Vitus Church (Flein)
The Vitus Church in Flein in the district of Heilbronn in northern Baden-Württemberg is a Protestant church . The church, mentioned for the first time in 1233, is known nationwide, primarily because of its late Gothic carved altar.
Building history
Origins as a fortified church
The Fleiner Church is in a dominant location on the "Kirchberg" (formerly "Weiherberg") built on a steep hill on the southern bank of the Deinbach . The Kirchberg consists of Nagelfluhfelsen , which probably gave the place its name. It is assumed that St. Vitus was the namesake of the church and that the founding of the church coincided with the spread of the St. Vitus cult in Württemberg in the early 11th century. The church still reveals its origins as a fortified church , in which the Fleiner could escape when war was threatened. Strong retaining walls still demarcate the churchyard area where Gaden once stood . Until the 19th century, also were in the Kirchenhofmauern loopholes to detect. The basement tower of the church dates back to the Romanesque period and was once designed as a tower choir . The core of the middle tower floor is also still Romanesque. The loopholes were walled up inside, but are still partially visible on the outside. The vault in the tower choir, which is now used as a sacristy, was open to the west towards the nave and ended at the top with a groin vault and was painted with Romanesque frescoes.
Like the entire village of Flein, the church was part of the imperial estate, and ecclesiastically it belonged to the diocese of Würzburg. The lordship over Flein came as an imperial fiefdom to the city of Heilbronn, while the church was donated to the Heiliggeistspital in Wimpfen in 1233. The church was first mentioned in a document on the occasion of this donation.
First mentioned on June 4, 1233
King Heinrich (VII.) Donated the St. Vitus Church to the Heiliggeistspital in Wimpfen with a certificate dated June 4, 1233, including church law, tithes and patronage rights :
" Heinricus septimus, divina favente clementia Romanorum rex et semper augustus ... Qua da re noverit tam presens etas quam successura posteritas, quod nos ob divine remunerationis meritum hospitali in Wimpina noviter constructo ius patronatus ecclesie de Fline, et ipsam adcclesiam et decim omni d ipsam pertinentibus et omnibus iuribus eius que hactenus detinuit et possedit, liberaliter contulimus et contradidimus plenu iure, volentes ut ipsum hospitale prelibatium habeat cum omnibus suis attinenciis ecclesiam perpetu suis attinenciis ecclesiam perpetuo suis provis usibus deputatamibus, expati pri ... id fuerit divinitus inspiratum… Ad huius etiam donationis nostre robur perpetuo valiturum presens privilegium conscribi et sigillo nostro iussium insigniri… date anno dominice incarnationis millesimo ducentismo trigesimo tercio, pridie nonas Iunii, indictione sexta. "
"Henry VII. By the grace of divine mercy, the Roman king and eternally exalted ... Therefore, both the present and the future know that, because of the divine reward, we have the right of patronage over the church of Flein and the church itself to the newly built hospital in Wimpfen with all her belongings and the tithes belonging to her, including the Wittum [church furnishings, etc. Goods] and all the related rights that she had and possessed so far, have freely transferred and handed over with full right ... To the eternal affirmation of this gift of ours, I have written this privilege and given it with our seal ... Given in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord, 1233 on the ninth day before the idus in the sixth indiction [on June 4th]. "
The donation from Emperor Friedrich II was later confirmed in a document issued in Verona in 1238. In 1267 there was a renewed confirmation from Pope Clement IV.
The Gothic church from 1434
In the 15th century the sacred building was renewed in the Gothic style. In a letter from Pastor Weisert it is described that the year 1434 was carved over the old church door. Weisert's letter - he worked in the church from 1832 to 1866 - was found in the church tower button in 1981 . The Gothic nave connected to the west of the tower. The church was 54 feet long, 27½ feet wide and 21 feet high (1 shoe = 28.6 cm). In the Gothic period, windows were broken out of the Romanesque masonry in the basement of the tower. The groin vault was decorated with Gothic frescoes , which still show the eagle of the Evangelist John . Presumably the four evangelist symbols were depicted in the corners . A Gothic crucifix was originally hung in a Gothic triumphal arch. In the former choir, holes in the profiled stones of the triumphal arch can be seen on which the crucifix with the Gothic figure of the crucified was attached. In the former tower choir (today's sacristy) there is a Gothic sacrament house measuring 152 × 70 cm on the north wall . An iron lattice door of 72 × 40 cm closes this. In the earlier tower choir there was probably a St. Vitus altar, which was mentioned several times in the 14th century.
