Höningen Monastery
| Höningen Monastery | ||
|---|---|---|
 Höningen Monastery, Romanesque main gate to the monastery area |
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| Data | ||
| place | Altleiningen | |
| Client | Count Emich II of Leiningen | |
| Builder | Albarat from Leiningen | |
| Architectural style | Romanesque | |
| Construction year | between 1119 to 1124 | |
| demolition | 1569 except for a few remains | |
| Coordinates | 49 ° 29 '26.9 " N , 8 ° 4' 37.6" E | |
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Höningen Monastery was an Augustinian canon monastery , which was located in today's Rhineland-Palatinate municipality of Altleiningen , district of Höningen and from which structural remains have been preserved. It existed from around 1120 to 1569.
overview
In this proprietary monastery of Leininger Counts lived canons to the Rule of St. Augustine . Organization and everyday life were similar to those of the Benedictines . Instead of an abbot, the monastery was initially headed by a provost and , from the 15th century, a prior . In the monastery district, which was two kilometers south of Altleiningen Castle in the northeast of the Palatinate Forest , craftsmen, farmers and shepherds also worked and lived. After the monastery was given up, the Höninger Latin School was built in its place . At the beginning of the 19th century the village of Höningen , which is part of Altleiningen , was formed around the monastery ruins . The nearby Augustiner Choir Women Monastery in Hertlingshausen , founded around 1160, was a female branch convent, as was Fischbach Monastery , founded in 1471 .
founding
During the reign of Pope Kalixt II (1119–1124), Count Emich II from Leiningen founded an Augustinian canon monastery with his wife Albarat. Because it was directly subordinate to the Pope , the entire property with which the count couple had endowed it was recognized church property. Until then, these lands belonged to the fiefdom of Henry V. Even before he died in 1125, there were inheritance disputes. Since the Leiningers, who were Salian vassals , arbitrarily subordinated land given as fief to the church and obtained the hereditary bailiwick over it, they retained important rights of disposal, above all over its economic potential, which was secured with manorial rights. For them the monastery became the cultural center of their county. With the castle and monastery, the people of Leiningen established their position of power over the last Salian emperor, whose house monastery, Limburg , was built just a few kilometers to the north. The Höninger monastery church was consecrated by the diocesan bishop Burchard II of Worms in 1141 in honor of Saints Peter , Paul and Verena. It stood directly across from St. Jakob, the parish church of the emerging county.
Protection under Pope Innocent II and Frederick I (Barbarossa)
As founder and bailiff, Emich II received the following rights to his home monastery from Pope Kalixt II:
- Etching, that is, hospitality (also for the entire servants) at every visit
- Hunting in the monastery forest (Kriegholz)
- Collection of taxes on the goods
- Reconstruction of the building
- Control of housekeeping and business agreements
- secular jurisdiction
- Possibility of monastery reform
- Election of the monastery head
All documents of the 12th and 13th centuries, including indulgences, donations and letters of protection, survived the monastery time, with the exception of one: The foundation letter of Kalixt II. In it the listed rights of the bailiff had to be determined, which with their naming or Deletion could be derived on more recent paper. The disappearance of this document was only noticed when the canons translated a letter of protection from Pope Innocent II ( Höningen letter of protection ) requested and addressed to the son of the deceased monastery founder, Count Emich III . After the announcement of the new Pope, the canons were allowed to elect their chief, the provost. As a devout Christian, the count had to accept that he had lost this right still granted to his father. Emich III. cared for his monastery as Vogt by later obtaining an important document (Höninger Schutzbriefe) from Emperor Friedrich I (Barbarossa) in northern Italy as a loyal follower . The emperor forbade their taxation or interference with them. Accordingly, Emich had himself largely forbidden to use the monastery equipment for economic purposes.
In 1173 Emich III. the monastery 30 Solidi Worms coins and ten bushels of oats, which would have been granted to him every year for the right of the bailiwick. These funds were to be donated to maintain a night light, apparently a candlelight in the family grave of the crypt in honor of the deceased parents. To do this, he deleted, omnem exactionem (any tax) and exempted the clergy from universa servilis juris condicione (from the whole situation of slave law, i.e. from all serf obligations). In addition, he officially granted the canons the free election of provosts.
