Walther I. (Münsterschwarzach)

Walther I († January 18 or 19, 1026 ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery in Münsterschwarzach from 1015 to 1026 .

Münsterschwarzach before Walther

Münsterschwarzach Abbey had a long history before Abbot Walther. Several convents were already in the buildings. Up until the year 877 there was a women's monastery under the abbesses of the Frankish aristocratic family of the Mattones, before a men's convent from the Steigerwaldkloster Megingaudshausen moved into the vacant buildings. The disputes between the bishops of Würzburg and the Mattonen , who both claimed the monastery, continued until the 11th century .

It was only under Walther's predecessor, Abbot Alapold , that the Würzburg bishops finally established themselves as masters of the abbey. Alapold from Regensburg was used to bring life back to the orphaned monastery buildings and to implement the reform of monastic life that had started in the Gorze monastery. Abbot Heribert also tried to implement the requirements of the bishops, but could hardly show any success due to his short term in office.

Life

Nothing is known precisely about the abbot's origins and youth. Vogt suspects that Walther came from the noble family of Salier , but whether he belongs to this family cannot be determined with certainty. Only the noble descent of the eighth abbot of Münsterschwarzach is certain. After the death or resignation of his predecessor Heribert, he became the new abbot of the Main Abbey in April 1015.

Abbot Walther took up his post at a difficult time for the monastery. A disease described as the plague was rampant in the diocese of Würzburg and did not stop at the abbey convent. During Walther's Abbatiat, only six monks lived in the monastery at times. On the other hand, the consecration of the new monastery church in 1023 by the Würzburg bishop Meginhard I , which was to be called Walther Basilica from then on, was positive . Abbot Walther I died on January 18 or 19, 1026.

literature

• Johannes Mahr: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . Münsterschwarzach 2002.
• Leo Trunk: The Abbots of Münsterschwarzach. A comparative overview . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey Church 1938-1988 . Münsterschwarzach 1988.
• Gabriel Vogt: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey . Volkach 1980.
• Heinrich Wagner: The abbots of Megingaudshausen and Münsterschwarzach in the Middle Ages . In: Pirmin Hugger (Ed.): Magna Gratia. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey Church 1938-1988 . Münsterschwarzach 1988.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heinrich Wagner (p. 100) gives this year, while most other sources and representations give the years 1032, 1033 and 1037 as the year of his death. Compare: Trunk, Leo: The Abbots of Münsterschwarzach. P. 154 f.
2. ↑ Corresponding to the death of his predecessor Abbot Heribert
3. ↑ Mahr, Johannes: Münsterschwarzach. 1200 years of a Franconian abbey . P. 13.
4. ^ Vogt, Gabriel: On the early history of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey . P. 16.

predecessor	Office	successor
Heribert	Abbot of Münsterschwarzach 1015-1026	Wolfher