Heidenheim Monastery

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The monastery Heidenheim is a former convent of Benedictine in Heidenheim in Franconia in the Diocese of Eichstaett .

Heidenheim Monastery
Heidenheim Monastery

history

The monastery was founded in 752 by St. Wunibald, in agreement with his brother, St. Willibald , the first bishop of Eichstätt , was founded as a missionary post for these Anglo-Saxons in Sualafeldgau . Wunibald, who has been a member of St. Boniface counted, was also the first abbot of this new Benedictine monastery , which soon received endowments . After he died on December 18, 761 in his monastery in the presence of his brother and was buried in the monastery church, the management of the family monastery was taken over by his sister, St. Walburga , who continued it as abbess based on the Anglo-Saxon model as a Benedictine double monastery (for men and women). After miracles occurred at his grave immediately after Wunibald's death, on September 24th, 777, Willibald raised his bones and buried them in the new east choir of the new monastery church under construction. This second church was built in stone; what the previous church was like is not known. In 778 the church consecrated to Salvator Mundi was completed.

After Walburga's death (February 15, 779) the character of the monastery changed. During the episcopate of Willibald's successor Gerhoh , the monastery was converted into a monastery for secular canons around the year 790 , whereby the secular canons received only part of the goods, while the other part was added to the diocese and was managed by a farm . How long they lived in community is unknown, as there was no information about the monastery until the 12th century. On September 21st in the years 870 to 879 the bones of Walburga and Wunibald were brought to Eichstätt, but the bones of Wunibald were brought back after three days.

In the 11th century the monastery received an extensive donation from the Lords of Lechsgmünd . The count's son Leodegar von Lechsgmünd († February 21, 1074 in Gempfing), founder of the St. Walburg Monastery , allegedly decided to join the Heidenheim Monastery as " Canonicus Willibaldinus " himself after recovering from a serious illness in old age . The lords of Truhendingen, who were related to the Counts of Lechsgmünd, also made donations to the monastery. Some of the lords of Truhendingen, like Ulrich and his wife, were buried in the monastery.

In the 12th century the pen was in need of reform, the intellectual life of the aristocratic canon canons was, according to the sources, completely depressed, and the prelatures and canonicals had become for sale ( simony ). After the Benedictine monastery of Kastl, located in the diocese of Eichstätt, had accepted the Hirsau reform , Bishop Gebhard II reformed the Heidenheim monastery by initially making it an extinction pen for the canons. Pope Eugene III. approved this procedure and Gebhard's plan to rebuild a Benedictine monastery in Heidenheim. Gebhard's death in 1149 thwarted the plans, and his successor, Bishop Burchard, stood on the side of the previous canons who rejected the conversion. At the instigation of the Canon Ilsungus, a reform supporter, Pope Eugene III. the expulsion of the canons of Heidenheim and the establishment of a Benedictine monastery. The excommunication threatened by the canons did not fail to have an effect: after lengthy negotiations in Nuremberg, they agreed to the reintroduction of monastic life.

Since 1155 Heidenheim was again a Benedictine monastery. This was dissolved in 1537 in the course of the Reformation . Until 1805 the monastery buildings served as apartments and offices. The bones of Wunibald are lost.

church

The first stone building was consecrated in 778. A new building followed almost 100 years later. A fundamental renovation followed with the Romanesque building, which was consecrated between 1182 and 1188 (clear influence of the Hirsau reform construction method). The nave and transept are still preserved from this . Before 1363 the choir was built in the Gothic style .

Among the numerous tombs are to be emphasized:

  • Walburgis tomb from the early 13th century
  • Tumba of St. Wunibald from 1484
  • Double plate of Wiricho and his wife (around 1349)

The former monastery church serves the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Heidenheim as a parish church.

literature

  • Martin Winter: On the early history of the Heidenheim monastery. In: Alt-Gunzenhausen. 44, 1988, pp. 22-59.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Winter, p. 23ff.
  2. ↑ Winter, p. 41 f.
  3. ^ Alfred Wendehorst : The diocese of Eichstätt. Volume 1: The row of bishops until 1535 . (= Germania Sacra . New episode 45). Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-11-018971-2 , p. 33. (digitized version)
  4. ↑ Winter, p. 43 ff.
  5. ^ Friedrich Jacobi: Prehistory of the city and the former principality of Ansbach. Ansbach 1868, p. 114.
  6. ↑ Winter, p. 48 ff.
  7. ↑ Winter, p. 54 f.

Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 3.7 ″  N , 10 ° 44 ′ 33.7 ″  E