Prüm Abbey
Encyclopedia
Prüm Abbey is a former Benedictine
abbey
in Prüm
/Lorraine
, now in the diocese of Trier
(Germany
), founded by a Frankish
widow Bertrada
, and her son Charibert
, count of Laon
, on 23 June 720. The first abbot was Angloardus.
's granddaughter was Bertrada of Laon
, wife of King Pepin III (751–68). Prüm became the favourite monastery of the Carolingian dynasty and received large endowments and privileges. Pepin rebuilt the monastery and bestowed great estates upon it by a deed of gift dated 13 August 762. The king brought monks from Meaux
under Abbot Assuerus to the monastery.
The church, dedicated to the Saviour (Salvator), was not completed until the reign of Charlemagne
, and was consecrated on 26 July 799 by Pope Leo III
. Charlemagne and succeeding emperors were liberal patrons of the abbey. Several of the Carolingians entered the religious life at Prüm; among these was Charlemagne's illegitimate son Pepin the Hunchback
, who was exiled there after an abortive uprising and died there in 811, and Lothair I
, who became a monk in 855. His grave was rediscovered in 1860; in 1874, the Emperor Wilhelm I erected a monument over it.
In 882 and 892, the monastery was plundered and devastated by the Normans
, but it soon recovered. The landed possessions were so large that the abbey developed into a principality.
At times during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the monastery contained over three hundred monks. The period of its internal prosperity extends to the thirteenth century. The monks were energetic cultivators of the land. About 836, Abbot Marquard founded a new monastery at Münstereifel. In 1017, Abbot Urald founded at Prüm a collegiate foundation for twelve priests. In 1190, Abbot Gerhard founded a house for ladies of noble birth at Niederprüm. The monastery cared for the poor and sick. Learning was also cultivated. Among those who taught in the school of the monastery were Ado
, later Archbishop of Vienne (860–75). Another head of the school, Wandelbert
(813–70), was a distinguished poet. Abbot Regino of Prüm
(893–99) made a name for himself as historian and codifier of canon law. Cæsarius of Heisterbach
is only brought into the list of authors of this monastery by being confounded with Abbot Cæsarius of Prüm (1212–16).
Consequently the archbishops of Trier
sought to incorporate the abbey into the archdiocese. In 1376, Emperor Charles IV
gave his consent to this, as did Pope Boniface IX
in 1379, but the pope's consent was recalled in 1398. Pope Sixtus IV
in about 1473 also gave his approval to the incorporation. But the abbots refused to submit and even in 1511 carried on war against the archbishop. Finally, when the abbey was near ruin, Pope Gregory XIII
issued the decree of incorporation, dated 24 August 1574, which was carried into effect in 1576 after the death of Abbot Christopher of Manderscheid.
After this, the archbishops of Trier were "perpetual administrators" of the abbey. The abbey was now brought into order within and without, and once more flourished to such a degree that the two French Benedictine antiquarians Edmond Martène
and Ursin Durand
, who visited the monastery in 1718, stated in their Voyage littéraire that of all the monasteries in Germany
, Prüm showed the best spirit, and study was zealously pursued. The monks made efforts even in the 18th century to shake off the supremacy of Trier.
In 1801, Prüm fell to France
, was secularized, and its estates sold; Napoleon gave its buildings to the city. In 1815, Prüm passed into the possession of Prussia
as a part of the Rhine Province
, and in the course of time became part of modern Germany
, in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
.
The church, built in 1721 by the Elector Ludwig, is now a parish church. The remaining monastic buildings are now used for the secondary school named the Regino-Gymnasium after the Abbot Regino of Prüm.
as a gift of Pope Zachary
or Pope Stephen II
.
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...
abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
in Prüm
Prüm
Prüm is a town in the Westeifel , Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Prüm.-Geography:...
/Lorraine
Lotharingia
Lotharingia was a region in northwest Europe, comprising the Low Countries, the western Rhineland, the lands today on the border between France and Germany, and what is now western Switzerland. It was born of the tripartite division in 855, of the kingdom of Middle Francia, itself formed of the...
, now in the diocese of Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), founded by a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
widow Bertrada
Bertrada of Prüm
Bertrada , also called Berthe or Bertree, and perhaps a Merovingian princess, is known to be the mother of Caribert of Laon, with whom she is co-founder and benefactor of the Prüm Abbey. They founded the abbey in 721....
, and her son Charibert
Caribert of Laon
Caribert , Count of Laon, was the maternal grandfather of Charlemagne. He was the father of Charles's mother, Bertrada of Laon. Only his mother is known from contemporary records. In 721, Caribert signed, with his mother Bertrada of Prüm , the foundation act of the Abbey of Prüm...
