Verena von Stuben

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Verena von Stuben (* around 1410 ; † after 1472 probably on the Sonnenburg ) was abbess of the Benedictine convent Sonnenburg in Pustertal from 1440 , which at that time was on the Roman road Via Claudia Augusta Altinate . When she opposed the reform efforts of Bishop Nikolaus Cusanus of Bressanone , she was banned and the entire monastery with the interdict . The supremacy between secular and spiritual power played a role in the disputes in which Duke Siegmund was also involved.

Life

Verena came from the Swabian noble family of Stuben . Her place of birth is uncertain and her parents are not known either. In 1440 she was elected abbess of the Sonnenburg monastery, which is now in the municipality of St. Lorenzen .

The ownership of the monastery, founded in 1039, was confused. Although the Sonnenburg belonged to the district court of Sankt Michelsburg and thus fell under the rule of the Counts of Görz , the monastic possessions were mainly in the Val Badia , where the monastery had lower jurisdiction , but not blood jurisdiction . Just a few days after Bishop Nikolaus Cusanus, appointed in 1450, took office in Brixen in 1452 , he asked Verena von Stuben to recognize him as Vogt of the Enneberger and thus also as supreme court lord. As a justification, he cited that he considered himself the supreme court lord and bailiff of the Enneberger, because the episcopal captain in Buchenstein was responsible for blood jurisdiction . Verena, who referred to the previous privileges and customs of her monastery, decidedly refused this request. Since Duke Siegmund was affected in his sovereign rights, Verena named him unceremoniously as Vogt of the monastery, whereby she also placed herself under his protection.

Verena had further arguments with Bishop Cusanus about the organization of monastic life. As part of his planned reforms, he decreed in May 1452 that the rules of the order be adhered to . Among other things, the previous ways of life of the nuns, who mostly came from the nobility, were to be changed in the Sonnenburg monastery and the strict enclosure introduced. Verena and her convent refused a visit to the monastery planned in 1453 . Likewise, a visit a year later, when she clearly stated that she would not introduce the strict enclosure. At the same time she wrote a letter to Pope Nicholas V , from whom she unsuccessfully demanded recognition of the special status of the monastery that had previously been practiced. Since she did not change her posture during a third visit in 1455, she was banned by Bishop Cusanus in April 1455. In September of the same year he imposed an interdict on them and the monastery , which prohibited acts of worship in the monastery. In April 1456 he appointed Afra von Velseck, who came from Bruneck , to be the caretaker . Verena then commissioned her brother-in-law Jobst von Hornstein to recruit mercenaries. At the beginning of April 1458 they fought in the "Battle of Enneberg" near Maria Saalen against the episcopal mercenaries. Since Duke Siegmund had left Tyrol in March 1458 and transferred the reign to his wife Eleonore of Scotland for the duration of his absence , Verena wrote several letters to Duchess Eleonore and requested her help. When the Sonnenburg was subsequently besieged by episcopal troops from the Gadertal and the Sand in Taufers court , Verena and her convent fled to Schöneck Castle on April 8th , which was owned by the sovereign. From there Verena wrote another letter to the Duchess Eleonore, in which she described the most recent incidents. At the request of Duke Siegmund, Verena abdicated as abbess and went to Vellenberg Castle in the Inn Valley . In the same year Bishop Cusanus left his diocese. When he tried to return in 1460, he was captured by Duke Siegmund at Bruneck Castle. After his release, the Duke and the nuns of the Sonnenburg Monastery were excommunicated .

After the death of Bishop Cusanus, the convent of the Sonnenburg monastery supported his successor Georg Golser in 1465 for the reinstatement of Verenas in her rights as abbess. Although this did not happen, a letter from 1472 that was only found in 1993 indicates that Verena was allowed to spend the last years of her life at the Sonnenburg.

literature

  • Hermann Hallauer : The battle in Enneberg. Small writings of the Cusanus Society, Issue 9. Paulinus-Verlag, Trier 1969.
  • Monika Jonas: "That is why we call on princely grace / we have laughed at the weiplich". Abbess Verena von Stuben's letters to Eleanor of Scotland. In: Johann Holzner u. a. (Ed.): Literature and language culture in Tyrol. (Germanistic series. Volume 55). Innsbruck 1997, ISBN 3-901064-18-4 . Pp. 211-217.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Now a district of Altshausen in the Ravensburg district .
  2. ↑ The information on this is contradictory. According to Hermann Hallauer ..., p. 26, Duke Siegmund had the Sonnenburg occupied as early as May 1458 and the caretaker Afra von Velseck expelled. On June 15 of the same year, Verena is said to have returned to the Sonnenburg and resumed her position as abbot.
personal data
SURNAME Verena von Stuben
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Benedictine, abbess of Sonnenburg Monastery in the Puster Valley
DATE OF BIRTH around 1410
DATE OF DEATH after 1472
Place of death uncertain: Sonnenburg Monastery