Rabanus Maurus

Rabanus Maurus, OSB (also: Hrabanus or Rhabanus; * to 780 in Mainz, † February 4 856 in Winkel in the Rheingau ) was abbot of the monastery of Fulda and Archbishop of Mainz. As a scholar, abbot and archbishop, he is one of the major figures of the Carolingian Renaissance upheaval known as the 9th century and was in a close relationship to the Emperor Lothair I and his wife Ermengarde of Tours.

Life

Rabanus was born around 780, the son of noble parents in Mainz. Even as a child, he attended from 788 to religious and scientific education, the school of the then burgeoning, but still far from that arrived at the summit of his later gained fame under his own line Benedictine monastery of Fulda. After training, he was able to shine early the Great as a scholar at the court of Charlemagne. He was later promoted by Alcuin, the head of the imperial palace school in Aachen. Alcuin called him " Maurus ", as well as the Founder Benedict had named his favorite student. As Alcuin himself went into the canons of Saint- Martin de Tours, followed him Rabanus to operate there Bible, liturgy and legal studies. 801 he returned to Fulda back, where he received ordination to the diaconate and was head of the local convent school. Among his pupils were Rudolf of Fulda, Lupus of Ferrieres, Ermenrich of Ellwangen, Gottschalk of Orbais, Walahfrid Strabo and Otfried of White Castle.

Writings

In the time as head of the monastery school (up to 822) wrote Rabanus important writings, of which the most famous figure of the poem cycle De laudibus sanctae crucis ( published 814 "From the praise of the Holy Cross " ) is geminum an opus. It is still preserved in transcripts that were likely to be made ​​directly under the supervision Rabanus '; the most important copy is kept in the Vatican Library ( Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat lat 124). From his work as head of the school reflects his 819 published three-volume work De institutione clericorum ( " From the training of clergy "). At the same mill close later to De De ecclesiastica disciplina and sacris ordinibus. In the strict sense theological writings are De videndo deo, de puritate cordis et de modo poenitentiae and De anima. The largest part of this work make Bible Commentaries. In the area of ​​hagiography his martyrology falls. Besides De laudibus sanctae crucis wrote Rabanus Maurus numerous other metric and accent rhythmic poems, partly in rare poetic meters, including an epitaph for the grave of St. Boniface, whose stele with relief of the saints, backside cross and the inscription Sancta Crux nos salva in Mainz has received (so-called priest stone). Even letters have survived in greater numbers. In addition to De Laudibus sanctae crucis that was probably the most successful work Rabans his Encyclopedia De Rerum naturis whose extensive manuscript tradition extends from the 9th to the 15th century and has illustrated several specimens, including the oldest copy of the famous 11th century from Monte Cassino (Montecassino, Biblioteca dell'Abbazia, cod. 132, ca 1022/23 ). Shortly before 1467, the first Inkunabeldruck appeared in Strasburg with Adolf Rusch. The work served primarily as aids to Biblical exegesis. Whether the illustrations back to Raban, is controversial, but not unlikely. Mainz scientists Franz Stephen Pelgen discovered according to an announcement from the diocese of Mainz end of June 2011 in Mainz Martinus Library another manuscript fragment of the 9th century from this work. Writings on the era and the grammar come as the school system. A record of the oblation ( offering ) of children in monasteries by their parents and the question of the binding effect of such a decision, emerged from the conflict with Gottschalk of Orbais, who ran his dismissal from the monastery, but ultimately failed because of the fierce resistance Rabans. That Raban was also involved in the genesis of the Fulda Sacramentary, as a compiler of Gregorio Gelasianum, sets especially the frontispiece of the Fulda Sacramentary of the University Library and Lower Saxon State Library near Göttingen, among other clues.

Abbot of Fulda

On 15 June 822, he was twenty-year abbot of the monastery of Fulda, which was then home to over 600 monks. He enlarged the monastery library and built the convent school into one of the most prestigious in the Frankish Empire. He also took care of the pastoral care of the peasants and was built about 30 churches and chapels, including 836 in the crypt of Leoba on the Petersberg near Fulda. Rabanus was a follower of Emperor Lothar I, but not of Louis the German, was part of its territory Fulda. When he was drawn into the conflict between Louis the Pious and his sons, he joined 842 of his position as abbot back and retired as a scholar on the Petersberg.

