Ellwangen Abbey
Encyclopedia
Ellwangen Abbey was the earliest Benedictine
monastery established in the Duchy of Swabia
, at the present-day town of Ellwangen an der Jagst
, Baden-Württemberg
about 100 km (60 mi) north-east of Stuttgart
.
about 764 by Herulph
and his brother Ariolf, both documented as Chorbishops of Langres. There is however some evidence that the foundation dates back to 732. The first monks may came from the Abbey of St. Benignus at Dijon
.
Ellwangen in its early days was home to Abbots Lindolf and Erfinan, who were respected authors. Abbot Gebhard wrote part of the Life of Saint Ulrich
there, but died before completing it. Abbot Ermanrich (c. 845) wrote a biography of Saint Solus. The monk Adalbero
was made Bishop of Augsburg
in 894. Abbot Liutbert
became Archbishop of Mainz, as also did Abbot Hatto (891). Saint Gebhard, Abbot of Ellwangen, became Bishop of Augsburg in 995. Abbot Milo about the middle of the tenth century was one of the visitors appointed for the visitation of the Abbey of St. Gall
.
While Emperor Louis the Pious
had already placed the monastery under his royal protection in 814, Ellwangen became an Imperial abbey (Reichsabtei), with the privilege of Imperial immediacy (Reichsfreiheit) probably granted in 1011 by King Henry II
and again confirmed by Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg
in 1347.
At the same time however, the conventual life declined and the Benedictine occupation of Ellwangen came to an end in the first half of the fifteenth century. On 14 January 1460 with the consent of Pope Pius II
it was converted into a college of secular Canons Regular
under the rule of a provost
.
(Reichsfürst), who not only ruled over an immediate territory but also held a direct vote (votum virile) in the Reichstag
assembly. As the head of a secular college of Augustinian
canons, he was the only provost of princely rank in the whole Empire, beside the Provost of Berchtesgaden
.
In the late 16th and early 17th century, the Ellwangen territory became one of the main areas of witch-hunting in Germany. In reaction to the Protestant Reformation
, the provostry joined the Catholic League
in 1609; it was occupied by Swedish troops
during the Thirty Years' War
in 1632, but again vacated after the 1634 Battle of Nördlingen
.
In the course of the German Mediatisation
of 1802, Ellwangen fell to the Duchy of Württemberg
.
, the manors of Jagstzell
, Neuler
, Rötlen, Tannenberg, Wasseralfingen, Abtsgmünd
, Kochenburg near the town of Aalen
, Heuchlingen
on the River Lein, and Lautern.
The present-day Late Romanesque
St. Vitus Basilica was consecrated in 1233, after a 12th century preceding building had been devastated by a blaze. Today it serves as the parish church of Ellwangen. A cloister
was added in 1467 and in the 17th century the interior was largely refurbished in a Baroque
style. From 1737 onwards it was again decorated with further Rococo
supplements, among them works by Carlo Carlone. In 1964 the church was elevated to the status of a Basilica minor by Pope Paul VI
.
Ellwangen Castle (Schloss ob Ellwangen) from 1460 on served as the residence of the Prince-provosts, it was rebuilt in a Baroque style about 1726. From 1802 a property of the House of Württemberg
it was for a short time the exile of Princess Catharina
and her husband Jérôme Bonaparte
in 1815/16. The castle is today administrated by the State of Baden-Württemberg, it hosts a museum and a youth hostel.
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
monastery established in the Duchy of Swabia
Duke of Swabia
The following is a list of Dukes of Swabia in southwest Germany.Swabia was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most notable family to hold Swabia were the Hohenstaufen, who held it, with a brief...
