Schönrain am Main

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View from the south-east of the Schönrain ruin with the part from the Hirsau period.
Schönrain monastery ruins around 1900 (pen drawing K. Mörschell)

Schönrain am Main was founded around 1080 as a Benedictine monastery , partially destroyed in the German Peasants' War in 1525 and rebuilt as a residential palace by the Counts of Rieneck . After the death of the last countess (1574), Schönrain served as a fallen fief for the diocese of Würzburg until the beginning of the 19th century as accommodation for the forest administrators. After Napoleon's victory over Austria, the end of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and the associated annexation of the Franconian territories to the newly created Kingdom of Bavaria (1806), Schönrain was not spared from secularization either .

The ruin is crossed by the Schönrain tunnel, lies above the Main and opposite Neuendorf on the southwestern end of the district of Gemünden am Main , in the Lower Franconian district of Main-Spessart in Bavaria . The Franconian Marienweg runs right next to the ruins .

The history of the former Hirsau priory

The donation from Schönrain

Only after the turn of the millennium did the darkness of Schönrain's history clear. In the midst of the investiture dispute between Emperor Heinrich IV and Pope Gregor VII ( walk to Canossa ), the Ludowinger Counts Ludwig der Springer and Berengar von Sangerhausen donated the Schönrain with two mills and accessories as well as their estate in Wiesenfeld to the abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau (1069 to ~ 1084). The conditions that led to the foundation of Schönrain Abbey made it possible to identify the first representatives of the East Saxon-Thuringian aristocracy in the count brothers Ludwig and Berengar, whose connection to Wilhelm von Hirsau could be inferred from sources. The relationship was so good that the two counts entrusted the Hirsau abbot with the establishment of a monastery based on their Main Franconian property for the salvation of their ancestors. Soon afterwards, Ludwig's relationship with the Hirsauer Reform was to become even closer, because a little later the count founded the Reinhardsbrunn monastery near Friedrichroda around 1085 , which became the actual home monastery of his family.

Schönrain Abbey, outpost of the Cluniac reform movement

Abbot Wilhelm, the initiator of the Hirsau reform, took a clear position in favor of the Pope in the investiture dispute - as did Count Ludwig der Springer , a member of the general Saxon-Thuringian prince opposition.

In the 11th century, under Abbot Wilhelm, the Hirsau Monastery had joined the reform movement that began in the Burgundian Benedictine Monastery of Cluny and became one of the most important German monasteries in the High Middle Ages.

The monastery reform triggered a small mass movement. Finally, the reform movement resulted in numerous new monasteries being founded and taken over:

and other.

Thus, towards the end of the eleventh century, another outpost of the Cluniac reform movement, Schönrain Monastery, arose in the middle of Franconia, which was loyal to the emperor .

Church and monastery complex of the Hirsau priory

The completion of the monastery complex took at least ten to fifteen years. In practical terms, there are no clues except for the remains of a crossing pillar (base) uncovered and photographed by the Lohr History Association and the pillar with capitals and chessboard frieze. So you have to rely on style-critical comparisons and calculations based on the height of the columns. Presumably it was a flat-roofed three-aisled column basilica.

The riddle of the Schönrainer monastery church

The typical floor plan of the Hirsau church complex, the three-aisled basilica with an eastern transept, was changed in many ways with skillful adaptation to local conditions. In Bavaria in particular, the usual construction scheme was deviated from in many cases by dispensing with the transept, following the Reichenbach model. In both the Hirsau priories Reichenbach and Mönchsrot, the church seems to have been limited to a single nave. Given the modest furnishing of the Hirsauer Cella Schönrain with goods and income, which was largely based on remote free float, it is reasonable to assume that the church was built with just one nave and the transept was omitted.

There are, however, conclusive evidence from the sources that contradict this assumption and suggest a three-aisled floor plan with a three-apse choir closure. Even a transept has to be expected. The solution to this riddle is of supra-local importance for art historical research.

Two arguments from tradition make the above view appear justified:

This is mainly due to the unusually long construction time of the monastery, which lasted from 1085 (at the latest) to 1139, i.e. over half a century. The in Hirsauer annals traditional report by the most learned abbot Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), of his life as abbot of the last decade Würzburg Schotten monastery had, deserves full credibility. The personally colored description of Schönrain's location suggests that Trithemius knew the priory and its archives from his own experience; he was probably known personally with three Schönrainer priors. The first Schönrainer Prior was called Adelhelm, as his note from 1085 tells us. A large part of the church was already completed under Wilhelm's successor, Gebhard (1091–1105) at his special instigation, probably according to Wilhelm's plans. During the latter's lifetime, the forces of the mother monastery were drawn upon by the completion of St. Peter and Paul (1091); it was only since 1091 that the Hirsau construction works could be strengthened by delegating a large number of conversations to Schönrain.

Three altars - three ships?

The second clue for the assumption of a three-aisled church complex is the tradition of documents, interest registers and the death rots of the Austrian monastery Admont (from 1477 and 1495), which with Schönrain and a large number of other monasteries, including Neustadt am Main, has been part of the association since 1458 Bursfeld Congregation was united . This means that the Schönrainer monastery church had three altars: In honor of the local patron St. John Evangelista and the Mother of God, St. Laurentius, to whom the main altar was presumably dedicated as church patron, and St. Nicholas . By the way, the local patron emphasized a close relationship with Cluny, whose monastery church also had an altar for these two saints.

In 1139, Bishop Embricho von Würzburg issued a certificate of protection for the Schönrain am Main Monastery, in which the following process related to the founding of the monastery was recorded: At the time of Heinrich IV and Bishop Adalberos of Würzburg , Count Ludwig and his brother Berengar transferred the place Schönrain with two mills and other tenants and the praedium that they own in Wiesenfeld, the abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau on the condition to establish a monastic institution there. Wilhelm tackled this project, which was completed by his successors.

