Oberstenfeld Collegiate Church
The collegiate church of St. John the Baptist in Oberstenfeld is one of the larger Romanesque church buildings in southwest Germany.
history
The medieval pen
The aristocratic Oberstenfeld Abbey was founded in 1016 , according to a copy made around 1150 . This document is probably a forgery, but the largely complete necrology of the monastery indicates that it actually existed in the early 11th century . This necrology also contains information about the founder of the monastery, a Count Adelhard and his wife, as well as Ulrich, the Imperial Chancellor Heinrich II, who died in 1032, and Konrad. II. Apparently it is a matter of founding high-ranking families from the Salier Empire .
A first church with a crypt in the western part of today's church has also been proven by excavations from this time . The column crypt, which is still preserved today, was added around 1025.
The construction of the three-aisled basilica began around 1200 , the floor plan of which has largely existed to this day. Originally, it was closed in the east by three apses , the middle of which, however, had to give way to the newly built large choir tower as early as 1230. The church, located in the border area of two dioceses, may also have served as a representative building and a show of power for the Speyer diocese to the neighboring Würzburg diocese. Its architectural form is reminiscent - on a smaller scale - of that of the Speyer Cathedral . A single massive pillar, which interrupts the row of more delicate columns on the south aisle, suggests that perhaps an even larger structure and an extension to the south had been considered.
The oldest authentic documents that have been preserved, which show the ownership of the monastery, date from the years 1244 and 1247. In 1262 it received a statute from the Speyer bishop. According to her, the canonesses had a life of chastity and obedience, but not poverty. The choir women led a religious life and had, among other things, the task of praying for the deceased families and celebrating soul masses. However, they were not nuns: The monastery made it possible for them to lead a befitting lifestyle, combined with good, high-quality nutrition and other freedoms for the time. It was a kind of pension institution, a benefice of the nobility for daughters who could not be considered in inheritance and could not be married. The donation of the monastery and the resulting income from agriculture and forestry formed the economic basis for this.
At that time, a monastery needed a secular guardian who could exercise and defend his rights to the outside world. This protective bailiff has been the responsibility of the von Heinriet families and the Lichtenbergers who are probably related to them since the 12th century. In 1357 Eberhard der Greiner bought it from the Lords of Lichtenberg .
From the Reformation to the Palatinate War of Succession
In 1536 Ulrich von Württemberg introduced the Reformation in Oberstenfeld. The monastery also submitted to this new order and became a noble fräuleinstift in 1540 . It saved itself as an institution, in contrast to most other women's monasteries in Württemberg. In the immediate vicinity, for example, the Dominican convent in Steinheim fought in vain to maintain it.
Nevertheless, the relationship between the monastery and the Duchy of Württemberg was marked by tension. The monastery regarded itself as imperial direct and kept the alleged founding deed in the field, while Württemberg insisted on the purchase agreement of 1357 and demanded influence on staffing and the administration of the monastery properties as well as the payment of taxes. In order to strengthen its position, the monastery joined the imperial knighthood around 1530 and paid its taxes to them. In 1587 the duchy lost a process that was being carried out before the Reich Chamber of Commerce.
In 1578, Wolf von Weiler donated the winged altar for the von Weiler family's burial chapel , which is now in the east choir. In 1598 the north aisle was renewed; three pointed arch windows and the wedding gate were installed.
In 1634, after the battle of Nördlingen , all but one of the canonesses fled. Anna von Reitzenstein waited in the abandoned monastery to prevent the Bishop of Speyer from being given the right to withdraw it. In 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years' War , the population of Oberstenfeld had shrunk to one sixth. The collegiate church was dilapidated, other buildings were destroyed.
In 1693, French troops caused further serious damage to the village and the monastery during the War of the Palatinate Succession . It took nearly 20 years until they were financially able to repair the damage: The church received a new roof, the tower its preserved to this day Welsche hood , and in 1713 the convent buildings have been restored.
The pen in the 18th and 19th centuries
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Duchy of Württemberg managed to exert greater influence on the affairs of the monastery. The occasion was a controversial election of abbesses in 1709, which ended with the exclusion of two and the acceptance of three new nuns. A few years later there was another trial between the monastery and the duchy, this time before the Reichshofrat in Vienna . It was about filling a preacher position. The process ended with a settlement in 1730, but subsequently offered Württemberg the opportunity to participate in the election of the abbess and to inspect the accounts.