In 1450 the place Flein and the church were "badly affected" by Ulrich V in the Württemberg city war . At that time it can be read: “ecclesia in Flyn desolata” - “Church in Flein desolate ” Probably a large part of the old furnishings of the church was lost. However, they were soon restored. In 1480 there is mentioned a Marian altar in the church, presumably there were also other altars at that time. In 1519 the Mayor of Heilbronn and Fleiner Vogt Conrad Erer donated the St. Vitus altar that is still preserved today.
The church was the backdrop during the Peasants' War when, on April 2, 1525, Jäcklein Rohrbach held his “Fleiner Day” in the village and won many Fleiner followers. The next day, mayor Lorenz Ulmer had the parish armed with rifles gather behind the loopholes on the fortified church.
Time of the reformation
The Reformation took place from Heilbronn in Flein over several decades. In 1528 the old believer in Fleiner Vogt and founder of the high altar, Conrad Erer, was replaced as mayor of Heilbronn by the Reformation-minded Hans Riesser . In 1529 the imperial city joined the Speyer protest . The St. Vitus Church, however, belonged to the still old believing Wimpfener Heilig-Geist-Spital, which opposed the appointment of a Protestant pastor in Flein. From the middle of the 16th century, pastors of different denominations were consecutively in Flein: from 1549 a Catholic, 1562 a Protestant, 1563 and 1568 again a Catholic and from 1569, with Kaspar Sartor, an initially Catholic pastor, who later became the Protestant Confession was able to enforce in the place.
War times in the 17th and 18th centuries
The imperial city of Heilbronn tried to consolidate its influence on the Fleiner church and in 1573 acquired the right of first refusal from the economically troubled Wimpfen hospital. After the administration of the hospital had been transferred to the religious house in Stephansfeld in the diocese of Strasbourg , the imperial city made extensive loans available to the religious house and in return received the church rate and the parish loan in Flein as well as the Hipfelhof near Frankenbach. When the Order of the Holy Spirit saw no possibility of repaying the accumulated debts, the Stephansfelder sold the pledge to the imperial city of Heilbronn in 1601, but revoked the sale the following year. Lengthy legal disputes followed, which continued beyond the Thirty Years' War . During the war the church was used as a refuge several times, after the battle of Nördlingen the entire population fled into the protective walls of the city of Heilbronn and did not return until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the war, the imperial city of Heilbronn had to return the Hipfelhof to the Stephansfelder Ordenshaus in 1628, but the Flein church rights remained until the repayment of the religious debts in 1728. The occupation of the pastor's position was regulated in such a way that the Heilbronn council proposed two candidates, of which the Heilig-Geist-Orden (from 1695 whose upper hospital in Memmingen ) had to use one.
The long disputes over the church included the building loads for the church and rectory, so that the necessary repairs were often not carried out or dragged on for years. In 1751 there was a dispute over the inscription stone on the newly built Fleiner rectory , which shows the double cross of the Order of the Holy Spirit and the initials of a priest. The Heilbronn council unsuccessfully demanded the removal of the stone, which was understood as a claim to church patronage.
With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803, the patronage right of the church with further rights passed from the Holy Spirit Order to the Bavarian royal house and from this to a General von Beckers, from whose heirs the Flein parish bought itself free in 1837 and thus also the parish salary and the church and parsonage construction work took over.
New Romanesque church in 1841
At the beginning of the 19th century, the church on Weiherberg had become very dilapidated and too small. The cemetery was too small. Around the church was the original Fleiner cemetery , which was later expanded several times to the east, while the area west of the church was converted into a forecourt in the 19th century. In the church convention book, for example, it can be read that in 1835 the resolution was passed that 3/4 of the churchyard wall was to be torn down. The rest of the old fortifications from the early Middle Ages disappeared.
