S. Salvator Monastery on Mount Tabor
Coordinates: 32 ° 41 ′ 12 " N , 35 ° 23 ′ 25" E
The S. Salvator Monastery on Mount Tabor was a Benedictine monastery on Mount Tabor in Galilee (now Israel ) at the time of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . It was founded in 1099/1100 by Tankred of Tiberias . At the beginning of its existence, the abbot of the monastery had archbishopric powers in Galilee, which passed to the Bishop of Nazareth (from 1129 archbishopric) until 1109. After the Battle of Hattin in 1187, the area around Mount Tabor fell into Muslim hands and the monks settled in Acreover. In 1255/56 the monastery was dissolved in exile by Pope Alexander IV and the possessions that remained to him were transferred to the Order of St. John . The Johanniter were able to regain Mount Tabor for a few years and keep a garrison there. In 1263 Mount Tabor finally fell into Muslim hands.
geography
Mount Tabor is about 8.5 km as the crow flies east-southeast of the old town of Nazareth . It is a nearly conical mountain, completely isolated from the mountains of Nazareth, but not of volcanic origin. At the northwestern foot of the mountain is the small town of Daburiyya .
Religious significance of Mount Tabor
Mount Tabor was and is considered in Christian tradition as the place of the transfiguration of Christ . Jesus took his disciples Peter , James and John with him to Mount Tabor and showed himself to them in his full divinity. Before the eyes of the three disciples he was outshone by a supernatural light (" Tabor light "), and his clothes became brilliant white. Moses and Elijah appeared and talked to Jesus. ( Matthew 17 : 1-3 EU ) The presumed place of the event, Mount Tabor, is not mentioned by name in any of the Gospels. However, Matthew and Mark describe it as a high mountain, set apart from the other mountains of Galilee. Eastern Christians identified it early on as the Mount of Transfiguration.
In early Christian times (5th century), Mount Tabor was equated by the Coptic Church of Egypt with the mountain or the place where Abraham met the King of Salem and high priest Melchizedek . Melchizedek brought him bread and wine and gave him his blessing. At the beginning of the Crusades, there was a cave carved into the rock with an altar on Mount Tabor. The church of St. Melchizedek, built in the 19th century, stands right above this cave.
(Pre) history and foundation of the S. Salvator monastery
The first church on Mount Tabor was perhaps built as early as the time of Emperor Constantine (beginning of the 4th century). Peter said on the mountain (Tabor) to Jesus: "If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." ( Matthew 17.4 EU ) Accordingly, a church was built, the High altar to Christ and their side altars in separate side chapels were consecrated to Moses and Elias. This is reported by St. Willibald , who visited the Holy Land in 724.
During the first crusade, Tankred of Tiberias conquered Galilee shortly after the fall of Jerusalem and was named Prince of Galilee by Godfrey of Bouillon . In Galilee there were initially no attempts to create a new Latin diocesan arrangement. At that time there were two churches on Mount Tabor, an Orthodox monastery with the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ and a church dedicated to Moses and Elias. Tankred founded the Latin monastery of S. Salvator on Mount Tabor as early as 1099/1100. He drove out the monks of the Orthodox monastery and occupied the monastery with Benedictine monks. The Orthodox monks built a new church nearby, dedicated to Elijah. In 1101 Tankred also confiscated the income of the Orthodox monastery and transferred it to the new Benedictine monastery, but also z. T. his knights. However, the possessions of the Orthodox monastery were largely devastated by the war and not cultivated. Four properties across the Jordan were also still in Muslim hands.
In 1103 Pope Paschal II took the new monastery under his protection and confirmed his possessions. The first abbot of the monastery, Gerald, received archbishopric powers in Galilee and was a direct suffragan of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The monastery adopted the Cluniac rule , but was not part of the Cluniac monastery association, as some authors have suggested. The monastery became a center of spiritual life in Galilee. It set up z. B. also a scriptorium , as shown by a surviving manuscript that was created in this monastery.
In 1106 Baldwin I confirmed the land ownership of the monastery brothers from Mount Tabor. The deed lists 34 titles of ownership, and many others whose names he did not know. The latter sentence probably referred to the (former) property of the Orthodox monastery, which was (still) owned by Muslims. The king also decreed that the part of the former property of the Orthodox monastery that Tankred of Tiberias had given his knights to remain in their hands for life, but should revert to the monastery after their death. In some cases, however, this was not without legal remedies. In 1152 Guy, Lord of Bethsan, had to be compelled by a judgment of a papal legate to return the tithes of two casalia to the monastery on Mount Tabor.
