Wolbero

Master ( magister ) Wolbero was an architect of the late Romanesque in Rhineland -13th century. Wolbero is the first master builder north of the Alps who is known by name through a building inscription . The building inscription is located in Neuss Quirinus Minster , which has been a minor basilica since 2009 .

Building inscription in the Quirinus Minster in Neuss

The building inscription in the Quirinus Minster in Neuss

In the Quirinus-Münster in Neuss there is a building inscription that mentions "MAGISTER WOLBERO" as the builder of the church. The inscription is dated October 9, 1209. It is the first naming of a master builder north of the Alps in the Middle Ages.

ANNO I (N) CARNA (TIONIS)

D (OMI) NI MCCVIIII

P (R) IMO I (M) PERII AN

NO OTTONIS A

DOLFO COLON (IENSI)

EP (ISCOP) O SOPHIA A

BB (ATISS) A MAGISTER

WOLBERO PO

SUIT P (R) IMV (M) LAP

IDE (M) FVNDAME

NTI HVI (VS) TEM

PLI I (N) DIE S (AN) C (T) I DI

ONISII MAR (TYRIS)

The inscription says:

"In 1209 after the Incarnation of the Lord, in the first year of Otto's imperial rule , under Bishop Adolf von Altena and the Abbess Sophia, Master Wolbero laid the first stone for the foundation of this church on the day of St. Dionysius the Martyr ."

The inscription raises questions because Adolf von Altena was not Archbishop of Cologne at all as a result of the German controversy for the throne in 1209 .

Quirinus-Münster, building inscription of Wolbero
Text and translation
Link to the picture
(Please note copyrights )

More testimonials

Presumably Wolbero was a Cologne master and the stonemason mentioned in the shrine book Columbae Berlici (No. 110) in 1272. There is talk of Elisabeth, a daughter of "Wolbergonis lapidicae". A shrine negotiation concerning him could no longer be found. Jakob Schnorrenberg suspects that Wolbero was based in Cologne and was brought from there to Neuss for the construction of the Quirinus Minster.

Works (attributed)

St. Ludgerus Basilica of the former Benedictine abbey in Essen-Werden
Quirinus Minster in Neuss
St. Margareta in Düsseldorf-Gerresheim . Attribution questionable!

literature

Johann Jakob Merlo : Cologne artists in old and new times . Edited by Johann Matthias Firmenich-Richartz with the assistance of Hermann Keussen . Düsseldorf 1895, Col. 968-969.
Jakob Schnorrenberg: Wolbero (master builder) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 722.

Web links

Wikiversity: Course: Neuss - course materials

Building inscription in Neuss Quirinus Minster from 1209

Individual evidence

↑ Ulla Dahmen: St. Quirin is celebrating its 800th anniversary next year . In: WZ of September 28, 2008. The time table in the showcase at Quirinusmünster gives a different interpretation of the inscription. The year 1209 can be read: “On October 9, under the government of Emperor Otto and the Archbishop of Cologne Adolf, the abbess Sophia laid the foundation stone for the new church through the builder Wolbero (!). The construction will begin with the late Romanesque westwork . "( Picture )
↑ Schnorrenberg 1898, p. 722.

personal data
SURNAME	Wolbero
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Builder of the late Romanesque
DATE OF BIRTH	12th Century
DATE OF DEATH	13th Century

[1] Ulla Dahmen: St. Quirin is celebrating its 800th anniversary next year . In: WZ of September 28, 2008. The time table in the showcase at Quirinusmünster gives a different interpretation of the inscription. The year 1209 can be read: “On October 9, under the government of Emperor Otto and the Archbishop of Cologne Adolf, the abbess Sophia laid the foundation stone for the new church through the builder Wolbero (!). The construction will begin with the late Romanesque westwork . "( Picture )

[2] Schnorrenberg 1898, p. 722.