, at the present-day town of Ellwangen an der Jagst
Ellwangen
Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen , in common use simply Ellwangen is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
about 100 km (60 mi) north-east of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
Imperial abbey
According to the monastery chronicles authored by Abbot Ermanrich (d. 874), who became Bishop of Passau, the abbey was established in AlamanniaAlamannia
Alamannia or Alemannia was the territory inhabited by the Germanic Alamanni after they broke through the Roman limes in 213.The Alamanni expanded from the Main basin during the 3rd century, raiding the Roman provinces and settling on the left bank of the Rhine from the 4th century.Ruled by...
about 764 by Herulph
Herulph
Herulph was a Benedictine of the Abbey of St. Gall and Bishop of Langres of the eighth century. He founded Ellwangen Abbey.He is a Catholic saint....
and his brother Ariolf, both documented as Chorbishops of Langres. There is however some evidence that the foundation dates back to 732. The first monks may came from the Abbey of St. Benignus at Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
.
Ellwangen in its early days was home to Abbots Lindolf and Erfinan, who were respected authors. Abbot Gebhard wrote part of the Life of Saint Ulrich
Ulrich of Augsburg
Saint Ulrich , sometimes spelled Uodalric or Odalrici, was Bishop of Augsburg and a leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized.-Family:...
there, but died before completing it. Abbot Ermanrich (c. 845) wrote a biography of Saint Solus. The monk Adalbero
Adalbero
There were several people known as Adalbero or Adalberon, Adalbéron:* Adalberon, Archbishop of Reims, Archbishop of Reims in the late 10th century.* Saint Adalbero .* Adalberon, bishop of Laon...
was made Bishop of Augsburg
Bishop of Augsburg
The Bishop of Augsburg is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Augsburg in the Ecclesiastical province of München und Freising.The diocese covers an area of 13,250 km².The current bishop is Konrad Zdarsa who was appointed in 2010....
in 894. Abbot Liutbert
Liutbert, Archbishop of Mainz
Liutbert was the Archbishop of Mainz from 863 until his death. He also became Abbot of Ellwangen in 874 and is reckoned the first Archchancellor of Germany...
became Archbishop of Mainz, as also did Abbot Hatto (891). Saint Gebhard, Abbot of Ellwangen, became Bishop of Augsburg in 995. Abbot Milo about the middle of the tenth century was one of the visitors appointed for the visitation of the Abbey of St. Gall
Abbey of St. Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...
.
While Emperor Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
had already placed the monastery under his royal protection in 814, Ellwangen became an Imperial abbey (Reichsabtei), with the privilege of Imperial immediacy (Reichsfreiheit) probably granted in 1011 by King Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
and again confirmed by Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
in 1347.
At the same time however, the conventual life declined and the Benedictine occupation of Ellwangen came to an end in the first half of the fifteenth century. On 14 January 1460 with the consent of Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Piccolomini was Pope from August 19, 1458 until his death in 1464. Pius II was born at Corsignano in the Sienese territory of a noble but decayed family...
it was converted into a college of secular Canons Regular
Canons Regular
Canons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...
under the rule of a provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
.
Prince-provostry
The provost of Ellwangen achieved the status of a Prince of the EmpirePrinces of the Holy Roman Empire
The term Prince of the Holy Roman Empire denoted a secular or ecclesiastical Imperial State, who ruled over an immediate fief directly assigned by the Holy Roman Emperor...
(Reichsfürst), who not only ruled over an immediate territory but also held a direct vote (votum virile) in the Reichstag
Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...
assembly. As the head of a secular college of Augustinian
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
canons, he was the only provost of princely rank in the whole Empire, beside the Provost of Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden Provostry
Berchtesgaden Provostry or the Prince-Provostry of Berchtesgaden was an immediate principality of the Holy Roman Empire, held by a canonry, i.e...
.
