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25-696: Hersfeld was founded by Saint Sturm , a disciple of Saint Boniface , before 744. Because its location rendered it vulnerable to attacks from the Saxons , however, he transferred it to Fulda . Some years later, in or about 769 after the defeat of the Saxons by the Franks , Lullus , archbishop of Mainz , re-founded the monastery at Hersfeld. Charlemagne (who had recently succeeded to the Frankish royal crown) and other benefactors provided endowments, and in 775 gave it

50-577: A Grand Tour . He was in England from 23 June to 7 August 1611, with a retinue of about thirty, and was among the potential suitors of Princess Elizabeth . (She later married Otto's second cousin Frederick V of the Palatinate .) As Otto's father was known as a skilled composer, music played a large part of the entertainment. John Milton , the poet 's father, composed a song in four parts, for which

75-483: A state of ruin and decay, many precious volumes had altogether disappeared, and manuscripts containing the archives and records of the house were used in the kennels as litter for the dogs. This forced union between Hersfeld and Fulda lasted little more than two years, after which a new abbot of Hersfeld was chosen. Abbot Krato, who held office in 1517, was however in sympathy with Lutheranism . ( Martin Luther stopped at

100-503: A year visiting Benedictine abbeys learning how the monks lived. Before returning to Fulda, Sturm met with Pope Zachary , who placed the monastery under the jurisdiction of the Vatican, rather than under the bishop. After the death of Boniface, this led to serious conflicts between Lullus, then archbishop of Mainz , and abbot Sturm. Nevertheless, Sturm prevailed over the bishops of Mainz and Utrecht in having Boniface, so-called Apostle of

125-512: Is the Lullusglocke , Germany's oldest cast bell dated to 1038. The annals of the abbey, the "Annales Hersfeldienses", are a significant source of medieval German history. 50°51′59″N 9°42′10″E  /  50.86639°N 9.70278°E  / 50.86639; 9.70278 Saint Sturm Sturm ( c.  705 – 17 December 779), also called Sturmius or Sturmi , was a disciple of Boniface and founder and first abbot of

150-659: The Benedictine monastery and abbey of Fulda in 742 or 744. Sturm's tenure as abbot lasted from 747 until 779. Sturm was born c.  705 in Lorch , Austria , and was most likely related to the Agilolfing dukes of Bavaria . His parents placed him under the care of Boniface, who was carrying out the church reorganization in Bavaria and Austria (founding the bishoprics of Salzburg , Regensburg and Würzburg ). He

175-628: The Reichstag . The abbey church, in the Romanesque style , was built in the early part of the 12th century, but was used as a powder magazine and then destroyed by the French in 1761 during the Seven Years' War . The ruins are now a well-known venue for concerts and public events, and are the site of the annual Bad Hersfelder Festspiele . The Katharinenturm (tower) still stands. Within it

200-658: The University of Marburg , wrote a poem to mark Otto's birthday. The Ottoneum , built in Kassel by Maurice in 1603, was the first theater building constructed in Germany. Maurice named it after his son. Otto and his siblings were educated by his father. In 1606 he became the lay administrator of Hersfeld Abbey , which by then was a Lutheran institution. After completing his studies at the University of Marburg, Otto made

225-575: The Germans, buried in Fulda after his assassination in 754 near Dokkum in Frisia . This made Fulda a major place of pilgrimage for many peoples, including Anglo-Saxons , and brought much prestige and a stream of gifts and donations to Fulda. Building on this success, Sturm was able to fend off efforts by the bishops of Mainz and Würzburg to invalidate the abbey's exemption. In 763, Lull convinced Pippin

250-487: The Younger to banish Sturm from Fulda to Jumièges ( Normandy ). Lull named a new abbot, whom the monks refused to accept. Eventually, Lull allowed them to elect their own abbot and within two years they convinced Pepin to allow Sturm to return to Fulda. During his exile, he spent time with the common people of Germany, by the time he was rehabilitated, he had developed a much humbler demeanour, leading to him being known by

275-537: The abbey on his return from the Diet of Worms in 1521 and gave a sermon). Krato swore allegiance to the Lutheran Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse , in 1525. The abbey church was consequently closed to Roman Catholic worship, Mass being said only in a chapel inside the monastery. For the rest of the century the abbey continued as a Protestant establishment under the close supervision of the rulers of Hesse, and on

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300-697: The area to battle the Moors in Spain, the Saxons revolted and drove out the monks. In 779, he accompanied Charlemagne into Saxony, but fell ill and died soon after returning to Fulda on 17 December 779, where he was buried in the cathedral. Sturm was recognised as a saint prior to the East–West Schism in 1054, hence the Orthodox Church continues to honour him. The post-1054 Roman Papacy did not accept all pre-Schism saints, sometimes reviewing their status. He

325-458: The commoners as the "Quaint Saint". In 774, the Abbey of Fulda received royal protection from Charlemagne . In the same year, Fulda was assigned missionary territories in heathen Saxony , thereby becoming a bridgehead in the Frankish political efforts to seize the Saxons' lands and forcibly impose Christianity on them. Sturm established the abbey of St. Boniface at Hamelin . When Charlemagne left

