Reformation in Bad Grönenbach
The Reformation in Bad Grönenbach was operated by Philipp von Pappenheim from 1559 . For almost two centuries it led to disputes and sometimes tangible disputes between the Reformed and members of the Catholic Church in the Bavarian community. In the 18th century it came to the point that Reformed people were forced to emigrate. The Protestant-Reformed parish in Bad Grönenbach and the sister parish in Herbishofen are the oldest in Bavaria and among the oldest in Germany.
initial situation
In the imperial city of Memmingen near Grönenbach, the Reformation based on the teachings of Ulrich Zwingli began as early as the beginning of the 16th century . In the further course of the Reformation in Memmingen , the Confessio Augustana and thus the Lutheran creed were accepted there. The imperial city of Kempten , located in the south of Grönenbach, became Lutheran in the 16th century. At that time the Lords of Pappenheim ruled Grönenbach . After Wolfgang von Pappenheim's death in 1558, his sons Philipp, Wolfgang and Christoph decided to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem . However, Philipp already changed his mind in Venice and decided to return via Switzerland and Zurich . In Zurich he met the Reformed preacher Bächli and accepted the Calvinist creed.
The Reformation posed a difficult challenge for the entire Pappenheim family. Through the Reichsmarschallamt , the senior of the Pappenheim family was obliged to serve at the imperial court. With this service and the attitude of Charles V († 1558) to the Reformation, it was impossible to avoid the Catholic ceremonies. Another reason for not turning to the Reformation until late was that some agnates of those von Pappenheim had high ecclesiastical ranks within the Catholic Church. a. the Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt Christoph von Pappenheim († 1539) and the Bishop of Regensburg Georg von Pappenheim († 1563).
The Reformed teaching according to Calvin and Zwingli differs in important aspects from the Evangelical Lutheran creed. Although both denominations refer to the "four solos" ( Sola fide , Sola gratia , Solus Christ , Sola scriptura ) , they do not agree on some important points, for example in the doctrine of predestination advocated by Calvin , according to which every person is predetermined by God whether he is on the way to bliss or damnation . The Calvinists also reject the real presence of Jesus Christ during the Lord's Supper .
Introduction of the Reformation (1559–1619)
As Philipp von Pappenheim in the company of preachers Bächli returned from Zurich to Grönebach, he introduced the principle cuius regio Reformed confession after Zwingli and Calvin for his subjects in the villages Grönebach, Rothstein, Theinselberg , Herbishofen , Ittelsburg and Herbisried a . However, Philipp von Pappenheim was only master of some of the goods in these places. After the change of denomination, the converted subjects refused to pay tithes to the collegiate monastery in Grönenbach . Philip got his Catholic cousin Alexander II von Pappenheim through that the Calvinist predicant had to be paid annually with two hundred guilders from the income from the monastery . On May 30, 1577, Philipp and Alexander signed a contract to regulate the expenses of the monastery. Instead of the original six, only three Catholic priests were to be paid annually with 120 guilders each, the Reformed preacher with 200 guilders and the Calvinist schoolmaster with 16 guilders and two Malter rye. Since 1559 the collegiate church of St. Philip and Jacob was used as a simultaneous church by the Catholics and the Calvinists.
Because the Zurich preacher Bächli introduced the Reformation in Grönenbach, the Reformed community in Grönenbach had a close relationship with Zurich for many years. A total of 17 preachers (13 of them directly from Zurich) were sent to Grönenbach from Switzerland. The Swiss brothers in faith not only supported the Grönenbachers by sending priests, but until the end of the 18th century Zurich even took over the parish pay of the Reformed preachers in Grönenbach.