With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, the monastery was mediatized and awarded to the Duchy of Württemberg. The abbess Caroline Friederike von Weiler (1736–1805) continued to head the monastery until her death in 1805, after which Princess Katharina von Württemberg was abbess of the monastery until her marriage. Other Württemberg princesses followed her in office until their wedding. However, the Württemberg princesses rarely lived in the monastery buildings, so that the monastery preacher and a forester were quartered there. It was not until 1860 that the monastery was increasingly inhabited by canonesses.
A major renovation of the church took place from 1888 to 1891 under Abbess Mathilde von Württemberg . Baroque building elements on the south aisle are replaced by neo-Romanesque walls. It is thanks to the initiative of the abbess that the baroque side portal from 1735 was not smashed, but moved further back and thus was preserved. In keeping with the taste of the time, neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic style elements were also used inside the church. The oil paint on the side walls and the pillars was removed and the raw sandstone worked out again. The pulpit, font and altar were renewed.
A cross vault was built over the altar arch. A photo from 1866 by Jakob August Lorent shows a flat ceiling above the choir, the vault ribs above the side pillars break off after a few meters in the middle of the slope. Until a few years ago, it was believed that a makeshift ceiling and a makeshift repair of damage from the wars of the 17th century were being dealt with. The original wooden ceilings were probably burned down at that time. Dendrochronological However, research recently revealed that the wooden ceiling has been preserved from the 13th century original.
The arches above the chancel were painted in the romantic (sic) style by the Nuremberg artist Loosen . An organ gallery with an organ from the renowned Ludwigsburg workshop Walcker was added to the west .
The recent past
After the death of Mathilde von Württemberg in 1913, the Countess of Pückler-Limburg became the last abbess of the monastery before it was abolished as a privilege of the nobility in 1920 - its history as a monastery in the sense of its founding purpose came to an end.
The church was spared from destruction during the Second World War . From 1986 to 1989 the church was again thoroughly renovated. The stylistic changes from the 19th century remained as they were again historical in character. The monastery building came into the possession of the municipality of Oberstenfeld in 1989, was also completely renovated and furnished with apartments suitable for the elderly.
The collegiate church today
The mediation decision of 1803 is still effective today: The state of Baden-Württemberg, as the legal successor to the duchy, is responsible for the construction of the church , and not the Protestant church. However, the parish celebrates its services in the collegiate church in the warm months from May to the beginning of October. In the winter months, the church is difficult to heat, and the operation of the existing bench heating attacks the building fabric. That is why at this time you switch to the smaller Baroque church in the immediate vicinity .
Architecture and art of the collegiate church
tower
The tower was added to the recently completed church as a choir tower around 1230. The upper floor with its slate-covered " Welschen Dome ", which was only put on in the 17th century, is striking . The four sides were all treated differently. Although the windows are similar, they differ in number and design. The eastern side facing the rising sun was preferred. Here there is a lively vertical and horizontal structure of the masonry with ornamental bands and masonry lion heads on a window ledge.
Church house
The church is a typical Romanesque basilica with a high central nave and two lower aisles. The south aisle, which makes a very uniform and calm impression, is the result of renovation work in the 19th century: the Gothic and Renaissance windows and the Baroque portal were no longer appealing and were replaced by neo-Romanesque elements. The south aisle is closed off in the east by the only remaining apse of the church.
The building consists of Keuper sandstone from the surrounding area, namely from the eastern edge of the Bottwartal .
The windows in the north aisle were added in a modeled Gothic style at the end of the 16th century.
The two-part choir inside is unusual : Below the large vaulted vault , you first reach the vestibule, on which the altar is located, via a few steps. Behind it comes an even higher tower choir.
The columns that separate the central nave from the side aisles weigh on an Attic base . One of these columns, to the side of the altar arch in the north aisle, is provided with a beautifully crafted double spur: two rams' heads at the foot of the column are reminiscent of the scapegoat , who has to stand as an atonement for the guilt of the people.
The cube capitals are partly simple, partly decorated with figures and ornaments. These also offer space for manifold interpretations. The most magnificent of these capitals, south of the altar, could, for example, represent the four evangelists. Ornate, diamond-coated ribbons flow out of their mouths , which end in plant ornaments . One possible interpretation could be the fertility that results from the Word of God. It is assumed that the variety of possible interpretations was intended, and one speaks of a sermon chapter .
