Sarcophagus of Ludwig the German
The sarcophagus of Ludwig the German is a sarcophagus that keeps a noble dead man. However, it can no longer be determined with certainty whether the dead person is Ludwig the German , his son Ludwig the Younger or his grandson Hugo. The sarcophagus dates from the second half of the 9th century and is one of the most important sculptural evidence of the Carolingian era . It was located on the site of the former royal crypt of the Lorsch monastery and is shown today in the former electoral house opposite the royal hall.
Dimensions and description
The sarcophagus is 2.05 meters long, 0.73 meters wide and 0.67 meters high. The wall thickness of the piece hewn from a single sandstone block is 7 cm throughout.
The sarcophagus is decorated on the long walls with 3 inner pilasters each according to the ionic order between the upper and lower edge, on the edges again the same decoration, executed as a corner pilaster. The fact that the work was carried out according to the Ionic order is important for the attribution of the sarcophagus to Ludwig.
Find and previous evaluation
The magnificent sarcophagus was found in 1800 in one of the private excavations that were widespread at the time, together with four or eight other sarcophagi or stone coffins. The excavator was a forester, Baron von Hausen. The older literature assumed that Count Kankor , the founder of the Lorsch Monastery, was buried in this sarcophagus . Other people were also named. This assumption was contradicted as early as the 19th century. Kankor died before 776, the date of origin of the sarcophagus can be set over a century later, namely around the year Ludwig died in 876. There are no understandable reasons for the assumption that the count was in such a precious sarcophagus a second time over a hundred years after his death should have been buried in the Carolingian royal crypt. The contemplated burial of abbots of the Lorsch monastery is also ruled out. From the excavations of Friedrich Behn in the 1920s it is known that they were only buried in brick coffins; there is no archaeological evidence of an abbot being buried in a sarcophagus made from a workpiece.
Circumstantial evidence and reassessment
There is no written or clear evidence of Ludwig's burial in this same sarcophagus, but there are still some indications that make Ludwig's ownership appear highly probable:
Through his excavations in connection with the evaluation of von Hausen's plans, Behn has proven that the sarcophagus was found in the area of the former royal crypt, which was not yet fully completed at the time of Ludwig's death. After his death in Frankfurt am Main on August 28, 876, Ludwig was transferred to Lorsch on his express orders and buried there a day later. The place of discovery and burial site match.
The processing of the sarcophagus is important. A special tool was used to work out the pilasters and smooth the surfaces, a stone ax with a working width of exactly 4 centimeters. That fits exactly with the stones that were processed with such stones and used in the construction of the Königshalle. It is also noticeable that both the interior and the exterior architecture of the upper floor of the previously completed Königshalle are decorated with a pattern of the Ionic order. That, too, would speak in favor of an attribution to Ludwig.
After von Hausen's excavations, eyewitness reports of the opening of the sarcophagus were collected among the Lorsch population. They unanimously report that this sarcophagus contained the remains of a man who wore a silk robe trimmed with gold braids, as well as boots and spurs. This speaks for the Carolingian period at least for a person whose importance far exceeded that of the Lorsch abbots.
Wilfried Hartmann , on the other hand, assessed the attribution of the sarcophagus to the Carolingian King Ludwig the German far more carefully in his biography published in 2002 and in an anthology he edited in 2004.
Web links
- Images of the sarcophagus on bildindex.de , accessed on January 15, 2013
literature
- Heimat- und Kulturverein Lorsch (Ed.): Contributions to the history of the Lorsch monastery (special volume 4 in the series history sheets for the Bergstrasse district ). 2nd Edition. Lorsch 1980. from this the essays:
- Hans-Peter Wehlt: Emperors and Kings in the Lorsch Empire Abbey. Pp. 123-126
- Karl Josef Minst: The burials in the royal crypt. Pp. 135-141.
- Theodor Schieffer : On the 1100th anniversary of the death of King Ludwig the German. Pp. 145-164.
- Eduard Berlet: The sarcophagus of Ludwig the German. Pp. 165-172.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilfried Hartmann: Ludwig the German. Darmstadt 2002, p. 62.
- ↑ Berlet, p. 165.
- ↑ Berlet, p. 170.
- ↑ Minst, p. 141.
- ↑ Berlet, p. 166.
- ↑ Berlet, p. 169.
- ^ Wilfried Hartmann: Ludwig the German. Darmstadt 2002, p. 62. Wilfried Hartmann: Ludwig the German - portrait of a little-known king. In: Wilfried Hartmann (Hrsg.): Ludwig the German and his time. Darmstadt 2004, pp. 1–26, here: p. 26.