After 1143 and 1160, the canons received further protective provisions at their request. In the power struggle between the Pope, Emperor, Bishops and Counts, the Höningen monastery had to secure its rights again and again. As a rule, it was the Pope who had the Höninger church property secured with the clerks from his office. A confirmation of the rights from the secular side was unnecessary as long as there were no conflicts of interest between Pope and Emperor. But Barbarossa sat opposite Alexander III. Viktor IV and after him two other anti-popes in office and dignity. Emich III. therefore acted as a loyal vassal who had just supported the subjugation of the Lombard cities to the empire by soliciting the protection of his monastery from Barbarossa, instead of addressing one of the controversial and weakened popes during the long schism (1159–1179) to turn.
Even before Barbarossa's death in 1190, his son Heinrich VI took over . the government and when he himself died in 1197 without major disputes with Rome, a dispute broke out about his successor, which Otto IV initially won. In 1215 Frederick II , the grandson of Barbarossa, was crowned king by the Archbishop of Mainz, after the German imperial princes had elected him as the rival king against Otto four years earlier . The Höninger Canon Monastery did not receive another letter of protection until 1225, followed by the next one in 1227 and 1228 - each drawn up at the request of the convent on behalf of rapidly successive popes ( Honorius III , Gregory IX and Gregory X ). At this time the relationship between Frederick and the papacy deteriorated increasingly because he expanded his sphere of influence to the ecclesiastical territory of Sicily. At the latest when he was banned in 1228, an anti -king or schism had to be expected again; a repeated confirmation of goods and rights in the threatening chaos of new power relations seemed necessary.
Owned the monastery until 1245
The Innocent script of 1143 not only stipulated that the monastery property should be protected, but also localized it in the various places where the serfs of the Leininger lived. The basic equipment of their spiritual foundation included fields, meadows, vineyards and farms, the income of which was obtained by local farmers and taken to Höningen as tithe . In 1245 a second confirmation of goods from the Vatican reached the monastery. It came from Innocent IV and made the early development of the monastery property understandable with the first letter of protection from 1143.
The possessions, on which the provost's interest was concentrated in the hundred years before 1245, represented two clearly separated complexes. The northeastern property extended on the Haardt Mountains and included the villages of Kleinkarlbach , Sausenheim , Bobenheim , Weisenheim am Berg and Dackenheim . The northern part of the possessions included Quirnheim with Bossweiler , Lautersheim and Kerzenheim . In between, the Grünstadt and Mertesheimer districts pushed themselves. Around 1143, Grünstadt and Mertesheim were still owned by the Glandern Monastery . In order to establish the connection between the two groups of villages, the Mühlheim goods were added to the initial equipment by the people of Leiningen as a makeshift. The main concern of Höningen was initially to expand the southern area and to increase its use - namely by incorporating the local churches with the associated property. The Dackenheim church was won as early as 1147 and the church in Kirchheim was incorporated four years later. In the time of Barbarossa the expansion of the Höninger property stalled; after 1151 no new acquisitions were recorded for half a century. Only after Philipp von Schwaben , Barbarossa's youngest son, was murdered in 1208 and the Hohenstaufen interests could not find a strong representative, did Höninger rights increase again.
After the acquisition of the Nackterhof in front of Hertlingshausen, with the consent given in 1220 by King Friedrich II of the Staufer, it was possible to incorporate the church of Leistadt with its branch in Herxheim in a multi-stage legal process . This expanded the Karlbach-Sausenheim-Kirchheim-Dackenheim-Weisenheim complex to the south; By buying goods in Freinsheim and Erpolzheim, the monastery expanded this area to the east. In the years 1220 and 1221, the churches in Wattenheim and Hochspeyer as well as the previously independent Jakobskirche were incorporated.
However, it was not only gained, because at some point in the century before 1245 the possessions mentioned in 1143 near Alzey and Kaiserslautern were sold or exchanged. Bockenheim also no longer appeared in 1245 among the villages in which the monastery owned properties. The Canons' Monastery had therefore withdrawn from the western and too far northern positions; In return, the inventory of goods in its core area had been more rounded and consolidated.
