Wilhelm von Hirsau

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Wilhelm von Hirsau in the donation book of Reichenbach Abbey (Baden-Württemberg)

Wilhelm von Hirsau (* around 1030 ; † July 5, 1091 ) was an abbot of the Hirsau monastery and monastery reformer. He was the father of the Hirsau reform and sided with the Pope in the investiture dispute . He also wrote scholarly writings on music and astronomy. For the Hirsau monasteries, he created the Constitutiones Hirsaugienses based on the habits of Cluny, which Ulrich von Zell had recorded on his initiative .

Life

Wilhelm von Hirsau came from Bavaria , where he was probably born around 1030. Nothing else is known about its origin. As a puer oblatus, Wilhelm received his spiritual training as a monk in the Emmeram Monastery, a separate church of the Regensburg bishop. Otloh von St. Emmeram (* approx. 1010; † after 1070) was Wilhelm's famous teacher.

Here Wilhelm wrote learned treatises on astronomy and music, sub- disciplines of the quadrivium , the four-way within the seven liberal arts, the septem artes liberales, from around the middle of the 11th century . Even today one can admire Wilhelm's famous Regensburg teaching device , a stone astrolabe , in Regensburg . It is a monument over two and a half meters high, on the front of which an astrolabe sphaera is engraved, while the reverse shows a man looking up at the sky, probably the Greek astronomer and poet Aratos of Soloi (3rd century BC, first half ). It is particularly noteworthy that Wilhelm also made astronomical observations. For the calculation of the Easter date (Computus Ecclesiasticus) the spring equinox had to be known, which is shifted by the precession . Since he found contradicting information in the literature, he determined the solstices above solar heights. As was customary at the time, he placed the equinoxes halfway between the solstices during the course of the year. The Benedictine calendars from around 1100, such as those of the Lambach Abbey , agree well with the astronomical data calculated according to today's knowledge.

Appointment as dept

In 1069 Wilhelm was appointed Hirsau Abbot. How exactly this appointment came about is controversial in the sources, since the impulse is awarded once to the Count of Calw and once to the convent itself. Wilhelm's own motivation for taking office also varies in the sources. While Wilhelm in the Codex Hirsaugiensis initially does not want to take office out of respect for the still living but already deposed Abbot Friedrich, the Vita Wilhelms describes the assumption of office in the sense of a pre-formulated reform program. It is also noticeable that in the case of Abbot Wilhelm, in contrast to all other Hirsau abbots of the 11th and 12th centuries, it is not known from which bishop he received the ordination. In the first years as abbot, Wilhelm pursued the goal of making his monastery largely independent of secular powers. This was done on the basis of the reform efforts of the Gorz-Lorraine and Cluniac groups , which had been effective for a long time , in the ecclesiastical-revolutionary sense of the time. Wilhelm's policy was initially directed against the Count of Calw .

A royal charter from Henry IV (1056–1106), probably formulated soon after 1070, at least created the important relationship with royalty, but essentially established Hirsau's status as a count's own monastery. A privilege issued by Pope Gregory VII in 1074 placed Hirsau under papal protection. The integra libertas coenobii (complete freedom of the monastery) of the so-called Hirsau form , a document from King Heinrich dated October 9, 1075, declared the free election of abbots and the free election or dismissal of the bailiff (of course from the family who founded the monastery).

In the end, Wilhelm prevailed against the opposition of Count Adalbert II von Calw . The count had previously renounced his lay rule over the monastery, the king, as it were, took the place of the count and placed the monastic community under his protection, without Hirsau becoming a free monastery directly under the king. The count received the hereditary bailiwick of Hirsau in a royal ban, the abbot was appointed by the dean or prior of the monastery.

The intensification of the fronts in the investiture dispute may also have had an impact on the internal conditions in the Hirsau monastery. In any case, it is said of Wilhelm that he introduced the practices of the Burgundian monastery of Cluny in Hirsau, as recorded by his childhood friend Ulrich von Zell . The Consuetudines Hirsaugienses (Hirsauer Habits), which were widely used as part of the Hirsauer Reform, are based on them . Discipline and obedience, harsh punishments for violations of the regulations and constant monitoring of the monks characterized life in Hirsau in the years after 1079 at the latest.