In the late 16th and early 17th century, the Ellwangen territory became one of the main areas of witch-hunting in Germany. In reaction to the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, the provostry joined the Catholic League
Catholic League (German)
The German Catholic League was initially a loose confederation of Roman Catholic German states formed on July 10, 1609 to counteract the Protestant Union , whereby the participating states concluded an alliance "for the defence of the Catholic religion and peace within the Empire." Modeled...
in 1609; it was occupied by Swedish troops
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
in 1632, but again vacated after the 1634 Battle of Nördlingen
Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
The Battle of Nördlingen was fought on 27 August or 6 September , 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. The Roman Catholic Imperial army, bolstered by 18,000 Spanish and Italian soldiers, won a crushing victory over the combined Protestant armies of Sweden and their German-Protestant allies .After...
.
In the course of the German Mediatisation
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
of 1802, Ellwangen fell to the Duchy of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
.
Territory
Nothing is known of Ellwangen's property during the period of its Benedictine history, but after it had passed into the hands of the secular canons, its possessions included the court manor of EllwangenEllwangen
Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen , in common use simply Ellwangen is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany...
, the manors of Jagstzell
Jagstzell
Jagstzell is a municipality in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, in Ostalbkreis district....
, Neuler
Neuler
Neuler is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, in Ostalbkreis district....
, Rötlen, Tannenberg, Wasseralfingen, Abtsgmünd
Abtsgmünd
Abtsgmünd is a municipality in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, in Ostalbkreis district. Abtsgmünd has got two confluent streams, the Lein and the Kocher.Famous locals include Patrick Benedict Zimmer who was born in the town....
, Kochenburg near the town of Aalen
Aalen
Aalen is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district, and its largest city, as well as the largest city within the Ostwürttemberg region. In spatial planning, Aalen is designated a Mittelzentrum...
, Heuchlingen
Heuchlingen
Heuchlingen is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, in Ostalbkreis district....
on the River Lein, and Lautern.
Buildings
Most of the ecclesiastical buildings still exist, though they are no longer used for religious purposes. In the secularisation of 1802 the abbey was dissolved and its assets taken over by the Duchy of Württemberg.The present-day Late Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
St. Vitus Basilica was consecrated in 1233, after a 12th century preceding building had been devastated by a blaze. Today it serves as the parish church of Ellwangen. A cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
was added in 1467 and in the 17th century the interior was largely refurbished in a Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
style. From 1737 onwards it was again decorated with further Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
supplements, among them works by Carlo Carlone. In 1964 the church was elevated to the status of a Basilica minor by Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
.
Ellwangen Castle (Schloss ob Ellwangen) from 1460 on served as the residence of the Prince-provosts, it was rebuilt in a Baroque style about 1726. From 1802 a property of the House of Württemberg
House of Württemberg
The Württemberg family is a European royal family and a German dynasty from Württemberg. The House has its origins, according to recent research, probably in the vicinity of the Salian dynasty.-History:...
it was for a short time the exile of Princess Catharina
Catharina of Württemberg
Princess Catharina Frederica of Württemberg was the second wife of Jérôme Bonaparte.-Family:Catharina was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia to the later King Frederick I of Württemberg and Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel...
and her husband Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
in 1815/16. The castle is today administrated by the State of Baden-Württemberg, it hosts a museum and a youth hostel.
Notable Prince-provosts
- Henry of the PalatinateHenry of the Palatinate (bishop)Henry of Bavaria or Henry of the Palatinate was bishop of Utrecht from 1524 to 1529, bishop of Worms from 1523 to 1552 and bishop of Freising from 1541 to 1552....
1551-1552 - Otto Truchsess von WaldburgOtto Truchsess von WaldburgOtto Truchsess von Waldburg was Prince-Bishop of Augsburg from 1543 until his death and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.-Childhood and Education:...
1553-1573 - Count Palatine Francis Louis of Neuburg 1694-1732
- Franz Georg von Schönborn-BuchheimFranz Georg von Schönborn-BuchheimFranz Georg von Schönborn was the Archbishop-Elector of Trier from 1729 until 1756, and the Prince-Bishop of Worms and Prince-Provost of Ellwangen from 1732 until 1756.-Biography:...
1732-1756 - Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony 1787-1802