The provisions of Innocent IV (1245), like those of Innocent II, were not limited to the rough definition of the inventory of goods, but also supported the pen directly subordinate to him with privileges. The following were determined in sequence:
- The Rule of St. Augustine is to be strictly obeyed.
- Both the present and future goods of the monastery should remain untouched.
- No tithe may be levied on self-cultivated or leased new land or on forage.
- Clerics and lay people may be accepted as conversations.
- After having made a profession, no one is allowed to leave the monastery without the provost's permission unless a stricter order is sought.
- In the case of a general interdict, it is allowed to hold the mass in a low voice behind closed doors with the exclusion of the excommunicated and with the involvement of the rural population, as long as the monastery itself is not the cause of the interdict.
- Chrisma, holy oil as well as altar, church and priest ordinations are to be received by the Worms bishop.
- New chapels and places of prayer in the Höninger parishes may only be built with the consent of the Pope and Bishop.
- The canons are allowed to build morgues for congregations outside of Germany.
- No new and unjustified taxes should be levied from the spiritual or secular side.
- Free burial at the monastery is allowed while maintaining the rights of the home parishes.
- The canons have the right of free choice of provost.
- In order to preserve the peace, robbery, theft, fire, bloodshed, kidnapping, murder and any use of force are prohibited in all the courtyards and places belonging to the monastery.
- All freedoms, immunities, and exemptions bestowed on previous popes, kings, princes, and other believers are renewed.
- Nobody is allowed to disturb the church, steal property or retain it.
The next and last papal documents followed in 1261, 1272 and 1486.
Episcopal letters of indulgence
The monastery was sponsored several times by the episcopal side through the award of indulgences:
The first letter of indulgence was issued by Bishop Arnold von Semigallien in 1255 in order to push ahead with the renovation of the monastery church: Everyone who helped in any way should receive a 40-day discount on their sins.
On the occasion of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land , on September 6, 1271, the Dominican Father Johannes, Archbishop of Tire , gave the Count Friedrich III. von Leiningen various relics for the monastery and granted indulgences to the worshipers of the sanctuaries or the benefactors of the convent, subject to the consent of the local bishop .
In 1321 Patriarch Egidius of Alexandria, with three archbishops and nine bishops, issued 40 days of temporary penalties for those who visited the monastery church on more than 30 specific feast days, showed themselves charitable to it, bequeathed something to her, celebrated Mass, and prayed Hail Mary and visited the cemetery.
The monastery benefited from further indulgence letters in 1451, 1455 and 1481. The fact that Höningen did not appear to the bishops to be of great importance is shown by the considerable indulgence that was granted in the 15th century for the maintenance of the Worms Cathedral and Liebfrauenstift: the indulgence was exactly 5465 and 1624 days.
Hesso's reforms
Since the middle of the 14th century the monastery got into financial distress, which can be seen in the following:
In March 1366, Prior Bertholdus and the entire convent appointed their former provost Bertholdus to be their procurator and gave him power of attorney to sell their income from 20 Malter rye and six capons in the village and district of Mölsheim, primarily from the Höninger estate before the local court or another court to be sold to the dean and chapter of the church in Zell , Mainz diocese . Berthold complied with the will of his monastery on the next day (March 15); the sale was made expressly out of urgent need.
In 1444, Bishop Friedrich von Worms forbade the monastery to give alms “per quaestum indulgentiarum extorsis” (granted by asking for indulgences); he did not want to issue a solicited indulgence to promote the pen.
The reasons for the financial bottleneck could be explained by the lavish lifestyles of the canons combined with clumsy housekeeping. On the other hand, it must be taken into account that Frederick VII and Frederick VIII, who held the bailiwick at that time, were heavily indebted due to their involvement in feuds and inheritance disputes. Perhaps they used the Canon Monastery as a family-owned business enterprise.
There, the pledges and sales were accompanied by a disintegration of the monastery order. The church degenerated into a "vile stabulum" (worthless stable) in retrospect of the canon Rutger Sycamber (1456–1514?). In January 1446, Dr. Rudolph von Rüdesheim , provost of the Paulstiftes in Worms and vicar general in spiritual matters, urged the Höningen monastery residents to carry out the council resolutions of Basel, according to which clerics had to dismiss their concubines within 15 days; otherwise there was a risk of losing their spiritual offices. The admonition was confirmed in a letter from Bishop Reinhard von Worms in the same year .
