St. Emmeram's Abbey

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Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram Imperial Abbey of St. Emmeram Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire ← 1295 – 1803 → Capital St. Emmeram's Abbey Government Theocracy Historical era Middle Ages  - Abbey founded ca 739  - Separated from bishopric 975  - Gained Reichsfreiheit 1295  - Abbot raised to Reichsfürst 1731  - Mediatised to new     Archbishopric¹   1803  - Ceded to Bavaria on     Imperial collapse   January 6, 1806 1: The Bishopric, the Imperial City and all three Imperial Abbeys were mediatised simultaneously.

St. Emmeram's Abbey (Kloster Sankt Emmeram or Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram), now known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis and St. Emmeram's Basilica, was a Benedictine monastery founded in about 739 in Regensburg in Bavaria at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram.^[1]

Contents 1 Abbey 2 Dissolution 3 Schloss Thurn und Taxis 4 St. Emmeram's Basilica 4.1 Notable burials in St. Emmeram's 5 St. Rupert's church 6 Abbots of St. Emmeram's 6.1 Bishops of Regensburg (abbots ex officio) 6.2 Abbots 6.3 Prince-Abbots 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Abbey

When the monastery was founded in about 739, the bishops of Regensburg were abbots in commendam, a common practice at the time which was not always to the advantage of the abbeys concerned. In 975, Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg, then bishop of Regensburg and abbot of St. Emmeram's, voluntarily gave up the position of abbot and severed the connection, making the abbots of St. Emmeram's independent of the bishopric. He was one of the first German bishops to do this, and his example in this was much copied across Germany in the years following. The first independent abbot was Ramwold (later the Blessed Ramwold). Both he and Saint Wolfgang were advocates of the monastic reforms of Gorze.

The scriptorium of St. Emmeram's in the Early Middle Ages was a centre of book production and illumination, the home of works such as the sacramentary of Emperor Henry II (produced between 1002 and 1014) and the Uta Codex (shortly after 1002).

In 1295 the counter-king Adolf of Nassau granted the abbey the regalia and made it reichsunmittelbar (i.e., an Imperial abbey, an independent sovereign power subject directly to the emperor).

After a decline in its significance during the 16th century the abbey enjoyed a resurgence in the 17th and 18th centuries under abbots Frobenius Forster, Coelestin Steiglehner, Roman Zirngibl and Placidus Heinrich, great scholars, particularly in the natural sciences. Under their leadership the abbey academy came to rival the Münchner Akademie. St. Emmeram's had a long tradition of scientific enquiry dating from the Middle Ages, in witness of which the monastery preserved the astrolabe of William of Hirsau.

In 1731, the abbots were raised to the status of Princes of the Empire (Reichsfürsten). Between 1731 and 1733 there followed the magnificent Baroque refurbishment, by the Asam brothers, of the abbey church, which had been repeatedly burnt out and repaired.

[edit] Dissolution

In 1803, St. Emmeram's, along with the Imperial City of Regensburg, the Bishopric of Regensburg and the two other Imperial Abbeys (Niedermünster and Obermünster), lost its previous politically-independent status to the newly formed Principality of Regensburg, often referred to as the Archbishopric of Regensburg, under the former Prince-Primate Carl Theodor von Dalberg. After the Treaty of Paris of 1810, the entire Principality of Regensburg was transferred to Bavaria.

The treasures of St. Emmeram's (for example, the ciborium of Arnulf, now in the Residenz) and its valuable library (including Muspilli and the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram) were mostly removed to Munich.

[edit] Schloss Thurn und Taxis

In 1812 the monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn and Taxis, who had St. Emmeram's Abbey converted as a residence known from then on as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, sometimes called Schloss Sankt Emmeram.

[edit] St. Emmeram's Basilica

The abbey church became a parish church, to which, on 18 February 1964, Pope Paul VI accorded the status of a basilica minor.^[2] The Romanesque basilica with three aisles, three choirs and a west transept is based on an original church building from the second half of the 8th century. Since that time it has been many times partly destroyed and rebuilt. The oldest extant part of the building is the ring crypt under the choir of the northern aisle. The three medieval carved stone reliefs on the north portal, dating from about 1052, the oldest of their type in Germany, represent Christ, Saint Emmeram and Saint Denis. The west transept has a painted wooden ceiling depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia. The crypt of Saint Wolfgang is beneath the choir of Saint Denis. Next to Saint Denis's altar in the northern aisle is the tomb of Emma, Queen of the East Franks (d. 876), let into the wall. The high altar dates from 1669.

The tower has six bells.

[edit] Notable burials in St. Emmeram's

• Saint Emmeram
• Saint Wolfgang
• Blessed Ramwold
• Emma, Queen of the East Franks (consort of Louis the German)
• Blessed Aurelia, anchorite
• The Blessed Bishops Wolflek, Gaubald and Tuto
• Arnulf of Carinthia, King of the East Franks and Holy Roman Emperor
• His son, King Louis the Child
• Arnulf the Wicked, Duke of Bavaria
• Relics of Saints Maximianus and Calcidonius
• Johannes Aventinus, historian of Bavaria

[edit] St. Rupert's church

St. Rupert's church was formerly the parish church of the monastery. The church, with two aisles, was constructed in the second half of the eleventh century, but was frequently adapted and enlarged. The nave is from the 14th century, the choir from 1405, the high altar with four pillars and a picture of the baptism of Duke Theodo of Bavaria by Saint Rupert from 1690 and the decoration and fittings from the 17th and 18th centuries. The tabernacle on the north side of the choir has figures of Saint Rupert and other saints. The altar of Saint Michael dated from 1713. The nave is decorated with pictures of the miracles of Saint Rupert.

[edit] Abbots of St. Emmeram's

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Kallmünz, 1992. St. Emmeram in Regensburg. Geschichte - Kunst - Denkmalpflege. Thurn und Taxis-Studien 18.
• Morsbach, P. (photos: A. Bunz), 1993: St. Emmeram zu Regensburg. Ehem. Benediktiner-Abteikirche. Großer Kunstführer Nr. 187. Schnell & Steiner: Regensburg.
• 1803 – Die gelehrten Mönche und das Ende einer 1000-jährigen Tradition. Exhibition guide. Bischöfliches Ordinariat Regensburg: Regensburg, 2003.

[edit] External links

• (German) Bischöfliches Ordinariat Regensburg
• (German) Klöster in Bayern: Sankt Emmeram, Regensburg
• (German) Kreutzgang des Kloster in National-Archiv für Deutschlands Kunst und Alterthum, Nürnberg 1828 (images)
• (German) Schloss Thurn und Taxis in Regensburg

v • d • e Holy Roman Empire — Imperial abbeys of the Rhenish College Imperial abbeys and colleges (Reichsabteien, Reichsklöster und Reichsstifte) Buchau* • Burtscheid* • Essen • Gandersheim • Gernrode • Herford • Hersfeld • Kaisheim† • Kornelimünster • Memleben • Michaelsberg • Niedermünster • Nienburg • Obermünster • Quedlinburg • St. Emmeram's • St. Ludger's • St. Maximin's • St. Ulrich's and St. Afra's • Thorn • Walkenried • Werden Imperial provostries and priories (Reichspropsteien) Klingenmünster • St. Bartholomäus Imperial charterhouse (Reichskartause) Buxheim† * Also a Prince of the Empire     † Also in Swabian College

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Coordinates: 49°0′55″N 12°5′34″E / 49.01528, 12.09278