Sülchen

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Sülchen is a deserted area in the northeast of the city of Rottenburg am Neckar in the Tübingen district , Baden-Württemberg . A church in an overbuilt form and a cemetery still testify to the existence of the former settlement. The settlement itself probably disappeared in the 13th century.

history

The Sülchenkirche

The place Sülchen is mentioned for the first time as "Sulichi (n)" in the life story of Meinrad von Einsiedeln, who was canonized by the monks of St. Gallen, at the beginning of the 10th century. According to this legend, St. Meinrad is said to come from the area known from ancient times as Sülchgau , which was named after the place Sülchen.

Archaeological studies indicate that Sülchen was built earlier. In the early Halemannic period, in the 4th and 5th centuries, a settlement was built in the immediate vicinity of the later Sülchenkirche. It is also clear that the Sülchen desert was more than just one of the usual rural settlements. The settlement area is unusually large and the architecture with its Carolingian stone construction and high medieval stone cellars is out of the ordinary. During excavations in the church, the remains of older predecessor buildings were found, the oldest of which dates back to around 600 and was built on the site of an older Merovingian burial site.

In the high Middle Ages, Sülchen appears in various documents, for the first time in a deed of donation from King Henry IV from 1057, in which the episcopal church in Speyer received the Sülchen estate as property. Based on this document, it can be assumed that Sülchen could previously have been a Franconian royal or ducal estate . The Speyer diocese lent some of the newly acquired goods to the Counts of the Hessones, who lived in Sülchgau . In the 11th century, Sülchen became a dominant center of this noble family. Around the year 1075, a descendant of this family called himself “Dominus Ezzo de Sulichin” (German: 'Esso, Herr von Sülchen').

The earthquake in Verona in 1117 seems to have caused destruction in Sülchen and could have played a role in the decline of the place. With the founding of the city of Rottenburg around 1280 by the Counts of Hohenberg , Sülchen lost its importance - in worldly terms - and became a desert. The old district merged into today's town of Rottenburg. The most recent evidence of the existence of the settlement comes from the 13th century, so in 1286 Berthold, Schmied von Sülchen is mentioned as a witness in a document. Older research often overlooked the fact that a lower nobility family called themselves "von Sülchen".

The name Sülchen

Probably the name Sülchen after the Old High German word “sul” or “sol” (“Suhle”, “Lache”) indicates the geographical location of the former settlement “im Sumpfigen” (ahdt .: “sulika”). The prevailing opinion for a long time that the name Sülchen could refer to the former Roman settlement Sumelocenna near Rottenburg am Neckar is now disputed due to a lack of clear archaeological evidence and etymological concerns.

Sülchenkirche

Cemetery at the Sülchenkirche

Today's cemetery church was the mother church of the city of Rottenburg am Neckar. It can be considered one of the original churches in the region. The current archaeological investigations in the area around the church confirm the assumption that the origins of the Sülchenkirche could go back to the 6th century. Possibly it was formerly part of a Franconian manor house, in the vicinity of which the Sülchen settlement had developed.

The church was rebuilt in the late Gothic style in 1513 and dedicated to St. Johann Baptist. Parts of an older, Romanesque three-apse church were built over, which was named St. Martin's Church in a document from the Bishop of Constance in 1293. Parts of this old church have been preserved to this day, such as the north side of the nave from 1181, the stair tower between the tower and the choir, the entire east gable of the nave and a large part of the west facade. During the renovation, the south wall was moved outwards by about 2.5 meters, the west facade was renewed, and the windows in the choir and nave were enlarged and provided with late Gothic tracery panels. However, the church remained single-nave with a flat wooden ceiling and a retracted choir. In 1761 the church was again extensively renovated. In 1868 it was given a new meaning as the burial place of the Rottenburg bishops . A crypt was laid out under the choir and in 1885 the tower was raised with a bell storey made of tuff stone. Further renovations followed in 1935 and 1977, when the neo-Gothic furnishings from the 19th century were removed again. For this purpose, the high altar was erected in 1935 in the Renaissance style based on a design by the architect August Koch, made by the sculptor Walz. The epitaphs of the bishops also found their place, especially in the choir room. The burial place of the bishops of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart is in the crypt under the church. The beatification process for Joannes Baptista Sproll was opened on May 9, 2011 in the church.