The embarrassing situation appealed to the conscientiousness of the 11th Höninger Vogt named Hesso, a trusted advisor to the young Count Palatine Ludwig IV. Hesso found out about the Windesheim Congregation , a reform movement of the Augustinian canons that began in the Windesheim Monastery near Zwolle, which was founded in 1386. The Vogt contacted the brother convent of Bodecken , diocese of Paderborn, whose prior Arnold had already reformed the Kirschgarten monastery near Worms according to the Windesheim rules on behalf of Ludwig IV in 1443 . In 1447, Hesso was able to confidently take measures against the grievances in his monastery. Hesso summoned Prior Arnold from Bodeck and Prior Bertold from Kirschgarten to discuss the Windesheim reorganization of Höningen monastery life with them. The Höninger provost Heinrich and six of his canons were also present: Johannes Rozekedill de Grinstatt (Grünstadt), Nicolaus de Altenliningen (Altleiningen), Johannes stoer de Alsheim (Albsheim), Petrus Rodis de Treveris (Trier), Johannes Greber de Kirchem (Kirchheim) , Johannes Krafft de Bobenheim, presbiteri conventuales monasterii sancti Petri in Hegene (priestly conventuals of the monastery of St. Peter in Höningen)
As Vogt, Hesso handed over the monastery with all possessions and rights to the prior of Bodecken. From now on the monastery was to be forever subject to the highest chapter in Windesheim in the diocese of Utrecht . He reserved all rights and habits for himself and his family that he and his ancestors had previously had over the monastery and its goods, namely bailiwick and umbrella justice, hunting rights in the monastery forest, tax collection on the leased goods, with the exception of those who did Had the monastery built himself. The members of the convent were also not allowed to buy, sell or pledge anything without the approval of the Counts of Leiningen.
The period between 1477 and 1569
On July 7th 1447 the previous provost and the six mentioned canons left the monastery. Prior Arnold summoned new canons to the remaining community. The brother of Hessos, Count Friedrich von Leiningen, took pleasure in the re-establishment of the venerable foundation and honored it with a letter of protection at the end of the year. Nevertheless, the monastic discipline must have been confronted with serious problems later on: In 1473, Prior Johannes IV, who was in office from 1471 to 1488, turned to Vogt Reinhard IV of Leiningen-Westerburg. He explained that the village of Zwingweiler near Höningen had been the cause of declining order for many years, as concubines seduced the clergy. In addition, the villagers would cause great damage to the monastery property. Therefore the prior wanted to buy the village in order to forbid the construction of further houses. Reinhard IV readily agreed. As a result, the houses were torn down so that it disappeared from the ground without a trace. Numerous acquisitions under Reinhard IV showed an economic boom in the monastery.
The writer and poet Rutger Sycamber from Venray in the Netherlands (probably born around 1456) lived as a canon in Höningen from 1476 to 1480 and from 1490 until his death in 1516 (?). Three of his poems (translated from Latin) are intended to give a glimpse into the Höningen monastery in the early 16th century.