Philip's approach to the introduction of the Calvinist denomination led even Emperor Rudolf II to take a position in a letter dated March 2, 1577. Philipp von Pappenheim was asked to refrain from further division of the collegiate monastery and to come to an agreement with his cousin Alexander, which was codified in the treaty of 1577. In 1601, Alexander again obtained a letter from Emperor Rudolf II to Philip with the purpose of maintaining Catholicism and the collegiate monastery in Grönenbach. In it, Emperor Rudolf II decreed the “Venerable Hainrich, bishop of Augsburg, and Johann Adamen abbots of the Sftiffts Kempten, and their successors in office of the Stiffts and Collegii Grönenbach as conservators, handlers and protectors in spiritualibus ordinarium as well as for the secular authorities, that they receive the Kollegiatkirche and Stifft and Dechenei zu Grönenbach [...] ” .
Towards the end of his life and after the death of Philip von Pappenheim († 1619), the introduction of the Reformation was no longer carried out by his heirs with the same zeal. An indication of this is that as early as 1615 some subjects under Pastor Andreas Epplin had returned from the Reformed Calvinist creed to the Catholic Church.
Progress of the Reformation (1619–1626)
Six years before his death, Philipp von Pappenheim wrote his will in 1613 , in which he ensured the continued existence of the Reformed denomination in Grönenbach. Under threat of loss of inheritance, he demanded that his successors maintain and continue the Reformed teaching. Even later descendants who converted to the Catholic faith again, including Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim, did not dare to force the subjects to return to the Catholic Church. Philipp von Pappenheim appointed the free imperial cities of Lindau and Memmingen as executor of the will . The mayors of both cities confirmed the execution with their seals on the will.
With reference to the instruction of Emperor Rudolf II from 1601, the bishop of Augsburg Heinrich and the prince abbot of Kempten Johannes Eucharius undertook a push against the practice of the Calvinist creed in Grönenbach. By a decree of the Prince Abbot of Kempten in 1621, the Calvinist preacher Philippus Gessertus was expelled from Grönenbach with the help of Count Otto Heinrich Fugger and the simultaneous use of the collegiate church St. Philipp and Jakob was prohibited. Since September 2, 1621, it has been used again only by the Catholic faithful. Until 1624 there was no more Calvinist church service in Grönenbach.
However, Calvinism in Grönenbach could not be completely eliminated. The widow of Philipps von Pappenheim, Anna von Pappenheim, born von Winneberg and Beilstein, housed the Calvinist preacher Adolf Langhans in the Lower Castle in Grönenbach in 1625 , who secretly held Calvinist services there. A decree of the prince abbot Johannes Eucharius von Kempten of October 23, 1625 then prohibited the further practice of the Calvinist teaching in the lower castle as well as a further accommodation of the preacher Langhans in Grönenbach. However, this was not obeyed; In March 1626, the preacher Adolf Langhans was arrested on his way to Theinselberg in Schulerloch near Grönenbach and taken to Liebenthann Castle . Adolf Langhans was released on April 13, 1626 with the condition not to return to Grönenbach and a fine of 100 guilders. He retired to Theinselberg, but remained in contact with the Reformed believers in Grönenbach.
From the Augsburg Confession to the end of the Thirty Years War (1626–1648)
Since the efforts of the abbot of Kempten and the bishop of Augsburg to restore Catholicism in Grönenbach and the collegiate monastery in the interests of its founders had failed, the emperor transferred the regulation of religious conditions to the dukes of Bavaria Maximilian I and Württemberg Johann Friedrich . From 1626 onwards, instead of the Reformed Calvinist creed, they implemented the Augsburg Confession . The decision was recognized by Philipp von Pappenheim's heir, Marshal Maximilian von Pappenheim , and appointed the Lutheran preacher Johann Herrmann in Grönenbach. He determined that the collegiate monastery and the collegiate church of St. Philip and Jacob should belong to the Catholics and the hospital church to the Evangelicals.
