Goslar Precedence Dispute

Last updated

The Goslar Precedence Dispute (German : Goslarer Rangstreit) escalated at Pentecost in 1063 in the Goslar Collegiate Church of St. Simon and St. Jude from a dispute over the order of seating into an armed confrontation which resulted in several deaths. The background is the early medieval legal system, based mainly on personal loyalty and privileges that could be conferred or withdrawn at any time.

Contents

Requirements

In medieval social order, the symbols and rituals of rank were associated with real power and income. One of these rituals was the order of precedence in the seating at ceremonial occasions. Whoever sat closer to the king or other high-ranking person, had greater rights than other people at the ceremony. As a result, when it was unclear where the delineation was in terms of responsibilities and areas of jurisdiction, so-called "armchair disputes" often arose over the seating order. These rarely resulted in an agreement, because "conceding or giving in would have decided the dispute in favour of one or the other and ... so was out of the question," according to historian Gerd Althoff. None of these disputes ended in such a confrontation, however, as that of the Goslar Precedence Dispute between Abbot Widerad of Fulda and Bishop Hezilo of Hildesheim which resulted in several deaths and a subsequent rebellion by monks.

The course of the precedence dispute

The Abbot of Fulda Abbey, Widerad, and the Bishop of Hildesheim, Hezilo, twice ended up arguing over who had the right to sit next to the Archbishop of Mainz in Goslar's Collegiate Church of St. Simon and Jude.

Christmas 1062

During vespers at Christmas in 1062 the dispute broke out for the first time. The actually quite low-ranking abbot claimed this right probably due to the traditional, special relationship between the monastery at Fulda and Archbishop of Mainz: Fulda Abbey had been founded by the Archbishop of Mainz, Boniface. Many imperial and papal privileges had been granted to Fulda Abbey and also to the abbot, who thereby held a special position. For example, the monastery was "exempt", the abbot had a primate and had a right to episcopal pontificalia.

The Bishop of Hildesheim insisted, however, that no one should be preferred over him due to his position as bishop, certainly not within his diocese, where Goslar Cathedral was also exempt and thus did not belong to the Diocese of Hildesheim but directly to the Pope.

The dispute escalated into a scuffle, which the Duke of Bavaria, Otto of Northeim, stopped by vigorously stepping in between them. He decided the seating dispute in favour of the Abbot of Fulda.

King Henry IV spent Christmas in Freising and was not present at this first meeting, which has led Tuomas Heikkilä (see bibliography) to suspect that the meeting was a synod (a meeting of religious leaders only) for the Archdiocese of Mainz, possibly convened in opposition to the transitional government of Anno II.

Pentecost 1063

On 7 June 1063, the Saturday before Pentecost, the same issue arose during vespers again. The auspices were different this time: the king was present and it was the occasion of an imperial council ( Hoftag ). As a result, Hezilo believed that his status as a bishop gave him precedence.

Knowing that Widerad would insist on the status he had been granted at Christmas, Hezilo had prepared for a fight, placing armed men in position behind the altar under the leadership of Egbert of Brunswick. When they heard that the dispute had escalated again in the nave, they drove the Abbot of Fulda from the church, using their clubs. These armed men then took it upon themselves to turn around and go back to church. Lambert of Hersfeld describes the developing carnage, witnessed by the king, in his annals:

In the middle of the chancel and to the chanting of monks, an affray breaks out: except now they fight not just with clubs, but with swords. A heated battle ensues, and battle cries and the wailing of the dying echoes through the church instead of hymns and spiritual songs. On God's altars victims are gruesomely slaughtered; everywhere rivers of blood run through the church, poured out not as formerly required by religious custom, but by hostile cruelty. The Bishop of Hildesheim found an elevated position and urged his men, as if using a military bugle call, to fight bravely, and so that they are not deterred from using weapons by the sanctity of the place, he holds up before them the standard of his authority and his permission. Many on both sides are wounded, many are killed, chief among them Reginbodo, Fulda's standard-bearer, and Bero, one of Count Egbert's most loyal vassals. During the affray the king raises his voice loudly and implores the people to stop, appealing to his royal majesty, but he seems to preach to deaf ears. At the behest of his entourage, to protect his own life and to leave the battlefield, he finally pushes his way with difficulty through the dense crowd of people and retreats to the palace.

Lambert of Hersfeld, Annals [1]

Hildesheim's men finally managed to eject the Fulda contingent from the church, which resulted in the Fuldans laying siege to the building. Only when darkness fell did the fight come to an end.

Consequences of the precedence dispute

The next day an investigation into the incident took place under the chairmanship of the king. He pronounced Abbot Widerad completely guilty and threatened him with impeachment. The abbot bought himself free from this charge.

According to the account given by Lambert, that decision seems surprising, but Lambert's report was not objective. At the time of the dispute, there was great tension between the monasteries of the Empire and the episcopate. As a member of the monastery at Hersfeld, Lambert was on Widerad's side. His account of Hezilo is therefore probably somewhat exaggerated.

The abbot was accused of having appeared in Goslar with an unduly large and armed group of followers and to have planned the deed long beforehand. Also the Fulda side were accused of have taken up swords and unleashed the carnage during the service. The Hildesheim men had "only" used sticks "before" the beginning of the service. Not insignificant was that Egbert, on the Hildesheim side, had excellent relations with the king: Henry and he shared a common grandmother, the Empress Gisela, and their fathers were half brothers. Moreover Egbert had saved Henry's life in the Coup of Kaiserswerth. As far as the blame laid on the abbot is concerned it is worth mentioning, that he make no use of a papal privilege whereby the Pope had subordinated the abbots of Fulda to himself in 999 so that only the Pope could decide to remove the abbot.

