Murbach Abbey () was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges.
The monastery was founded in 727 by Eberhard, Count of Alsace, and established as a Benedictine house by Saint Pirmin. Its territory once comprised three towns and thirty villages. The buildings, including the abbey church, one of the earliest vaulted Romanesque structures, were laid waste in 1789 during the Revolution by the peasantry and the abbey was dissolved shortly afterwards.
Of the 12th-century Romanesque abbey church, dedicated to Saint Leodegar (St. Léger), only the transept remains with its two steeples, and the east end with the quire. The site of the nave now serves as a burial ground. The building is located on the Route Romane d'Alsace.
History Early history The founder of the abbey, Count Eberhard, brother of Luitfrid of the Etichonids, brought Bishop Pirmin from Reichenau Abbey on Lake Constance to build up the religious community, which had previously used the Rule of St. Columbanus, but which had lost its original value. Pirmin solved the difficulties by introducing the mixed rule of St. Columbanus and St. Benedict, until the general reform of Benedict of Aniane.
Count Eberhard gave the abbey a rich endowment and extensive privileges, including the right of free election of the abbot. The monastery was obliged to have its privileges regularly confirmed and was thus closely dependent on the Pope and the Emperor (after 1680 the King of France). Murbach was placed under the patronage of Saint Leodegar, who had introduced the Benedictine Rule into Burgundy in the 7th century.
The abbey was important politically, and Charlemagne himself took the title "Abbot of Murbach" (; in a secular sense) in 792–93.
By about 850 Murbach had become one of the intellectual centres of the Upper Rhine; the library contained about 340 works of theology, grammar and history. In its decline, the library at Murbach still provided a possible source (aside from Fulda Abbey) for Poggio Bracciolini's recovery in 1417 of Lucretius' lost didactic poem De rerum natura.Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: how the world became modern 2001:note p. 272. The library was also the source of Velleius Paterculus book Historia Romana, that was found there in 1515 by Beatus Rhenanus. At the same time the worldly possessions of the abbey were increasing, thanks to large numbers of gifts. Murbach owned properties and rights in about 350 localities. Most of them were in Alsace, in the Bishoprics of Basle and Strasbourg. In addition there were properties on the right bank of the Rhine and even in the Black Forest. For example, in 805 the Alemannic nobles Egilmar, Focholt, Wanbrecht and Nothicho gave to the abbey their land and a church in the present Grissheim (). Lucerne abbey was a possession of Murbach by the mid 9th century. It possessed property in the vicinity of Worms around 900, and is mentioned in the Wormser wall-building ordinance as one of the places that shared responsibility for maintaining the city walls.C. Van De Kieft and J. F. Niermeyer, eds. (1967), Elenchus fontium historiae urbanae (Leiden: E. J. Brill), pp. 43–44.
This first period of prosperity ended in 936 with the invasion of Alsace by Hungarians.
Murbach shows signs of decline during the 12th century, although in 1178, the city of Lucerne was founded as a Murbach possession. The abbey was dedicated in 1134.
Imperial Abbey
Murbach Abbey was granted the status of imperial immediacy in 1228, under abbot Hugues of Rothenburg. Murbach expanded its territorial possessions during the 13th century, mostly in the Alsace, leading to conflicts with the Bishop of Basel and the counts of Habsburg.
Murbach Abbey sold its rights over the city of Lucerne and estates in Unterwalden to Rudolph I of Germany on 16 April 1291. This was a significant event for the foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy, as the Waldstätte or Forest Communities (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) saw their trade route over Lake Lucerne cut off and feared losing their independence.
From the 14th century the abbey began gradually to decline in influence although in the 15th and 16th centuries it retained its status as a principality.
The Peace of Westphalia (Treaty of Münster) of 1648 granted parts of the Alsace to France, but reserved the abbeys of Murbach Lüders as remaining with the Holy Roman Empire. The kingdom of France nevertheless managed to acquire de facto control over both abbeys in 1680, under the so-called Chambers of Reunion established by Louis XIV, and the two abbeys were part of the territorial disputes between France and the Empire during the period of 1680 to 1789.Heinrich Gottfried Scheidemantel, Repertorium des Teutschen Staats- und Lehnrechts vol. 3 (1793), p. 328. In c. 1759, under , the abbey was moved to Guebwiller, where the monks soon launched the construction of a new and monumental church, Notre-Dame de Guebwiller. The abbey abandoned the Benedictine Rule and was transformed into a college for members of the nobility (, ). In 1789 the abbey was dissolved after having been looted by rioting peasants.