Due to water damage, the bishop's crypt had to be extensively renovated from 2011 to 2017. The previous church with three apses from the 9th century was found. It is very similar to the plan of the St. Johann monastery church in Müstair . Due to the importance of this find, the recovery plans have been changed significantly. The burial place of the bishops has now been moved to a new lower church under the nave. This made the found foundations visible. Finds show that Christian burials have taken place in the area of ​​the church for 1,500 years, a tradition that could not be proven anywhere else in Baden-Württemberg. Around the year 600 two decorative disks already decorated with crosses were added to the grave of a girl of about six. At the same time, the addition of food and a coin point to pagan customs. A woman who was buried in the first half of the 7th century also received a pagan amulet as a burial gift, but also a bronze decorative disk with a recessed cross. A branch of the diocesan museum was set up under the church ; it is only accessible with a guide. In addition to the relics of the three previous buildings, visitors can also see finds from the rich grave furnishings such as leftover clothing, artistic necklaces, a fitting with horse representations, a comb or exquisite earrings with Byzantine models.

The hermitage of Sülchen

In 1323 the empty rectory was settled by a beguinage . The convent joined the Third Order of St. Francis and was later accepted into the Strasbourg province. Despite numerous donations in the 15th and 16th centuries, the hermitage in Sülchen remained small. During the Reformation around 1525/40 several sisters left the monastery, married and settled in Rottenburg. In the course of the 16th century the financial situation deteriorated more and more, which is why the city granted alms and firewood to the monastery in 1627 and 1630. By armed raids in 1631 and 1643 the hermitage was completely destroyed, lifted and merged with the convent of the upper hermitage in Rottenburg. The old church continued to serve as a cemetery church and until the end of the 18th century as a parish church for Seebronn , Wendelsheim and Kiebingen . She was looked after by clergy from St. Martin's parish in Rottenburg.

The cemetery

The following famous personalities were buried in the cemetery near the Sülchen:

  • Kurt Frank (* 1926 in Tübingen; † 1995 ibid), German painter
  • Josef Eberle (* 1901 in Rottenburg am Neckar, † 1986 in Samedan ), Swabian writer, publisher and philanthropist

The Meinradweg

The Meinradweg is a cycle path named after the Holy Meinrad and, with a total distance of 275 km, connects the birthplace of Sülchen, a desert in the northeast of the city of Rottenburg am Neckar, with the Einsiedeln monastery, the largest pilgrimage site in Switzerland. There are about 3,300 vertical meters to be mastered on the entire route, there are extreme climbs on the last stage between Fischingen and Einsiedelei. The entire route can be covered in four to five daily stages at a moderate cruising speed. It goes from the Sülchenkirche via Archabbey Beuron , stage 1 with 80 km over the island Reichenau, stage 2 with also 80 km to the Benedictine monastery Fischingen with 60 km as stage 3. The fourth stage between Fischingen and Einsiedeln with another 60 km is due to the pass heights Hufftegg (934 m) and Etzelpass (950 m) the most demanding stage of the route.

