Manesse
The Manesse were a noble and patrician family in Zurich , which is still known today mainly for the " Manessische Liederhandschrift " named after them .
Manesse family
The Manesse dynasty was continuously represented in the Zurich Council from the 13th to the 15th centuries. They appointed the mayor twice and actively promoted the city's cultural life. They belonged to the patriciate of the city.
Her coat of arms shows two fighting white knights on a red background , one of whom is victorious; it is a speaking coat of arms , the name comes from Manesser , man killer .
The family reached its first high point between 1250 and 1310. It was Manesse who, as provosts at the Grossmünster, helped the cult of Charles to break through and employed Konrad von Mure as cantor . Around 1300 there were no fewer than four Manessas as canons in the Grossmünster, one of whom also held this office in the Fraumünster . There were also four councilors , among them Rüedge Maness (II), who was praised by Hadlaub . Rüedge was a councilor for over forty years and thus took part in all the important business of the city. Certificates were issued in his house, the Manessehof.
Provost Heinrich Maness was buried in 1271 in the Grossmünster, opposite the graves of the city saints Felix and Regula , on the place with the highest prestige.
35 years later Heinrich Manesse invested a fortune in the Hard to buy the place behind the saints' graves as the final resting place for himself and his wife.
Family branches
There are different lines of the Manesse family: the knightly line on Manegg Castle , the branch in Hard, which has been mentioned since 1224 as a fief of the Fraumünster Abbey, the Einsiedeln monastery and the empire, and the line on the village. The progenitor of the knightly line on Manegg was Rüdiger I (first mentioned in 1224, died in 1253), knight and imperial bailiff.
His son Rüdiger II became famous , a legal expert and friend and promoter of poetry and song collector (1234–1304); In addition, he was entrusted with various important offices by the city and the Fraumünsterstift. Together with his siblings he owned a stone house in the area of today's Wettingerhäuser until 1252. He probably also owned the Manesseturm at the top of Schoffelgasse / Münstergasse, of which the rear building at Napfgasse 4 still stands today as a listed building called “ Conditorei Schober ”. Around 1300 he also owned Manegg Castle .
His son Rüdiger III (died shortly after his father in 1304) was a candidate for a canon donation from the provost in 1272, canon in 1282, schoollord of the Grossmünsterstift since 1296 and thus the actual educational director of the city. He had a younger brother of the same name (Rüdiger IV, died 1309). His brother Johannes I (died 1297) was also a candidate for a canon foundation from the provost since 1273, canon in 1281, custodian or treasurer since 1296. As such, he controlled the finances of the largest religious institution in Zurich. According to Hadlaub, he and his father were collectors of Minneongs.
The family of the knightly line must have been rich. In 1328 Rüedger V (1305–1331), son of Rüediger IV, donated 20 marks silver to the Grossmünster for his time of year (mass in his memory) - this sum corresponds to the annual income of the Barons of Regensberg around 1310 - and shortly after his death his brother promised the Grossmünster the payment of the 60 marks of silver that Rüedger had donated for an altar of Mary.
The descendants sympathized with the Bruns upheaval of 1336, Rüdiger VII replaced Rudolf Brun as mayor. After his death (1380 or 1383), the office was abolished for life, and two mayors were elected annually. Soon afterwards, the family branch on Manegg went downhill, it probably went out around 1415.
Today we find the Manessebrunnen at the foot of the castle hill, which reminds us of Rüdiger von Manegg and his grandson, who stood out in the battle of the Zurich against the Austrians in Dättwil in 1351. The inscription on the bronze plate reads: The memory of the knight Rüdiger Manesse, the friend of the minstrels, the hoard of justice in advice and action. He died MCCCIV. His grandson won at Dättwil.
The branch in the Hard began with John I, who inherited the goods in the Hard including the Hard tower . The descendants were very successful politically and economically from the 13th to the 15th century.
The line on the village was bourgeois. The progenitor Conrad lived from 1240 to before 1274. They were active in the council and also appointed a canon. The stone house at Kirchgasse 33 belonged to the civil branch of the Manesse from 1278.
Since 1219 there was the Otto Manesse as canons and representatives in the council; since 1305 the Manesse am Stad, on the Limmat ; these were also connected to the Canon Monastery.
Documented family members
There are various references to individual members of the Manesse family in documents and documents, some in connection with the Grossmünster. Documents mentioning the Manesse are kept in the Zurich City Archives (mainly from the Fraumünster Archives).
In 1240 Rudolf Manesse was a subdeacon of the Fraumünster Abbey.
In 1245 the canons Otto and Rudolf Manesse are mentioned in a Einsiedeln document.
In 1250 Heinrich Manesse II was canon and in 1259 succeeded his brother as provost. He died in 1271, the grave is in the western yoke of the Twelve Messenger Chapel near the saints, where the entrance from the aisle to the stairwell is today.
1251 a donation from Rüdiger Manesse to the Fraumünster Abbey is mentioned in a Einsiedeln document.