350-515: The death of the last abbot (Joachim Röll) in 1606, Otto, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel , was elected lay administrator. The pope made a vain attempt, after Otto's death, to bring the abbey back under Catholic administration. It continued in the hands of the princely family until after the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Hersfeld, as an imperial fief, was united to Hesse as the secularised Principality of Hersfeld which maintained its seat in

375-602: The general decline of the age, and monastic discipline became relaxed. In 1005, the observance was reformed by Saint Gotthard (afterwards Bishop of Hildesheim ), and members of the community were sent out to other houses of the order to carry out in them the work of religious revival. During the Investiture Controversy , Hersfeld took the side of the imperial cause against the papacy. Emperor Henry IV himself visited it quite often, sometimes accompanied by his wife; and his son and successor son Conrad of Italy

400-806: The landgrave presented him with a gold medal. When he returned, his father involved him in the business of government. In 1617, he suffered from the German measles . He had a fever and from his sickbed, he tried to shoot a barking dog, which annoyed him. He missed so badly that he hit himself in the chest and died. He was buried in the Lutheran St. Mary's church in Marburg . In Kassel on 24 August 1613 Otto married firstly princess Catherine Ursula of Baden-Durlach (b. Schloss Karlsburg, 19 June 1593 - d. Marburg, 15 February 1615), daughter of George Frederick, Margrave of Baden-Durlach . She died after giving birth

425-610: The new basilica. During this ceremony Lullus' canonisation was formally announced by Rabanus Maurus . (The "Lullusfest", or "Feast of Saint Lullus", has been celebrated in Hersfeld since then, on 16 October and is the longest-established local festival in the German-speaking world). During the abbacy of Abbott Druogo (875–892) the first known Hersfeld Tithe Register was written from 881 onwards. An additional tithe register

450-528: The protection of the Landgraves of Hesse . As time went on the state of the monastery again deteriorated, and in 1513 it had reached such a low point that abbot Volpert Riedesel resigned his office into the hands of Pope Leo X , and the abbot of Fulda was authorized by the Emperor Maximilian to incorporate the house into his own abbey. According to a contemporary account, the library was in

475-456: The status of a Reichsabtei "imperial abbey" (i.e., territorially independent prince-abbacy within the Empire). Pope Stephen III granted it exemption from episcopal jurisdiction. It soon possessed 1050 hides of land and a community of 150 monks. Lullus was buried in the church at his death in 786. The abbey buildings were extended between 831 and 850, and in 852 Lullus' grave was moved to

500-636: Was accordingly formally canonized in 1139 by Pope Innocent II . His life was recorded in the Vita Sturmi by the fourth abbot of Fulda, Eigil of Fulda (d. 822), a relative of his who had been a monk in Fulda for over 20 years under abbot Sturm. Saint Sturm's Fountain is located in Fulda in front of the old town hall. It depicts Benedict, Boniface, and Sturm. Otto, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel Hereditary Prince Otto of Hesse-Kassel (24 December 1594 in Kassel – 7 August 1617 in Hersfeld ),

525-419: Was born and baptized within the precincts of the abbey. In the last decade of the 11th century the abbey seems to have been fully restored to papal favour, and it continued to prosper for a long subsequent period. The town of Hersfeld, now Bad Hersfeld , grew up outside the abbey, and flourished, to the extent that it found itself strong enough to assert its independence, and in 1371 formally placed itself under

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550-673: Was educated in the Benedictine monastery of Fritzlar by abbot Wigbert . He was then active as a missionary in northern Hesse , where in 736 he established a monastic settlement in Haerulfisfeld ( Hersfeld ). Ordained in 740 as priest in Fritzlar. Boniface sent him to work for three years as a missionary in Westphalia. He then was a hermit at Hersfeld, until raiding Saxons drove him from his unprotected hermitage. Sturm

575-423: Was hereditary prince of Hesse-Kassel and administrator of Hersfeld Abbey . He predeceased his father and never reigned. Otto was the eldest son of Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel (1572-1632) from his marriage to Agnes (1578-1602), the daughter of Count John George of Solms-Laubach (1546–1600) and his wife, Margaret of Schönburg-Glauchau (1554–1606). Poet Hermann Kirchner, later professor of rhetoric at

600-714: Was instructed by Boniface in 744 to establish a monastery in the region of Eichloha, which had been granted to Boniface by the Frankish Mayor of the Palace Carloman . In the ruins of a 6th-century Merovingian royal camp, destroyed 50 years earlier by the Saxons , at a ford on the Fulda River , Sturm established the monastery and was named first abbot of Fulda by Boniface. Around 748, Sturm and two other monks went to study Benedictine life as practiced at Monte Cassino and establish it at Fulda. They spent

625-408: Was prepared before 899 during the abbacy of Abbott Harderat. The abbey had already become a place of pilgrimage after 780, because of the relics of Saint Wigbert which were brought here at that time. A valuable library was collected, the annals of the monastery were regularly kept, and it became well known as a seat of piety and learning. Towards the close of the 10th century, Hersfeld suffered from

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