In 1839, however, the congregation resisted the rebuilding of the church and demanded a five-year delay. At the beginning of 1840, the district government of the Neckar District and the Oberamt Heilbronn asked the Flein community to decide whether to build a new building or to expand the sacred building by August 15, 1840. On November 8, 1840, the community decided to build a new church on the north side of the tower. In spring 1841 the Gothic nave was demolished. On April 20, 1841, the foundation stone for the new sacred building was laid.
In 1841 a new ship was built in the neo-Romanesque style based on a design by the Ludwigsburg district building council Abel , which is turned 90 ° to the north compared to the old ship. The single-nave nave was oriented from north to south towards the tower, which was then heightened. Since no breakthrough was made to the older tower choir, the choir with the celebration altar was laid out on the southern gable side of the nave. The Romanesque tower choir became the sacristy . An originally narrower wooden gallery running around on three sides was inserted. The tower was raised by a bell storey.
In 1891/92 the church windows on the west side were fitted with cathedral glass. The whitewashed church ceiling was painted. A plaster ceiling was created with 15 fields partially painted. The altar wall was also painted. The church tower was plastered.
Renovations and modifications since 1945
In 1957/58 the inside of the building was restored. When the old huge sandstone slabs that formed the floor were removed, three rows of graves were discovered. The new church floor had to be concreted according to static and hygienic aspects. The old, often uncomfortable benches were replaced by new ones. Electric heating was installed under the seats and footstools. The floor was laid with mosaic tiles. While the “gallery of the male youth” on the cemetery side was completely removed, the organ gallery, which had been narrow until then, was enlarged. So the gallery only ran in the west and north. The tower wall, which was originally decorated with the St. Vitus altar, was exposed. A new altar was erected. The historic St. Vitus altar was placed on the east wall of the choir area. The church windows were provided with stained glass. The old church ceiling was replaced by a wooden coffered ceiling with 20 fields. The costs amounted to DM 144,516.65.
The church tower was re-plastered from 1965 to 1966. One made of steel was built into the wooden belfry. This enabled a fourth bell to be hung. A newly installed reinforced concrete ceiling secured the tower. The costs amounted to 52,000 DM. In 1975 the sacristy was extended. The sanitary construction work was carried out: water and sewerage were laid up to the sacristy and a toilet was built for the church. The costs amounted to 20,000 DM.
In 1981 the interior of the church had to be restored again. The plaster in the nave crumbled due to the saltpetering sandstone on the nave plinth. The crumbling plaster must be completely removed. The lighting under the gallery has been improved. The church tower received a fourth dial on the east side and was repainted. The spire got a new cover with slate. The renovation costs amounted to 308,000 DM.
Furnishing
Altars
The Mary Altar (1480)
In the late Middle Ages there was a strong increase in the veneration of Mary, and in 1480 the Fleiner church also had its own altar to the Virgin Mary.
The St. Vitus Altar (1514)
The late Gothic winged altar consecrated to Saint Vitus , which is dated 1514 or 1517 on one of the wings, was donated by the Fleiner Vogt and Heilbronn mayor Conrad Erer . The execution of the late Gothic altar is partly attributed to the Heilbronn master Jerg Kugler , who probably also worked on the high altar in the St. Ulrichs Church in Stockheim , which shows some parallels to the altar of the St. Vitus Church .
The altar is designed as a triptych with a central shrine and two double doors. The 140 cm wide and 183 cm high shrine shows St. Vitus , who is flanked by St. Barbara (left) and Pope Gregory I (right). The figures are carved from wood and painted in colors. The saints have characteristic attributes. The niches where they stand, are intricately designed and rich conversation Enge about crowns.
The wings of the altar are painted. The inside of the left outer wing shows the corporal punishment : Saint Vitus is 12 years old before his judge Valerianus and receives the corporal punishment . The inside of the right wing shows The Martyrdom of St. Vitus : St. Vitus in a cauldron with boiling oil. A castle in the background is dated to 1514 or 1517.
The outside of the left wing shows Saint Barbara and Saint Catherine , the right shows Saint Agathe and Saint Odilia . These depictions of saints, which appear older than the rest of the decorations, suggest that an older altar was reworked when the St. Vitus altar was made in its current form.
