Rotaha Monastery

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The monastery Rotaha was a medieval monastery of the Benedictine nuns in Rodgau .

proof

Documentary evidence

There are clear references to the monastery from two documents, both from the Lorsch Codex . There is another, less clear message in the “Seligenstädter Evangeliar ”. The first document dated February 25, 786 reports that the wealthy abbess Aba , who came from the Carolingian nobility , owned the monastery that belonged to her, which was dedicated to St. Maria and the other saints is consecrated, together with a number of goods in Hesse and the Rhineland, assigned to the Lorsch Monastery . She is contractually guaranteed the continued use of the monastery and the goods for a lease price of ten solidi / year. (1 solidus = 12 denarii, 1 denarius = 1.299 g silver). Aba states that the monastery has been run by abbesses from her noble family for generations. From this remark one can cautiously infer the year the monastery was founded. It should have been founded around 700. Aba contractually secured the management of the monastery for further worthy successors of her noble family. Only when this condition cannot be met should the monastery and its goods be incorporated into the Lorsch monastery.

Two theories try to find out the reason for the transfer of the Rotaha Monastery to the Lorsch Monastery:

  1. The transfer of the Rotaha Monastery to the Lorsch Monastery was the result of an attempted putsch against Charlemagne : Aba's husband , named Ado (Addo, Hatto, Anto) would be involved in the conspiracy of the East Franconian- Thuringian aristocrat Hardrat (785/786) been. In order to evade her monastery from the punishment that followed, Aba gave it to the Lorsch Monastery, which is close to the Carolingians, and thus secured lifelong use.
  2. In the certificate Aba laments the death of her father Theodo . Theodo was a Carolingian ministerial who was responsible for the administration of Rodgau, possibly also that of Maingau . This also included the jurisdiction . As the private church leader of the Rotaha Monastery, he also carried out the administrative and legal affairs for the monastery. In addition, he had to take care of the church and the protection of the monastery. These obligations were imposed as a law on the owner of the church at the Synod of Frankfurt in 794 . Theodo's death created a vacuum in the fulfillment of tasks and the concerns of the monastery. Aba was able to acquire lands belonging to her father through inheritance . To designate this as Alodium , however, presupposes a legal act by the king, who alone could convert the fiefs customary at the time into private property. Possibly this happened under the condition of the simultaneous affiliation to the Lorsch monastery.

As a result, Rotaha Monastery was now associated with the imperial Lorsch monastery and thus enjoyed the advantages of an imperial monastery and the military protection of the king. Lorsch Monastery became the owner of the church as well as the administrator of the Rotaha Monastery and had to provide constant church supplies.

The second document of November 21, 903 contains the transfer of 3 further lands, which the Rotaha Monastery had acquired in the meantime, by the Abbess Kunigunde to the Lorsch Monastery. According to Document 1, Kunigunde was obliged to increase the land and to transfer it . The Rotaha monastery, the lands that were already part of the monastery and the 3 new lands were returned to Kunigunde for further use. The lease price remains at ten solidi / year despite the larger lease volume. An increase would not have been justified either, since the denarius has been struck with a silver content of 1.701 g since the Frankfurt Synod. In this respect, Rotaha was defrauded between 794 and 903. At the time of transfer by Kunigunde , Rotaha Monastery was designated as St. Nazarius properly designated. There is no question of a change of patronage.

The entry "De Rotaha frouuirat II d" can be found in the interest list of the Gospels of the Seligenstadt Monastery, which was probably already commissioned by Einhard, the founder of the monastery, around 830. The word "frouvirat" is a mixture of words "Frou" = woman and (Latin) virat . We still know the word "triumvirate". Therefore the free translation of Frouvirat with “women's rule” can come close to the meaning of the word. Since the entry of the interest list in the Gospels was made in the 9th to 10th centuries, it can actually only refer to the Rotaha Monastery, as there was no other women's institution in Rotaha at that time that could act as borrowers.

Archaeological evidence

Archaeological excavations on the church hill in Ober-Roden in 1985 and 1991 found a church building in at least four phases (a wooden church, a stone church from Carolingian times and - after fires - two building phases in the 13th century), which, according to the excavation findings, possibly at least each had a west gallery for the last two construction phases , typical for a women's monastery and the churches of that time. Due to a coin find under the last floor covering, the last church renovation was not undertaken until the last quarter of the 13th century. This possibly proves that the church was used as a monastery church up to this time.