Introduction of the Latin church organization in Galilee
In 1109 the Latin diocese of Nazareth was founded. The diocese of Tiberias , which was formally founded at the same time, was initially led in personal union by the Bishop of Nazareth. The diocese of Nazareth thus included all of Galilee. With this foundation, the abbot of the S. Salvator monastery on Mount Tabor lost his archbishopric powers. However, the monastery remained a direct suffragan of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and was not placed under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Nazareth. The monastery continued to receive a third of the tithe from Tiberias, which actually now belonged to the Bishop of Nazareth. Although the abbot had lost his position as archbishop, he retained the right to wear the pallium , which was again confirmed by the bull of Pope Eugene III. (1148-1153) was confirmed. In 1129 the diocese of Nazareth was raised to an archdiocese. The diocese of Tiberias was occupied by its own bishop until 1144.
The hermits on Mount Tabor
Even before the conquest of Galilee by Tankred of Tiberias, hermits lived in caves on Mount Tabor. Most of them were hermits from the Middle Eastern Christian churches, but there was also at least one Latin hermit among them. By the middle of the 12th century, other hermits settled on the mountain, especially around the Melchizedek cave chapel.
History of the Latin Monastery
In 1112 Tankred of Tiberias died without a physical heir. In 1113 Mawdud of Mosul invaded Galilee and besieged the city of Tiberias, but could not take it. For a short time in May 1113 he made Mount Tabor his headquarters. The monastery was looted and badly damaged. The monastery properties in the area were also damaged. Some monks are also said to have been killed, who were later thought of as martyrs in the necrology of some French monasteries. Two friars, Martin and Rainald, were then sent to southern Italy to collect aid for the reconstruction. In the following period, the monastery took off, especially since Galilee was no longer affected by Muslim forays until 1154.
In 1120 a first meeting of the secular and spiritual dignitaries of the Kingdom of Jerusalem took place in Nablus . Abbot Peter from the monastery of S. Salvator on Mount Tabor also took part.
Around 1150 the monastery church was rebuilt and apparently also fortified.
The monastery received numerous donations, the proceeds of which ensured the economic basis of the monastery. The monks on Mount Tabor could not run their own farm. In the crusader states, the monastery was given a vineyard near Tripoli early on, and in 1139 it received the casale Bethsanum from Count Raimund II of Tripoli and his wife Hodierna . For this, the monastery brothers had to maintain an eternal light in the monastery on Mount Tabor, in memory of the deceased relatives of the count. In 1146 the friars of Raimund II received houses in Tripoli and were exempt from customs duties on goods that they transported through his territory.
The monastery also received possessions in southern Italy; for example, it received the Kastel Liccia in 1115 in the diocese of Umbriatico in Calabria . It also received a vineyard and fishing rights in the Gulf of Taranto .
1161 confirmed Pope Alexander III. again the rights of the monastery, such as exemption and exemption from paying tithes. In addition, the monastery was given the right to freely elect the abbot, and the right to be buried, that is, anyone who wished it and made appropriate gifts to the monastery, was buried in the monastery church.
With the exception of the first abbot Gerald, the following abbots were little involved in the politics of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. That only changed in 1169, when the then abbot Bernhard of the monastery on Mount Tabor was appointed Bishop of Lydda . He even represented the Jerusalem Patriarch Heraclius during his trip to Western Europe in 1184 in Jerusalem. That year Saladin attacked Kerak and besieged the fortified city. Bishop Bernhard was looking for volunteers among the knights who had come to Jerusalem as pilgrims to support King Baldwin IV , who had put together a relief army.
The monastery on Mount Tabor was not only a place of prayer and pilgrimage, but also an important institution in the north of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It is recorded from 1180 that the monastery had to provide 100 armed men (mercenaries) in the event of war.
In September 1183 Saladin made a military incursion into Galilee. A contingent of his troops also moved to Mount Tabor, where the soldiers took the Elias Monastery. Saladin could not take the heavily fortified monastery of S. Salvator. The monastery militia and villagers from the surrounding settlements, who had sought protection on Mount Tabor, repulsed the attack. Meanwhile the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem had also advanced. Saladin retired to Damascus in October 1183.