In the State Museum there is a plaster cast of a seal impression of Provost Heinrich Manesse II from 1261. In the upper half it shows Charlemagne with the sword on his knees, without a halo. On the median is CAROLUS , in the lower half you can see the Grossmünster cartridge Felix and Regula. In the left margin, translated into German: ... from Zurich , right: Heinrich, Probst . Heinrich Manesse II was probably the first provost to include the image of the enthroned emperor in his seal. The seal imprint of Provost Johannes von Wildegg from 1289 shows Charlemagne alone, with a halo. Proof of the increasing cult of saints around Charlemagne. Wildegg died in 1301, before the apostle altar, which he also endowed, was erected.
Ulrich Manesse is mentioned in 1269.
In 1274 there is a Heinrich Manesse clergyman, perhaps the same who is named Magister Heinrich, Canon of Zurich, between 1284 and 1295 .
In 1283 the knight Rüdiger Manesse the Elder is called.
Ruodger (Rüdiger) III endowed the apostle altar Peter and Paul in the apse of the Twelve Messenger Chapel together with others in 1302/1304. He is mentioned on an inscription in the Grossmünster on the south wall of the Twelve Messenger Chapel above the poorly preserved fresco with Christ and the Apostles: NICOLAUS.MARTINI.SAC (ER) DOS.DOTATOR.HUI (US) .ALTARIS.ET.CANO (N) IC (US). IOHAN (N) ES.DE.WILDEGGE.P (RAE) PO (S) IT (US) HUI (US) .ECC (L) E (SIEAE) .ET.CANO (N) IC (US). RUDGERUS.MA (N) ESSE.SCOLASTIC (US) .ET CANO (N) IC (US). (This altar was donated by Nicolaus Martini, priest and canon; Johannes von Wildegg, provost of this church and canon; Rüdiger Manesse, schoolmaster and canon.) This is the oldest existing coherent building inscription in the Grossmünster - the same Rüdiger III endowed the Gallus altar in 1303 in the northeast corner of the vestibule.
Around 1300 the Minneliedersammlung, the Manessische Liederhandschrift , was created under the direction of Rüdiger II (the elder), councilor (1252–1304) and his son Johannes, father and brother of the choir master and schoolmaster Rüdiger III.
Heinrich Manesse am Stad and his wife endowed the Marien altar in the south-east corner of the vestibule in 1312 and received permission to place them in the middle yoke of the Twelve Messenger Chapel.
1315 Rüdiger Manesse and one Ulrich Manesse are mentioned.
In 1315 the Manesse took over the patronage of the St. Gilgen Chapel in Unterleimbach . The ancestral castle Manegg is located around a hundred meters above Unterleimbach.
In 1331, Ritter Ruodger (Rüdiger) Manesse, a former canon, endowed the eleven thousand virgin altar in the south-eastern part of the central yoke of the Twelve Messenger Chapel with a chaplain. Gerold Edlibach calls the altar the St. Urslen Altar, and was consecrated in 1332.
In 1343 Rudolf Manesse was the head of the provost's school.
Rüdiger Manesse was mayor of the city from 1360 to 1383.
In 1383 Rüdiger Manesse is mentioned in Hard, in 1387 his widow Anna. The Hardturm was built in the 13./14. Built in the 19th century by the Manesse and monitored the only Limmat crossing between Zurich and Baden .
In 1375 Ritter Rüdiger and his brother Ulrich, sons of Ritter Rüdiger, are named blessed.
In 1390 a Hermann Manesse appears.
In 1391 Heinrich and Agnes, Ulrich's widow, are named.
1420 Felix Manesse is called.
The Manessian song manuscript
- Main article: Codex Manesse
The Codex Manesse, also called Manessische Liederhandschrift, Grosse Heidelberger Liederhandschrift or Pariser Handschrift, is the most important German song manuscript of the High Middle Ages ; it is now owned by the Heidelberg University Library . It is very likely that the codex was commissioned by Rüdiger II von Manesse and his son Johannes as a collection of courtly poetry in Zurich in the early 14th century. Ulrich von Liechtenstein (also: Lichtenstein, around 1200–1275) was also important for the Codex .
Reception and commemoration
Gottfried Keller's novella Hadlaub imaginatively describes the emergence of the Manessian song manuscript, whereby Keller charmingly expands the figure of the singer Hadlaub, about whom we don't really know much, but otherwise relies on good documents. Gottfried Keller's shorter novella Der Narr auf Manegg (1877) describes - also largely based on existing documents - the decline of the castle and the gender of the family branch on Manegg.
In honor of the knight Rüdiger von Manesse the Elder († 1304), the Manesseplatz in Zurich was named after the noble family in 1935 .
There was also a Manesseturm (later called Schwenden and Grebelturm) in the city , which dates back to the 13th century and was demolished after 1834.
literature
- Article Manesse , in: Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , Volume V, Neuchâtel 1929, pp. 13-14.
- Rudolf Gamper: Manesse. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 23 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Daniel Gutscher: The Grossmünster in Zurich . Bern 1983, pp. 141-142.
- Franziska Hälg-Steffen: Manesse. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2009
- Hans Hoffmann: The Grossmünster in Zurich. Building history up to the Reformation. The pre-Reformation equipment . Zurich 1941, pp. 167–168 and 207.
- Swiss National Museum Zurich (ed.): The Manessische Liederhandschrift in Zurich . Exhibition catalog. 1991, p. 33.
- Hans Wysling: Gottfried Keller . Zurich 1990, pp. 300-313.
