Wibald from Stablo

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Wibald von Stablo and Corvey OSB (* spring 1098 in Lower Lorraine; † July 19, 1158 in Bitola ) was an influential abbot of the Benedictine order and has achieved importance as Abbot of Corvey, where he used the words " Scito te " in Greek ipsum "(" Know yourself ") above the portal of the Corvey Benedictine Abbey .

Life

From 1115 he was a student of Rupert von Deutz in Liège . He entered the Benedictine order in 1117. He was elected abbot of the Imperial Abbey of Stablo-Malmedy on November 16, 1131 and gained political influence. During the Italian expedition of Emperor Lothar III. Wibald was elected abbot of the Benedictine mother monastery of Monte Cassino , which was strategically located on the border of the Norman empire in 1137 , but had to forego this office in the same year, as his influence on the monastery waned after the emperor's journey home. Wibald remained abbot in Stablo and Malmedy.

When the king was elected in 1138, Wibald supported Konrad III from Staufer . who prevailed against the Guelph Heinrich the proud . From 1139 Wibald worked in the service of Konrad as a stylist in the court chancellery and took on diplomatic tasks. In 1146 Wibald acted as the king's envoy to Pope Eugene III. Wibald's letter book that still exists is today the most important source of information about his work in Konrad's office.

Then Wibald became abbot of the Benedictine Abbey Corvey on October 20, 1146 , which he reorganized and expanded. Officially, the need for reform of the monastery was the reason for his inauguration. The real reason, however, may have been that Konrad wanted to strengthen his influence in Saxony against Heinrich the Lion and create a territorial connection to the Archbishopric of Bremen . However, with the help of the bishops of Hildesheim and Minden , Heinrich prevented the subordination of the women's monasteries Kemnade and Fischbeck under Corvey, which Konrad wanted . In 1147 Wibald took part in the Wenden Crusade .

He remained an influential person at the court of Konrad III. and in 1150 drafted the plan of a marriage of Konrad's son Heinrich (VI.) to a niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel , which however was never realized due to the death of Heinrich. After Konrad's death (1152) and Friedrich Barbarossa's accession to power , Wibald retired to Corvey and began extensive construction work on the monastery church. Nevertheless, he was occasionally used by Barbarossa as envoy, especially to Byzantium, and continued to hold an important position at court. So the election announcement of Barbarossa to Pope Eugene III. Written by Wibald. On his way back from a diplomatic mission to Byzantium, Wibald died in Macedonia in 1158. His bones were transferred to Stablo.

meaning

In terms of the history of ideas, Wibald stands on the one hand in the tradition of the imperial monasticism, which saw kingship and church as inseparable, but on the other hand, in the area of justice, he fell back on Roman models. On the latter point he anticipated the great importance that the Roman legal tradition had under Barbarossa.

In historical studies, Wibald von Stablo was long regarded as the “gray eminence” at the court of Conrad III. He was held responsible for Konrad's alleged dependence on the Church. More recent research estimates its influence to be less, although its exact extent is still an open research question. On the other hand, its importance for Barbarossa has recently been increasingly valued, thus underscoring the continuity of the law firm's work and policy between the two Staufers.

The traditional in Wibalds Briefbuch pedigree of Frederick Barbarossa, Tabula consanguinitatis called, is related to the divorce from his first wife Adelaide of Vohburg in 1153 and is an important source for the genealogy of the Staufer .

With Wibald as the client, various works of art can be brought together: the Stavelot portable altar , the Alexander reliquary , the Remaklus retable and the Stavelot triptych .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hilde Claussen: To the abbot house of Wibald von Stablo in the Corvey monastery. Sennhauser, Hans Rudolf, 1995, p. 29 , accessed on April 25, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Martina Hartmann: The letter book of Abbot Wibalds von Stablo and Corvey (= The letters of the German Imperial Era, Vol. 9). Hahn, Hannover 2012 ISBN 978-3-7752-1812-2 ; Preliminary edition as PDF .
  3. ↑ Christian Uebach: The counselors Friedrich Barbarossas (1152–1167). Marburg 2008, p. 56 f.
  4. ↑ Wibaldi epistulae . In: Philipp Jaffé (Ed.): Monumenta Corbeiensa. Berlin 1864, p. 547 No. 408.
  5. ↑ Peter Koblank: Tabula consanguinitatis by Wibald von Stablo. No grounds for divorce for the marriage of Friedrich I. Barbarossa with his first wife Adela. on stauferstelen.net with illustration. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  6. ↑ Susanne Wittekind: Altar - Reliquary - Retable. Art and liturgy with Wibald von Stablo. Cologne et al. 2004.
predecessor Office successor
Johann I. de Reulant Abbot of Malmedy and Stablo
1130–1158 		Eriebald
Rainald I. Abbot of Montecassino
1137 		Rainald II.
Henry II Abbot of Corvey
1146–1158 		Konrad
personal data
SURNAME Wibald from Stablo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES von Stablo, Wibald; from Corvey, Wibald; from Grimesbura, Wibald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION medieval Benedictine abbot
DATE OF BIRTH 1098
PLACE OF BIRTH Lower Lorraine
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1158
Place of death Bitola