Honau Abbey

Last updated November 14, 2023

The Abbey of Honau was a monastic foundation in Northern Alsace which flourished from the 8th century until 1290, when it succumbed to the flood-waters of the Rhine.

The Abbey was founded by Irish and Scottish monks at the beginning of the 8th century, on an island in the Rhine close to the present day village of La Wantzenau (and Honau, which is part of Rheinau), which was later built on Abbey lands. The first abbot was Benedict (alias Benoît).

In 720,^[1] Duke Adalbert of Alsace, the brother of Saint Odile, built a new abbey for the monks, just four years after he had built the Abbey of St Stephen in Strasbourg. The Abbey was dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel, a popular saint at the time, as can be testified by the establishment of the abbeys of Mont St Michel in Normandy and Saint Mihiel in Lorraine in the same period.^[2]

On Adalbert's death in 723, the abbey passed to King Theuderic IV. The abbey continued to benefit from numerous generous donations. Benedict, who was still living in 726, eventually resigned as abbot and chose Tuban as his successor. Tuban is mentioned in several records of donations to the Abbey (Grandidier, op.cit.).

The subsequent abbots were Etienne, followed by Beatus. In 776 the Abbot Beatus is mentioned in a Charter from Charlemagne, referring to him as bishop and confirming that the Abbey would continue to be administered by Irish monks (Grandidier, op.cit.). According to Grandidier, the number of monks increased considerably during the time of Beatus and monks were sent out to found other churches and monasteries, including those at Luttenbach, in Alsace Aschaffenburg in Germany and Munster in Switzerland, all of which depended on Honau. Beatus was succeeded as Abbot by Edigan, who in turn was succeeded by Thomas. The first five abbots were all referred to as saints in the calendar of Saint Pierre le Vieux in Strasbourg, which, at the time of Grandidier, still claimed to hold relics of all five.

Although some writers claim the Abbey as a Benedictine foundation, this is disputed by Hunkler, who argues that it has not proved possible to associate the abbey to any particular monastic order.^[3]

Several of the early abbots had the title bishop, leading to speculation that the abbey was the seat of a bishopric, but it is more probable that they were regional bishops. In the 11th century, the Abbey became secularised, a chapter was created (Hunkler, op. cit.)

In 1290, the Abbey was abandoned, when the island was threatened by floodwaters. On 7 September 1290 Conrad de Lichtenberg, the Bishop of Strasbourg, transferred the Chapter to Rhinau, where a new Abbey was built, this too on an island in the Rhine. The same fate befell this second Abbey, which was abandoned in 1398 due to flooding. The Chapter then moved to Strasbourg on 22 May 1398, where the canons were permitted to practice their liturgy in the church of Saint Pierre le Vieux (Hunkler, op. cit.). They stayed there until 1790, when the Chapter was wound up, apart from the period 1529 to 1683 when, because of the Reform, they were not allowed to use the Church.

The cartulary of Honau

The now lost cartulary of Honau, written in 1079, and described by a 17th-century Jesuit, recorded over a thousand charters from the foundation of the abbey until the time of Charlemagne.^[4]^[5]^[6] Some of these are listed in Bishop Reeves' article.^[7]

Related Research Articles

Sélestat is a commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin department, the town lies on the Ill river, 17 kilometres (11 mi) from the Rhine and the German border. Sélestat is located between the largest communes of Alsace, Strasbourg and Mulhouse.

Lay abbot is a name used to designate a layman on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an abbey as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitled to part of the income. The custom existed principally in the Frankish Empire from the eighth century until the ecclesiastical reforms of the eleventh.

Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France.

Mont Sainte-Odile is a 764-metre-high peak in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace in France, immediately west of Barr. The mountain is named after Saint Odile. It has a monastery/convent at its top called the Hohenburg Abbey, and is notable also for its stone fortifications called "the Pagan Wall." In 1992, Air Inter Flight 148 crashed near this area.

The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spread first within the Kingdom of Dál Riata, within Ireland and the western coast of Scotland. Since the 8th and 9th centuries, these early missions were called 'Celtic Christianity'.

Flavigny Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery, now occupied by the Dominicans, in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, Côte-d'Or département, France. The monks at this abbey were the original makers of the well-known aniseed confectionery Anise de Flavigny.

Gengenbach Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Gengenbach in the district of Ortenau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was an Imperial Abbey from the late Carolingian period to 1803.

