Klingenmünster Abbey (german: Reichskloster Klingenmünster) was a Benedictine monastery in the village of Klingenmünster in
Bad 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 ...
All the abbey's documents were destroyed in the fire of 840, leaving its foundation and earlier history obscure. It seems likely that it began as a foundation of Dagobert I for monks under the
Rule of Saint Columbanus
Columbanus ( ga, Columbán; 543 – 21 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries after 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in pre ...
in 626. It was certainly in existence by 780 under Fleido as abbot, later
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.Otkar, Archbishop of Mainz, previously abbot of Klingenmünster, constitutes the first direct documentary evidence.
It was an Imperial abbey by the time of Hatto I, in the 9th century.It is not clear however whether Hatto was in office before or after the fire of 840
In the 11th century a monk of Klingenmünster, Gottschalk, brought the abbey to prominence by his appointment as notary to
Emperor Henry IV
Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son ...
in the Imperial chancery between 1071 and 1084.
In the 12th century Abbot Stephan (in office from 1094 to 1114), originally from Ebersheim Abbey and also abbot of Weissenburg, Selz and Limburg Abbeys before in addition becoming abbot of Klingenmünster, significantly increased the abbey's possessions by attracting donations and grants of land and by advantageous land purchases, which in turn increased the abbey's standing and influence.
In 1115 Adalbert I,
Archbishop-Elector of Mainz
The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...
(and brother of
Frederick, Count of Saarbrücken
Frederick, Count of Saarbrücken (died 1135) was a German nobleman. He was the first to style himself '' Count of Saarbrücken''.
Life
His father, Siegbert, was a count in the Saargau; his mother may have been a daughter of the Lord of Eppenste ...
), freed the abbey of all royal, episcopal and advocatial services and impositions. This seems however to have been with a view to removing obstacles to the easy advancement of Adalbert's own kindred within the abbey. By the beginning of the 13th century most of its territories and possessions had been transferred into the hands of his relatives, the Counts of Leiningen and
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 ...
.
In 1223 Pope Honorius III placed the abbey under direct papal protection, but its position was irretrievably lost. It now served as a place of accommodation for the younger sons of the local nobility, and by the latter half of the 15th century had lost any semblance of discipline or adherence to any Rule. Repeated warnings from various bishops failed to bring about the necessary reforms or halt the decline.
By 1490 the community contained only four members and on 18 November 1490
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of th ...
ordered its conversion into a secular collegiate foundation (''Stift''). The last abbot, Eucharius von Weingarten, became the first prior.
It suffered considerable loss in the time of Johann, the third prior (from 1499 to 1506) from a Bavarian feud and the Landshut War of Succession, and in order to stave off financial ruin much of its remaining property had to be mortgaged. Despite an Imperial writ of protection, the ''Stift'' was sacked in the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...
of 1525 by the peasantry of Pleisweiler and Oberhofen. Finally, when the Reformation was introduced into the Electorate of the Palatinate between 1565 and 1567, Klingenmünster was secularised and its few remaining assets transferred to the Elector.
The premises were demolished except for the church, which remains as the parish church of St. Michael and was re-modelled in the 18th century in the
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 t ...
style.
Notes
Sources
* Festschrift des katholischen Stiftspfarramts St. Michael, Klingenmünster, 1995