However, the Calvinists in Grönenbach did not agree to the change to the Evangelical Lutheran creed and the majority went to Herbishofen and Theinselberg. Prädikant Johann Herrmann died of the plague in January 1630 . He was followed by the preacher Johann Jakob Trautmann from Tübingen , who married Herrmann's widow. Johann Jakob Trautmann stayed in Grönenbach until 1632 and was deposed by the invading Swedes that year; they again put in a Calvinist predicant. When the Swedes were defeated in the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 , the Catholics again gained the upper hand in Grönenbach and deposed the Calvinist preacher.
In the period that followed, up to the end of the Thirty Years' War, there were no longer any Reformed preachers resident in Grönenbach. In a report by the monastery dean Fischer of June 16, 1638 to the Ordinariate in Augsburg it is mentioned that the Calvinists were forbidden to celebrate their own masses in 1635 and 1636. The Rotenstein bailiff Georg Weidlin and his two sons Heinrich and Eberhardt offered particular resistance to the ban on Calvinism in Grönenbach. Georg Weidlin made several attempts to hold Reformed masses again in the collegiate church of St. Philip and Jacob. He also exerted massive pressure on the collegiate foundation in Grönenbach and instructed the subjects in Lachen and Ziegelberg not to pay any interest to the collegiate foundation until a secular administrator was appointed again. After this procedure became known, Otto Heinrich Fugger and the Bishop of Augsburg ordered an example to be made against Georg Weidlin and his sons. Due to the turmoil of the war, this was not done for the time being and could only be completed from December 14th to 16th, 1637. The behavior of Georg Weidlin was to be punished and all interest and pensions for the collegiate foundation were confiscated. Max von Pappenheim lodged a complaint against this punitive action in January 1638 with the prince monastery in Kempten and referred to the longstanding existence of the Reformed community and the contractual regulation of 1577. This complaint was contradicted by the monastery dean Georg Fischer on June 16, 1638, using the prohibition as a counter-argument the Calvinic mass in Grönenbach from 1621.
The situation escalated further in 1645 after Georg Biechteler, a member of the Calvinist creed, died on September 14, 1645. Under the direction of Georg Wiedlin, a public funeral procession took place in the Calvinist rite, which, however, was still officially prohibited. The monastery dean Nikolaus Brunner tried unsuccessfully to prevent the funeral procession. Thereupon, on October 9, 1645, the monastery dean Nikolaus Brunner lodged a complaint with the Prince Abbot Romanus in Kempten, who turned to Georg Weidlin on October 19, 1645. Georg Weidlin was accused of secretly reintroducing Calvinism in Grönenbach. On the same day the prince abbot also lodged a complaint with Emperor Ferdinand III. a. Emperor Ferdinand III. asked the Reichsherbmarschall Caspar Gottfried von Pappenheim to investigate the occurrences and to make a report. In the report of March 6, 1646, Pappenheim certified that Georg Weidlin did not want to reintroduce the Calvinist faith in Grönenbach. At the funeral they only sang a few Reformed songs and gave a short address.
The Thirty Years' War ended with the Peace of Westphalia on October 24, 1648, but the disputes between Catholics and Calvinists in Grönenbach did not end. Only through further negotiations with the involvement of the imperial commissioners Franz Johann Bishop of Constance and Eberhard III. For the Duke of Württemberg, somewhat orderly conditions could be created.
From the Peace of Westphalia to the Ravensburger Signature (1648–1650)
One of the tasks after the Peace of Westphalia was to end the religious turmoil and disputes. The emperor appointed commissioners for this, for Grönenbach these were the aforementioned Franz Johann, Bishop of Constance and Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg. In the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 the year 1624 was determined as the annus normalis . This meant that according to the principle of restitutio in integrum, all religious relationships had to be restored to the way they existed on January 1, 1624.
As early as 1648, the Reformed believers in Grönenbach asked the two commissioners to be allowed to celebrate Christmas in 1648 in the collegiate church of St. Philip and Jacob. However, this request was not granted. In the following year, on April 15, 1649, the pappenheim-Rotenstein'sche administrator Josef Jenisch asked the two commissioners to reinstate the Calvinist rite. He justified this with the jus patronatus , which the Lords of Pappenheim had practiced for a long time and with which the Calvinist rite had actually existed since January 1, 1624 in the hospital church in Grönenbach.
