Gotthard Giel von Glattburg (born before 1489; died 13 April 1504) was

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of the

Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall (german: Abtei St. Gallen) is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot w ...

from 1491 to 1504.

Life

Gotthard descended from the ancient Saint Gall ministerial family Giel. His father was Rudolf Giel von Glattburg. His sister Amalia was Abbess of Magdenau from 1507 to 1532, his sister Johanna was a nun in the same monastery. Gotthard transferred monastic fiefs to his brothers Peter, Johann and Rudolf and provided his father with the dominion

Wängi Wängi is a municipality in the district of Münchwilen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. Geography Wängi has an area, , of . Of this area, or 71.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 16.3% is forested. Of the rest of th ...

in the Canton of Thurgau.

Works

The Abbey of Saint Gall bought the dominion Glattburg in 1486. Gotthard from the family von Glattburg is first attested as

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

ual in the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1489; in 1490 he held the office of governor in

Wil Wil () is the capital of the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St. Gallen and Rapperswil-Jona, a twin city that merged in ...

. On 18 March 1491, he was elected abbot. Shortly thereafter, Gotthard travelled to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

to receive the papal confirmation of his abbacy on 9 May 1491. He received the correspondent consecrations from Bishop Titus Veltri of Castro in the church

Santa Maria dell’Anima , native_name= , image=Santa Maria del Anima I.jpg , caption=Façade of the church. , mapframe=yes , mapframe-caption=Click on the map for a fullscreen view , mapframe-zoom=12 , mapframe-marker=religious-christian , coordinates= , location=Via di ...

on 15 May 1491. After his return to Saint Gall, he concluded a contract with Wil which regulated the rights of the prince abbot with regard to the city. Gotthard was generally very concerned about the consolidation of the prince abbot's rights and prerogatives. In 1492, he obtained the reintroduction of the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

for the citizens of Gossau. Furthermore, Gotthard exerted himself for the reconstruction of the destroyed Abbey of Mariaberg in

Rorschach Rorschach may refer to: * Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist ** Rorschach test, his psychological evaluation method involving inkblots * Rorschach (character), a character from the comics ''Watchmen'' * Rorschach (comic book), a 2020 comic * ...

which henceforth served for school and administration purposes. On 13 February 1497, he let the first grain and farmer's market be held in Rorschach. In the

Swabian War The Swabian War of 1499 ( gsw, Schwoobechrieg (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in Germany and ("War of the Engadin") in Austria) was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Hab ...

, he supported the confederal towns with prince-abbot troop contingents. With regard to religion, he promoted, in accordance with his predecessor, the worship of Saint Gall's patron saint Gallus by commissioning a valuable reliquary for his bones. Abbot Gotthard cultivated a clientelistic administration. He favoured his family as well as loyal followers and let them have a share in the abbey's economic resources. This led to the establishment of a vow that Gotthard's successor had to take (dt. "Wahlkapitulation") which was supposed to prevent such practices.

Notes and references

External links

Gotthard Giel von Glattburg
on the website of the Stiftsarchiv St. Gallen.
Gotthard Giel von Glattburg
in the Stadtlexikon Wil. Quoted after Duft, Johannes: ''Die Abtei St. Gallen.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotthard Giel von Glattburg 15th-century births Year of birth unknown 1504 deaths Abbots of Saint Gall