Prüm Abbey

; Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Imperial Abbey of Prüm
coat of arms
	; ;
Ruler / government	Prince abbot
Today's region / s	DE-RP
Reich register	4 horsemen, 30 foot soldiers, 50 guilders (1521)
Reichskreis	Upper Rhine
District council	Reichsfürstenrat : 1 curiate vote on the Rhine. Prelate database
Capitals / residences	Prüm
Denomination / Religions	Roman Catholic ; ;
Incorporated into	1576: Kurtrier ;

Abbey with St. Salvator's Basilica

Prüm Abbey, aerial view (2015)

The later prince abbey of Prüm in Prüm ( Eifel-Ardennen ) was donated in 721 by Bertrada the Elder , the great-grandmother of Charlemagne . Charles's parents, Pippin the Younger and his wife Bertrada the Younger , occupied the abbey in 752 with monks of the Benedictine order and re-established it as the home monastery of the Carolingians . The abbey was always closely associated with the Carolingian family and enjoyed their special favor. After his abdication as emperor, Lothar I spent the last days of his life in Prüm and received his grave in the Prüm Abbey Church .

meaning

One of the most precious relics of the Christian West is kept in the abbey. The Sandals of Jesus Christ .

The gilded cover of the Carolingian Liber aureus von Prüm

View to the altar

View of the main entrance to the basilica

The abbey's possessions were vast, stretching from the Rhine to Brittany and the Netherlands. Hundreds of places, including in the Eifel and on the Ahr , on the Taunus , in the vicinity of St. Goar , in France , Belgium and the Netherlands are first mentioned in the abbey's list of goods, the Prümer Urbar .

In order to manage the extensive property, the Prüm Abbey was subordinate to bailiffs and branch monasteries, including: Revin (France), Güsten bei Jülich , Münstereifel , Kesseling an der Ahr and Altrip .

The abbey was also famous for its monastery school , in which the sons of the ruling house and the Carolingian nobility were trained. St. Markward , the advisor to Ludwig the Pious , the canonized Ado von Vienne , Ansbald and Hungerus Frisus and the poet Wandalbert lived in Prüm .

According to a document from AD 762, the abbey maintained a hospital for the poor . Twelve penniless and physically needy people were taken in here for life, who in return had to do lighter work (ringing bells, etc.) in the monastery. In addition, passing arms were temporarily accommodated and cared for in the hospital.

The outstanding medieval historian Regino was Abbot von Prüm.

Besides Lothar I, other Carolingians also spent some time more or less voluntarily in the abbey:

Pippin the Hunchback (son of Charlemagne) † 811 in Prüm
Charles the Bald , who is considered the first king of France, was exiled to Prüm at the age of ten and trained in the convent school.
Hugo (son of Lothar II. ) † 895 in Prüm

history

721 First foundation of the monastery by Bertrada the elder and Charibert (von Mürlenbach ) with monks from the Echternach monastery .
752 Re-establishment of the monastery by King Pippin with Benedictine monks from St. Faron in Meaux near Paris. He gave the monastery parts of Christ's sandals , which he in turn had received from Pope Zacharias for helping to establish the Roman papal state. The abbey and church were given the name "To the Most Holy Redeemer" - St. Salvator. This particular award was exceptional. It documented that Prüm was the most important abbey in the empire at that time. The sandals of Christ are still kept in a precious reliquary in the basilica.
799 Inauguration of the St. Salvator monastery church by Pope Leo III. in the presence of Charlemagne .
In 855 his grandson, Emperor Lothar I, entered the monastery after the division of Prüm and died shortly afterwards. He found his final resting place in the collegiate church.
882 first Norman storm . Monastery buildings were devastated. The library burned down. 90% of the manuscripts were destroyed.
891–919 Creation of the Liber aureus von Prüm , the most important collection of documents from the Carolingian era that has been preserved in the Rhineland.
892 second Norman storm . According to tradition, the monks fled to Dasburg .
In 1222, the Prüm Abbey was elevated to a principality by Emperor Friedrich II .

In 1511, when it was transported to the Malmedy Monastery , the remaining collection of scripts was completely lost; the exact circumstances are not known. Only the chronicles of Regino von Prüm and the monk Wandelbert have survived as copies of the medieval writings of the Prüm scriptorium , as these had previously been copied in other monasteries.

In 1576 the abbey came to the Electorate of Trier against their will . When the last Prince Abbot Christoph von Manderscheid-Kayl died in 1576, Archbishop Jakob III appeared. von Eltz in Prüm and was introduced as his successor against the resistance of the monks. The property of the monastery was administered in Kurtrier as the Prüm Office.

1721 New construction of the monastery church (by Johann Georg Judas ) under Elector Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg .

1748 New construction of the abbey building by Andreas Seitz according to plans by Balthasar Neumann under Elector Franz Georg von Schönborn .

1794 Dissolution of the abbey and expulsion of the monks ( secularization ) by the French. After that, the building was temporarily the seat of various offices. Today the Regino-Gymnasium is located in the abbey buildings .

In 1802 the abbey church became the parish church of St. Salvator.

1827 Prüm became the seat of a deanery .

In 1860, while the old high altar was being dismantled, the remains of Emperor Lothar were found.