The negotiations on the regulation of the religious situation in Grönenbach took place in Memmingen from April 22, 1649. Initially, no clarity could be achieved about the situation on January 1, 1624. On April 27, 1649, the Catholic notary M. Johannes Hainle, the imperial notary Jakob Schütz (Lutheran faith), on the part of the Prince Abbot of Kempten Johann Rudolph Schad von Bellmont and Georg Haimb conducted a detailed testimony in Grönenbach. Valentin Zeis took part for the Fuggers and Joseph Jenisch and Georg Weidlin for the Pappenheimers. A total of 43 Witnesses (26 Catholic and 17 Reformed) were interviewed. The 26 witnesses on the Catholic side could neither clearly affirm nor deny whether 25 years ago a Calvinist mass was held in the hospital church on January 1, 1624. The statements of the 17 witnesses of the Reformed side that the preacher Adolf Langhans had preached a sermon in the hospital church on January 1, 1624, later turned out to be false, since, for example, the preacher Adolf Langhans was still baptized on December 28 and 30, 1623 in a community in the Upper Palatinate and therefore could not be in Grönenbach on January 1, 1624.
On May 19, 1649 the decision of the two imperial commissioners was issued. In the Lindau signature , signed by Wolf Christoph von Bernhausen, Hans Albrecht von Wöllwarth, Dr. G. Köberlin and Bernhard Plöner, it was established that on January 1, 1624 , the Calvinist denomination actually existed in Grönenbach through the jus patronatus of the Lords of Pappenheim, who succeeded Philipp von Pappenheim. Because of the Peace of Westphalia, Calvinist teaching and ritual were allowed again in Grönenbach. The hospital church was left to the Reformed faithful, who began in 1649 with the reconstruction of the church, which was destroyed by the Swedes in 1633.
The defeated Catholics tried to contradict the Lindau signature with a decision of May 31, 1649 in the name of the Fugger and the Prince Abbot Romanus in Kempten . The reason given was that the Lindau signature had been issued prematurely and had not been worked out thoroughly enough. It was also stated that there was no public Calvinist mass on January 1, 1624, and that it was held privately by a preacher in Herbishofen. Furthermore, the interrogations of witnesses, especially the statements of the same wording by the 17 Reformed witnesses, were questioned. The Reformed, for their part, negotiated again about the division of church income and demanded that the income of the Catholic mesmer and the canon dean be reduced in favor of the Calvinist preacher.
In the Ravensburger signature , signed by Georgius Köberlin and Dr. B. Nicola Miller of June 21 and July 2, 1650, the Lindau signature was confirmed again, referred to the contract of May 30, 1577 regarding the distribution of church income and it was determined that this division was still valid.
Progress of the Reformation (1650–1670)
Even with the Ravensburger signature of 1650, no final peace was reached between the believers. The Bishop of Augsburg Sigismund Franz , the Prince Abbot Romanus von Kempten and Count Bonaventura Fugger appealed to the Imperial Councilor . Bonaventura Fugger attempted to circumvent the two resolutions of Lindau and Ravensburg by declaring the matter a private matter for the Fugger and Pappenheim families. This is proven by a letter from Bonaventura Fugger of March 3, 1655 to the Prince Provost Johann Rudolf von Rechberg zu Ellwangen. Sigismund Franz, Bishop of Augsburg, made another attempt in 1658 to prove that in 1624 Calvinism was by no means practiced in Grönenbach. When the Calvinist position became vacant in 1658, the Prince Provost of Ellwangen issued an unsuccessful request to Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim to take advantage of the opportunity to abolish Calvinism in Grönenbach. As early as 1660 a new Calvinist preacher was present in Grönenbach and Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim did nothing to prevent this.