Around 1500 Rutger dedicated these lines to the old and frail John IV:
For you, dear Father Johannes, I am writing the following poem. I know that you have given me much good and reminded me of the saints. You have clothed me in holy robes and brought me into company with good brothers. Constantly reinvigorating and regulating principles, I myself was quite indolent towards pious advice and often disregarded it. I already regret not having had beneficial conversations with you beforehand. Special respect entered my mind, with which you kept warming me when you surrounded me. I thank you very much for seeing in the light of my heart how much good you have done for me - and I am amazed. Woe to us poor, who spurn the advice of our fathers, while old age turns green, we disregard all that is salutary, laugh at respectable old age, which we nevertheless desire of our own free will. We want to grow old with all our hearts, but we call ourselves unhappy when the time comes. The spirit does not live in us, even more strictly speaking we serve the perishable flesh and wish for its obedience, we do not care about spiritual gifts, we are bent according to every wind, because we are indeed not dear to it as steadfast ones. You have taught me many things in vain, Father; I sinner have not obeyed the venerable exhortations. So I am crucified from many torments that winter often brings me; I am shocked by the black onslaught because I have neglected my sensation of killing off the flesh. I endure the harm of malicious loss. (R52 No.21 fol.206ra)
After Gregor Scontall (1495) and Johannes von Lambsheim (1496–1497), known as a spiritual writer , a younger took over the management of the monastery. In this context, Rutger described his concerns as follows:
In the monastery, young men very often become priors who have other duties; it is unsightly to convey what is constantly happening in the sacred spaces. The procurator is a boy, the abbot is a young child, the cellar is barely twenty years old. When the religious life perishes, the entire property of the house perishes. We see this in these times. Alas, the young rule already, the old man is despised. Such are the customs at this time. (You may change it for the better, God.) And there are godly men in the monastery, very old and serious, learned and experienced, who have boys as fathers who cannot decline their own names, beardless and without the fruit of virtue. I suffer from it because nothing is more disgraceful than that a learned old man is subject to and serves the effeminate custom of boys. (R37 No.5 fol. 54raf)
Nevertheless, the canon felt a strong bond with the Höningen monastery:
I enjoy this place, here I come up with many a poem. The forest delights and the answering echo delights me, here I would like to die, here harsh fates will carry the sycamber over to heavenly joys, or (what may God avert) to the waters of the perishable Acheront, from which Jesus himself and Mary may keep me away . To you, Triune God, be praise, dominion, glory and strength. Heyna, famous place, may you prosper for many centuries. (R52 No.4)
In the course of the Reformation , however, the monastery only existed for a few decades: Arnold II. Costerius was the last prior. In 1569 he left the monastery with the other members of the convent and was appointed by Count Philip I as the first evangelical pastor in St. Jacob. On March 7th of the same year the monastery was destroyed by fire for unknown reasons. After renovation work, Philip I founded a Latin school here ( Höninger Latin School ).
literature
- Andreas Beriger : New documents on the Windesheim Monastery of St. Peter in Höningen from the works of Rutger Sycamber von Venray (1476–1516?). In: Communications from the Historical Association of the Palatinate (MHVPf). 93, 1995, ISSN 0073-2680 , pp. 117-138
- Karl Heinz Debus: Regesta on the history of the Augustinian canons of Höningen. In: MHVPf. 76, 1978, ISSN 0073-2680 , pp. 19-127.
- Karl Heinz Debus: Regesta on the history of the Augustinian canons of Höningen. In: MHVPf. 78, 1980, pp. 131-180.
- Karl Heinz Debus: Regesta on the history of the Augustinian canons of Höningen. In: MHVPf. 79, 1981, pp. 107-154.
- Johann Georg Lehmann : Historical paintings from the Palatinate. The Leininger Thal, the Dürkheimer Thal, the Neustadter Thal. Richter Verlag, Pirmasens 1974, ISBN 3-920784-14-6 (reprint of the original edition from 1832, published under the title Historical paintings from the Rhine district of Bavaria. ).
- Helmut Naumann: The beginnings of the Höningen Abbey. In: MHVPf. 69, 1972, pp. 92-174.
- Franz Xaver Remling : Documented history of the former monasteries and abbeys in what is now Rhine Bavaria. Christmann, Neustadt an der Haardt 1836.
- Elmar Worgull : Newly discovered medieval building sculptures from the former monastery in Höningen. A consideration of the rare finds . In: Pfälzer Heimat: Journal of the Palatinate Society for the Promotion of Science in conjunction with the Historical Association of the Palatinate and the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research . Publishing house of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science Speyer, Speyer 2015. Issue 1 (2015), pp. 1–11.
- Elmar Worgull : A medieval lavabo from Höningen's former monastery. Inventory of a previously unknown building sculpture . In: Pfälzer Heimat: Journal of the Palatinate Society for the Promotion of Science in conjunction with the Historical Association of the Palatinate and the Foundation for the Promotion of Palatinate Historical Research . Publishing house of the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science Speyer, Speyer 2015. Issue 2 (2015), pp. 100–102.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Xaver Glasschröder : Documents on the Palatinate Church History in the Middle Ages , Munich, 1903, page 201, document regist No. 481