Archbishop of Mainz

Despite the disagreements Ludwig raised him 847, already 67 years old, following a debate in Rasdorf, a branch of the monastery of Fulda, archbishop of Mainz. On June 16th of the same year Rabanus took office as supreme pastor of the largest church in the province of East Frankish kingdom. Shortly after taking office, he convened a synod first one, on the bishops, bishops advised Choir ( an early form of the auxiliary bishop ) and abbots in the Mainz Abbey of St. Alban on the strengthening of faith and discipline. The preachers were encouraged to keep the common people to understand sermons.

To 850 the Archbishop was in Zell ( Zeller Valley ) the bones of the Hermit Philip of Zell collect, bury in the newly constructed Salvator church and wrote even the ( traditional ) Altar inscriptions with which St. Philip was officially recognized as a saint.

Death and aftermath

Rabanus Maurus died on 4 February 856 according to tradition, in Winkel in the Rheingau and was buried in the monastery of St. Alban in front of Mainz. Soon he was venerated as a saint. In 1515 his remains from the Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht of Brandenburg were transferred to Halle, and from there they came to Aschaffenburg later. Its present grave is not known.

A page dedicated to him plaque was taken in in the Walhalla near Regensburg.

Importance

As the so-called Carolingian Renaissance stuck by the divisions of Charlemagne's Empire in the early stages and the resultant eastern kingdom sought his spiritual foundations, Rabanus Maurus worked as a collector and promoter of the entire philosophical, theological and scientific knowledge of his time.

The wealth of his writings on all areas of knowledge and an impressive array of outstanding pupil brought him in the early 19th century the title of " first teachers of Germania " ( primus praeceptor Germaniae ) a, whose permission is provided by the recent historical research in question (see the Article by Raymund Kottje in the literature appendix). What is certain is that he was the first scholar almost commented on the entire Bible from the German -speaking region and brought all the knowledge of his time in his writings for the presentation and that among his numerous self literarily productive students important representatives of the Carolingian Renaissance and Gottschalk and Walahfrid Strabo were probably the two most important poets of the 9th century.

The Pentecost hymn Veni creator spiritus ( Come Creator Spirit ) is, if not written by him ( as assumed earlier), yet narrated from him and remains connected with his name. Rabanus Maurus is the author of 22 books consisting of Encyclopedia De universo ( " About the Universe", also: De Rerum naturis - " The Nature of Things" ).

Its main merit was the one in the exchange between the ancient Christian tradition and the early medieval mindset by newly compiled outstanding writings of the ancient knowledge of the early middle ages appropriate and encyclopedic published. Secondly, it was a thoroughly independent theologian who moved in Bilderstreit an independent position, in particular by also awarded images, the image of the incarnate Son of God, a meaning as a revelation means and the history of salvation interpreted as the history of revelation. The theology of the cross, he gave substantial impetus by emphasizing the universality of the cross, which he regarded as a sign of salvation and basic structure of the entire cosmos, who seemed to be so laid out from the beginning to the redemptive work of the cross action and so to interpret itself as a sign of salvation. He is a typical representative of the Carolingian Renaissance.

Remembrance

• Catholic: February 4 ( Not optional memorial in the regional calendar for the German -speaking area )
• Evangelical: February 4 ( Memorial Day in the name Evangelical Calendar )

Rabanus Maurus churches dedicated

• Rabanus Maurus St. (Mainz), the Archbishop of Mainz Rabanus Maurus consecrated Catholic church in Mainz district of Hartberg

According to Rabanus Maurus named schools

• Rabanus Maurus -Gymnasium, state, altsprachliches Gymnasium in Mainz- Neustadt
• Rabanus Maurus School, Domgymnasium Fulda, altsprachlich - school modern languages ​​with humanistic tradition of the city of Fulda
• Rhabanus - Maurus -Gymnasium St. Ottilia, church, human High School with neusprachlichem branch in Upper Bavaria

Works

Handwritten Tradition

• Raymund Kottje (in collaboration with Thomas A. Ziegler ): List of manuscripts containing the works of Rabanus Maurus. Hahnsche bookstore, Hannover 2012 ( MGH aids, Volume 27 ), ISBN 978-3-7752-1134-5.

