Birklingen Monastery

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The monastery Birklingen is a former convent of the Augustinian Canons in Iphöfer district Birklingen in the Diocese of Bamberg .

history

Foundation and re-establishment (until 1459)

The coat of arms of Bishop Johann von Grumbach in today's Birklingen Church indicates the monastery

The prehistory of the monastery is first mentioned in the work of Abbot Johannes Trithemius . The clergyman describes that a picture of the Virgin Mary was found in the forest near Birklingen. It was brought to the small chapel in town and worshiped as acheiropoieton , a god-made work. The monastery chronicle does not mention this incident, but only assumes a Pietà , a figure of the suffering Mary, which was placed in the chapel from around 1455 and which soon worked miracles.

The flow of pilgrims increased and already in 1457 the Würzburg Bishop Johann III. von Grumbach gave an indulgence for visiting the chapel. The income should be used for the expansion of the church. In the same year, Bishop Isidore of Sabina also promoted the pilgrimage through an indulgence. Just one year later, on May 24, 1458, the foundation stone for the new church was laid with the benediction by Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Hutter.

Bishop Johann von Grumbach planned to build a monastery in the up-and-coming pilgrimage town of Birklingen. To this end, he appointed some Augustinian canons from the Triefenstein monasteries near Marktheidenfeld and Heidenfeld near Schweinfurt. Balthasar Monachi, who was appointed by Bishop Johann and his councilors on February 22, 1459 as the first rector of the new foundation, also came from the latter. The monastery chronicle , probably written by Balthasar, names the bull of Pope Pius II of April 16, 1459 as the actual date of foundation.

However, the monastery soon reached its limits, because the small convent, which was equipped with only a few goods on the edge of the Steigerwald , lacked the next generation. From the canon pins around nobody wanted more profession put on Birklingen. Bishop Johann in 1461 turned to the Reformed Canons of the Windesheim congregation . As a result, the Reformed Monastery of Kirschgarten zu Worms sent three priests and a deacon to Franconia on April 16, 1459.

Establishment of the Canons (until 1463)

Balthasar Monachi was deposed and the Franconian monks left Birklingen again. But Monachi stayed and joined the Windesheim congregation . The new rector, however, was someone else, whose name is not mentioned in the sources. The small monastery was still under the prior of Kirschgarten; Berthold Scharn von Kirschgarten separated the Birklingen monastery in March 1462 from the Martin parish of Iphöfer , the branch of which was the St. Maria chapel.

In the meantime, the so-called Bavarian War between Margrave Albrecht Achilles and the Bavarian Duke Ludwig IX. also reached the Hochstift Würzburg , in which Birklingen was. The margrave had issued a letter of protection to the small convent, but this did not prevent the margrave bailiff Jörg von Gebsattel on April 25, 1462 from attacking the monastery from Uffenheim and setting it on fire. The monks fled to nearby Iphofen, while the most important monastery buildings were fortunately spared the flames.

The monks were only able to return to the monastery in August 1462 and quickly began to repair the devastated complex. On September 29, 1462, the first, unnamed rector of the Reformed Canons died. The cleric Johann von Offenburg was appointed his successor . During his tenure, the monastery acquired goods for the first time and consolidated its holdings and influence in the region.

On April 24, 1463, the monastery received important visitors: The priors Berthold von Kirschgarten, Heinrich von Höningen and Johannes von Rebdorf confirmed the independence of the Windesheim congregation. From then on, the canons could choose a prior themselves. They confirmed Johannes von Offenburg, the old rector, in office. On July 7, 1463, he had the foundation stone laid for a new dormitory on the monastery grounds, but left office in September of the same year.

The monks named Johannes von Sonsbeck from the mother monastery of Kirschgarten as his successor . The experienced theologian continued to support construction work in Birklingen and was able to announce the consecration of the monastery church on September 18, 1463. On December 24, 1463, the first service was celebrated in the new church building. The consolidation of the monastery also led to a rapid increase in pilgrimages , which brought pilgrims from all over Europe to the small town.

The heyday of the pilgrimage (until 1524)

After Johannes von Sonsbeck was recalled to his home monastery, he became prior in Kirschgarten in 1473, and Petrus Megen from Ochsenfurt took over the monastery board. Megen soon resigned on July 2, 1474, making way for Prior Meffried. Under his aegis , the monastery bought the village of Birklingen from the Iphöfer Spital and on April 20, 1476 acquired the parish of St. Martin in Iphofen. Meffried began expanding the dormitory in 1480 and received the Heilig Grab benefit in Iphofen for his convent in 1481 .

The following years can be described as the brief heyday of the monastery foundation. New altars were consecrated, which in turn attracted more pilgrims to Birklingen. In 1482 the dormitory was expanded and a refectory was set up. During this time, the Counts of Castell began to use the monastery church as a burial place for their family. In 1479 the body of Wilhelm II came to the church.

In 1500 the cloister of the monastery was completed, in 1506 the roof vault was completed. Before that, in 1501, a second pilgrimage had been founded in the district of Birklingen with the aim of a Vespers picture on the Birklinger Steige. However, the Würzburg bishop Lorenz von Bibra soon resolved this competition. The growing importance of Birklingen was also made clear by Meffried's appointment as a visitor to Schamhaupten Monastery . He died on May 2, 1510.

His successor Ditterich could not build up the same influence as his predecessor and limited himself to maintaining the monastery property. An altar of the holy martyrs, which had found its place in the church, has survived from 1512. The Marienkirche now had several winged altars from the so-called Nuremberg Painting School and was known nationwide for its many relics .