Haito was the bishop of Basel from 802 and simultaneously abbot of Reichenau Abbey from 806.

Saint-Hippolyte is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.

Lièpvre is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. A monastery was built here in the eighth century by Saint Fulrad, who filled it with relics of Saint Cucuphas and Saint Alexander.

Saint Aurelia of Strasbourg was a 4th-century saint, whose tomb in Strasbourg became the centre of a popular cult in the Middle Ages.

Murbach Abbey was a famous Benedictine monastery in Murbach, southern Alsace, in a valley at the foot of the Grand Ballon in the Vosges.

Beatus of Lungern, known also by the honorificApostle of Switzerland or as Beatus of Beatenberg or Beatus of Thun, was probably a legendary monk and hermit of early Christianity, and is revered as a saint. Though his legend states that he died in the 2nd century, it is likely that his story has been conflated with other saints of the same name, especially Beatus of Vendôme, and an Abbot Beatus who received a charter in 810 from Charlemagne to confirm that Honau Abbey would be administered by Irish monks.

Adalbert was the Duke of Alsace beginning after 683 and probably until his death. He was the second duke of the family of the Etichonids and the first to inherit the duchy from his father.

Rhinau is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of Grand Est in north-eastern France.

The Taennchel is one of the summits of the Vosges Mountains, rising to 988 metres (3,241 ft). The Taennchel rises at the East of France, in the département of Haut-Rhin, halfway between Strasbourg to the North and Mulhouse to the South, around 60 km (40 mi) from both cities.

Honcourt Abbey or Hugshofen Abbey was a Benedictine abbey located near the village of Saint-Martin, Bas-Rhin, France, founded in the year 1000 and dissolved in or very shortly after 1525.

Charroux Abbey is a ruined monastery in Charroux, in the Vienne department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, western France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint-Mihiel Abbey</span>

Saint-Mihiel Abbey is an ancient Benedictine abbey situated in the town of Saint-Mihiel, near Verdun in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.

The Church of Old Saint Peters is a by simultaneum Catholic and Lutheran church building in Strasbourg, Alsace is first mentioned in 1130.

References

↑ Braun, G (1965). Geschichte Badens, Volume 1. p. 103.
↑ Philippe-André Grandidier (1777). Histoire de l'église et des évêques princes de Strasbourg: depuis la fondation de l'évêché jusqu'à nos jours. Levrault. p. 398 . Retrieved 2013-11-08. honau 721.
↑ Théodore-François-Xavier Hunkler (1837). Histoire des saints d'Alsace. Levrault. p. 27 . Retrieved 2013-11-08. ile de honau rhin.
↑ Christian Wilsdorf (1976). Le monasterium scottorum de Honau et la famille des ducs d'Alsace au VIIe siècle: vestiges d'un cartulaire perdu. Artemis. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
↑ Patrick J. Geary (1996). Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First Millennium. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691026033 . Retrieved 2013-11-08.
↑ Warren Brown; Marios Costambeys; Matthew Innes; Adam Kosto (2012). Documentary Culture and the Laity in the Early Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107025295 . Retrieved 2013-11-08.
↑ Rev. Dr. Reeves (1857). "On the Irish Abbey of Honau on the Rhine". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2013-11-08.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Braun, G (1965). Geschichte Badens, Volume 1. p. 103.

[2] Philippe-André Grandidier (1777). Histoire de l'église et des évêques princes de Strasbourg: depuis la fondation de l'évêché jusqu'à nos jours. Levrault. p. 398 . Retrieved 2013-11-08. honau 721.

[3] Théodore-François-Xavier Hunkler (1837). Histoire des saints d'Alsace. Levrault. p. 27 . Retrieved 2013-11-08. ile de honau rhin.

[4] Christian Wilsdorf (1976). Le monasterium scottorum de Honau et la famille des ducs d'Alsace au VIIe siècle: vestiges d'un cartulaire perdu. Artemis. Retrieved 2013-11-08.

[5] Patrick J. Geary (1996). Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First Millennium. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691026033 . Retrieved 2013-11-08.

[6] Warren Brown; Marios Costambeys; Matthew Innes; Adam Kosto (2012). Documentary Culture and the Laity in the Early Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107025295 . Retrieved 2013-11-08.

[7] Rev. Dr. Reeves (1857). "On the Irish Abbey of Honau on the Rhine". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2013-11-08.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]