In 1665, the Augsburg bishopric received a promise from Emperor Leopold I to set up a new commission for clarification. In 1666 the Reformed believers in Grönenbach asked for help from the Northern German Protestant imperial estates . On July 20 and 30, 1666, the emissaries of the princes of Kurbrandenburg , the Electoral Palatinate and Hesse-Kassel lodged a complaint with Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim at the Reichstag in Regensburg and demanded that the constant attacks on the Calvinists in Grönenbach be stopped. On August 7, 1668, Emperor Leopold renewed his promise to set up a new commission to clarify the religious conditions in Grönenbach based on the written submissions of the Augsburg bishopric . On January 22, 1669, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm zu Brandenburg wrote to Count von Pappenheim that the Bishop of Augsburg was still working on a ban on the practice of Calvinist teachings in Grönenbach. Elector Friedrich Wilhelm considered this to be very worrying because he feared that it could lead to bad consequences . However, a new imperial commission was neither in the interests of the Reformed community of Grönenbach, which feared for their property, nor of the two commissioners Franz Johann Bishop of Konstanz and Eberhard III. Duke of Württemberg. Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim was also against a new commission, since he feared that his subjects would lose his possessions in Grönenbach, Herbishofen and Theinselberg if his subjects changed their confession. On February 25, 1669, he turned to the two commissioners so that they could influence Emperor Leopold I not to set up a new commission and to leave everything according to the Ravensburger and Lindau signature. The commissioners Eberhard III. and Bishop Franz Johann, in a letter of March 29, 1669, urged Emperor Leopold I not to set up a new commission, since the religious conditions were already regulated in 1649 and 1650 and a new procedure could only endanger the peace of the empire. Furthermore, the northern German imperial estates and Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim also spoke out in favor of maintaining the status quo . The efforts of the Bishop of Augsburg had failed and the regulations of Lindau (1649) and Ravensburg (1650) remained.
Conclusion of religious differences (1670–1775)
After all efforts to ban the Reformed Calvinist creed in Grönenbach had finally failed, the disputes between Catholics and Calvinists subsided in the following years. The use of the church buildings St. Philip and Jacob by the Catholics and the hospital church by the Reformed was regulated. The question of the legality of practicing the Calvinist rite was no longer asked.
As a result, however, the two groups repeatedly clashed in the practice of their religion. Z. B. in January 1670 a solid dispute over the burial of a Calvinist believer in the district of Zell . The dean of Zell did not want to tolerate a burial according to the Reformed rite between the graves of the Catholics. When the deceased was buried according to this rite on January 14, 1670, the dean lodged a complaint with the prince abbot in Kempten. This led to the body being exhumed and reburied in Herbishofen on the same day.
At the end of the 17th century, some Reformed believers in Grönenbach were forced to emigrate. This was probably due to reprisals by the Prince Abbot von Kempten Rupert von Bodman . In 1692 he acquired Rothenstein Castle and the associated village from Philipp Gustav von Pappenheim . Rupert von Bodman issued several edicts concerning the Reformed, among other things that all Reformed subjects were obliged to stop working in the fields even on festivals in honor of Our Lady. But this was certainly not the only reason that led to the emigration of around a dozen Reformed believers to Burg near Magdeburg in 1697 and 1704 .
From Catechism Controversy to Secularization (1775–1803)
Originally, the Reformed in Grönenbach used a Swiss catechism printed in Zurich . The Heidelberg Catechism was later introduced in the Schaffhausen edition of 1763. The dispute arose around question 80: What is the sacrifice of the Mass ? In response to this question, it is reported that this may include a. a damned idolatry . To clarify the use of this catechism, the prince abbot of Kempten Honorius Roth von Schreckenstein set up a commission consisting of the provost Ulrich von Hornstein zu Grönenbach, the court councilors Treuchtlinger and Feigele and the court chamber councilor Scholl. In 1775 she came to the conclusion that the use of this catechism should not be tolerated in the area of the Princely Monastery of Kempten. The catechism of this edition was banned in 1775. All copies, in the area of Grönenbach 342, had to be delivered to Kempten.
