Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

Wissembourg Wissembourg (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It is situated on the li ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.Dragobodo. Thanks to donations from the nobility and local landowners the monastery quickly acquired possessions and estates in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

,

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

and in the west-Rhine county of

Ufgau Ufgau (Old High German ''Ufgowe'', ''Uffgau''; ''Usgau, Osgau''; ''pagus auciacensis'') was a historical county ('' gowe'') of the duchy of Franconia, along the Oos River and the lower Murg, delimited to the south by the counties of Albgau and O ...

. As a result, manorial farms and peasant farmsteads were set up and agriculture system introduced to create fertile arable farmland. Around 1100, it was important for the monastery, which had now become wealthy, to distance itself from the Bishop of Speyer and his influence. To this end a new tradition was established about the origins of the monastery, backed up by forged documents (such

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...

was not anything unusual in the Middle Ages). In the case of Weissenburg, the story now ran that the abbey had been founded in 623 by the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

king,

Dagobert I Dagobert I ( la, Dagobertus; 605/603 – 19 January 639 AD) was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dy ...

. Detailed historic research in recent decades has demonstrated that this was unlikely to have been the case. Weissenburg developed quickly into one of the wealthiest and culturally most significant abbeys in Germany. As early as 682 it was able to purchase shares in a

saltworks A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also othe ...

in

Vic-sur-Seille Vic-sur-Seille (, literally ''Vic on Seille''; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. People It was the birthplace of Georges de La Tour. Art museum The art museum of Vic-sur-Seille, in French ', was cr ...

for the princely sum of 500

solidi The ''solidus'' (Latin 'solid'; ''solidi'') or nomisma ( grc-gre, νόμισμα, ''nómisma'', 'coin') was a highly pure gold coin issued in the Late Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. Constantine introduced the coin, and its weight ...

; in 760 it was given the

Mundat Forest The term 'Mundat Forest' refers to two forests that overlie the modern border between Germany and France near Wissembourg, Alsace. The ''Upper Mundat Forest'' is a small part of the mountainous Palatinate Forest. The smaller ''Lower Mundat Fores ...

. The

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazar ...

(''Evangelienbuch'') written around 860 by a monk, Otfrid of Weissenburg, represented a milestone in the development of German language and literature. At that time the abbey was in the charge of

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 ...

Grimald of Weissenburg Grimald, Latinised Grimaldus (born around 800; died 13 June 872 in Saint Gall), was abbot of Weissenburg Abbey (around 825–839 and 847–872), abbot of the Abbey of Saint Gall (841–872), arch-chaplain of the East Frankish king Louis the German ...

, who was also the Abbot 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 ...

and

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

to Emperor

Louis the German Louis the German (c. 806/810 – 28 August 876), also known as Louis II of Germany and Louis II of East Francia, was the first king of East Francia, and ruled from 843 to 876 AD. Grandson of emperor Charlemagne and the third son of Louis the P ...

, and thus was one of the most important figures in the whole of the German imperial church. The abbey lost an important possession, however, when in 985 the

Salian The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the l ...

Duke

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

appropriated 68 of the parishes belonging to it in the so-called Salian Church Robbery (''Salischer Kirchenraub''). Above all though, it was the transition from a situation in which the abbey managed its monastic estates itself to a

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

in which the estates were granted as

fiefs A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

, that resulted in the loss of most of the abbey's possessions. This was because, over time, their

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

viewed their

fiefs A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

as

allod In the law of the Middle Ages and early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod (Old Low Franconian ''allōd'' ‘fully owned estate’, from ''all'' ‘full, entire’ and ''ōd'' ‘estate’, Medieval Latin ''allodium ...

s, i.e. as freehold properties. Thus the once extensive monastic estates increasingly evaporated. In the 16th century only three estates were left out of the thousands the abbey used to possess: these were Steinfeld,

Schweighofen Schweighofen is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...

and Koppelhof; in addition, the abbey had

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 ...

rights in Weissenburg and

Bergzabern Bad Bergzabern () is a municipality in the Südliche Weinstraße district, on the German Wine Route in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated near the border with France, on the south-eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approximately ...

which gave it an annual income of 1,500 gulden. In 1262–1293, during the time of its decline, Abbot Edelin attempted to halt the loss of the monastic estates and to recover its stolen property by compiling a record of the abbey's possessions in a new register. This index, called the ''

Codex Edelini The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...