literature

  • Herbert Aderbauer, Harald Kiebler (ed.): The Sülchenkirche near Rottenburg. Early medieval church - old parish church - cemetery church - episcopal burial place, Lindenberg i. Allgäu 2018, ISBN 978-3-95976-102-4 .
  • Uwe Gross, Erhard Schmidt: Archaeological investigations in the outskirts of the abandoned village of Sülchen near Rottenburg . (PDF; 5 MB) In: Der Sülchgau , 47./48. Band, Rottenburg am Neckar 2003/2004.
  • Dieter Manz: From the event calendar 1999-2003 . City of Rottenburg, Rottenburg am Neckar 2004, ISBN 3-89570-922-0 ( Rottenburger Miniatures 4).
  • Dieter Manz: Monasteries in Rottenburg am Neckar . City of Rottenburg am Neckar - Cultural Office, Rottenburg am Neckar 1990.
  • Erhard Schmidt: Archaeological investigations in the settlement area of ​​the abandoned village of Sülchen in the Rottenburg district . In: Der Sülchgau vol. 33, 1989, ISSN  0940-4325 , pp. 13-21.
  • Joachim Wenz: An extraordinary place. History and furnishings of the new bishop's burial place in the Sülchenkirche near Rottenburg am Neckar (1869–2017). In: Das Münster 4/2018, pp. 352–357.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ O. Holder-Egger (Ed.): Vita Meginrati . In: Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH), Scriptorum Tomi XV, Pars I, 1887, p. 444f: "praedictus vir (Meginratus) in Alemannia pago natus est, quem ex villa Sulichi Sulichkewe vocavit antiquitas." Possible translation: "Above mentioned man ( Meinrat) was born in an Alemannic region, which in ancient times was named after the place Sülchen Sülchgau. "
  2. ↑ Uwe Gross, Erhardt Schmidt: Archaeological investigations in the outskirts of the abandoned village of Sülchen near Rottenburg . In: Der Sülchgau , Vol. 47/48 2003/2004, Rottenburg Neckar 2004, pp. 1-14.
  3. ↑ Herbert Aderbauer, Harald Kübler (ed.), The Sülchenkirche in Rottenburg. Early medieval church - old parish church - cemetery church - episcopal burial place, Lindenberg i. Allgäu: Kunstverlag Josef Fink 2018.
  4. ↑ Wirtemberg document book . Volume I, No. 230. Stuttgart 1849, pp. 273 f. ( Digitized , online edition ): "... predium, Svlicha nominatum, in pago Svlichgovve, in comitatu Hessonis comitis situm ..." (possible translation: "The estate, with the name Sülchen, in the Sülchgau region, located in the county of Hesso")
  5. ↑ Thomas Glade, Malcolm Anderson, Michael J. Crozier: Landslide Hazard and Risk . John Wiley and Sons, 2005, ISBN 0-471-48663-9 , p. 261 (page 261 in Google Book Search)
  6. ↑ Herbert Aderbauer, Harald Kübler (ed.), The Sülchenkirche in Rottenburg. Early medieval church - old parish church - cemetery church - episcopal burial place, Lindenberg i. Allgäu: Kunstverlag Josef Fink 2018.
  7. ^ Franz Quarthal: The holy Meinrad and the Sülchgau . In: Ulrich Sieber (Hrsg.): Place name research in southwest Germany. A balance sheet . Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-926269-31-6 , p. 76.See also: Lutz Reichhardt: Ortnamesbuch des Ostalbkreises Tl. 2 . Stuttgart 1999, p. 331.
  8. ↑ Wirtemberg document book . Volume X, No. 4386. Stuttgart 1909, p. 143 ( digitized , online edition )
  9. ^ Herbert Hoffmann: Works of art in and around Rottenburg in: Rottenburg am Neckar, Pictures of a City , 1974, ISBN 3-87437-109-3
  10. ^ Mission center, rule, bishopric . (No longer available online.) In: Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart. September 28, 2012, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 31, 2012 .  ( 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.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.drs.de  
  11. ↑ Gabriele Böhm: Treasures from the past . In: Evangelisches Gemeindeblatt für Württemberg . No. 48/2017 , November 26, 2017, p. 29 .
  12. ↑ Welcome to the Meinradweg. Retrieved October 16, 2019 (German).

Web links

Commons : Sülchen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 29 ′ 8 ″  N , 8 ° 56 ′ 56 ″  E