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Hirsau Abbey, formerly known asHirschau Abbey, was once one of the most importantBenedictineabbeys ofGermany. It is located in theHirsau borough ofCalw on the northern slopes of theBlack Forest mountain range, in the present-day state ofBaden-Württemberg. In the 11th and 12th century, the monastery was a centre of theCluniac Reforms, implemented as "Hirsau Reforms" in the German lands byWilliam of Hirsau. The complex was devastated during theWar of the Palatine Succession in 1692 and not rebuilt. The ruins served as a quarry for a period of time.
AChristian chapel at Hirsau dedicated to SaintNazarius had already been erected in the late 8th century. The monastery itself was founded in about 830 by theRhenish Franconian count Erlafried of Calw at the instigation of his son, Bishop Notting ofVercelli, who gave it the relics of Saint Aurelius of Riditio, anArmenian bishop who had died about 475, brought fromMilan among other treasures.[1][2]
They were first placed in the oratory of St. Nazarius' Chapel, while the monastery at Hirsau was being built on the count's estates. It was settled by a colony of fifteen monks descending fromFulda Abbey, disciples ofRabanus Maurus andWalafrid Strabo, under an abbot Liudebert or Lutpert. Count Erlafried endowed the new foundation with extended lands and other gifts, and made a solemn donation of the whole into the hands of Lutpert, on condition that theRule of Saint Benedict should be observed. A firstaisleless church, dedicated to Saint Aurelius, was not completed until 838, when it was consecrated by ArchbishopOdgar of Mainz, who at the same time translated the relics from their temporary resting place to the new church.[1]
Abbot Lutpert died in 853, having brought about a substantial increase both in the possessions of the abbey and in the number of the monks under his rule. Regular observance flourished under him and his successors and a successfulmonastic school was established. Over about a hundred and fifty years, under the care of the Counts of Calw, it enjoyed great prosperity, and became an important seat of learning. However, towards the end of the 10th century the ravages of pestilence, combined with the greed of its patrons and the laxity of the community, brought it to ruin.[2] In 988 a severe plague devastated the neighbourhood and carried off sixty of the monks including the abbot, Hartfried. Only a dozen were left to elect a successor, and they divided into two parties. The more fervent chose one Conrad, whose election was confirmed by the Ruprecht,Bishop of Speyer, but some of the others, who favoured a more relaxed rule, elected an opposition abbot in the person of Eberhard, the cellarer. For some time the dispute ran high between the rival superiors and their respective followers. The Count of Calw supported the claims of Eberhard, but neither party would give way to the other and in the end the count brought in an armed force to settle the quarrel. The result was that the abbey was pillaged, the monks dispersed, and the valuable library destroyed. The count became master of the property and the abbey remained empty for over sixty years, during which time the buildings fell into a ruinous state.[1]
In 1049Pope Leo IX, uncle of Count Adalbert of Calw and grandson of the spoliator, came to Hirschau, and required Adalbert to restore the abbey. The count had the abbey church rebuilt in the style of a Romanbasilica with an attachedcloister.[3] He renovated the premises, but so slowly that they were not refurbished until 1065, when the monastery was resettled by a dozen monks from the renownedEinsiedeln Abbey inSwabia, with Abbot Frederick at their head.
Abbot Frederick was deposed and the Counts ofCalw dismissed his elected successor, Abbot Friedrich. They had a distant connection to Otto,Bishop of Regensburg. In May 1069,William, a monk ofSaint Emmeram's Abbey was psent as successor. He immediately took over the management of the monastery, but refused to accept the abbatial benediction until after the death of his unjustly deposed predecessor in 1071.[4] He was solemnly inaugurated by the Bishop of Speyer on Ascension Day in 1071.
When William came the condition of the monastery was far from satisfactory. The monks were living in cramped conditions, as the buildings were still incomplete and furthermore repeatedly affected by floods of theNagold river. Count Adalbert still retained possession of some of the monastic property, together with a certain amount of unhelpful influence over the community, and regular discipline was very much relaxed. Abbot William's zeal and prudence by degrees remedied this unsatisfactory state of affairs and inaugurated a period of great prosperity, both spiritual and temporal. During theInvestiture Controversy that shook theHoly Roman Empire, he secured the independence of the abbey from the Counts of Calw and placed its finances on a sound footing.