Left side wing inside
Right side wing inside
Left side wing outside
Right wing outside
The predella , the base of the altar, is 140 cm wide and 60 cm high and shows two scenes. On the left is the founder Conrad Erer with his second wife Ursula Nenninger and their youngest child in front of the seated Veit, who was also called when he was childless. The right scene again shows St. Vitus in a cauldron with boiling oil flanked by his teacher Modestus and on the right his nurse Kreszentia, who according to legend shared his martyrdom.
The new altar (1958)
The altar, newly erected in 1957/58, consists of 12 parts, corresponding to the 12 tribes of Israel. 6 sandstone slabs form the platform . 3 massive sandstones form the stipes (substructure) of the altar as pillars . On top of it 3 plates were erected as a cafeteria (table top). A large, simple wooden cross was erected above it.
crucifix
A figure of Christ crucified hangs on a cross on the west wall of the church. The work originally hung in the triumphal arch of the tower choir, which can be seen from the holes in the profile stones of the arch. The anchor eyes for attaching the crucifix were fastened in the holes. The figure is 100 cm tall, the arms span 85 cm. The figure was in the attic of the nave until 1910 and was found by Pastor Mohrer. The parish council rejected the request of the royal state conservatory to hand the figure over to the museum. Instead, they decided to have the body restored and installed in the nave. The figure's head wears a crown of thorns and has sunk forward and tilted to the right. The “broken eyes” and the mouth are slightly open. The painful expression of the figure is emphasized: “The body weighs heavily on the tense arms, the chest arches forward over the drawn-in stomach. The legs are stretched, the feet crossed and pierced by a nail like hands clenched in pain. “A gold-plated loincloth - crossed at the front - surrounds the hips. The shawl has a blue-colored underside, as can be seen at the ends above the left knee and on the right hip. The hair and beard are dark brown in color; the triple crown of thorns is light brown, the nail heads are rusty brown, the stab wound on the chest is brownish red.
On the one hand, the figure is attributed to the "Heilbronn School around 1500". However, the "stretched posture", the "strict symmetry" and the "archaic representation" speak in favor of dating to the early 14th century.
Baptismal font, sacrament device and organ
A font in the Gothic style has also been preserved. It is goblet-shaped and shows a simple tracery ornament in the 20 surrounding fields , a fish bladder between two noses in the pointed arch field. The font is 90 cm high and has a circular area of 94 cm in diameter at the top. The depth of the stone is 63 cm.
The Lord's Supper was created in the 18th century and is made of tin. It shows the typical Heilbronn forms. The wine jug is a sister of the "Heilbronner jugs", which are in the Heilbronn Historical Museum.
An organ fee of 30 kreuzers was required from the new residents. In 1714 the schoolmaster received 10 guilders for beating the organ. In 1842 the organ builder Schäfer from Heilbronn built a new organ for 1500 guilders. In 1930 the organ was so in need of renovation that the following year it was decided to ask Link in Giengen, Walker in Ludwigsburg and Weigle in Echterdingen for offers for a new organ. Weigle got the contract; the organ consecration took place on August 2, 1931.
Bells
Three bells hung in the church for over 400 years, with the shape of the small bell being the oldest. It had no year, was 75.7 cm in diameter and weighed 170 kg. The big bell was in 1498 at Bernhart Lachaman the Elder. Ä. was cast in Heilbronn, had a diameter of 100 cm and weighed 587 kg. The inscription read: “Jhesus Naserenus rex Judaeorum” (Jesus the Nazarenes, the King of the Jews) and “Bernhard Lachmann poured me 1498”. The middle bell from 1501 came from the same foundry, was 91 cm in diameter and weighed 451 kg. Their inscriptions read: "Jhesus Naserenus rex Judaeorum" and "Bernhard Lachmann poured me 1501".
