Gengenbach Monastery

This article describes the Gengenbach Monastery . It should not be confused with the monastery community of the Gengenbach Franciscan Sisters , which has been in the Franciscan Sisters' mother house since 1886 .

Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Gengenbach Imperial Abbey
coat of arms
map
The Gengenbach Imperial Abbey in the Imperial City of Gengenbach (center of the map) (1725)
Location in the Reichskreis
Gengenbach in the far west north of the 48 latitude (map after David Seltzlin 1572)
Alternative names	Imperial monastery; Reichsstift
Arose from	Carolingian royal monastery; Ottonian imperial monastery; episcopal own monastery; Imperial monastery;
Form of rule	Elective monarchy
Ruler / government	Reich Abbot
Today's region / s	DE-BW
Parliament	Reichsfürstenrat : 1 curiate vote on the Swabian prelate bank
Reich register	1 on horseback, 4 foot soldiers, 90 guilders (1521); 1 on horseback and 3 foot soldiers or 24 guilders (1663); 7 guilders (1683); 1 on horseback, no foot soldiers or 12 guilders, 45 guilders for the Supreme Court (18th century)
Reichskreis	Swabian Empire
District council	County council; 2 on horseback and 8 foot soldiers (1532);
Capitals / residences	Gengenbach
Denomination / Religions	Roman Catholic
Language / n	German ; Latin
Incorporated into	1803: Electorate of Baden

The Gengenbach Monastery is a former Benedictine abbey in the free imperial city of Gengenbach in today's Ortenaukreis in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg . In the high and late Middle Ages, the monastery had a scriptorium and a bookbinding shop , the famous Gengenbach Gospels from the first half of the 12th century. The Gengenbach Latin School is early modern .

history

Former Gengenbach Abbey

On the edge of the Black Forest , at the exit of the Kinzig valley , the Abbot Bishop Pirmin († 753) founded the Gengenbach Monastery on Reichsgut sometime after his expulsion from Reichenau (727) with the support of the Franconian Count Ruthard . Settled by monks from Gorze in Lorraine , the convent in 761 adopted the rule of the Chrodegang of Metz and grew to 100 members in the 9th century. Relations with the Carolingian rulers secured the monastery the status of a royal or imperial monastery. In 1007 King Heinrich II. (1002-1024) gave Gengenbach to his newly founded diocese of Bamberg , the monastic community became an episcopal monastery, which according to a document from Pope Innocent II (1130-1143) about free election of abbots and bailiffs as well as about royal "freedom" (libertas) decreed (1139). In the investiture dispute Gengenbach stood on the side of the German rulers, with the Bamberg reform monastery Michelsberg it was connected through his abbots Poppo († 1071), Ruotpert († 1075) and Willo († 1085). Willo was temporarily expelled from Gengenbach by supporters of the Gregorian Reform Party, and the same happened to his successor Hugo I (1080s / 1090s). Against 1117 caused St. Georgen Abt Theoger (1088-1119) and Bishop Otto I of Bamberg (1102-1139) in Gengenbach a monastic reform in Hirsauer or St. Georgen sense I. in collaboration with Abbot Friedrich († 1120). In keeping with this, a new monastery church was built in 1120 after the old one was demolished.

Former abbey church and today's city church

The position as imperial abbey from 1334 owed the late medieval and early modern Gengenbach monastery to the umbrella bailiwick of the German rulers, who had been an important part of the Ortenau imperial bailiwick, established under King Rudolf von Habsburg (1273–1291). But the Reichslandvogtei remained mostly (until 1551/56) pledged to neighboring sovereigns. Before that, the dukes of Zähringen were Gengenbach monastery governors, then (1218) the Hohenstaufen kings, and finally (1245) the Strasbourg bishops.

