Waltbert

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Waltbert (also Waldbert , Waldbreht , Walbert or Waltbraht ) (attested between 834 and 872) was a grandson of Widukind and (Gau-) Graf in Lerigau .

Life

Waltbert was a son of Wikbert (Wibert, Wibendet, Wicbert), who in turn was the son of Widukind von Sachsen (attested 777-785). He is mentioned for the first time in 834 in connection with a donation that he made with his father to the St. Martin's Church in Utrecht .

Wildeshausen: bronze sculpture of the transfer of the remains of St. Alexander to Wildeshausen by Waltbert

An essential testimony to Waltbert's life is the Latin legend De miraculis sancti Alexandri (Latin, "Of the miracles of St. Alexander" ) , which he himself commissioned . According to this text, Waltbert served in Lothar I's army, since his father Wikbert was apparently a part of Lothar. Waltbert was able to gain the emperor's trust and was therefore supported by him when he went to Rome in 850 to transfer the bones of the martyr Alexander of Rome to a church he had donated in Wildeshausen ( reliquary translation ). A few years earlier, the Stellinga uprising had broken out in Saxony . The transfer of the valuable relic, during which, according to the writing De miraculis sancti Alexandri, numerous miraculous healings took place, served to restore the authority of the church in Waltbert's territory. In order to use this also for the further conversion of the Saxons and as a deterrent for further uprisings, Waltbert had the history of the translation of relics recorded in writing and linked with a description of the older Saxon history.

As a result, he pushed ahead with the expansion of the church he had founded in Wildeshausen to become a canon monastery , but only achieved this in 871 when, after the death of Lothar I in 855, his brother Ludwig the German turned to him. This placed 871 Wildeshausen under his protection and granted the place immunity.

In 872 Waltbert and his wife Altburg transferred the Alexanderkirche and the entire Wildeshausen town to the local canon monastery and subsequently secured their foundation through further donations to property and feudal people . As his immediate successor, he appointed his first-born son Wigbert , who was ordained a clergyman, and later Bishop of Verden . Furthermore, he decided that the future successor of the board of directors should also be reserved for his family.

Waltbert's biographer Heinrich Schmidt suspects that Waltbert and his family had come to terms with the past, which was burdened by the grandfather's leading role in the pagan resistance of the Saxons against the Frankish Empire and Christianity. Both the transfer of relics and the activity of the monastery were supposed to outshine the stigma of Widu Indian paganism. At the same time, however, it was supposed to confirm the Christianized position of Waltbert as tribal leader once taken by the heathen Widukind.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Waltbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waldbert; Waldbreht; Walbert; Waltbraht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Count of Wildeshausen
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 9th century