violated the laws of silence that applied within the abbey. This led to the deposition of John II. Leiterbach on January 20, 1531. The prior , Johannes Wolf , quickly appealed the decision, but this did not change the decision. Abbot emeritus Johannes died on August 3, 1533.

coat of arms

A personal coat of arms of Abbot Johannes Leiterbach can be found on his epitaph in the monastery church in Ebrach. Description : An inclined, eight-step ladder over a river. Since the colors of the epitaph are now weathered, the tinging of the coat of arms is also unknown. As a speaking coat of arms, it indicates the prelate's surname.

literature

• Adelhard Kaspar: Chronicle of the Ebrach Abbey . Münsterschwarzach 1971.
• Erich Saffert: The Ebracher Hof in Schweinfurt . In: Gerd Zimmermann: Festschrift Ebrach. 1297-1977 . Volkach 1977. pp. 63-86.

Web links

Commons : Johannes II. Leiterbach  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Reference to a rhyming chronicle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kaspar, Adelhard: Chronicle of the Ebrach Abbey . P. 111.
2. ↑ Saffert, Erich: The Ebracher Hof in Schweinfurt . P. 66.
3. ↑ Kaspar, Adelhard: Chronicle of the Ebrach Abbey . P. 123.
4. ↑ Kaspar, Adelhard: Chronicle of the Ebrach Abbey . P. 142.

predecessor	Office	successor
Veit Vendt	Abbot of Ebrach 1503–1531	John III wolf