Volkold of Meissen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Volkold , also Wolcold, Folcold, Folchold Volhold, Volkhuld, Volchrad, Vocco († 23 August 992 in Meißen ) was Bishop of Meißen .

Life

All that is known of Volkold's life before his elevation to bishop is that he was the teacher of his son Otto II at the court of Emperor Otto the Great . In 969 he appears to have become Bishop of Meissen. In 972 Volkold was at a synod in Ingelheim to settle disputes with the Osnabrück bishop Ludolf, the abbot of Corvey and the abbess of Herford . Since the diocese of Merseburg was abolished on September 9, 981, the diocese of Zeitz and the diocese of Meißen received parts of this diocese, as both belonged to the church province of Magdeburg.

When Boleslav II occupied the castle and city of Meißen , Volkold had to flee from the Sorbs to Erfurt . Only after the reconquest by Margrave Ekkehard I of Meissen was he able to return to his often damaged bishopric. In 987 he put the diocese under imperial protection. Volkold, who during the absence of Bishop Adalbert of Prague in Italy from 989 to 990 often performed the necessary official duties in his place, acquired two properties of the Merseburg diocese, namely the villages of Weissenburg and Lostatava, both located in the Gau Chutizi , and received as compensation for the many losses in the war by Emperor Otto II. donated several goods, duties and uses.

Following the example of Bishop Chrodegang von Metz, who had lived 200 years earlier and also belonged to the Benedictine order, Volkold prescribed a more regulated way of life (canon) for his canons, in which certain times for choir prayer, spiritual reading, school lessons and the ecclesiastical activities were fixed, also dined at their communal table and governed his clerics and canons more by the power of his own example than by the compulsion of given orders.

In addition to the usual missionary business, in which Boso , first bishop of Merseburg, supported him from 969 to 970, Volkold devoted a lot of time to prayer, reading and study. In old age his eyes became so weak that he had to use outside help. During a visit to Prague he was hit by a blow on Good Friday 990. He was brought back to Meissen, where he died very old.

literature

  • Eduard Machatschek : History of the bishops of the Meissen Monastery in chronological order: At the same time a contribution to the cultural history of the Mark Meissen and the Duke and Electorate of Saxony. Edited from the "Codex diplomaticus Saxoniae regiae", other credible sources and proven historical works. CC Meinhold, Dresden 1884. pp. 19-23.
  • Ernst Gotthelf Gersdorf : Document book of the Meissen Monastery. Vol. 1, p. XVI.
  • Karl Uhlirz:  Volkold . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 245 f.
predecessor Office successor
Burchard Bishop of Meissen
969–992
Eido I.