Editions

• Hrabani Mauri opera omnia. In: Migne, Patrologia Latina, Volumes 107-112, Paris, 1852.

• Ernst Dümmler ( Ed. ): Hrabani ( Mauri ) Abbatis Fuldenis et archiepiscopi Moguntiacensis Epistolae. In: Epistolae Karolini Aevi, Vol 3, Weidmann, Berlin 1898 ( MGH Epistolae, vol 5 ), pp. 379-516. ( Digitized )

• Ernst Dümmler ( Ed. ): Hrabani Mauri carmina. In: poetae Latini aevi Carolini, Volume 2, Weidmann, Berlin 1884 (MGH poetae Latini medii aevi, Volume 2 ), pp. 154-258. ( Digitized ) ( also contains the attribution to Hrabanus unsafe hymns)
• Kurt Holter ( Ed. ): Rabanus Maurus, Liber de laudibus sanctae crucis. Complete facsimile edition of the original format of the Codex Vindobonensis 652 Academic Printing and Publishing Company, Graz 1973 ( Codices selecti, Vol 33).
• Michel Perrin ( Ed. ): Rabani Mauri in honorem sanctae crucis. Brepols, Turnhout 1997 ( Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, vols 100-100 A), ISBN 2-503-04001-2 ISBN 2-503-04002-0 and.

• Ernst Dümmler ( Ed ): De procinctu Romanae military. In: Journal for German Antiquity, vol 15, 1872, pp. 443-451. ( Digitized )
• John McCulloh ( Ed. ): Rabani Mauri martyrology / Wesley M. Stevens ( Ed. ): . Rabani Moguntiacensis episcopi De Computo. Brepols, Turnhout, 1979 ( Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio medievalis, Vol 44).
• Detlev Zimpel: De institutione clericorum libri tres. Studies and edition. Lang, Frankfurt am Main, inter alia, 1996 ( Freiburg contributions to medieval history, vol 7), ISBN 3-631-30736-5.
• Bengt Löfstedt ( Ed. ): Rabani Mauri Exposure in Matthaeum. Brepols, Turnhout 2000 ( Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis, vol 174, and 174 A). ISBN 2-503-04741-6.
• Detlev Zimpel ( Ed. ): Rabanus Maurus, De institutione clericorum = About the training of clergy. Latin / German, 2 vols. Brepols, Turnhout 2006 ( Fontes Christiani, Vol 61.1 and 61.2), ISBN 978-2-503-52149-7 ISBN 978-2-503-52151-0 and.
• Gereon Becht - Jördens ( Ed. ): The editors of Altartituli of Rabanus Maurus. In: Sturmi or Boniface. A conflict in the age of reform anianischen identity and monastic self-image in the mirror of Altartituli of Rabanus Maurus for the Salvator Basilica of Fulda. Has attachment to tradition and critical edition of the Tituli as well as textual sources for architecture and architectural history of the Salvator Basilica. In: Marc- Aeilko Aris, Susanna Bullido del Barrio (ed.): Rabanus Maurus at Fulda. With a Rabanus Maurus bibliography ( 1979-2009 ). Joseph Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 2010 ( Fulda Studies, Volume 13 ), ISBN 978-3-7820-0919-5, pp. 123-187, here p 160-168.

• De laudibus sanctae Crucis (Latin ): digital copies of the edition of Jacob Wimpheling, Pforzheim 1503 in the Virtual Library of the University of Tours and the University of Vienna (eBooks on Demand)
• De Rerum naturis: (Latin ) With many errors prone transcription of Karlsruhe handwriting Augiensis 96 and 98, by William Schipper
• Rabanus Maurus in the Bibliotheca Augustana (Latin ): De Rerum naturis (after W. Schipper ), De laudibus sanctae crucis (excerpts from Cod Vat Reg Lat 124. ), Veni creator spiritus
• In ecclesiasticum Commentaries, facsimile of the edition of Simon de Colines, Paris 1544 ( Bibliothèque nationale de France )