Rupert von Ottobeuren

Depiction of Abbots Rupert and Isingrim, 12th century

Rupert von Ottobeuren († August 15, 1145 ) was prior in the monastery of St. Georgen in the Black Forest , from 1102 abbot of Ottobeuren , where the important monastery reformer was venerated as a saint after his death .

According to medieval tradition, Rupert is said to have been 120 years old, the Ottobeurer abbot died on August 15, 1145 at an old age and was perhaps born around the middle of the 11th century. Where Rupert's spiritual career began - whether he was given to a monastery as a Benedictine wafer or whether he was educated at a canon can not be determined. There is no record of a Rupert's vita that must have existed.

With regard to Rupert's origin, historical research places the Ottobeurer abbot on the Swabian noble family of the Lords von Ursin and Irsee (near Kaufbeuren), who later became Counts von Ursin-Ronsberg . Since the beginning of the 11th century, the lords of Ursin Vögte of the Ottobeuren monastery, the name "Rupert" occurs here as a leading name . Incidentally, the Lords of Ursin not only had connections to the Guelphs , but also to Hirsau and St. Georgen. This is one of the reasons why Abbot Rupert from Ottobeur was classified in the Ursine noble family.

The founding report of the St. Georgen monastery mentions a Hirsau monk Rupert on the occasion of the intervention of Wilhelm von Hirsau (1069-1091) in advance of the St. Georgen monastery foundation or the relocation of the monastic community to be founded from Königseggwald to St. Georgen (1084) is identical to the future abbot. It is indeed conceivable that Rupert lived together with the St. Georgen Abbot Theoger (1088–1119) in Hirsau, which explains the later intense relationship of trust between the two. Theoger, previously prior in the Hirsau priory (Kloster-) Reichenbach, then became abbot of St. Georgen in 1088, Rupert could have come to St. Georgen with Theoger, at least belonged to the monks' convent there before 1102. As a monk of the Black Forest Monastery, Rupert then experienced the sometimes difficult development phase that the monastic community in St. Georgen had to master; as prior, as second after the abbot and his deputy, he supported Theoger in every possible way in the internal and external affairs of the Monastery.

Rupert's change from St. Georgen to Ottobeuren was initiated by the Ottobeurer Vogt Rupert (von Ursin) and took place with Theoger's consent in 1102. Rupert was the first St. Georgen monk to become an abbot in another monastery in order to to restore monastic order ”, an order in the sense of the then party of church reformers ( St. Georgen monastery reform ).

Ottobeuren was - according to tradition from the point of view of the church reformers - before Rupert's arrival a torn convent, his abbot Heinrich I (1100–1102) without assertiveness. With the election of the St. Georgen monk as Ottobeurer abbot, with the approval of the convent of Rupert from St. Georgen, the over 40-year reign of an abbot began who reshaped his monastery in the spirit of the St. Georgen reform and - or so it seems - thereby placed the monastic community on a new basis. Rupert reorganized the monastic life in Ottobeuren, filled the convent with monks from other (reform) monasteries, placed the lay brothers next to the full monks and founded a women's community in Ottobeuren. Ottobeurer scriptorium and painting school certainly started a new beginning with the reforms.

One consequence of the new monastic discipline was the economic recovery of the Ottobeurer monastic community, which was able to massively expand its property through donations, mainly from the nobles. One consequence of the expanded economic fundamentals was the completion of the new monastery building in Ottobeuren. The reconstruction or new construction of the monastery complex began at the time of Abbot Adalhelm (1082-1094), and on All Saints Day in 1121 it was consecrated by the bishops Ulrich I of Constance (1110-1127) and Hermann von Augsburg (1096-1133).

Obviously, the merger of the abbot and the Vogt proved to be a solid basis for the reform of the Ottobeuren monastery. Rupert was thus not one of the church reformers who wanted to rule out any secular influence on a spiritual institution, rather he handled the reform of his monastery in a more pragmatic manner and was obviously successful with it. The presumed kinship between the abbot and the bailiff certainly played an outstanding role and led to the influence of the bailiff family on Ottobeuren being consolidated or even increasing.

It remains largely unclear how Abbot Rupert behaved in the triangle of forces between the abbey, diocese and kingship. The Ottobeuren monastery was a royal abbey, but there is evidence of the Augsburg bishop's increased influence since the 10th century. The kingship was largely eliminated because of the investiture dispute with regard to possible influence on the monastic community, but the diocese of Augsburg was under the direction of the loyal Bishop Hermann. Apparently Abbot Rupert understood to a large extent how to protect the monastery from counter-reforming forces and to carry out the St. Georgen reform, not least with the support of the von Ursin family of bailiffs.

The "Ottobeurer Chronik" ( Chronicon Ottenburanum ) conveys something of Abbot Rupert's sanctity. She mentions his biography, which did not come down to us, which in turn had written down the miracles Rupert worked. She mentions Rupert's charisma, who made Ottobeuren an attraction for “a lot of people”. The death of the charismatic abbot in 1145 therefore did not go unnoticed in monastic circles. Rupert was regarded by the Ottobeurer monks as the “extraordinary father of the whole place, an excellent cause of miracles”, as an entry in the monastery necrology for August 15th put it.

The veneration of Rupert as a saint began in the Ottobeuren monastery under the subsequent abbot Isingrim (1145–1180). The Ottobeurer Chronicle began under Isingrim, and the lost Rupert's vita was also written down. The Ottobeurer Graduale (12th century) contains miniatures of the abbots Rupert and Isingrim. In 1270 Rupert's remains were transferred to the abbey church. Rupert shaped the history of Ottobeuren in the 12th century and beyond just because of his long term as abbot.

literature

• Michael Buhlmann: St. Georgen as the reform center of Benedictine monasticism (= sources on the medieval history of St. George, Part VIII = Vertex Alemanniae. Series of publications by the Association for Local History St. Georgen 20) . St. Georgen 2006.
• Michael Buhlmann: Rupert von Ottobeuren, monk from St. Georgen, Abbot of Ottobeuren († 1145) . In: Der Heimatbote , 17 (2006), pp. 4-14
• Ä. Kolb: The cult of blessed Rupert . Ottobeuren 1961.
• Ottobeuren. Festschrift for the 1200th anniversary of the abbey , ed. v. Ä. Kolb et al. Hermann Tüchle , Augsburg 1964.
• Ottobeuren . In: J. Hemmerle: The Benedictine monasteries in Bavaria (= Germania Benedictina, Vol. 2), Ottobeuren 1970, pp. 209–215.
• Rupert I. , arr. v. HL Müller. In: Lexicon for Theology and Church 9, Sp. 106.
• H. Schwarzmaier: Medieval manuscripts of the Ottobeuren monastery. Attempt to take stock . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 73 (1962), pp. 7-48.
• H. Schwarzmaier: Abbot Rupert von Ottobeuren (1102-1145) and his time . In: Studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 107 (1996), pp. 299-317.