To free himself from the accusation, Widerad made payments to the king and probably also to Hezilo and Goslar Cathedral. To do this he drew on the monastic estate. This propelled the monastery into a deep financial crisis and sparked a rebellion against the Abbot of Fulda by the monks. Although Widerad was able to appease the majority of the monks, sixteen of them made representations to the king, to complain about Widerad's control of the monastery. This time King Henry ruled in favour of Widerad. The uprising was perceived as an attack on the spiritual and secular order, and the rebels were condemned to harsh punishments. They were flogged, shaved and their leaders banished from the monastery; the rest were sent to other monasteries.

Related Research Articles

Saint Boniface 8th-century Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint

Saint Boniface, born Winfrid in the Devon town of Crediton, England, was a leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He organised significant foundations of the Catholic Church in Germany and was made archbishop of Mainz by Pope Gregory III. He was martyred in Frisia in 754, along with 52 others, and his remains were returned to Fulda, where they rest in a sarcophagus which became a site of pilgrimage. Boniface's life and death as well as his work became widely known, there being a wealth of material available—a number of vitae, especially the near-contemporary Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi, legal documents, possibly some sermons, and above all his correspondence. He became the patron saint of Germania, known as the "Apostle of the Germans".

Fulda city in Hesse, Germany

Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (Kreis). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival.

Gotthard of Hildesheim Roman Catholic saint

Saint Gotthard, also known as Gothard or Godehard the Bishop, was a German bishop venerated as a saint.

Wihtberht West Saxon saint

Saint Wigbert, (Wihtberht) born in Wessex around 675, was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk and a missionary and disciple of Saint Boniface who travelled with the latter in Frisia and northern and central Germany to convert the local tribes to Christianity. His feast day is August 13.

Lambert of Hersfeld was a medieval chronicler. His work represents a major source for the history of the German kingdom of Henry IV and the incipient Investiture Controversy in the eleventh century.

Hersfeld Abbey monastery

Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse, Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda.

Gunther was a German (Bavarian) Catholic hermit and diplomat, who had quite important role in early history of Hungary and especially Bohemia, thanks to his good personal relationships to the rulers of those countries. In Czech, German and Hungarian settings is venerated as a saint although he never had been officially canonized.

Haymo was a German Benedictine monk who served as bishop of Halberstadt, and was a noted author.

Siegfried I was the Abbot of Fulda from 25 December 1058 until 6 January 1060, and from January 1060 until his death in February 1084, he was Archbishop of Mainz.

Memleben Abbey human settlement in Germany

Memleben Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Memleben on the Unstrut river, today part of the Kaiserpfalz municipality in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The convent, now ruined, was established by Emperor Otto II and his consort Theophanu about 979.

Bardo (bishop) archbishop of Mainz and theologian

Bardo was the Archbishop of Mainz from 1031 until 1051, the Abbot of Werden from 1030 until 1031, and the Abbot of Hersfeld in 1031.

Adelaide II, Abbess of Quedlinburg Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg

Adelaide II, a member of the Salian dynasty, was Abbess of Gandersheim from 1061 and Abbess of Quedlinburg from 1063 until her death.

Princely Abbey of Fulda

The monastery of Fulda, from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda, was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality centered on Fulda, in the present-day German state of Hesse.

Imperial Palace of Goslar Palace of the Holy Roman Empire

The Imperial Palace of Goslar is a historical building complex at the foot of the Rammelsberg hill in the south of the town of Goslar north of the Harz mountains, central Germany. It covers an area of about 340 by 180 metres. The palace grounds originally included the Kaiserhaus, the old collegiate church of St. Simon and St. Jude, the palace chapel of St. Ulrich and the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche). The Kaiserhaus, which has been extensively restored in the late 19th century, was a favourite imperial residence, especially for the Salian emperors. As early as the 11th century, the buildings of the imperial palace had already so impressed the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld that he described it as the "most famous residence in the empire". Since 1992, the palace site, together with the Goslar's Old Town and the Rammelsberg has been a UNESCO world heritage site.

Goslar Cathedral cathedral

The church known as Goslar Cathedral was a collegiate church dedicated to St. Simon and St. Jude in the town of Goslar, Germany. It was built between 1040 and 1050 as part of the Imperial Palace district. The church building was demolished in 1819–1822; today, only the porch of the north portal is preserved. It was a church of Benedictine canons. The term Dom, a German synecdoche used for collegiate churches and cathedrals alike, is often uniformly translated as 'cathedral' into English, even though this collegiate church was never the seat of a bishop.

Hezilo of Hildesheim, also known as Hezelo, Hettilo or Ethilo, was Bishop of Hildesheim from 1054 to 1079.

Saint Sturm, also called Sturmius or Sturmi, was a disciple of Saint Boniface and founder and first abbot of the Benedictine monastery and abbey of Fulda in 742 or 744. Sturm's tenure as abbot lasted from 747 until 779.

Egbert was abbot of Fulda Abbey, a Benedictine abbey in Fulda, Germany.

Widerad was abbot of Fulda Abbey. His dispute over precedence with Bishop Hezilo of Hildesheim contributed to the loss of significant parts of the estates of the abbey.

Diet of Pentecost

The Mainzer Hoffest or Diet of Pentecost was a Hoftag of the Holy Roman Empire started in Mainz on 20 May 1184. It was organised by Emperor Frederick I on the island of Maaraue in front of Mainz in the mouth of the Main on the occasion of Pentecost. Due to its large number of visitors and its cultural pleasures, it represented a highlight of the knightly way of life and the development of power of the dynasty of Hohenstaufen.

References

  1. Oswald Holder-Egger (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 38: Lamperti monachi Hersfeldensis Opera. Annex: Annales Weissenburgenses. Hanover, 1894, pp. 82–83 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , 82 digitalised )

Sources

Bibliography