The history of the monastery from 1187
On June 29, 1187 Saladin invaded Galilee again and besieged the city and fortress of Tiberias. A detachment of his troops also captured Mount Tabor and the S. Salvator Monastery, which was sacked. The monks fled to other parts of the kingdom. After the Battle of Hattin on July 4, 1187, they could not return to their monastery, because Mount Tabor was now in Muslim territory. It is unclear where the monks turned immediately after the Battle of Hattin, because there are now no reports about the monastery until 1205. That year, Pope Innocent III appointed. the abbot of the monastery Tabor and the abbot of the Piedmontese Cistercian monastery Lucedio as mediators in the dispute between Leon III. of Cilicia and Bohemond IV of Antioch . From descriptions of the location (as residents) in documents from 1206, there are indications of where the monks from Mount Tabor had settled: near the gate of Geoffrey Le Tor in Akkon . With the loss of most of the possessions (in Galilee) the economic base of the (exile) monastery became very small. The income from the remaining possessions were also difficult to collect, as they were very scattered. Presumably the monastery also had staff problems (lastly three monks are mentioned by name); the attraction of Mount Tabor was no longer there, and the hope of returning to the monastery on Mount Tabor waned more and more. In addition, the debt burden of the monastery grew in exile. The (exile) monastery would hardly have been able to rebuild the monastery buildings on Mount Tabor.
In 1211 Saladin's brother Sultan al-Adil I had Mount Tabor fortified; the work was finished in 1215. The fortress on Mount Tabor received a garrison of allegedly 2,000 men. With the 5th Crusade there was renewed movement in the dispute over the possession of Galilee. Mount Tabor was besieged by the crusaders, but not captured. With the attack of the Crusaders in Egypt in 1218, the garrison was withdrawn from Mount Tabor, but before that the fortifications were razed again so that they could not fall into the hands of the Crusaders. The monastery church does not seem to have been badly damaged. With the agreement between Frederick II and Sultan al-Kamil in 1229, an area with Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Lydda and Nazareth came back into Christian possession. Mount Tabor did not belong to this area. However, the mountain was accessible again for Christian pilgrims. It is also uncertain whether the monks of the S. Salvator Monastery returned to Mount Tabor from their exile in Acre. In any case, there is no document that could prove a possible return. On the contrary, in 1238 Pope Gregory IX ordered. an investigation against the abbot of the monastery S. Salvator (P.), who is not named, for violating the rules of the order and squandering monastery assets. He appointed the Bishop of Tortosa , the Abbot of the Monastery of St. Samuel in Acre and the Prior of the Aegidius Church in Acre to carry out the investigation. This suggests that the S. Salvator Monastery was still in Acre, or at least that the abbot was in Acre. In 1241 Sultan al-Salih Ayyub also returned Mount Tabor to the Christians. It is also not known whether the monks returned from their exile. When they returned, they had to flee again as early as 1244. An army of Khorezmian mercenaries ravaged Galilee on their way to Jerusalem, which they captured and sacked in August 1244. In 1247 Sultan al-Salih Ayyub conquered Tiberias, Belvoir Castle and Mount Tabor. After the failed Sixth Crusade in Egypt, King Louis IX stayed. of France, however, in the Holy Land and recaptured Galilee in 1250. In these uncertain times, it would have been difficult for the monastery to collect the income, especially since many goods were possibly destroyed or at least damaged by the war and the looting. Even now there is no evidence that the monks of the S. Salvator monastery returned to Mount Tabor. On March 25, 1255, the abbot of the Tabor monastery was still present at a trial in Acre. This is the last record of an abbot of the Tabor monastery.
The dissolution of the monastery and post-history
On April 1, 1255, Pope Alexander IV transferred all possessions of the S. Salvator Monastery on Mount Tabor to the Order of St. John. The Pope justified this step with the fact that the monastery on Mount Tabor had been destroyed and the few monks in Acre did not have the means to rebuild the monastery. The archbishop of Tire and the abbot of the monastery S. Maria im Tal Josaphat were commissioned to transfer the holdings of the Tabor monastery to the Johanniter. The last monks of the Tabor monastery protested against this decision, but without success. The following year Joscelin von Tornell actually took possession of the properties of the Tabor monastery in Galilee, which were not in Muslim hands, on behalf of the Master of St. John. In return, the Johanniter had to take over the debts of the Tabor monastery and adequately provide for the last monks if they were not accepted into another monastery. The last Tabor monks, three of whom are still named in 1256, were distributed among the other Benedictine monasteries in Acre, and the abbot's seal was broken. This marked the end of this important monastery in Galilee at the beginning of the 12th century.