List of abbots Source: Gallia Christiana.
727-731 : Saint Pirmin 731-752 : Romain 752-762 : Baldebert 762-774 : Haribert 774-789 : Amicus 789-792 : Saint Simpert 792-793 : Charlemagne (nominal "lay abbot") 793-795 : Egilmar 795-811 : Gerold 811-829 : Gontran 829-877 : Sigismar 877-913 : Frederick 913-976 : Wandbert 976-988 : Berenger 988-1023 : Helmeric 1023-1041 : Degenhard 1041-1049 : Eberhard 1049-1056 : Wolfrad 1056-1075 : Robert 1075-1080 : Udalric 1080-1122 : Samuel 1122-1144 : Berthold I 1144-1160 : Egilolf 1160-1189 : Conrad I von EschenbachWolfgang Friedrich von Mülinen: Der Oberaargau, Beiträge zur Heimatkunde des Kantons Bern, Deutschen Theils, Heft 5, Verlag von Nydegger & Baumgart, Bern, 1890. S. 80. 1189-1190 : Widerolf 1190-1194 : Suitbert 1194-1218 : Arnold 1218-1239 : Hugues of Rothenburg (first prince-abbot) 1239-1240 : Albert I of Fronburg 1240-1261 : Thibaud of Faucogney 1261-1285 : Berthold II of Steinbrunn 1285/6-1298 : Berthold III of FalkensteinAmbros Kocher: Solothurner Urkundenbuch, Erster Band 762–1245, State Chancery of the Canton of Solothurn, Solothurn, 1952. Stammtafel 2. 1298-1304 : Albert II of Liebstein 1304-1335 : Conrad II Schenk of Stauffenberg 1335-1345 : Conrad III Wernher of Murnhard 1345-1354 : Henry of Schawenburg 1354-1377 : John I Schulteiss of Guebwiller 1377-1387 : William I Stör of Störenburg 1387-1394 : Rudolph of Watteville 1394-1428 : William II of Wasselnheim 1428-1433 : Peter of Ostein 1433-1447 : Thierry of Domont 1447-1476 : Bartholomy of Andlau-Hombourg 1476-1489 : Achaz of Griessen 1489-1513 : Gautier of Wilsperg 1513-1542 : Georges of Massmünster 1542-1570 : John II Rudolph Stör of StörenburgArthur Engel; Ernest Lehr: Numismatique de l'Alsace. Paris, Leroux, 1887, p 130-138. 1570-1587 : John III Ulrich of Raitenau 1587 : Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau 1587 : Gabriel Giel of Gielsberg (elected, unconfirmed) 1587-1600 : cardinal Andrew of Austria (first commendatory abbot, also Bishop of Konstanz and Brixen) 1600-1614 : John IV Georges of Kalkenriedt 1614-1626 : Leopold I of Austria-Tyrol (Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, also Bishop of Passau and Strasbourg) 1626-1663 : Leopold II William of Austria (Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, also Bishop of Passau and Strasbourg) 1663-1664 : Columban of Andlau-Hombourg 1664-1682 : Francis Egon of Fürstenberg (also Bishop of Strasbourg) 1682-1686 : Felix-Egon of Fürstenberg (administrator) 1686-1720 : Philipp Eberhard von Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (abbot of Gorze) 1720-1737 : Célestin-Sébastien of Beroldingen-Gundelhart 1736/7-1756 : François-Armand de Rohan (also Bishop of Strasbourg) 1756-1786 : Kasimir Friedrich von Rathsamhausen 1786-1790 : Benedikt Friedrich von Andlau-Homburg (Benoît-Frédéric van Andlau-Hombourg)
See also List of Carolingian monasteries Abbey of Lure
Gallery
References
Philippe Legin: Die Abteikirche von Murbach im Oberelsass. Colmar, Editions S. A. E. P. Ingersheim, 1980
External links
Romanik im Elsaß: ehemalige Klosterkirche Murbach History and photos of Murbach Abbey