Gengenbach Abbey (german: Kloster Gengenbach) was a

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 ...

monastery in

Gengenbach Gengenbach (; gsw, label=Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic, Gängäbach) is a town in the Ortenaukreis, district of Ortenau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and a popular tourist destination on the western edge of the Black Forest, with about 11,0 ...

in the

district of Ortenau Ortenaukreis ( gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Ortenaukrais; french: Arrondissement de l'Ortenau) is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (clockwise from north) Rastatt, Freudenstadt, Rottwe ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It was an Imperial Abbey from the late Carolingian period to 1803.

History

It was founded by

Saint Pirmin Saint Pirmin (latinized ''Pirminius'', born before 700 ( according to many sources), died November 3, 753 in Hornbach), was a Merovingian-era monk and missionary. He founded or restored numerous monasteries in Alemannia (Swabia), especially in ...

(d. 735) sometime after his expulsion from Reichenau in 727 and settled by monks from

Gorze Abbey Gorze Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Gorze in the present arrondissement of Metz, near Metz in Lorraine. It was prominent as the source of a monastic reform movement in the 930s. History Gorze Abbey was founded in around 757 by Bishop Chrod ...

. It enjoyed good relations with the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

dynasty and soon became an

Imperial abbey Princely abbeys (german: Fürstabtei, ''Fürststift'') and Imperial abbeys (german: Reichsabtei, ''Reichskloster'', ''Reichsstift'', ''Reichsgotthaus'') were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of impe ...

, with territorial independence. In 1007, however,

Emperor Henry II Henry II (german: Heinrich II; it, Enrico II; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler ...

presented it to his newly founded

Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg The Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg (german: Hochstift Bamberg) was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire. It goes back to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bamberg established at the 1007 synod in Frankfurt, at the behest of King Henry II ...

. Whilst situated within the ''Ortenauer Reichslandvogtei'', under the protection of

Rudolph of Habsburg Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which h ...

(1273–91), the territory's protectors were an array of local lords: the Zähringen were followed in 1218 by the

Staufen Staufen refers to: * Hohenstaufen, a dynasty of German emperors *Staufen im Breisgau, a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany *Staufen, Aargau, in Switzerland *Staufen (protein) Staufen is a protein product of a maternally expressed gene first iden ...

dukes of Swabia and in 1245 by the

bishops of Strasbourg {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 These persons were bishop, archbishop or prince-bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg (including historically Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg): Bishops and prince-bishops *Amandus *Justinus vo ...

until the 1550s. These ''

Vögte During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

'' and confirmations of their rights — both Papal (1139, 1235, 1252, 1287) and Imperial (1309, 1331, 1516) — ensured the Abbey's continual independence. Gengenbach was deeply embroiled in the

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...

and two of its abbots were driven out for supporting the Imperial rather than the Papal cause. Shortly after this, the abbey was involved by Abbot Theoger (1080–1139) of St. George's Abbey in the Black Forest and Bishop

Otto of Bamberg Otto of Bamberg (1060 or 1061 – 30 June 1139) was a German missionary and papal legate who converted much of medieval Pomerania to Christianity. He was the bishop of Bamberg from 1102 until his death. He was canonized in 1189. Early life T ...

in the Hirsauer Reform, during which the abbey church was demolished and rebuilt to the

Hirsau Hirsau (formerly ''Hirschau'') is a district of the town of Calw in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, located in the south-west portion of the country, about two miles north of Calw and about twenty-four miles west of Stuttgart. Town Hi ...

model. Subsequently, it has been remodelled in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

and

neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

styles. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the abbey was instrumental in developing the town of Gengenbach to economic maturity. The abbey avoided further monastic reforms, and although in danger of suppression during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, survived that too. In 1575 and 1580, the abbey applied for membership of the Imperial College of Prelates but was refused, due to concern about its

Imperial immediacy Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular pri ...

and ''Vogtei''; membership was eventually approved in 1645 but this approval was not implemented until 1751. The abbey was mediatized in the wake of the

German Mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large numbe ...

of 1803, and shortly afterwards its territories were absorbed into the state of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

. However, the abbey was left to function under the last abbot until 1807 when the Grand Duke ordered it secularized.

Abbots of Gengenbach

* Rustenus (8th century) * Burkhard, Leutfried, Cosman, Anselm, Gauthier, Volmar, Otho, Benno, Rado, Ammilo (?) * Alfram (c. 820) * Germunt (c. 826) * Lando (c. 840) * Dietrich I, Dietrich II, Gottfried I, Walther I, Walther II and others * Reginald (before 1016–28) * Rusten (1028–34) * Berthold I ( –1052) * Bruning ( –1065) * Poppo ( –1071) * Acelinus ( –1074) * Ruotpert ( –1075) * Willo ( –1085) * Hugo I (1089, 1096) * Friedrich I (before 1109–20) * Gottfried II. (before 1140–62) * Anselm ( –1147?) * (anon.) ( –1173) * Friedrich II ( –1182) * Landofrid ( –1196) * Salomon ( –1208) * Gerbold (1210) * Eggenhard ( –1218) * Gottfried III (1218–37) * Walther III (1237–48) * Dietrich III (1248–1263?) * Hugo II (1263?–1270?) * Gottfried IV (1270?–1276) * Berthold II (1276–97) * Gottfried V (1296) * Berthold III (1297–1300) * Dietrich IV (1300–23) * Albero (1323–24) * Walther IV (1324–45) * Berthold IV (1345–54) * Lambert von Brunn (1354–74) * Stephan von Wilsberg (1374–98) * Konrad von Blumberg (1398–1415) * Berthold V Mangolt-Venser (1416–24) * Egenolf von Wartenberg (1424–53) * Volzo von Neuneck (1454–61) * Sigismund von Neuhausen (1461–75) * Jakob von Bern (1475–93) * Beatus II von Schauenburg (1493–1500) * Konrad von Mülnheim (1500–07) * Philipp von Eselsberg (1507–31) * Melchior Horneck von Hornberg (1531–40) * Friedrich von Keppenbach (1540–55) * Gisbert Agricola (1556–86) * Johann Ludiwig Sorg (1586–1605) * Georg Breuning (1605–17) * Johann Caspar Liesch (1617) * Johann Demler (1617–26) * Jakob Petri (1626–36) * Erhard Marx (1636–38) * Columban Meyer (1638–60) * Roman Suttler (1660–80) * Placidus Thalmann (1680–96) * Augustinus Müller (1696–1726) * Paulus Seeger (1726–43) * Benedikt Rischer (1743–63) * Jakob Trautwein (1763–92) * Bernhard Maria Schwörer (1792–1803/07)

Burials

Odilo, Duke of Bavaria Odilo, also Oatilo or Uatilo (died 18th January 748) of the Agilolfing dynasty was Duke of Bavaria from 737 until his death in 748. He had the ''Lex Baiuvariorum'' compilation edited, the first ancient Germanic law collection of the Bavarians. ...

References

External links

*
Gengenbach Abbey
in the ''Abbeys of Baden-Württemberg'' database at the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg *

on ''Landeskunde online'' {{Authority control Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg Benedictine monasteries in Germany 720s establishments Christian monasteries established in the 8th century Burial sites of the Agilolfings 1360s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1360 establishments in Europe Imperial abbeys disestablished in 1802–03

History

Abbots of Gengenbach

Burials

References

Further reading

External links