On June 27, 1917, the small bell was withdrawn for the First World War, and another on August 14, 1918. A drawing made by foreman Eckert from Sontheim when the small bell was being removed shows what the oldest Fleiner bell looked like. On December 26, 1918, the parish council decided to buy back the bell that had been delivered in August 1918. In February 1919 this was hung up again in the tower; an entry made on July 15, 1919 describes the bell that was bought back. When on March 31st the government gave the order to ring the bells for an hour, the middle bell - cast in 1501 - had cracked. Then the bell founder Kurtz from Stuttgart appeared and prepared an expert opinion. He made three suggestions. According to the first suggestion, the cracked bell was to be cast for 571.85 RM. The second suggestion was to cast both the cracked and the small bell for 1166.80 RM. The last one was based on the creation of a completely new bell by casting over all three existing bells at a price of 1723.10 RM. Pastor Eitle wanted to keep all three bells, while the Württemberg State Office for the Preservation of Monuments spoke out in favor of keeping the two laughing bells. Eitle wanted to have the two laughing bells set up next to the altar in the church. The pastor had also offered the bells to the Heilbronn Historical Society, the city of Heilbronn for the cemetery chapel and the Heilbronn Evangelical Church Administration. When the purchase offer was not accepted by either side, the Flein parish council decided to melt down all three bells for a casting. On June 17, 1937, the bell founder Kurtz poured the three remaining bells into new ones. On July 18, 1937, the new bells were inaugurated. The little bell had the tone C and the inscription: “ Keep us, Lord, by your word! ". The middle one bore the inscription: "O land, land, hear the word of the Lord" (Jeremiah 22:29) and sounded to the tone B. The large one read the inscription: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord" and had the tone G. On March 2, 1942, the middle and large bells were drafted for the Second World War. Only the small bell remained in the tower. In 1949 the bell founder Kurtz cast two new bells for the evangelical Fleiner church; the inauguration took place on October 23, 1949. The two new ones bear the same inscriptions as their predecessors and sound on the notes A and G. In 1965 an e'-bell was added, which was cast at the Bachert bell foundry . It has a diameter of 127 cm and weighs 1170 kg.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Evangel. Parish Flein and Heimatverein Flein (ed.): 750 years of the church in Flein. 1233-1983. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the first documented mention of the church in Flein. , Flein 1983, p. 6f.
- ↑ Evangel. Parish Flein and Heimatverein Flein (ed.): 750 years of the church in Flein. 1233-1983. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the first documented mention of the church in Flein. , Flein 1983, p. 9.
- ↑ Hartmut Gräf: The Fleiner Veitkirche with the altar of Jörg Kugler , Evangel. Kirchengemeinde Flein (Ed.) 1980, p. 6.
- ↑ Hartmut Gräf: The Fleiner Veitkirche with the altar of Jörg Kugler , Evangel. Kirchengemeinde Flein (Ed.) 1980, p. 5
- ↑ a b c Hartmut Gräf: The Fleiner Veitkirche with the altar of Jörg Kugler , Evangel. Kirchengemeinde Flein (Ed.) 1980, p. 28.
- ↑ Evangel. Parish Flein and Heimatverein Flein (ed.): 750 years of the church in Flein. 1233-1983. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the first documented mention of the church in Flein. , Flein 1983, p. 16
- ↑ Evangel. Parish Flein and Heimatverein Flein (ed.): 750 years of the church in Flein. 1233-1983. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the first documented mention of the church in Flein. , Flein 1983, pp. 20f.
literature
- Peter Wanner (Ed.): Flein, Flein, you noble spot . Flein municipality, Flein 1988
- Julius Fekete: Art and cultural monuments in the city and district of Heilbronn . 2nd Edition. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1662-2
- Hartmut Gräf: Unterländer Altars 1350-1540. An inventory . Städtische Museen Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1983 ( Heilbronner Museumsheft . No. 9). Pp. 48-51
- 750 years of the church in Flein. 1233-1983. Festschrift for the 750th anniversary of the first documented mention of the church in Flein. Evangel. Parish Flein and Heimatverein Flein, Flein 1983.
- Emil Scheerle and Martin Ziegler: Church leaders of the St. Vitus Church in Flein. Evangel. Parish of Flein, Flein 2006.
- Hartmut Gräf: The Fleiner Veitkirche with the altar of Jörg Kugler. Evangel. Parish of Flein, Flein 1980.
Web links
- St. Vitus Church on the website of the Evangelical Church Congregation Flein
Coordinates: 49 ° 6 ′ 2 ″ N , 9 ° 12 ′ 54 ″ E