The painting in the front pointed arch shows Peter the Apostle Peter with the church key on the left, John the Baptist with the lamb on the right . In the back arch, Christ, the judge of the world, can be seen in the mandorla - a typical motif of Romanesque sacred painting. He is surrounded by lions, bulls, humans and eagles as symbols of the four evangelists .
Spur on a pedestal ( scapegoat )
Sermon capital with sheet mask
Epitaph for Baroness von Buwinghaus in the tower choir
Tower choir
The tower choir is almost completely filled by the winged altar. In the wall to the right behind the winged altar, two niches are worked into the wall. They date from 1414. The one on the right was used as a sacrament house , the one on the left for cleaning liturgical utensils. John the Baptist is depicted between the pointed arches above the niches.
The carved oak choir stalls date from roughly the same time as these niches.
The most colorful of the numerous epitaphs in the collegiate church is also located in the tower choir: the baroque memorial stone for Baron Antonia Johanna Friderica von Buwinghaus and Wallmerode . In addition to the lively and cheerful design, a rapturous short poem in the inscription is remarkable, which pays tribute to the deceased under the name of Tabea .
Passion altar
The winged altar from 1512 in the tower choir was originally donated by Stephan Schreiber and his wife Adelheid from Kirchheim unter Teck for the Güterstein Charterhouse near Bad Urach . The transverse rectangular central panel of the altar shows a multi-figure scene carrying the cross, in the lower corners of which the original donor couple is depicted. The inside of the wings of the altar is painted with four other scenes from the Passion: Christ on the Mount of Olives, the flagellation of Christ, Christ before Pilate and the crowning of thorns. On the outside of the wing, ie on the weekday side, St. Stephan and Anna selbdritt , on the right the Saints Catherine and Adelheid of Burgundy . The donors kneeling in front of the saints are again the original donors from 1512, the saints Stephan and Adelheid are their namesake. In 1578 the altar was acquired by Wolf von Weiler for the Weiler'sche chapel in the southeastern apse. Today's predella depicts him surrounded by his family, while the original predella could have completed the depicted Passion Cycle with a man of sorrows or a scene of burial. The central scene of the Passion, the crucifixion of Christ, is presumed to be in the now missing bursting of the altar.
The altar bears mainly early Renaissance style elements. In terms of style and motif, the altar refers to the successor to Albrecht Dürer and the Franconian painters' circle. The small passion scenes on the inner wings probably go back to woodcuts by Hans Schäufelin around 1507, while the landscape backgrounds and the bushes are based on the painting style of Hans Baldung and Albrecht Altdorfer . The Kirchheim master Wolfgang Bretzger is suggested as the painter .
Crypts
The column crypt , built around 1025, is the oldest surviving part of the church. Because of its importance as a burial place, it was embedded in a central location in the new building at the beginning of the 13th century. The donors were probably buried there. It is a typical hall crypt of the Salier period , with three naves of equal height and uniformly designed belt arches , the thickness of which increases from the capitals to the center.
Access is now from the side. The Romanesque font stands in front of the former central entrance . During the renovation from 1888 to 1891, it was moved down from the main house.
The Romanesque crypt leads to the Gothic tower crypt, the lowest room of the tower built around 1230. This vaulted crypt is much higher than the Romanesque column crypt and thus serves as the basis for the high tower choir. The cross ribs of the vault weigh down on demon figures at the foot. Thus, the demonic, banished right down, bears the entire burden of the church tower and is forced to serve the good work - a typical motif in Gothic church construction.
The heavy stone altar table in the tower crypt originally stood up in the tower choir.
Both crypts house a large number of epitaphs from a number of eras.
literature
- Hermann Ehmer: The Oberstenfeld Abbey. From the Salian period to the 20th century. In: Ludwigsburger Geschichtsblätter, ISSN 0179-1842 , issue 54/2000, pp. 11-23.
- Ernst Schedler: Collegiate Church of John the Baptist Oberstenfeld , Evangelical Church Congregation Oberstenfeld
- Ernst Schedler: The noble women's monastery in Oberstenfeld becomes part of Württemberg , in: History sheets from the Bottwartal No. 9/2004 , pp. 96-108.
- Hartmut Gräf: Unterländer Altars 1350–1540 , Heilbronn 1983, pp. 72–74, No. A 16.
Other sources
- ↑ Oral lecture by the sacristan to visitors from Großbottwar on October 29, 2006
- ↑ Oral lecture by the Werner Lämmle municipal council on the occasion of a tour of the Marbach-Bottwartal tourist office on February 18, 2007
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 1 '24.4 " N , 9 ° 19' 5.3" E