, count of Laon
Laon
Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-History:The hilly district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance...
, on 23 June 720. The first abbot was Angloardus.
Abbey's early period up to the 13th century
Bertrada of PrumBertrada of Prüm
Bertrada , also called Berthe or Bertree, and perhaps a Merovingian princess, is known to be the mother of Caribert of Laon, with whom she is co-founder and benefactor of the Prüm Abbey. They founded the abbey in 721....
's granddaughter was Bertrada of Laon
Bertrada of Laon
Bertrada of Laon, also called Bertha Broadfoot , was a Frankish queen.- Biography :...
, wife of King Pepin III (751–68). Prüm became the favourite monastery of the Carolingian dynasty and received large endowments and privileges. Pepin rebuilt the monastery and bestowed great estates upon it by a deed of gift dated 13 August 762. The king brought monks from Meaux
Meaux
Meaux is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located east-northeast from the center of Paris. Meaux is a sub-prefecture of the department and the seat of an arondissement...
under Abbot Assuerus to the monastery.
The church, dedicated to the Saviour (Salvator), was not completed until the reign of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, and was consecrated on 26 July 799 by Pope Leo III
Pope Leo III
Pope Saint Leo III was Pope from 795 to his death in 816. Protected by Charlemagne from his enemies in Rome, he subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him as Roman Emperor....
. Charlemagne and succeeding emperors were liberal patrons of the abbey. Several of the Carolingians entered the religious life at Prüm; among these was Charlemagne's illegitimate son Pepin the Hunchback
Pepin the Hunchback
Pepin , the Hunchback was the eldest son of Charlemagne by Himiltrude. He is known in French as Pépin le Bossu.Accounts describe Pepin as normally proportioned with attractive features...
, who was exiled there after an abortive uprising and died there in 811, and Lothair I
Lothair I
Lothair I or Lothar I was the Emperor of the Romans , co-ruling with his father until 840, and the King of Bavaria , Italy and Middle Francia...
, who became a monk in 855. His grave was rediscovered in 1860; in 1874, the Emperor Wilhelm I erected a monument over it.
In 882 and 892, the monastery was plundered and devastated by the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
, but it soon recovered. The landed possessions were so large that the abbey developed into a principality.
At times during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the monastery contained over three hundred monks. The period of its internal prosperity extends to the thirteenth century. The monks were energetic cultivators of the land. About 836, Abbot Marquard founded a new monastery at Münstereifel. In 1017, Abbot Urald founded at Prüm a collegiate foundation for twelve priests. In 1190, Abbot Gerhard founded a house for ladies of noble birth at Niederprüm. The monastery cared for the poor and sick. Learning was also cultivated. Among those who taught in the school of the monastery were Ado
Ado (archbishop)
Ado , archbishop of Vienne in Lotharingia, belonged to a famous Frankish house, and spent much of his middle life in Italy. He held his archiepiscopal seat from 850 till his death on the 16 December 874. Several of his letters are extant and reveal their writer as an energetic man of wide...
, later Archbishop of Vienne (860–75). Another head of the school, Wandelbert
Wandelbert
Wandelbert was a Benedictine monk and theological writer. Little is known of his personal history. He was apparently a native of France, and in 839 he was already a monk at the Abbey of Prüm. He died at Prüm. About this date Abbot Markward commissioned him to rewrite the old life of St. Goar and...
(813–70), was a distinguished poet. Abbot Regino of Prüm
Regino of Prüm
Reginon or Regino of Prüm was a Benedictine abbot and medieval chronicler.-Biography:According to the statements of a later era, Regino was the son of noble parents and was born at the stronghold of Altrip on the Rhine near Speyer at an unknown date...
(893–99) made a name for himself as historian and codifier of canon law. Cæsarius of Heisterbach
Caesar of Heisterbach
Caesarius of Heisterbach , sometimes erroneously called in English Caesar of Heisterbach , was the prior of the former Cistercian Heisterbach Abbey, in the Siebengebirge near the little town of Oberdollendorf, Germany.He is best known as...
is only brought into the list of authors of this monastery by being confounded with Abbot Cæsarius of Prüm (1212–16).
