Norbert von Iburg

Norbert was abbot of the Iburg monastery in the 11th century (illustration from 1533)

Norbert von Iburg ( lat : Nortberto Abbate Iburgensi ; also Nortbert Abbot of Iburg and Norbert Abbot of Iburg ; * 11th century probably in Brabant ; † December 4, 1117 in Iburg ) was a Benedictine monk and abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Iburg , that of the Osnabrück bishop Benno II. In 1080.

Norbert is considered to be the author of the Vita Bennonis II. Episcopi Osnabrugensis (German Das Leben des Bishop Benno II. Von Osnabrück ), Benno's biography.

Life

Norbert was probably born in the Duchy of Brabant and came to the Archbishop's seat in Cologne through his uncle, who raised him . His uncle was a cathedral scholar in Cologne at the time of Anno II , Benno was Annos vicedominus until 1068 . Norbert went to Bamberg as a canon and entered the monastery in Siegburg , the Benedictine Abbey of Michaelsberg , founded by the Archbishop of Cologne in 1064 .

Benno II was closely connected to the Siegburg monastery, a reform abbey in the course of the reforms of Cluny , and knew its abbot Reginhard personally. During Benno's stay in Italy between 1082/1084 under Abbot Adalhard, the Iburger monastery came under severe external distress. Adalhard came to Iburg in 1082 as the second abbot from Siegburg. After his return from Italy, Benno II settled in the Iburg monastery for the last years of his life. When Abbot Adalhard became seriously ill and left Iburg in 1085, Norbert was sent from Siegburg to Iburg and, probably on Reginhard's recommendation, the third abbot there.

After Benno's death in the Iburger Benedictine monastery in 1088, a dispute broke out over the place of his burial between the monastery in Iburg and the clergy of St. Peter's Cathedral in Osnabrück, the actual bishopric. The monks under Abbot Norbert prevailed, claiming that the burial in Iburg was in accordance with Benno's will. They also threatened to give up the monastery. In addition, in Osnabrück the remains of bishops were carelessly dealt with. Benno was finally buried in the monastery church of St. Clemens, where his grave is to this day.

The anonymous vita of the bishop was written between 1090 and 1100 in the Iburg Benedictine monastery. It is described by historians to hagiographies as factual, unvarnished and factual. The renunciation of whitewashing is "something extraordinary in this high degree within medieval biography" . The original of the font has not been preserved. That it is the work of Abbot Norbert is beyond dispute.

Works

• Nortberto Abbate Iburgensi: Vita Bennonis II. Episcopi Osnabrugensis

literature

• Volker Scior: Identities and Perspectives. The vita Bennos von Osnabrück as an expression of the ideas of an Iburger monk In: Osnabrücker Mitteilungen, Mitteilungen des Verein für Geschichte und Landeskunde von Osnabrück, Volume 108, Osnabrück 2003, ISSN  0474-8158 , pp. 33 to 55
• Harry Bresslau (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 56: Vita Bennonis II. Episcopi Osnabrugensis auctore Nortberto abbate Iburgensi. Hanover 1902, pp. 33–55 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )

Web links

• Norbertus abbas Iburgensis in the repertory "Historical Sources of the German Middle Ages"
• Ricarda D. Herbrand: Bishop Benno II of Osnabrück (1068-1088) as architect ( memento from January 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hatto Kallfelz: Life descriptions of some bishops of the 10th-12th century (Freiherr vom Stein Memorial Edition 22), Darmstadt 1972, p. 367