In 1089, monks from Hirsau foundedZwiefalten Abbey. William completed the buildings already begun and from 1082 afterwards greatly added to them, as the needs of the increasing community required, a new monastery complex on a high plateau on the opposite side of the Nagold river. The StsPeter andPaul's abbey church, which was modelled onCluny II finished about 981 under AbbotMajolus, was consecrated in 1091. Theconvent followed the next year, when it moved into the adjacent new monastic compound designed according to thePlan of Saint Gall, while old St Aurelius was converted into apriory. William also refounded the monastic school for which the abbey had formerly been famous throughout Germany.
But the abbot's greatest work, perhaps, and that for which his name is best remembered, was the reformation that he effected within the community itself.Cluny was then at the height of its fame and William sent some of his monks there to learn the Cluniac customs and rule, after which the Cluniac discipline was introduced at Hirsau. By hisConstitutiones Hirsaugienses, theOrdo Hirsaugiensis, was formed. Known as theHirsau Reforms, the adoption of this rule revitalised Benedictine monasteries throughout Germany,[5] such as those ofZwiefalten,BlaubeurenPetershausen,Saint Peter andSaint George in the Black Forest in Swabia, as well as the Thuringian monastery ofReinhardsbrunn, FranconianComburg andSt. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal inCarinthia. Hirsau priories were located atReichenbach andSchönrain, in BavarianFischbachau and ThuringianPaulinzella.
A friend and correspondent ofPope Gregory VII and ArchbishopAnselm of Canterbury, William took active part in the politico-ecclesiastical controversies of his time. He was also author ofinter alia the treatiseDe musica et tonis, as well as thePhilosophicarum et astronomicarum institutionum libri iii.[2] The abbot then wrote his well-known "Consuetudines Hirsaugienses"[6] which for several centuries remained the standard of monastic observance. Under William monks were sent out from Hirsau to reform other German monasteries on the same lines, and from it seven new monasteries were founded. The numbers of the community increased to 150 under his rule, manual labour and the copying of manuscripts forming an important part of their occupations. Numerous exemptions and other privileges were obtained from time to time from emperors and popes.
In the twelfth century the autocratic rule of Abbot Manegold caused for a time some internal dissensions and a consequent decline of strict discipline, but the vigorous efforts of several abbots checked the decadence, and temporarily re-established the stricter observance. About the end of the 12th century Hirsau Abbey was again very perceptibly on the decline both materially and morally. It never afterwards again rose into importance.
In the fifteenth century, however, the famous "Customs" gradually became little more than a dead letter. Wolfram, the thirty-eighth abbot (1428–1460), introduced the contemporaryMelk Reform. A few years later Hirsau adopted the Constitutions ofBursfelde Abbey and became part of theBursfelde Congregation. Wolfram's successor, Bernhard, carried on the work of revival, freed the abbey from its debts, restored the monastic buildings, and also reformed several other monasteries.
In the days of Abbot John III (1514–1556) Hirsau fell on hard times: theProtestant Reformation began to make its influence felt, and after a brief period of struggle, the abbey, through the involvement of DukeUlrich of Württemberg, passed into Lutheran hands, though still maintaining its monastic character.[citation needed] In consequence of the Reformation it was secularized in 1558.[2] In 1630 it became Catholic again for a short time, but after thePeace of Westphalia (1648) it once more came under the control of the Dukes of Württemberg and another series of Lutheran abbots presided over it.
The community eventually came to an end andChristoph, Duke of Württemberg established a Protestant boarding school at the former monastery. His son,Louis III, Duke of Württemberg built a hunting lodge on the site of the abbot's house. Hirsau Abbey was finally destroyed during theNine Years' War byFrench troops under General LieutenantMélac in 1692.
The Church of St. Aurelius was renovated in 1954. The relics of St. Aurelius were brought back from Zwiefalten and the church restored as a place of worship.
In 1991, the city of Calw and the Badisches Landesmuseum founded the Monastery Museum Hirsau in a building once part of the monastery complex.[7]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hirsau".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 524. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
48°44′16″N8°43′56″E / 48.73778°N 8.73222°E /48.73778; 8.73222
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