At the same time, in order to get the onslaught of laypeople on Hirsau under control, the Institute of Conversations , the Lay Brothers, was created. Obviously, Hirsau was attractive to many people despite, or perhaps because of, the monastic rigor and ascetic piety. The upswing of the monastery under Wilhelm von Hirsau then also corresponded to the fact that the narrowness of the Aurelius monastery was abandoned and people settled on the opposite side of the Nagold . After 1083, the largest monastery complex in Germany at that time was built there with the mighty Romanesque church, which was consecrated to Saints Peter and Paul .

Hirsauer reform

Wilhelm's work was not limited to Hirsau. Many monasteries should join the Hirsau reform. New foundations that were settled by Hirsauer monks were Zwiefalten , Blaubeuren in the Duchy of Swabia , Reinhardsbrunn in Thuringia and the St. Paul Abbey in Lavanttal in Carinthia . After their relocation to the Black Forest, St. Georgen (1084) and St. Peter (1093) were also staffed with the help of Hirsau. Existing monasteries that adopted the Hirsau way of life were Petershausen near Constance , Allerheiligen Monastery in Schaffhausen , St. Peter in Erfurt and Comburg ; Hirsau priories were Reichenbach in Murgtal , Schönrain in Franconia , Fischbachau in Bavaria, and Paulinzella Monastery in Thuringia.

The Hirsauer found their supporters especially in Swabia and Franconia, then in Central and Eastern Germany. The widespread use of the Hirsau reform corresponded to Wilhelm's reputation in the ecclesiastical and political propaganda of the investiture dispute. The Hirsauer abbot was the pillar of the Gregorians in Germany, in Swabia. He stood on the side of the opposing kings Rudolf von Schwaben (1077-1080) and Hermann von Salm (1081-1088), among other things, he owed the unity of the Gregorian party in the German south-west, the reputation of the Hirsau monastery in the districts the church reformer owned, quite apart from that. When Wilhelm died on July 5, 1091, the Reform Party in Swabia and Germany had lost an important representative in him.

The Vita Willihelmi abbatis Hirsaugiensis keeps his memory.

His successor as Abbot of Hirsau was Gebhard von Urach , later Bishop of Speyer and brother of Cardinal Bishop Kuno von Urach († 1122), a zealous promoter of the Gregorian reforms and confidante of Pope Paschal II (1099-1118).

The vita of Wilhelm von Hirsau

The Vita Willihelmi Abbatis Hirsaugiensis is regarded as the most important testimony to the life of Abbot Wilhelm . The time of origin and the author of this hagiographic work are unclear. The older research assumed that the Vita was written immediately after the death of the famous abbot. In the more recent past it has also been assumed that the vita handed down today no longer corresponds to the original form. This consideration is based on a statement by the late medieval chronicler Johannes Trithemius , who claims in his Hirsauer Annalen that a monk named Haimo accidentally shortened the work while trying to expand it. Since this information and the name of the alleged author are only contained in this document, which was created over 400 years later, the veracity of the statements has been questioned. Based on this skepticism, the first voices arose to see in the Vita Wilhelms a product from the period after 1107, which was only created at that time. This re-dating is based primarily on statements of content in the Vita, which testify to internal disputes between the Convention and the new Abbot Gebhard, who had just become Bishop of Speyer. This, in the eyes of the Convention, bad abbot should be contrasted with the brilliant abbot Wilhelm as a literary model. If this dating and the accompanying circumstances of the constitution apply, then the vita should bear more evidence of the internal quarrels in the early 12th century than of the history of events at the end of the 11th century.

William the Blessed

Wilhelm is often referred to as "the blessed", sometimes also as "the saint". A beatification cannot be dated. Tradition has it that he lived a holy life and performed miracles, but no request for canonization was sought. In the Acta Sanctorum it appears under the 4th of July, in other lists of beatitudes and saints also on the 5th of July, depending on the date of his death.