In the course of secularization in 1803, all possessions were confiscated by the Electorate of Bavaria and the Hochstift Augsburg and the Fürststift Kempten abolished. With the proclamation of freedom of religion and conscience, the last disputes between the Catholics and the Reformed in Grönenbach were settled. In 1808, the Reformed in Grönenbach bought the hospital church that had been left to them for use up to then.
Situation in the 20th and 21st centuries
After the many quarrels, both denominations now exist side by side in Bad Grönenbach. Towards the end of 2010, 56% of the residents of Bad Grönenbach were Roman Catholic, 13% Evangelical Lutheran and a further 11% Evangelical Reformed.
literature
- Joseph Sedelmayer: History of the market town Grönenbach . Ed .: Historical association for the overall promotion of local history of the Allgäu. Kempten 1910.
- Martin Illi: Grönenbach. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Presbyteries of the Ev.-Ref. Parishes Bad Grönenbach and Herbishofen (ed.): The Reformed in the Allgäu . 2009.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Evangelical Reformed Church Community Bad Grönenbach, accessed on March 15, 2015.
- ↑ Evangelical Reformed Church, accessed on August 22, 2011.
- ↑ Sunday newspaper - Evangelical weekly newspaper for Bavaria, issue 48/2005 accessed on August 21, 2011.
- ↑ Hans Schwackenhofer: Die Reichserbmarschälle, Counts and Lords from and to Pappenheim , 2002, page 195, 196
- ↑ Hans Schwackenhofer: Die Reichserbmarschälle, Counts and Lords from and to Pappenheim , 2002, page 161
- ^ Document in the Neuburg district archive from April 26, 1662.
- ^ Martin Illi: Grönenbach. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- ^ Document in the episcopal archive in Augsburg from March 2, 1577.
- ^ Alfred Weitnauer: Allgäuer Chronik, Daten und Veranstaltungen , 1971, pp. 290–291.
- ↑ R. Frieling: Catholic and Protestant - Information about Faith , 2007, p. 30.
- ↑ Memminger Zeitung dated June 24, 2009 accessed ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on August 19, 2011.
- ↑ Bad Grönenbacher Marktnachrichten 2010, page 16
- Joseph Sedelmayer: History of the market town Grönenbach . Ed .: Historical association for the overall promotion of local history of the Allgäu. Kempten 1910 ( history of the market town of Grönenbach ).
- ↑ p. 28
- ↑ p. 29
- ↑ p. 21
- ↑ pp. 219, 220.
- ↑ Quotation from the letter of Emperor Rudolf II from 1601, p. 31.
- ↑ pp. 34, 35.
- ↑ List of those who converted to the Catholic faith again from 1615, pp. 35, 36
- ^ Illustration of the will of Philipp von Pappenheim from 1613, p. 37
- ↑ p. 38
- ↑ Decree of October 23, 1625 in the district archive, Volume 391, pp. 41–42.
- ↑ p. 42, with reference to Neub. Kreisarchiv Volume 391
- ↑ p. 44
- ↑ pp. 46, 47
- ↑ p. 48
- ↑ p. 50
- ↑ pp. 55, 56
- ↑ p. 58
- ↑ p. 62
- ↑ p. 63
- ↑ p. 65
- ↑ pp. 66-68
- ↑ p. 73.
- ↑ p. 75
- ↑ p. 87.
- ↑ Reference to letter of March 3, 1655 from Bonaventura Fugger, p. 88.
- ↑ Reference to letter dated November 30, 1660 from Count Wolf Philipp von Pappenheim
- ↑ Excerpt from the letter by Friedrich Wilhelm of January 22, 1669, p. 91.
- ↑ List of emigrated citizens, pp. 100, 101.
- ↑ Exact list of the collected catechisms per location, p. 105.