After the 13th century
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the monastery declined, partly from the oppression of its secular administrators, but more from internal decay. It reached such a pass that the monks divided the revenues among themselves and lived apart from one another.Consequently the archbishops of Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
sought to incorporate the abbey into the archdiocese. In 1376, Emperor Charles IV
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....
gave his consent to this, as did Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX , born Piero Tomacelli, was the second Roman Pope of the Western Schism from November 2, 1389, until October 1, 1404...
in 1379, but the pope's consent was recalled in 1398. Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
in about 1473 also gave his approval to the incorporation. But the abbots refused to submit and even in 1511 carried on war against the archbishop. Finally, when the abbey was near ruin, Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII , born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope from 1572 to 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake for the Gregorian calendar, which remains the internationally-accepted civil calendar to this date.-Youth:He was born the son of Cristoforo Boncompagni and wife Angela...
issued the decree of incorporation, dated 24 August 1574, which was carried into effect in 1576 after the death of Abbot Christopher of Manderscheid.
After this, the archbishops of Trier were "perpetual administrators" of the abbey. The abbey was now brought into order within and without, and once more flourished to such a degree that the two French Benedictine antiquarians Edmond Martène
Edmond Martène
Edmond Martène was a French Benedictine historian and liturgist....
and Ursin Durand
Ursin Durand
Ursin Durand was a French Benedictine of the Maurist Congregation, and historian.He took vows in the monastery of Marmoutier at the age of nineteen and devoted himself especially to the study of diplomatics...
, who visited the monastery in 1718, stated in their Voyage littéraire that of all the monasteries in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Prüm showed the best spirit, and study was zealously pursued. The monks made efforts even in the 18th century to shake off the supremacy of Trier.
In 1801, Prüm fell to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, was secularized, and its estates sold; Napoleon gave its buildings to the city. In 1815, Prüm passed into the possession of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
as a part of the Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
, and in the course of time became part of modern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
.
The church, built in 1721 by the Elector Ludwig, is now a parish church. The remaining monastic buildings are now used for the secondary school named the Regino-Gymnasium after the Abbot Regino of Prüm.
Abbey relics
The sandals of Christ are considered to be the most notable of the many relics of the church; they are mentioned by Pepin in the deed of 762. He is said to have received them from RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
as a gift of Pope Zachary
Pope Zachary
Pope Saint Zachary was Pope of the Catholic Church from 741 to 752. A Greek from Calabria, he was the last pope of the Byzantine Papacy...
or Pope Stephen II
Pope Stephen II
Pope Stephen II was Pope from 752 to 757, succeeding Pope Zachary following the death of Pope-elect Stephen. Stephen II marks the historical delineation between the Byzantine Papacy and the Frankish Papacy.-Allegiance to Constantinople:...
.
Abbots
- Angloardus 720–762
- Assuerus 762–804
- Tankrad 804–829
- Markward of Bouillon 829–853
- Eigil 853–860
- Ansbald of Prüm 860–886
- Farabert I 886–892
- Regino of PrümRegino of PrümReginon or Regino of Prüm was a Benedictine abbot and medieval chronicler.-Biography:According to the statements of a later era, Regino was the son of noble parents and was born at the stronghold of Altrip on the Rhine near Speyer at an unknown date...
892–899 - Richar of Hennegau 899–921
- Ruotfried 921–935
- Farabert II of St Paul 935–947
- Ingelram of Limburg 947–976
- Eberhard of Salm 976–986
- Childerich 986–993
- Stephan of Saffenberg 993–1001
- Udo of Namur 1001–03
- Immo of Sponheim 1003–06
- Urold of Thaun (Daun) 1006–18
- Hilderad of Burgund 1018–26
- Ruprecht of Arberg 1026–68
- Rizo of Jülich 1068–77
- Wolfram of Bettingen 1077–1103
- Poppo of Beaumont 1103–19
- Lantfried of Hesse 1119–31
- Adalbero 1131–36
- Godfrey I of Hochstaden 1136–55
- Rother of Malberg 1155–70
- Robert I of Cleves 1170–74
- Gregor I of Geldern 1174–84
- Gerhard of Vianden 1184–1212
- Cæsarius of Milendonk 1212–16
- Kuno of Ahr 1216–20
- FrederickI of Fels 1220–45
- Godfrey II of Blankenheim 1245–74
- Walter of Blankenheim 1274–1322
- Henry I of Schönecken 1322–42
- Diether of Katzenelnbogen 1342–50
- John I Zandt of Merk 1350–54
- Dietrich of Kerpen 1354–97
- Frederick II of Schleiden 1397–1427
- Henry II of Are-Hirstorff 1427–33
- John II of Esche 1433–76
- Robert II of Virneburg 1476–1513
- Gregor II of Homburg 1513
- William of Manderscheid-Kayl 1513–46
- Christopher of Manderscheid-Kayl 1546–76
- From 1576 the Electors of Trier acted as Administrators of the abbey
External links
- Interior of abbey church
- Regino-Gymnasium official website
- Prüm in the Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
