Winrich (Ebrach)

Winrich (also Winricus ; † April 9, 1290 in Ebrach ) was abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Ebrach from 1276 to 1290 . Between 1262 and 1276 he already held the office of abbot in the Moravian monastery of Saar .

Life

Saar

Nothing is known about the youth of Abbot Winrich. He was born in the 13th century, the place of birth and the exact date are not mentioned in the sources. Since the future abbot entered the Waldsassen monastery as a professor , it must be assumed that the place of birth is to be found somewhere in today's Bavarian-Czech border region. After he entered the monastery, Winrich is initially no longer mentioned, the ascent within the abbey happened without knowledge of the sources.

It was not until 1262 that Winrich reappeared. The monks of the Moravian monastery Saar had appointed him as the fifth abbot of their abbey. The visit of the Cistercian General Chapter in Cîteaux in 1263 has been handed down as one of his first official acts . In the same year, the monks tore down their old dwellings in a valley and moved to a new monastery, which was now on a nearby hill. The chapter house was soon completed under Abbot Winrich .

The abbot's greatest work, however, was the completion of the first stone church in Saar. After completion, the choir of the new church was painted soon afterwards. In 1264 the high altar was consecrated and the remains of the founder Boček von Obřany were transferred to the new church. The nave was built between 1264 and 1276. In Saar, Winrich also promoted the Beguine movement around Euphemia. In 1276 the abbot was sent to Ebrach against the will of the convent.

Ebrach

The predecessor Berengar died in Ebrach on August 20, 1276 and a successor was urgently needed. The church of the monastery, which had already been started in 1200, was nearing completion. Winrich had already proven in Saar that he was able to successfully bring this difficult construction situation to an end. First, however , Winrich began to acquire some goods in Franconia. In 1282 he bought several goods from Heinrich von Stollberg .

In the same year Winrich also planned to promote the education of the Ebrach monks. To this end, he founded his own college in the Sunderhofen court in nearby Würzburg . This educational institution was soon promoted by the Abbot General of the Cistercians Jean II. De Ballon of Cîteaux. The student monks were granted the same rights here in 1284 as the Cistercian college in Paris had. In 1284, Kraft I. von Hohenlohe donated some goods to the monastery in Mainstockheim.

On September 9, 1285, the new house of God was solemnly consecrated by the Würzburg bishop Berthold II von Sternberg . In the same year the abbey was visited by Marsilius von Altenberg. After the death of Bishop Berthold, his heart was the first to be buried in the Ebrach Sepultur in 1287 , before he had consecrated a first altar for the church. Abbot Winrich died on April 11, 1290 and was buried in the south transept of the monastery church; his tombstone was decorated with a simple abbot's staff.

literature

• Adelhard Kaspar: Chronicle of the Ebrach Abbey . Münsterschwarzach 1971.
• Franz Machilek: Waldsassen-Saar-Ebrach. Stations of life of the 14th Ebrach abbot Winrich (1276-1290) . In: Wolfgang Wiemer (Hg.): Festschrift Ebrach-200 years after the secularization 1803 . Münsterschwarzach 2004. pp. 37–65.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Machilek, Franz: Waldsassen-Saar-Ebrach . P. 48.
2. ↑ Kaspar, Adelhard: Chronicle of the Ebrach Abbey . P. 81.
3. ↑ Machilek, Franz: Waldsassen-Saar-Ebrach . P. 52.

predecessor	Office	successor
Berengar	Abbot of Ebrach 1276–1290	Hermann II.