Robert Metzel

Robert Metzel SOCist (* in Volkach ; † October 8, 1689 ) was abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Maria Bildhausen from 1675 to 1689 .

Bildhausen before Metzel

In the time before Robert Metzel took office, the monastery was marked by the reconstruction after the Thirty Years' War . His predecessor Valentin IV. Hendinger was still in exile in 1639 because foreign troops repeatedly visited the monastery. After 1644 he bought back estranged properties for the convent and had the cloister courtyard rebuilt in Neustadt an der Saale . After the war, however, Bildhausen was soon drawn into the dispute between the Würzburg monastery and the Ebrach monastery, both of which claimed supremacy over the monastery.

Life

Early years

Robert Metzel was born in the Franconian city of Volkach in the 17th century. Nothing is known about the family of the future abbot; they were probably respected citizens of the agricultural town. The city oriented itself towards the diocese metropolis of Würzburg and so Metzel, perhaps after graduating from the Volkach Latin School , probably attended the University of Würzburg to study theology here. However, this training was not mentioned in the sources.

The young butcher joined the convent of Bildhausen Monastery at an early age and quickly rose to the top of the convent, which was emaciated by the long war. In 1667, as bursarius, he was responsible for the food supply in the monastery. In 1671 they named Metzel together with a certain Gotfridus Prior of the monastery. Between 1672 and 1675 Metzel looked after the Johanneskirche in Brendlorenzen as a pastor and at the same time administered the cloister courtyard in Neustadt as Oeconomicus.

After the death of Valentin Hendinger in July 1675 an abbot election became necessary. Abbot Alberich Degen von Ebrach then set the election day for July 26th. The Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, Peter Philipp von Dernbach , did not want to accept this and postponed the planned election to July 29th. Alberich gave in and followed the prince-bishop's suggestion. Alberich Degen reached the Abbey of Bildhausen on July 24, 1675, and the Würzburg election commissioners also arrived on July 28.

Again there were disputes between the two parties. The Würzburgers wanted to appoint the abbot and also have priority over Ebrach during the meal. Alberich Degen threatened to leave, whereupon a compromise was reached: the Abbot von Ebrach was to preside over the electoral chapter, while the Würzburgers were to congratulate first at table. Robert Metzel was elected the new abbot with 17 of 27 votes and received the key to the monastery from the Ebrach abbot.

As abbot

Further problems arose when Metzel was supposed to present himself in Würzburg in order to be consecrated here by the suffragan . The prince-bishop previously demanded humble gestures from the newly elected. Abbot Robert then turned to Ebrach and was advised to ignore the demands and simply travel to Würzburg. The sources are then silent about the trip to Würzburg. What is certain is that Metzel accepted the consecration on October 6, 1675 .

Metzel continued to force the reconstruction. The upper stables were built on the monastery grounds as early as 1676. In the same year, the so-called Keltzenhof could be bought back for the monastery by radiation . The debts taken on by Abbot Georg Kihn in Cologne were also repaid 1,100 guilders. At the same time he had the monastery church repaired and the so-called prince's hall designed in the convent buildings. The monastery courtyard in Münnerstadt was also rebuilt under Metzel.

In 1678 the parish Neustadt an der Saale could be occupied again by a monk from Bildhausen. A year later the monastery church in Bildhausen received a high altar . In 1682 the equipment was supplemented by a new organ and paintings by Marcus Ochs. In the same year Abbot Robert attended the first jubilee ceremony at the University of Würzburg, and a year later he again traveled to the metropolis to attend the memorial service for Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp.

In his last years in office he managed to acquire a few new tithe for the monastery. So in 1686 the tithe was bought in Rickersfelden from the Lords of Thüngen . A new tithe barn was built here in 1687. Metzel also managed to settle a centuries-old dispute over the tithe of Theinfeld in the interests of the monastery. On July 30, 1686, he had already laid the foundation stone for the new dormitory . A year later, the renovation of the choir of the monastery church began.

In 1688 the dispute between Würzburg and Ebrach escalated again. A Landtag planned in Würzburg , for which Abbot Robert had already registered, did not take place. At the same time, the prelate fell ill with dropsy . On October 8, 1688, he saw the arrival of an image of Our Lady for the monastery church. On the same day of the following year 1689 Abbot Robert died around 8 p.m. After his death there was a dispute because the death of the abbot in Würzburg had been reported too late.

literature

• Johann Ludwig Klarmann: The Steigerwald in the past. A contribution to Franconian cultural studies . Gerolzhofen ² 1909.
• Johann Wilhelm Rost: History of the Franconian Cistercian Abbey Bildhausen. From handwritten documents . Wurzburg 1852.
• Otto Schnell: Personnel level of the Cistercian Abbey in Bildhausen during the period of its existence . In: Archives of the Historical Association of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Vol. 30 . Würzburg 1887. pp. 135-172.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Klarmann, Johann Ludwig: The Steigerwald in the past . P. 213.
2. ^ Rost, Johann Wilhelm: History of the Franconian Cistercian Abbey of Bildhausen . Pp. 104-107.
3. ^ Schnell, Otto: Personnel status of the Cistercian Abbey in Bildhausen during the time it was in existence . P. 156.
4. ^ Rost, Johann Wilhelm: History of the Franconian Cistercian Abbey of Bildhausen . P. 111.
5. ^ Rost, Johann Wilhelm: History of the Franconian Cistercian Abbey of Bildhausen . P. 116.
6. ^ Rost, Johann Wilhelm: History of the Franconian Cistercian Abbey of Bildhausen . P. 117.