Other documents

The parish church of Ober-Roden still bears the historically traditional patronage of St. Nazarius , the patron of the Lorsch monastery. When the church came to this patronage is unknown. From the evidence of a wooden church in Ober-Roden, which was probably a sacred building from the Merovingian era, it can be concluded that church supplies existed early on in this place. Probably the Lorsch Monastery, in its capacity as a private church lord, ensured the constant ecclesiastical supply of the Rotaha Monastery through ample furnishing of the Ober-Roden church. In the Middle Ages, the Ober-Roden church was a desirable object to exchange beneficiaries. The land register of the first survey of the community Nieder-Roden from 1856 by Simon Reichhuber shows a striking amount of real estate in Rollwald, another possible location of the Rotaha monastery, for the Catholic Church Ober-Roden. Until the creation of a separate pastor's office in Nieder-Roden, the church supplying Nieder-Roden was carried out from Ober-Roden. It could be that the Catholic Church Ober-Roden later, out of gratitude for the task award and the enrichment of the property pledges, the patronage of St. Nazarius took over.

In the fief book of Gerhard III. von Eppstein (around 1250) is evidenced by an enfeoffment with the Vogteirecht to Arnolt Bunre " in Rode near the blessed place " ( in Rode juxta Felicem locum ). From this location it was concluded that the monastery was already extinguished at the time, but the memory of its location was still there. (This date correlates with the date of the expulsion of the private church lords - the Benedictines - from the Lorsch monastery. In 1232, the Lorsch monastery was subordinated to the Archdiocese of Mainz, headed by Siegfried III von Eppstein The operation was no longer possible in the Benedictine monastery Rotaha, because the privileges of an imperial monastery were no longer available. These had come about through the association of the Rotaha monastery with the imperial Lorsch monastery.)

It is not clear whether the addition “at the blessed place” when Arnolt Bunre was granted bailiff's rights refers to the former location of the Rotaha monastery. However, field names in the Rollwald / Nieder-Roden area, which are included in the first survey of 1856, are clear. The field names Seelig, on the Königswiese, Mühlenfeldchen, Mitten auf dem Müllemrad, Gänsgraben, Gickelsbusch etc. indicate a predestined area in which the monastery complex, including watermill and bailiwick Niwenhof, may have existed. Since neither Ober- nor Nieder-Roden was used as a place reference for the location of the Rotaha monastery, but the Niwenhof with its quality as "well known" (nuncupato), it can be assumed that it was a well-known administrative body that existed until the 16th century . The Niwenhof was the aristocratic seat from which the original Rotaha monastery was founded. So the Niwenhof must logically have been built earlier than the monastery. The year of origin can be carefully assumed to be around 650. Thus it would be a Merovingian foundation. The question why an aristocratic seat was founded in a strategically uninteresting area and its management was occupied by a nobleman can only be answered to the effect that it must have been an administrative institution which, due to its function, is "well known", i.e. beyond the limits of the Rodgau. Such an organ can only have been a royal court at that time. Such a royal court was generally referred to as a "villa". This legal term "Villa Rotaher" can be found in the deeds of donation of later years and indirectly refers to the area of ​​the royal court. The function and characteristics of a royal court are described in the Carolingian script "Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii". If the existence of a royal court can be assumed, then the Rotaha monastery was built on the property of the royal court and not on the private property of the Theodons. This untenable situation could have been discovered during a visit by the king to the royal court and forced the abbess Aba to associate with the Lorsch monastery in 786. The visit of Charles d. Size would have been possible in the autumn of 785 (Easter he spent at the Eresburg , in summer he stayed at the synod in Paderborn and at Christmas he acted as godfather for Widukind in Arrigny). The end of the Niwenhof, which subsequently developed into the Vogtei and finally the Nieder-Roden Regional Court, is after 1537. A notarial instrument by Kurmainz complains that the farm on the Neurott is decaying.

Rating

The fact that Aba was married, had children and siblings is justified by the "guiding name theory". There it is only suspected that Ado was involved in the Hardrat conspiracy, which only ended in 786. It is not plausible why Aba, as a possible distantly related subsidiary member of the family, should have suspected an impending punishment as early as February 786.

The archaeological findings of the excavations on the church hill in Ober-Roden have provided evidence that a predecessor church may have existed until the Merovingian period.

Since no graves were found inside the church from the time the monastery existed, the burial places of abbesses and family members of the own church lord could not be proven.

In the possible location area Rollwald / Nieder-Roden, which covers several hectares, an excavation of 20 × 20 m² has so far been carried out without results. However, it is not conclusive to derive an incorrect location assumption from this result.

Even trying to derive the location of a monastery from the patronage of the parish church is not logically evident.