In the vicinity of the monastic community, the monastery town of Gengenbach developed into a town ( opidum ; 1231) in the high Middle Ages . Under Abbot Lamprecht von Brunn (1354-1374), the chancellor of Emperor Charles IV (1347-1378), Gengenbach became an imperial town (1360), with the imperial schultheiß being appointed by the monastery superior. Abbot Lambert, who was also Bishop of Brixen (1363-1364), Speyer (1364-1371), Strasbourg (1371-1374) and Bamberg (1374-1399), reorganized the economic situation of the abbey and opposed the neighboring lords of Geroldseck and introduced the guild constitution in the city. Although the spiritual community was affiliated with the Benedictine order province of Mainz-Bamberg, Gengenbach did not receive any reform impulses in the period that followed. In the monastery of the 15th century, a secular and civic lifestyle prevailed for noble conventuals, access to the community was denied to non-nobles (1461). But the conversion into a canon monastery failed, as did the introduction of the Bursfeld reform at the beginning of the 16th century. As a result of the conversion of the city of Gengenbach to the Lutheran faith (1525), the monastery was also in danger of becoming Protestant. In the course of the Augsburg interim (1548) the monastic community remained Catholic, and the city also returned to the old faith. In 1607, the Gengenbach Abbey was finally able to join the Bursfeld Union, but had to leave it under duress and join the newly founded Strasbourg Benedictine Congregation in 1618 . The monastery was to remain until it was secularized; 1803/1807 Gengenbach, city and (imperial) abbey, became Baden .

The controversial abbot coadjutor Count Anton von Salm in Gengenbach became the last abbot of the Hornbach monastery and in 1558 saved the remains of the joint donor St. Pirminius.

The Faculty of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering (B + W) of the Offenburg University of Applied Sciences has been located in the monastery buildings since 1978 .

Possessions

Interior with altar

Building on the foundations in the Kinzig Valley, the rulership of the Gengenbach Monastery arose in the course of the early and high Middle Ages , which extended along the lower and middle Kinzig, in the Ortenau , but also in the Neckar area and was geared towards self-management and Fronhof administration (Dinghof constitution). Settlements in a first clearing phase (up to 1139) along the Kinzig valley have had three-field farming since the high Middle Ages , places in a second clearing phase (up to 1287) are in the side valleys of the Kinzig valley and are characterized by a closed farm. Patronage rights to the Martinskirche in Gengenbach, to the parish churches in Biberach (Baden) , Steinach , but also in Niedereschach and others were added, as was the pilgrimage chapel St. Jakob auf dem Bergle near Gengenbach, which was consecrated in 1294. The churches have been partially incorporated into the monastery. Papal (1139, 1235, 1252, 1287) and imperial confirmations of ownership (1309, 1331, 1516) were intended to help secure goods and rights for the abbey.

Monastery church / town church

The monastery church, which was built from 1120, was based on the Hirsau School of Architecture : a three-aisled basilica with a transept, a main and two side choirs and conches. The choir was rebuilt in a Gothic style in 1398/1415, a west tower was added in the late Middle Ages, in 1690/1722 the church was rebuilt and repaired in Baroque style, and in 1892/1906 it was redesigned in a new Romanesque style under the Freiburg architect Max Meckel . The organ's prospectus (like the main altar) was designed by Max Meckel and manufactured by Schwarz in Überlingen in collaboration with the Freiburg sculptor Joseph Dettlinger . The organ is considered to be the "second largest romantic organ in Baden".

