Othwin

Othwin as 10th Bishop of Hildesheim on a painting with medallions depicting all Hildesheim bishops up to the end of the 18th century; Latin inscription: "He brought the body of Epiphanius from Rome [!] to Hildesheim."

Othwin (also Adwin ) († December 1, 984 ) was Bishop of Hildesheim from 954 to 984 .

Life

Nothing is known about Othwin's origins. Possibly he came from the Swabian region. He was a student and then a monk in the Reichenau monastery before Otto I brought him to his court chapel . From 950 he was abbot of the St. Mauritius Monastery in Magdeburg .

After Diethard's death , Othwin became Bishop of Hildesheim in 954. At the beginning of his term of office he ordained Gerberga II as abbess of the Gandersheim monastery . Unlike other Hildesheim bishops, he did not question the imperial immediacy of Gandersheim. Relations with the Archbishops of Mainz were also good. Since Hildesheim did not face any territorial losses through the planned establishment of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg , he did not oppose these plans. Bishop Othwin is therefore considered a prime example of an Ottonian imperial bishop.

In 961 he accompanied Otto I on his Rome procession to the imperial coronation. There he was a witness on February 13th when the letter of protection for the Roman Church ( Privilegium Ottonianum ) was issued. During his stay in Pavia 962 he acquired numerous manuscripts in order to bring the Hildesheim Cathedral School to a high standard. He also acquired relics of St. Epiphanius through alleged theft . Othwin laid his bones in the baptistery, which at that time directly adjoined Hildesheim Cathedral in the southeast . Epiphanius subsequently became one of the most important saints in the diocese.

Othwin was also present at the Magdeburg Hoftag 965 in preparation for the foundation of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. He was not represented at the Christmas Synod in Rome in 967/68, at which the Emperor granted the Gandersheim Monastery a protective privilege that was directed against possible Hildesheim claims. Othwin was also present at the Synod of Ingelheim in 972. He may have attended other meetings about which there are no reliable reports.

For his services to the empire, Othwin, like his predecessors, received a protection and immunity diploma and was gifted with vineyards on the Rhine. During his time, the Hildesheim monastery grew in wealth. The canons received wine on the sixteen highest religious feast days. He collected gold, gems and other precious stones in order to have a precious chalice made from them for the cathedral. Due to illness, he did not come back to that. It was only Bishop Bernward who had this chalice, which is now in the cathedral treasury, made. Under the reign of Othwin, the cathedral school is said to have experienced an upswing thanks to works brought from Italy.

What role he played in the turmoil after Otto II's death is unclear. It is not known where Othwin was buried.

literature

• Bernhard Gallistl: Epiphanius von Pavia, patron saint of the Diocese of Hildesheim (= Hildesheim Chronicle. Contributions to the history of the Diocese of Hildesheim. Series of the Diocese Archives Hildesheim. Vol. 7). Publishing house for regional history, Hildesheim 2000, ISBN 3-89534-386-2 .
• Hans Goetting (arr.): The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz. The Diocese of Hildesheim 3. The Hildesheim bishops from 815 to 1221 (1227) (= Germania sacra. New series, vol. 20). de Gruyter, Berlin 1984, ISBN 978-3-11-010004-4 , pp. 147-156
• Herbert Zielenski:  Othwin (Adwin). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 646 ( digitized version ).

Remarks

1. ^ Bernhard Gallistl: Epiphanius von Pavia, patron saint of the diocese of Hildesheim. Hildesheim 2000, pp. 66-69.

predecessor	Office	successor
Diethard	Bishop of Hildesheim 954–984	Osdag