Otgar of Mainz

Rabanus Maurus (left), supported by Alkuin (center), hands over his work to St. Martin of Tours, later mistakenly called Ebf. Otgar von Mainz inscribed (right) - Fulda manuscript from De laudibus sanctae crucis (Vienna, ÖNB cod. 652, fol.1v, around 840)

Otgar von Mainz (also Otger , Autgar ; † April 21, 847 ) was Archbishop of Mainz from 826 to 847 . He was the first Mainz diocesan who no longer emerged from the group of Boniface students and their alumni , but came from the group of reformers around Ludwig the Pious . However, he is said to have been a relative of his predecessor Richulf . Hrabanus Maurus certified him a solid theological education.

Live and act

As a member of the “Reich Unity Party”, which initially supported Ludwig the Pious in the conflict with his sons, and after his death the firstborn Lothar I , he took an active part in Reich politics. His close connection to the court is documented by the transfer of the Weißenburg and Klingenmünster abbeys . On the occasion of the second conspiracy against Ludwig the Pious of 833, which led to his deposition and imprisonment, he was forced to take over his guard. After the liberation of Ludwig, he apparently soon found the ruler's grace again and was commissioned with an embassy to Italy to Lothar in 835. In 839 he received the Weissenburg Abbey. When the old emperor died on the Rhine island near Ingelheim, he was among those present at his deathbed.

From then on he uncompromisingly supported Lothar, which meant that after his defeat in the Battle of Fontenoy and the division of the empire of 843 in the Treaty of Verdun , the diocese with its parts of the left bank of the Rhine was now part of the East Franconian empire Ludwig the German , whom he had fought on Lothar's side. Although he lost his previous position at court, Ludwig refrained from taking the Weissenburg Abbey away from him and left him in the office of bishop.

On June 24, 826, Otgar baptized the Danish king Hariold and his wife in St. Alban , and he was together with the archbishops Ebo of Reims and Hetti of Trier at the ordination of Ansgar of Corbie as mission bishop for Scandinavia, carried out by Drogo of Metz involved, establishing a tradition that went back to the 10th century. There is evidence of extensive building activity and reliquary acquisitions from Italy for Otgar. He repositioned the Saints Peter and Marcellinus transferred from Einhard to Seligenstadt .

Otgar went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 834 , from which he brought the relics of Saint Justin the Confessor . Between 836 and 847, Otgar had the Justinuskirche built for them in Höchst and probably founded a monastery there. Parts of the relics are said to have reached Freising and a further part to the Seligenstadt monastery .

In the year 836 he had the bones of Saint Severus of Ravenna first transferred to Mainz and finally to Erfurt to the Benedictine convent of St. Paul.

He transferred relics of the holy bishop Aureus and the deacon Iustinus to Heiligenstadt im Eichsfeld, where their original cult survived, while Justinus in Mainz was later reinterpreted as Justina.

For the first Mainz cathedral, today St. Johannis , Otgar acquired relics of the Eastern Roman saints Bakchos and Sergios and carried out extensive construction work in this context, which his successor Hrabanus Maurus was only able to complete. He had sent him an extensive poem for his inauguration (MGH Poetae, vol. 2, p. 183f.), And dedicated several of his works to him, including a copy of De laudibus sanctae crucis (ibid. P. 162; MGH Epistolae aevi Karolini, Vol. 3, p. 425f .; p. 462) and wrote altar titles for Weißenburg (MGH Poetae, Vol. 2, p. 219) and his epitaph (ibid. P. 238f.). Despite some disputes about tithe rights and the exercise of jurisdiction vis-à-vis members of the monastery, which, according to the Zacharias privilege, would have required a previous invitatio (invitation) by the abbot and convent, as well as an interim strain on the relationship due to the dispute over Gottschalk von Orbais , the relationship between Otgar and Hrabanus was Maurus close, although probably less cordial than the one between this and Otgar's predecessor Haistulph . At an unknown point in time during the dispute between Ludwig the Pious and his sons or between Emperor Lothar and his brothers, Hraban asked Otgar for mediation, otherwise he and his followers would have to flee from the main monastery to the secondary monasteries.

swell

Annales Fuldenses - Yearbooks of Fulda . Darmstadt 1975 (Latin-German).

literature

Ulrich Hussong : Studies on the history of the imperial abbey of Fulda up to the turn of the millennium , part 2. In: Archiv für Diplomatik 32, 1986, pp. 129–304, here p. 179; Note 408, pp. 188f .; Pp. 196-201.
Hubertus Seibert : Otgar, Archbishop v. Mainz. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 643 f. ( Digitized version ).
Franz Staab : Archbishop Otgar (826-847) . In: Friedhelm Jürgensmeier: Handbuch der Mainz Kirchengeschichte, vol. 1 Christian antiquity and the Middle Ages (contributions to Mainz church history 6). Echter, Würzburg 2000, pp. 153-162.

Web links

Otgar von Mainz in the personal register of the Germania Sacra online

Remarks

↑ In the 2nd Reichenau fraternization list , a correction of the St. Gallen monk list , Otgar is listed as abbot of Klingenmünster with the addition "Archbishop of Mainz".
^ Franz Xaver Kraus: Hetti . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 321 f.
↑ Entry in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
^ Herrad Spilling: Opus Magnentii Hrabani Mauri in honorem Sanctae crucis conditum. Hraban's relationship to his work , Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 18, Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1992, pp. 45–47; Pp. 70-78. Critical to this Michele C. Ferrari: Hrabanica. Hraban's De laudibus sanctae crucis as reflected in recent research . In: Gangolf Schrimpf (Ed.): Fulda Monastery in the World of the Carolingians and Ottonians , Fuldaer Studies 7, Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 493-526, here pp. 501f.
↑ Michele C. Ferrari's: Il "Liber sanctae crucis" di Rabano Mauro. Testo - immagine - contesto (Latin language and literature of the Middle Ages 30). Peter Lang, Bern et al. 1999, p. 184, doubts expressed about Hraban's authorship based on the handwritten tradition seem exaggerated.
^ MGH Epistolae aevi Karolini, Vol. 3, pp. 518f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Shark tulph	Archbishop of Mainz 826–847	Rabanus Maurus

personal data
SURNAME	Otgar of Mainz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Otger; Autgar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Archbishop of Mainz
DATE OF BIRTH	before 826
DATE OF DEATH	April 21, 847

[1] In the 2nd Reichenau fraternization list , a correction of the St. Gallen monk list , Otgar is listed as abbot of Klingenmünster with the addition "Archbishop of Mainz".

[2] Franz Xaver Kraus: Hetti . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 321 f.

[3] Entry in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

[4] Herrad Spilling: Opus Magnentii Hrabani Mauri in honorem Sanctae crucis conditum. Hraban's relationship to his work , Fuldaer Hochschulschriften 18, Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1992, pp. 45–47; Pp. 70-78. Critical to this Michele C. Ferrari: Hrabanica. Hraban's De laudibus sanctae crucis as reflected in recent research . In: Gangolf Schrimpf (Ed.): Fulda Monastery in the World of the Carolingians and Ottonians , Fuldaer Studies 7, Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1996, pp. 493-526, here pp. 501f.

[5] Michele C. Ferrari's: Il "Liber sanctae crucis" di Rabano Mauro. Testo - immagine - contesto (Latin language and literature of the Middle Ages 30). Peter Lang, Bern et al. 1999, p. 184, doubts expressed about Hraban's authorship based on the handwritten tradition seem exaggerated.

[6] MGH Epistolae aevi Karolini, Vol. 3, pp. 518f.