'' or ''Liber Possessionum'', is currently held in the Speyer State Archives (''

Landesarchiv Speyer The Landesarchiv Speyer is a German state archive responsible for the supervision of public authorities, public institutions and municipalities in Rheinhessen-Pfalz. Its archives includes approximately 25,000 documents and 33,000 maps. One of i ...

''). In 1524, the abbey, now entirely destitute, was turned into a secular

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

at the instigation of its last abbot, Rüdiger Fischer, which was then united with the

Bishopric of Speyer The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Würt ...

in 1546. The princely provost of Weissenberg had an individual vote in the

Reichsfürstenrat The Imperial Diet ( la, Dieta Imperii Comitium Imperiale; german: Reichstag) was the deliberative body of the Holy Roman Empire. It was not a legislative body in the contemporary sense; its members envisioned it more like a central forum where it ...

of the Reichstag of the

Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unti ...

. In the wake of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

the foundation was dissolved in 1789. Part of the monastic library went in the 17th century to the

Herzog August Library The Herzog August Library (german: link=no, Herzog August Bibliothek — "HAB"), in Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, known also as ''Bibliotheca Augusta'', is a library of international importance for its collection from the Middle Ages and ear ...

in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest c ...

, the abbey records largely perished in the confusion of the revolutionary period.

Estates

In 1764 the secular state of the Princely ''Propstei'' of Weissenburg comprised the following offices and estates (in today's spelling): # the Provost's Office with a master of the household (''Hofmeister''), provost's counsel (''Probsteirat''), secretaries, architect (''Baumeister'') and messengers (''Boten'') # the court (''Staffelgericht'') in Weissenburg with nine officials # the '' Fauthei'' of

Schlettenbach The Schlettenbach is a river of Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Red Pockau near Rittersberg. See also *List of rivers of Saxony A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Org ...

with four officials and the villages of

Bobenthal Bobenthal is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe a ...

,

Bundenthal Bundenthal is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe ...

, Bärenbach,

Finsternheim Bundenthal is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe ...

and Erlenbach # the Provost's Court (''Propsteigericht'') in the

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...

district of Kleeburg with three officials # the districts of

Altstadt ''Altstadt'' is the German language word for "old town", and generally refers to the historical town or city centre within the old town or city wall, in contrast to younger suburbs outside. '' Neustadt'' (new town), the logical opposite of ''Alt ...

and St. Remig with eleven officials and the villages of Großsteinfeld, Kleinsteinfeld,

Kapsweyer Kapsweyer is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...

, St. Remig,

Schweighofen Schweighofen is a municipality in Südliche Weinstraße district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...

,

Schleithal Schleithal is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Located in the northern Lower Rhine just steps from the French-German border. This boundary is defined by the Lauter which gives its name to the small town ...

and Oberseebach # the stewardship (''Schaffnerei'') of

Hagenau Haguenau (; Alsatian: or ; and historically in English: ''Hagenaw'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, some to the south. To the n ...

with two officials for St. Walpurga's Abbey # the Sheriff's Office (''Schultheißerei'') of Uhlweiler near Hagenau Towards the end of the 18th century the territories of the ''Propstei'' of Weissenburg covered 28 square miles with 50,000 inhabitants.

List of abbots of Weissenburg

In his abbey chronicle which first appeared in 1551, the theologian and historian,

Kaspar Brusch Kaspar is a given name and surname which may refer to: Given name: * Kaspar, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (1459 – c. 1527) * Kaspar Albrecht (1889–1970), Austrian architect and sculptor * Kaspar Amort (1612–1675), German painter * Caspa ...

, left a record of the abbots of Weissenburg, which appears to be partly fictitious (at least for the abbots who presided before Dragobodo - to wit the rather stylized name of the supposed first abbot, "Principius"). In addition Brusch suggests this himself (''"Nihil enim de his Abbatibus primis aliud scriptum reperi, quorum seriem etiam ac successionem aliquid erroris habere non dubito"''. As the source for the abbots before Adalbertus (No. 23) he discloses that he was given this information by the Bishop of Speyer of that time). * Principius * Cheodonius * Radefridus * Ehrwaldus * Instulphus * Astrammus * Gerbertus * Ehrimbertus * Dragobodo (also Bishop of Speyer) * Charialdus * Bernhardus (or Wernharius; later Bishop of Worms) *