The Johanniter laid a garrison on Mount Tabor and resumed services. Christian pilgrims could visit the place again and pray there. However, the Johanniter could not maintain Mount Tabor for long. In 1263 Sultan Baibars invaded Galilee and also advanced to Mount Tabor. The Christian garrison there fled without offering any resistance. Baibars had both monasteries on Mount Tabor destroyed. Today only the apse above the crypt with the holy place remains of the original church of the Crusaders. The Franciscans' Church of the Transfiguration of Christ was built on the ruins of the medieval monastery in 1924.
Abbots
- 1103 Giraldus / Gerald / Gerardus / Girardus, Montis Thabor archepiscopi totius Galileae
- 1112 to 1115 Raimundus
- 1120 Peter, Abbot of Mount Tabor
- 1138 Wilhelmus, Dept.
- 1139 Gaufridus, Abbot Martinus, prior
- 1146 to 1152 Pons / Pontius, Dept.
- 1162 to 1168 Bernardus, became bishop of Lydda in 1168, died on July 4, 1187 at the Battle of Hattin , 1162 Garinus, prior, later became abbot
- 1169 to 1175 Garinus, 1169, 1175 Lanzalinus, Prior
- 1180 to 1183 Johannes, 1180 H., Prior
- 1205/06 M., 1205 Jordanus, prior
- 1214 John II
- 1220 Andrew
- 1233 to 1246 P., abbas Montis Thabor,
- 1250 Gauvain
literature
- Ursmer Berlière: The old Benedictine monasteries in the holy land. II. Cap. The Order of Benedictine in the Holy Land during and after the Crusades. Studies and communications from the Benedictine and Cistercian orders with special consideration of the history of the order and statistics, 9: 260–272, 474–492, Brno 1888
- Geneviève Bresc-Bautier: Le cartulaire du chapitre du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem. 431 S., Geuthner, Paris, 1984 (series Documents relatifs à l'histoire des croisades, No. 15) (hereinafter abbreviated to Bresc-Bautier, Cartulaire with corresponding page number and document number)
- Joseph Delaville de Roulx: Cartulaire général de l'Ordre des Hospitaliers de S. Jean de Jérusalem t. 3 (1260-1300). 819 p., Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1899 Online at Biblioteca Nacional Digital (hereinafter abbreviated to Delaville de Roulx, Cartulaire général, vol. 3 with corresponding page number)
- Bernard Hamilton: The Latin Church in the Crusader States. The Secular Church. Variorum Publications Ltd., London 1980 ISBN 0-86078-072-4 , p. 60.
- Bernard Hamilton, Andrew Jotischky: Latin and Greek Monasticism in the Crusader States. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2020 ISBN 978-0-521-83638-8 , p. 193.
- Rudolf Hiestand: Palmarea - Palmerium: One or two abbeys in Galilee in the 12th century. Journal of the German Palestine Association, 108 (2): 174–188, 1992 online at JSTOR (hereinafter abbreviated to Hiestand, Palmarea with corresponding page number)
- Reinhold Röhricht. Syria sacra. Journal of the German Palestine Association, 10: 1–48, 1887 JSTOR (PDF) (hereinafter abbreviated as Röhricht, Syria sacra with corresponding page number)
- Reinhold Röhricht: History of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1100–1291). Verlag der Wagnerschen Universitäts-Buchhandlung, Innsbruck, 1898, p. 146, footnote
- Eugène de Rozière: Cartulaire de l'Église du Saint Sépulcre de Jerusalem. Texts et Appendice, Imprimerie Nationale, Paris, 1849 Online at Google Books (hereinafter abbreviated to Rozière, Cartulaire with corresponding page number and document number)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Delaville de Roulx, Cartulaire géneral, Vol. 3, pp. 66/67, Document No. 3053.
- ↑ Röhricht, RRH, p. 6, no. 39.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Röhricht, Syria sacra, pp. 39–41.
- ↑ Bresc-Bautier, Cartulaire, pp. 99-101, document number 34.
- ↑ Rozières, Cartulaire, pp. 258–260, document number 142 Online at Google Books .
- ↑ Bresc-Bautier, Cartulaire, pp. 83–85, document number 24.
- ↑ a b c Hiestand, Palmarea, p. 179.
- ↑ Röhricht, RRH, p. 1127, No. 299/300.