List of the abbots and imperial abbots of Gengenbach

• Rustenus (8th century)
• Burkhard, Leutfried, Cosman, Anselm, Gauthier, Volmar, Otho, Benno, Rado, Ammilo (?)
• Alfram (-approx. 820)
• Germunt (approx. 826)
• Lando (approx. 840)
• Dietrich I., Dietrich II., Gottfried I., Walther I., Walther II. And others (?)
• Reginald (before 1016-1028)
• Rusten (1028-1034)
• Berthold I. (-1052)
• Bruning (-1065)
• Poppo (-1071)
• Acelinus (-1074)
• Ruotpert (-1075)
• Willo (-1085)
• Hugo I (1089, 1096)
• Friedrich I (before 1109–1120)
• Gottfried II. (Before 1140–1162)
• Anselm (-1147?)
• N. N. (-1173)
• Frederick II (–1182)
• Landofrid (-1196)
• Solomon (-1208)
• Gerbold (1210)
• Eggenhard (-1218)
• Gottfried III. (1218–1237)
• Walther III. (1237-1248)
• Dietrich III. (1248–1263?)
• Hugo II (1263? -1270?)
• Gottfried IV. (1270? –1276)
• Berthold II. (1276-1297)
• Gottfried V (1296)
• Berthold III. (1297-1300)
• Dietrich IV. (1300-1323)
• Albero (1323-1324)
• Walther IV. (1324-1345)
• Berthold IV. (1345-1354)
• Lambert von Brunn (1354-1374)
• Stephan von Wilsberg (1374–1398)
• Konrad von Blumberg (1398–1415)
• Berthold V. Mangolt-Venser (1416–1424)
• Egenolf von Wartenberg (1424–1453)
• Volzo von Neuneck (1454–1461)
• Sigismund von Neuhausen (1461–1475)
• Jakob von Bern (1475–1493)
• Beatus II of Schauenburg (1493–1500)
• Konrad von Mülnheim (1500–1507)
• Philipp von Eselsberg (1507–1531)
• Melchior Horneck von Hornberg (1531–1540)
• Friedrich von Keppenbach (1540–1555)
• Gisbert Agricola (1556–1586)
• Johann Ludiwig Sorg (1586–1605)
• Georg Breuning (1605–1617)
• Johann Caspar Liesch (1617)
• Johann Demler (1617–1626)
• Jakob Petri (1626–1636)
• Erhard Marx (1636–1638)
• Columban Meyer (1638-1660)
• Roman Suttler (1660-1680)
• Placidus Thalmann (1680–1696)
• Augustinus Müller (1696–1726)
• Paulus Seeger (1726–1743)
• Benedikt Rischer (1743–1763), son of the Elector Palatinate builder Johann Jakob Rischer
• Jakob Trautwein (1763–1792)
• Bernhard Maria Schwörer (1792–1803 / 07)

literature

• Udo Hildenbrand (Ed.): Benedictine Abbey and Imperial City of Gengenbach .
  • Volume 1, Winfried Lederer: Abbots and Monks of the Abbey: Life and Work, 727–1807. Art publ. Fink, Lindenberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89870-441-0
• Udo Hildenbrand: Pictures herald God's salvation: the artistic furnishings of St. Marien in Gengenbach; viewed - interpreted - documented. Art publ. Fink, Lindenberg 1998, ISBN 3-931820-97-1
• Michael Buhlmann: Benedictine monasticism in the medieval Black Forest. A lexicon. Lecture at the Black Forest Association St. Georgen e. V., at the Association for Local History St. Georgen and at the St. Georgener Klosterspuren 2004. St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, November 10, 2004 (= Vertex Alemanniae, H.10) , [published 2004]
• Otto Kähni, Herwig John (arr.): Gengenbach. In: Max Miller , Gerhard Taddey (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 6: Baden-Württemberg (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 276). 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-520-27602-X , p. 247 f.
• Karlleopold Hitzfeld (arrangement): Gengenbach. In: The Benedictine monasteries in Baden-Württemberg, arr. v. Franz Quarthal (= Germania Benedictina, Vol. 5), Ottobeuren 1976, pp. 228-242
• Klaus Schubring : Gengenbach Monastery and its property in Irslingen - investigation of a legal source. In: Journal for Württemberg State History. 43rd year, 1984

Web links

Commons : Gengenbach Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Benedictine Abbey Gengenbach in the database of monasteries in Baden-Württemberg of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives
• Former Gengenbach Benedictine Abbey on Geography online
• Manuscripts from Gengenbach provenance in the digital collections of the Badische Landesbibliothek

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephan Molitor: The privilege of Pope Innocent II for Gengenbach Monastery from 1139 February 28 (JL. 7949). In: Journal for the History of the Upper Rhine 141 (1993) pp. 359–373.
2. ↑ Website on the history of Gengenbach, with multiple mentions of Anton von Salm ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Franz Maier: Saint Pirmin and his memoria in the Palatinate. In: Klaus Herbers, Peter Rückert: Pilgerheilige and their Memoria , 2012, page 158, ISBN 3-8233-6684-X ; Digital scan
4. ↑ Website with information on the Pirminius relics and mention of Counts Salm and Helfenstein
5. ↑ Faculty of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering. Retrieved December 24, 2014 . 
6. ↑ Werner Wolf-Holzäpfel: The architect Max Meckel 1847-1910. Studies on the architecture and church building of historicism in Germany . Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2000, ISBN 3-933784-62-X . , P. 212 ff.

Coordinates: 48 ° 24 ′ 15.1 ″  N , 8 ° 1 ′ 1.6 ″  E