Philipp Renner (Abbot)

Philipp Renner († August 29, 1512 in Schorndorf ) was a Catholic priest , Benedictine and abbot of the St. Januarius monastery in Murrhardt .

Live and act

Philipp Renner came from a family that had belonged to the noblest class of Württemberg honesty since the 15th century . Renner was first mentioned as Prior of the Murrhardt Monastery on September 10, 1494. Already during this time as the deputy of Abbot Lorenz Gaul he was characterized by extravagance, a lack of initiative and a lack of assertiveness.

At the time of his election as abbot around May 1509, the Murrhardt Monastery was so shabby through inaction, sloppiness and mismanagement that the situation had assumed dimensions that threatened the existence of the abbey - the annual debt interest that the abbey had to raise was the same as it was at the time Ratios immense sum of 1400 guilders . The spiritual life of the monks had almost completely come to a standstill - instead of holding the services prescribed by the monastery rules, the monks enjoyed themselves in the city's inns. A reform commission set up jointly by Duke Ulrich von Württemberg and the Würzburg Bishop Lorenz von Bibra even came to the devastating verdict in 1510 that even Abbot Renner no longer had any knowledge of the content of the Benedictine Rule .

In order to anticipate a strict reform of monastic life, particularly requested by Ulrich, Abbot Renner sent an embassy consisting of the Murrhardt prior Wilhelm Kern and the dean of the Öhringer Stift , Oswald Batzer, with the proposal to Rome to Pope Julius II , the Murrhardter To convert the monastery into a collegiate monastery. Despite the Pope's approval of this undertaking, the project of the Murrhardter delegation failed in an almost grotesque way. The papal side assumed, probably due to deliberate deception by the Murrhardt ambassadors, that the conversion of the monastery into a monastery took place at the express request of the Duke of Württemberg - but Ulrich was actually opposed to such a conversion. Since it took some time to complete the papal bull issued on July 9, 1509 , Prior Kern and Dean Batzer lost sight of their goal and gave themselves up to metropolitan life to the full. Within a short time, the delegation's financial resources were completely used up - in order to be able to start the journey home to Murrhardt, the ambassadors were forced to pledge the Pope's bull to the Fugger bank . In August 1509 the two returned to Murrhardt without a bull. Duke Ulrich, already notorious for his choleric temperament, had Prior arrested immediately after his return and imprisoned for more than two years in the Hohenasperg Fortress - Dean Batzer was able to escape the punishment by fleeing. The papal bull was released at the Fugger bank on the orders of the duke, and Ulrich finally stopped any further step in converting the monastery into a secular monastery. Instead, the monastic reform preferred by the duke was carried out immediately, four monks from the abbey were replaced by the Lorcher brothers and the monk Oswald Binder, who is known to be particularly morally strict, was appointed as the new prior of the abbey. Since there was no improvement despite these measures, Renner, who at that time was hardly considered to be fit for work and sane, was forced to resign by Duke Ulrich and the previous convent was compensated financially, except for Binder and a very old monk, and left the monastery referenced. Philipp Renner resigned his office in April 1511 and retired to Schorndorf, where he died on August 29, 1512. His successor in the office of abbot was the previous Prior Oswald Binder .

Others

Only the Lorcher calendar provides more information on Renner's death date and the place of his passing:

III K (a) l () endas Sept (embris) domius philippus abbas in murrhartt obiit 1512. Sub eo fuit reormatum monasterium per fratres assumptos de lorch 1510. Ipse resignaureat abbatiam et obiit in Schorndorf.

( On the 3rd day before the calendar of September 1512, Mr. Philipp, abbot in Murrhardt died. Under him, the monastery was reformed in 1510 by monks who were accepted by Lorch. He resigned the abbot and died in Schorndorf ).

literature

• Gerhard Fritz: City and monastery Murrhardt in the late Middle Ages and in the Reformation period (= research from Württemberg-Franconia. Vol. 34). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1990, ISBN 3-7995-7634-7 , pp. 345-346.

predecessor	Office	successor
Lorenz Gaul	Abbot of Murrhardt 1509–1511	Oswald Binder