The Counts of Rieneck

The Ludowingers emerged from a sideline of the later so-called (!) Counts of Rieneck . The (later) Rieneckers were burgraves of Mainz, a family that lived in the area around Lohr; Schönrain has been part of their property for a long time. With Gerhard I. (von Rieneck) these died out in the male line in 1108. His only daughter married Count Arnold von Looz (1101–1139). This inherited the entire property of the Rienecker and took over the name of Rieneck for the Franconian possessions of the family around 1156/57 . The Mainz burgraviate and the archbishopric also came to the Counts of Looz in Brabant in 1106/08, were institutionally probably separated by Archbishop Adalbert I († 1137) and later reduced in value as a result of the vowing. Towards the end of the 12th century the clan of counts branched out into the lines Looz (until 1336) and Rieneck (until 1559), the main castle of which was Rieneck Castle (Gemünden district) on the Sinn, first mentioned in 1179 ; The royal seat was Lohr am Main. Their county comprised imperial fiefs and allodial property , but could not expand between the domains of Mainz, Würzburg and Fulda.

After the middle of the 12th century, the Counts of Rieneck used the Schönrain priory as guardians of the monastery to expand their domain in order to strengthen their position vis-à-vis the Würzburg monastery . The burgrave title of the Rieneckers disappeared from 1221, the free float on the Rhine and Nahe had already been given up. In use of bailiwick rights of the Aschaffenburg monastery, clearing was carried out in the Eastern Spessart, but the penetration into the center of the woodland failed due to the resistance of Archbishop Werner von Eppstein († 1284). To the east of Mainz, the Würzburg monastery remained in power. Before 1243, the Rieneckers expanded the monastery, which was occupied by five to ten monks, with fortifications. A little later, however, they had to give in to a dispute with the Würzburg bishop and remove the fortifications that had been built.

The undeveloped land around the monastery was sold by Hirsau to the Rieneckers in 1319 (reacquired 43 years later).

Prior Basellius

In 1511 and 1512 Nikolaus Basellius officiated as prior in the Hirsau branch in Schönrain. The Benedictine was a student of Johannes Trithemius and wrote or published various works. His best-known work is the continuation of the unpublished world chronicle of Tübingen university rector Johannes Nauclerus († 1510), from 1501 to 1515. Nikolaus Basellius edited the chronicle he continued and published it in 1516 as a complete work. Johannes Reuchlin wrote the foreword. Also at the Hirsauer annals of Johannes Trithemius Basellius played a decisive role.

After the peasant war and pillage: the new beginning

During the looting in the Peasants' War in 1525, the monastery partially burned down, the monks fled back to Hirsau. Guardian Count Philip III. von Rieneck took the opportunity to purchase the monastery property cheaply. After the secularization of Hirsau and his conversion to Luther's teachings, Count Philipp had the monastery church torn down, contrary to the treaty, and erected an expensive administrative and residential building in its place. The time lag between the acquisition of Schönrain (March 1526) and the start of construction (completion 1556) is probably due to the efforts of the Würzburg bishop Julius Echter , who with his objection to the pope, the transfer agreement between Hirsau and Philip III. wanted to challenge. The matter was transferred to the Reich Chamber of Commerce. The residential palace was completed in 1556. Just three years later, however, Philipp died as the last of his generation, he "took his helmet and shield with him to his grave" and left his wife Margareta Schönrain as a widow's residence. Margareta died fifteen years later.

According to Philipp Wille, his father's sister, Amalie, the wife of Count Philipp von Isenburg-Ronneburg , inherited the property of the Rieneckers with the Würzburg fiefdom Schönrain . In 1574, Schönrain fell to her nephews Georg, Wolfgang and Heinrich (1537-1601). They too died childless, Schönrain went back to the Würzburg Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn as a fallen fief and became the official seat of Würzburg. The prince-bishop placed a bailiff in the abandoned mountain castle who, together with a hunter, had to manage the forest and the associated towns of Hofstetten, Massenbuch and Halsbach.

After the secularization of Franconia, Schönrain became the royal Bavarian forestry office. In 1818 its seat was relocated to Massenbuch. For the construction of the local forestry office, the authorities had the roof of the mountain castle demolished in order to use the usable material. In the following years Schönrain became a ruin, as the farmers of the neighboring towns got what seemed usable. Remains of the former Hirsau priory can be found today in Wiesenfeld, Hofstetten and Massenbuch.

Trivia

The castle ruin Schönrain is one of the scenes in the "Roadnovel" My worst beautiful summer by Stefanie Gregg.

literature

  • Waldemar Weigand: The Hirsau Priory Schönrain am Main . Part I (= series of publications on the history of the town of Lohr, the Spessart and the neighboring Franconian region, volume 2). Lohr am Main 1951

Web links

Commons : Ruine Schoenrain  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Schönrain in the Topographia Franconiae (Mathäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

References and comments

  1. ↑ Klaus Schreiner: Calw, History of a City: Life and Constitutional Forms of a Black Forest Monastery , Archive of the City of Calw, 2005, p. 69, ISBN 3980961559
  2. ^ Wilhelm Kühlmann: Killy Literature Lexicon , 2nd edition, Volume 8, p. 506, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, 2010, ISBN 3110220474 ; (Digital scan of Johannes Nauclerus and the world chronicle published by Basellius)
  3. ↑ Philip's ancestor, the Ludowinger Ludwig der Springer , had the Wartburg built around 1070. This is where Martin Luther camped for the night on April 4, 1521 on his journey to Worms.

Coordinates: 50 ° 1 ′ 50.2 "  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 23.4"  E