Wiki source code of St Emmeram's Abbey

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  1: 
  2: 1 St. Emmeram's Abbey
  3: St. Emmeram's Abbey (Kloster Sankt Emmeram or Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram),
  4: now known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis and St. Emmeram's Basilica, was a
  5: Benedictine monastery founded in about 739 in Regensburg in Bavaria at the
  6: grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram.
  7: 
  8: 1.1 Abbey
  9: When the monastery was founded in about 739, the bishops of Regensburg
 10: were abbots in commendam, a common practice at the time which was not
 11: always to the advantage of the abbeys concerned. In 975, Saint Wolfgang of
 12: Regensburg, then bishop of Regensburg and abbot of St. Emmeram's,
 13: voluntarily gave up the position of abbot and severed the connection,
 14: making the abbots of St. Emmeram's independent of the bishopric. He was
 15: one of the first German bishops to do this, and his example in this was
 16: much copied across Germany in the years following. The first independent
 17: abbot was Ramwold (later the Blessed Ramwold). Both he and Saint Wolfgang
 18: were advocates of the monastic reforms of Gorze.
 19: 
 20: The scriptorium of St. Emmeram's in the Early Middle Ages was a centre of
 21: book production and illumination, the home of works such as the
 22: sacramentary of Emperor Henry II (produced between 1002 and 1014) and the
 23: Uta Codex (shortly after 1002).
 24: 
 25: In 1295 the counter-king Adolf of Nassau granted the abbey the regalia and
 26: made it reichsunmittelbar (i.e., an Imperial abbey, an independent
 27: sovereign power subject directly to the emperor).
 28: 
 29: After a decline in its significance during the 16th century the abbey
 30: enjoyed a resurgence in the 17th and 18th centuries under abbots Frobenius
 31: Forster, Coelestin Steiglehner, Roman Zirngibl and Placidus Heinrich,
 32: great scholars, particularly in the natural sciences. Under their
 33: leadership the abbey academy came to rival the Münchner Akademie. St.
 34: Emmeram's had a long tradition of scientific enquiry dating from the
 35: Middle Ages, in witness of which the monastery preserved the astrolabe of
 36: William of Hirsau.
 37: 
 38: In 1731, the abbots were raised to the status of Princes of the Empire
 39: (Reichsfürsten). Between 1731 and 1733 there followed the magnificent
 40: Baroque refurbishment, by the Asam brothers, of the abbey church, which
 41: had been repeatedly burnt out and repaired.
 42: 
 43: 1.1 Dissolution
 44: 
 45: In 1803, St. Emmeram's, along with the Imperial City of Regensburg, the
 46: Bishopric of Regensburg and the two other Imperial Abbeys (Niedermünster
 47: and Obermünster), lost its previous politically-independent status to the
 48: newly formed Principality of Regensburg, often referred to as the
 49: Archbishopric of Regensburg, under the former Prince-Primate Carl Theodor
 50: von Dalberg. After the Treaty of Paris of 1810, the entire Principality of
 51: Regensburg was transferred to Bavaria.
 52: 
 53: The treasures of St. Emmeram's (for example, the ciborium of Arnulf, now
 54: in the Residenz) and its valuable library (including Muspilli and the
 55: Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram) were mostly removed to Munich.
 56: 
 57: 1.1 Schloss Thurn und Taxis
 58: In 1812 the monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn and
 59: Taxis, who had St. Emmeram's Abbey converted as a residence known from
 60: then on as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, sometimes called Schloss Sankt
 61: Emmeram.
 62: 
 63: 1.1 St. Emmeram's Basilica
 64: Painted wooden ceiling depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia
 65: The abbey church became a parish church, to which, on 18 February 1964,
 66: Pope Paul VI accorded the status of a basilica minor. The Romanesque
 67: basilica with three aisles, three choirs and a west transept is based on
 68: an original church building from the second half of the 8th century. Since
 69: that time it has been many times partly destroyed and rebuilt. The oldest
 70: extant part of the building is the ring crypt under the choir of the
 71: northern aisle. The three medieval carved stone reliefs on the north
 72: portal, dating from about 1052, the oldest of their type in Germany,
 73: represent Christ, Saint Emmeram and Saint Denis. The west transept has a
 74: painted wooden ceiling depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia. The crypt of
 75: Saint Wolfgang is beneath the choir of Saint Denis. Next to Saint Denis's
 76: altar in the northern aisle is the tomb of Emma, Queen of the East Franks
 77: (d. 876), let into the wall. The high altar dates from 1669.
 78: 
 79: The tower has six bells.
 80: 
 81: 1.1.1 Notable burials in St. Emmeram's
 82: * Saint Emmeram
 83: * Saint Wolfgang
 84: * Blessed Ramwold
 85: * Emma, Queen of the East Franks (consort of Louis the German)
 86: * Blessed Aurelia, anchorite
 87: * The Blessed Bishops Wolflek, Gaubald and Tuto
 88: * Arnulf of Carinthia, King of the East Franks and Holy Roman Emperor
 89: * His son, King Louis the Child
 90: * Arnulf the Wicked, Duke of Bavaria
 91: * Relics of Saints Maximianus and Calcidonius
 92: * Johannes Aventinus, historian of Bavaria
 93: 
 94: 1.1 St. Rupert's church
 95: 
 96: St. Rupert's church was formerly the parish church of the monastery. The
 97: church, with two aisles, was constructed in the second half of the
 98: eleventh century, but was frequently adapted and enlarged. The nave is
 99: from the 14th century, the choir from 1405, the high altar with four
100: pillars and a picture of the baptism of Duke Theodo of Bavaria by Saint
101: Rupert from 1690 and the decoration and fittings from the 17th and 18th
102: centuries. The tabernacle on the north side of the choir has figures of
103: Saint Rupert and other saints. The altar of Saint Michael dated from 1713.
104: The nave is decorated with pictures of the miracles of Saint Rupert.