Destruction and dissolution (until 1546)

The decline of the monastery began under Prior Michael Wisandt. On February 14, 1524, citizens of the city of Iphofen looted the wine cellar of the monastery in the city. A year later, in April 1525, the convent was threatened again: In the meantime, the German Peasants' War had broken out and a little Marktbibarter pennon asked the canons to hand over the grain supplies to the rural population.

On April 18, 1525, the monastery courtyard in Iphofen was occupied. The anger against the monks discharged on May 3, 1525, when Iphöfer citizens burned down the monastery buildings with the Marienkirche. The rich furnishings of the church had previously been distributed among the rebels. Although the survey was ended in June 1525, the monastery was so destroyed that the monks who had meanwhile come to Iphofen considered liquidating the monastery.

On January 9, 1526, Prior Michael handed over all of Birklingen's goods to Bishop Konrad II von Thüngen and received a pension of 583 guilders a year for himself and his convent. A bull from Pope Clement VII dissolved the contract between the monastery and the bishop and called for a visit to all Franconian monasteries. This began in 1527 and initially brought the canons back their self-government.

Prior Michael was deposed by the visitors because of his advanced age and Hieronymus Roeß was appointed his successor. Roeß had to give the Würzburg bishop an annual account. The visitors planned to resume the pilgrimage services and therefore appealed to the escaped monks to return to the monastery. Soon the vestments and the cloister were reintroduced.

Despite this modest new beginning, Bishop Konrad withdrew the monastery property in 1542 and had the household dissolved on February 22, 1546. This ended the history of Birklingen Abbey . The reasons for the failure of the new beginning were the extensive destruction of the monastery, the lack of staff for the reconstruction and the thorough rift that the peasants' war had triggered between the monks and their peasant subjects.

Rectors and Priors

Initially, Balthasar Monachi, a rector from the Augustinian canons Heidenfeld took over the newly founded monastery. From 1461 canons from Kirschgarten near Worms took over the management of the new branch. It was not until 1463 that the monastery received the right to choose its own prior as the monastery head. In total, the Birklingen monastery presided over seven priors in the short period of its existence.

Surname Office Term of office Life dates
Balthasar Monachi Rector 1459-1461 * around 1423 in Volkach , 1459 first rector of the Heidenfeld monastery; † May 3 after 1500 in Birklingen
NN Rector 1461-1462 Rector's name unclear; † September 29, 1462
Johann von Offenburg Rector, Prior 1462-1463, 1463 Resignation September 11, 1463
Johannes von Sonsbeck prior 1463-1473 from 1473 Prior of Kirschgarten; † 1482
Petrus Megen prior 1473-1474 * in Ochsenfurt , election before December 16, 1473, resignation July 2, 1474
Meffried prior 1474-1510 * in armed forces, Diocese of Trier; † May 2, 1510
Ditterich prior 1510-1519 Election July 16, 1510, year of death unclear
Michael Wisandt prior 1519-1527 from 1525 in the Birklinger Hof in Iphofen, removal from office on October 29, 1527
Hieronymus Roeß prior 1527-1546 22nd February 1546 dissolution of the monastery

Grave of the Counts of the Castell family

In the 15th century, the church was for a time the burial place of the Count's family in Castell . However, only six members of the family found their final resting place there. After the destruction of the monastery in 1525, Count Wolfgang I. zu Castell had the bones of his ancestors transferred to the Johanneskirche in Castell and the monastery church in Ebrach ( see also Vogelsburg Monastery # Gravege of the Counts Castell family , St. Johannes (Castell) # Buried of the Counts Castell and St. Peter and Paul (Rüdenhausen) #Grablege of the Counts Castell family ).

Surname Life dates Remarks
Anna Countess and wife zu Castell † 1498 born Countess von Helfenstein
Wilhelm II. Count and Lord zu Castell 1415-1479
Friedrich IV. Count and Lord zu Castell around 1435–1498
Georg I. Count and Lord of Castell 1467-1506 firstborn son of Friedrich IV.
Elisabeth Countess and wife zu Castell † 1512 born Countess von Reitzenstein
Leonhard II. Count and Lord zu Castell not clear firstborn son of Wilhelm II.

See also

literature

  • Andreas Brombierstäudl: Iphofen. A small Franconian town through the centuries . Iphofen 1983.
  • Jörg Bölling: Reform before the Reformation: Founding of the Augustinian canons at Marian shrines by the Windesheim Congregation , Berlin 2014.
  • Theobald Freudenberger: Sources on the history of the pilgrimage and the Augustinian canons Birklingen near Iphofen (Mfr.) 1457–1546 , Würzburg 1937.
  • W .: Brief history of the former Birklingen monastery in the Grafschaft Castell , In: Johann Caspar Bundschuh, Johann Christian Siebenkees (Ed.): Journal von und für Franken , Volume 5, Nuremberg 1792, pp. 550-560.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bölling, Jörg: Reform before the Reformation . P. 13.
  2. Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen . P. 350.
  3. ^ Freudenberger, Theobald: Sources for the history of pilgrimage . P. 79.
  4. ^ Freudenberger, Theobald: Sources for the history of pilgrimage . P. 8.
  5. Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen . P. 350.
  6. Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen . P. 351.
  7. ^ Freudenberger, Theobald: Sources for the history of pilgrimage . P. 88.
  8. ^ Freudenberger, Theobald: Sources for the history of pilgrimage . P. 160.
  9. ^ Freudenberger, Theobald: Sources for the history of pilgrimage . P. 171.
  10. Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen . P. 353.
  11. Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen . P. 351.
  12. Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen , p. 352.

Coordinates: 49 ° 42 ′ 37.4 ″  N , 10 ° 20 ′ 42 ″  E