Although topographical (time horizon 1856) and documentary arguments speak for the location of the Rotaha monastery in Rollwald / Nieder-Roden, as well as various indications through field names, there is no conclusive evidence available, as is the case for the Ober-Roden location.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Minst, Karl Josef [transl.]: Lorscher Codex (Volume 1), Certificate 12, February 25, 786 - Reg. 1952. In: Heidelberg historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, p. 67 , accessed on February 27, 2016 .
  2. ↑ W. Hartmann: Monastery Make Bach and early medieval nobility in Bachgau. In: Aschaffenburg yearbook. Vol. 16, year 1993, ISBN 3-87965-065-9 , p. 180.
  3. ^ Egon Schallmayer: Ober-Roden Rotaha. In: Friedhelm Jürgensmeier, Franziskus Büll, Regina Elisabeth Schwerdtfeger: The Benedictine monasteries and nunneries in Hessen. 2004, ISBN 3-8306-7199-7 , p. 893.
  4. ^ The Frankfurt chapter of 794. In: 794 - Charlemagne in Frankfurt am Main. ISBN 3-7995-1204-7 .
  5. ↑ Document 58 Codex Laureshamensis
  6. ↑ Seligenstädter Gospels, University and State Library Darmstadt, Vol. 2 HS. 1957, p. 182
  7. ↑ Karl Pohl: The Nivenhof - a Merovingian royal court? Carolingian administrative structures at the former Benedictine monastery Rotaha , Grin Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-656-83498-4 .
  8. ^ Egon Schallmayer: Example Ober-Roden (Rödermark). Reprint of the journal for archeology of the Middle Ages. Year 2005, p. 160.
  9. ^ Karl Pohl: The checkered history of the patronage of St. Nazarius - Church in Oberroden / Rödermark. 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-39689-4 .
  10. ↑ Hess. State Archives Darmstadt HStAD A1 174/3 Oberroden v. April 18, 1472.
  11. ↑ Eppsteiner Lehenbuch. in the prince. Stolberg's archive in Rossla, copy from the middle of the 15th century, content in the 13th and 13th centuries. Manuscript dating back to the 14th century, made by A. Wyß, checked by G. Freiherr Schenk von Schweinsberg, HSTAD C1 B No. 26.
  12. ↑ a b Karl Pohl: The field names in the Nieder-Roden district. Editor: Working group for local history Nieder-Roden e. V. 2009
  13. ↑ a b Karl Pohl: Here !? was the Carolingian monastery of Rotaha. Grin Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-638-94679-7 .
  14. ^ A b Karl Pohl: From the Vogtshof to the Nieder-Roden regional court. The Niwenhof at the former Carolingian monastery Rotaha. Grin Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-640-68562-2 .
  15. ↑ Niwenhof, Offenbach district. Historical local dictionary for Hesse (as of September 25, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on November 3, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Karl Pohl: The Nivenhof. a Merovingian royal court? , Grin-Verlag Munich, 2014, ISBN 978-3-656-83498-4
  17. ↑ HStAD E1 K 218/2
  18. ↑ W. Hartmann: Monastery Make Bach and early medieval nobility in Bachgau. In: Aschaffenburg yearbook. Vol. 16, year 1993, ISBN 3-87965-065-9 , p. 149, and p. 134, 155, 174, 180, 220.

literature

  • Karl Pohl: Here!? was the Carolingian monastery of Rotaha. 2008, ISBN 978-3-638-94679-7 . (House work)
  • Karl Pohl: The end of the Carolingian monastery Rotaha. 2008, ISBN 978-3-640-21187-6 . (Research work)
  • Karl Pohl: From Vogtshof to Nieder-Roden Regional Court - The “Niwenhof” at the former Carolingian monastery of Rotaha. 2010, ISBN 978-3-640-68562-2 . (House work)
  • Karl Pohl: The checkered history of the patronage of the St. Nazarius Church in Oberroden / Rödermark. 2009, ISBN 978-3-640-39689-4 . (Term paper, e-book)
  • Karl Pohl: The abbesses Aba and Hiltisnot and their Carolingian Rotaha. 2011, ISBN 978-3-640-83469-3 . (House work)
  • Karl Pohl: The Carolingian monastery Rotaha in the light of the field names Nieder-Roden. 2012, ISBN 978-3-656-28157-3
  • Egon Schallmayer : History of the construction of the new church. In: Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the St. Nazarius parish in Rödermark-Ober-Roden. Rödermark 1996.
  • Egon Schallmayer: The church buildings on the Ober-Rodener church hill as an expression of religious life and local history. In: Landscape Dreieich, sheets for local research. Langen 1998, pp. 57-73.
  • Egon Schallmayer: Ober-Roden / Rothaha. In: Friedhelm Jürgensmeier, Franziskus Büll, Regina Elisabeth Schwerdtfeger: The Benedictine monasteries and nunneries in Hessen. 2004, ISBN 3-8306-7199-7 , pp. 891-899.

Web links

Coordinates: 49 ° 58 ′ 42.7 "  N , 8 ° 49 ′ 38.2"  E