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

* Wielandus * Grimald, (around 825–839) * Odgerus (or Odogarius, 839–847, also Archbishop of Mainz) * Grimald, (847–872, for the second time) * Volcoldus * Gerochus * Voltwicus * Mimoldus * Adelhardus * Gerrichus * Ercarmius * Adalbertus (abbot from 966, in 968 Archbishop of Magdeburg, died there in 981) * Sanderadus (970–985. His period of office ended apparently violently in connexion with the so-called Salian Church Robbery) * Gisillarius (985–989) * Gerrichus (989–1001) * Sigebodo (1001–1002) * Luithardus (1002–1032. During his time in office, in 1004, the abbey burned down) * Volmar (1032–1043) * Arnoldus (1043–1055, since 1051 also Bishop of Speyer) * Samuel (1055–1097; c.f. ''Neue deutsche Biographie'', Vol. 22, p. 411.) * Stephanus * Menigandus * Ulrich * Werinharus * Ernestus * Benedictus * Engiscalus * Gundelacus (or Gundericus) * Godefridus * Walramus (or Wolframus; 1197–1224) * Chuno (1222–1248) * Conradus (1248–1251) * Friedricus (1251–1262) * Edelinus (1263–1293) * Wilhelmus (1293–1301) * Egidius (1301–1312) * Bartholomaeus (1312–1316) * Wilhelmus (1316–1322) * Johannes (1322–1337) * Eberhardus (1337–1381) * Hugo (1381–1402) * Johannes (1402–1434; took part in the

Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...

) * Philipp (1435–1467) * Jacobus (1467–1472) * Henricus (1475–1496) * Wilhelmus (1496–1500) * Rudigerus (1500–1545; during his office the completely destitute abbey was turned into a secular

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

in 1524, which was united in 1546 with the

Bishopric of Speyer The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Würt ...

.) With that ends the series of abbots. The provosts of the collegiate church were identical with the

bishops of Speyer The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Würt ...

. Source: Caspar Bruschius: Chronologia monasteriorum Gemaniae praecipuorum, Sulzbach, 1681

Historic reference

In 1592 Bernhart Hertzog wrote about Weissenburg Abbey in the Edelsass Chronicle (''Edelsasser Chronik'') as follows: The name Weißenburg may also have derived from the white limestone of the region.

References

Michael Frey: ''Versuch einer geographisch-historisch-statistischen Beschreibung des kön. bayer. Rheinkreises'', Vol. 2, Speyer: F. C. Neidhard, 1836, p. 158
Google Books

Literature

* Martin Burkart: ''Durmersheim. Die Geschichte des Dorfes und seiner Bewohner. Von den Anfängen bis ins frühe 20. Jahrhundert''. Selbstverlag, Durmersheim 2002. * Christoph Dette (ed.): ''Liber Possessionum Wizenburgensis''. (Quellen und Abhandlungen zur mittelrheinischen Kirchengeschichte, Bd. 59). Mainz 1987. * Anton Doll (ed.): ''Traditiones Wizenburgenses. Die Urkunden des Klosters Weissenburg. 661-864''. Eingeleitet und aus dem Nachlass von Karl Glöckner hrsg. von Anton Doll. Hessische Historische Kommission, Darmstadt 1979. * Wilhelm Harster: ''Der Güterbesitz des Klosters Weißenburg''. (Programm zum Jahresbericht des K. Humanistischen Gymnasiums Speier), 2 Bände. Speyer 1893-1894. * Ernst Friedrich Mooyer: ''Nekrologium des Klosters Weißenburg, mit Erläuterungen und Zugaben''. In: Archiv des historischen Vereines von Unterfranken und Aschaffenburg 13 (1855), S. 1-67. * Wolfgang Schultz: ''Der Codex Berwartstein des Klosters Weißenburg im Elsaß. (1319) 1343-1489''. Neustadt an der Weinstraße 2008, (mit Edition). * J. Rheinwald: ''L' abbaye et la ville de Wissembourg. Avec quelques châteaux-forts de la basse Alsace et du Palatinat. Monographie historique''. Wentzel, Wissembourg 1863 (Nachdruck: Res Universis, Paris 1992). * Johann Caspar Zeuss (ed.): ''Traditiones possessionesque Wizenburgenses. Codices duo cum supplementis; impensis societatis historicae Palatinae''. Speyer, 1842.

External links

Sammlung der ehemaligen Klosterbibliothek, heute in der Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel
{{Authority control Christian monasteries in Bas-Rhin Benedictine monasteries in France 7th-century establishments in Francia Churches in Bas-Rhin

Wissembourg Wissembourg (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Weisseburch'' ; German: ''Weißenburg'' ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It is situated on the li ...

Imperial abbeys

History

Estates

List of abbots of Weissenburg

Historic reference

References

Literature

External links