Sources and literature

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Secondary literature

  • Christian Berktold: Wilhelm v. Hirsau . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 9, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-89659-909-7 , column 155 f.
  • Michael Buhlmann: Benedictine monasticism in the medieval Black Forest. A lexicon. Lecture at the Black Forest Association St. Georgen e. V. St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, November 10, 2004 (= Vertex Alemanniae, issue 10) , St. Georgen 2004, page 107 ff.
  • Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical picture in the 12th century. Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval. (= Writings on Southwest German regional studies. Volume 77). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2016, ISBN 978-3-7995-5277-6 .
  • Max Fischer: Studies on the Origin of the Hirsau Constitutions. Stuttgart 1910
  • Karl Greiner : Hirsau. Its history and its ruins , revised by S. Greiner, Pforzheim 14th edition 1993
  • Wolfgang Irtenkauf : Hirsau. History and culture , 2nd edition, Constance 1966
  • Hermann Jakobs : The Hirsauer. Their expansion and legal status in the age of the investiture dispute (= Bonner Historische Abhandlungen, Vol. 4) , Cologne / Graz 1961
  • Joachim Köhler : Abbot Wilhelm von Hirsau 1069-1091. Saint, reformer, politician , in: Der Landkreis Calw 1982/83, pages 3–22
  • Friedrich Lauchert :  Wilhelm, Abbot of Hirsau . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 221-224.
  • Klaus Schreiner : Hirsau. In: The Benedictine monasteries in Baden-Württemberg. Edited by Franz Quarthal (= Germania Benedictina, vol. 5), Ottobeuren 1976, pages 281–303 ISBN 3-88096-605-2
  • Klaus Schreiner (arrangement): Hirsau. St. Peter and Paul. 2 parts (= research and reports on archeology in Baden-Württemberg, vol. 10), Stuttgart 1991 ISBN 3-8062-0902-2
  • J. Jürgen Seidel :  WILHELM von Hirsau. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 1240-1241.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Wolfgang Urban : Wilhelm von Hirsau. Reformer and founder of a monastery. (= From the series Swabian Saints ). Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 1991, ISBN 3-7966-0692-X .
  • Joachim Wiesenbach: Wilhelm von Hirsau, astrolabe and astronomy in the 11th century ; in: Klaus Schreiner (arrangement): Hirsau. St. Peter and Paul. 2 parts (= research and reports on archeology in Baden-Württemberg , vol. 10), Stuttgart 1991; ISBN 3-8062-0902-2 , Volume 2, pp. 109–156, ill.
  • G. Zimmermann: Wilhelm von Hirsau. In: Life pictures from Swabia and Franconia. Volume 9, edited by Max Miller and Robert Uhland, Stuttgart 1963, pages 1-17
  • Ernst Zinner : Origin and Spread of the Coppernican Teaching. 2nd edition, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-32049-X

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical image in the 12th century. Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval . In: Writings on Southwest German regional studies . tape 77 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2016, ISBN 978-3-7995-5277-6 , pp. 130 .
  2. ↑ Codex Hirsaugiensis . In: Eugen Schneider (Ed.): Württembergische Geschichtsquellen . tape 1 . Stuttgart 1887, p. 4b .
  3. ↑ Vita Willihelmi Abbatis Hirsaugiensis . In: Wilhelm Wattenbach (Ed.): MGH Scriptores in folio . tape 12 . Hanover 1856, p. 212 .
  4. ↑ Hermann Jakobs: The Hirsauer. Their expansion and legal status in the age of the investiture controversy . In: Cologne historical treatises . tape 4 . Böhlau, Cologne 1961, p. 12 .
  5. ↑ Hermann Jakobs: The Hirsauer. Their expansion and legal status in the age of the investiture controversy . In: Cologne historical treatises . tape 4 . Böhlau, Cologne 1961, p. XVIII .
  6. ↑ Stephanie Haarländer : What is a Reform Abbot? Observations on a prosavita by Wilhelm von Hirsau (1069-1091) . In: Dorothea Walz (Ed.): Scripturus vitam. Latin biography from ancient times to the present. Festival ceremony for Walter Berschin on his 65th birthday . Mattes, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 978-3-930978-15-1 , pp. 461-473 .
  7. ↑ Denis Drumm: The Hirsau historical image in the 12th century: Studies on dealing with the monastic past in a time of upheaval . In: Writings on Southwest German regional studies . tape 77 . Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2016, ISBN 978-3-7995-5277-6 .
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 28, 2005 .
personal data
SURNAME Wilhelm von Hirsau
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Benedictine abbot and monastery reformer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1030
PLACE OF BIRTH Bavaria
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 1091