1874/1875 was of the remains of Lothair I. a tomb with financial support from Kaiser I. William built.

In 1891 the Prüm doctors and pharmacists donated a new reliquary for the relics of the Three Holy Doctors .

In 1896 a precious shrine altar was donated for the sandals of Christ .

In 1927 the church received the baroque altar from the Carmelite Church in Bad Kreuznach .

Since September 16, 1944, the city of Prüm was the target of American artillery fire. Especially since December 23, the bombing attacks have increased ( Battle of the Bulge ). The former abbey buildings were badly damaged.

On Christmas Eve 1945, one hour before Christmas mass , the vault of the entire long and right aisle collapsed as a result of the war.

In 1950 the reconstruction of the church was largely complete. At the same time, Pope Pius XII. the monastery church the title "Basilica minor pontificia"

In 1952, the reconstruction of the abbey building was largely complete.

Abbots of Prüm

Angloardus 720-762
Assuerus 762-804
Tank wheel 804–829
Markward 829-853
Eigil 853-860
Ansbald 860-886
Farabert I. 886-892
Regino 892-899
Richar (Richard) of Hainaut 899–921 (920–945 Bishop of Liège)
Ruotfried 921-935
Farabert II of St. Paul 935–947
Ingelram of Limburg 947–976
Eberhard von Salm 976-986
Childerich 986-993
Stephan von Saffenberg 993-1001
Udo from Namur 1001-1003
Immo von Sponheim 1003-1006
Urold von Thaun 1006-1018
Hilderad of Burgundy 1018-1026
Ruprecht von Arberg 1026-1068
Rizo from Jülich 1068-1077
Wolfram von Bettingen 1077–1103
Poppo de Beaumont 1103-1119
Lantfried of Hesse 1119–1131
Adalbero of Basel 1131–1136
Gottfried I. von Hochstaden 1136–1155
Rother von Malberg 1155–1170
Robert I of Kleve 1170–1174
Gregory I from Geldern 1174–1184
Gerhard von Vianden 1184-1212
Caesarius of Milendonk 1212-1216
Kuno of Ahr 1216-1220
Friedrich I von Fels 1220–1245
Gottfried II of Blankenheim 1245–1274
Walter von Blankenheim 1274–1322
Heinrich I von Schönecken 1322–1342
Diether von Katzenelnbogen 1342-1350
Johann I. Zandt von Merl 1350-1354
Dietrich von Kerpen 1354-1397
Friedrich II. Von Schleiden 1397–1427
Heinrich II. Von Are-Hirstorff 1427–1433
Johann II of Esche 1433–1476
Robert II of Virneburg 1476–1513
Gregory II of Homburg 1513
Wilhelm von Manderscheid-Kayl 1513–1546
Christoph von Manderscheid-Kayl 1546–1576

Since 1576 the electors and archbishops of Trier acted in place of the abbot as "administrators" of the abbey

Monument protection

The Prüm Abbey is a protected cultural monument under the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in Prüm in the monument zone of the Catholic Parish Church of St. Salvator and a former monastery .

Furthermore, it is a protected cultural asset according to the Hague Convention and marked with the blue and white trademark.

literature

Bernd Isphording, Prüm. Studies on the history of the abbey (721-855). ( Sources and treatises on the history of the Middle Rhine Church, Volume 116) ISBN 3-929135-50-7 , Mainz 2005.
Gerd Althoff : The relations between Fulda and Prüm in the 11th century . In: Karl Schmid (ed.): The monastery community of Fulda in the early Middle Ages 2, 2: Investigations . Fink, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7705-1684-2 , ( Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 8), ( Societas et fraternitas ), pp. 888-930.
Wolfgang Haubrichs : The culture of the Prüm Abbey during the Carolingian era. Studies on the home of the Old High German Georgslied . Röhrscheid, Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-7928-0401-8 , ( Rheinisches Archiv 105), (At the same time: Saarland University, Habil.-Schrift, 1975).
Martina Knichel: History of remote ownership of the Prüm Abbey in today's Netherlands, in Picardy, in Revin, Fumay and Fépin as well as in Awans and Loncin . Verlag der Gesellschaft für Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte et al., Mainz et al. 1987, ( Sources and treatises on Mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte vol. 56, ISSN 0480-7480 ), (at the same time: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 1985).
Peter Neu: The Eifel Abbey of Prüm. The rise, splendor and decline of a Benedictine abbey in the Eifel . In: Before times. History in Rhineland-Palatinate , Vol. 4. Ed. By Dieter Lau and Franz-Josef Heyen . Verlag Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 1988, pp. 47-68, ISBN 3-87439-177-9 .

Web links

Commons : Prüm Abbey - Collection of images

Individual evidence

^ Michael Embach: Hundred highlights. Precious manuscripts and prints from the Trier City Library. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-2750-4 , No. 92.
^ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm. Mainz 2018, p. 100 (PDF; 4.4 MB).

50.2064 6.4257Coordinates: 50 ° 12 ′ 23 " N , 6 ° 25 ′ 32.5" E

[1] Michael Embach: Hundred highlights. Precious manuscripts and prints from the Trier City Library. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-2750-4 , No. 92.

[2] General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm. Mainz 2018, p. 100 (PDF; 4.4 MB).