FULDA
314
FULDA
East Frisia, and even at Rome (the church of Sant'
Andrea). Even in artistic and Uterary Unes Fulda rose
to great importance. On the site of the first church,
which had been artistically decorated by Sturmius,
there rose under Abbots Baugulf (779-802), Ratgar
(802-17), Eigil (818-22), and Habanus Maurus (822-
42) a magnificent edifice which roused the admiration
of contemporaries, and even of posterity, and exerted
a lasting influence on architectural and artistic ac-
tivity in distant places. In addition to architecture,
sculpture and painting were zealously cultivated.
The monastic school established by Sturmius began
to flourish during the time of Charlemagne and Al-
cuin, and, under Rabanus Maurus, particularly, was
the chief nursery of civilization and learning in Ger-
many, and became celebrated throughout Europe.
It was open not only to theological students, but also
to young men desiring to embrace secular careers.
The curriculum embraced the subjects usually taught
during the Middle Ages: the seven liberal arts (gram-
mar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, phys-
ics, and astronomy), the different branches of the-
ology, and the German language. Among the most
renowned pupils of this school were: Rabanus Maurus,
W'alafried Strabo, Servatus Lupus, Otfried of Weissen-
burg, Rudolfus Fuldensis, Williram, Probus, and
Meginhard; among the laity: Einhard, Bernhard,
King of Italy, and tllrich von Hutten. Rabanus also
founded a library to famiUarize the Germans with
religious and classical literature, and the zeal of the
monks soon produced rich treasures of valuable
manuscripts. Unfortunately the greater part of this
liljrary disappeared during the looting of the abbey
bv the Hessians in 1631, and has not since been
discovered.
Gradually the monastery rose to a commanding position in the German Empire. From 968 the abbot was primate of all the Benedictine monasteries of Germany and Gaul: from the time of Otto I, arch- chancellor of the empress, whom he crowned jointly with the Elector of Mainz; from the twelfth century he was a prince of the empire; from 1184 had the privilege of sitting at the left of the emperor; and from 1360 the imperial banner was borne before him by a knight. This glory, however, was not wholly without shadows. The monastic discipline was re- laxed to such a degree that .\bbot Marquard (1150- 6.5) imdertook to carry out a reform by introducing the regulations in force at Hirsau (Consuetudines Hirsaugieuses). The importance of the school as a centre of learning also declined. The great wealth of the abbey in landed possessions, tithes, revenues, and regalia drew an increasing number of nobles to the monastery. By the twelfth century the monks of noble birth had monopolized the seats of the chapter and, in the course of time, practically all the important offices of the abbey itself, as well as the provostships of tlie dependent houses, were held by members of the German nobility. The difficulty of administering the vast landed possessions caused the abbots to grant certain sections in fief, which eventually resulted in great losses to the abbey; for the feudatories fre- quently turned their positions to their own personal interests, and sought to convert the fiefs into private property. One of the most notable illustrations of the greed of these monastic stewards is shown by the action of Count Johann von Ziegenhain in the four- teenth century, who, in an insurrection of the bur- gers of the city of Fulda against .\bbot Heinrich VI von Hohenberg (131.')-.53), headed the attack on the monastery. Not infrequently, too, the obligations of the abbots as princes of the empire, and the demands made upon them by the state proved most detrimental to the interests of the monastery and its inmates. In i294, on application of the convent, the pope enjoined a separation of the al)batial and the conventual tables, which was put into effect in l.'JOO under Abbot Hein-
rich V von Weilnau (1288-1313) (cf. Rubsam, "Hein-
rich V. von Weilnau, Furstabt von Fulda", Fulda,
1879). Imperial capitulations, of which there are
records as early as the time of Heinrich VII von
Kranlucken (1353-72), especially those of Johann I
von Merlau (1395-1440), the "Old Statutes of 1395 ",
restricted to a considerable degree the authority of the
abbot over the convent, and raised correspondingly
the independent status of that institution. In the
mother-house the dean eventualh- replaced the abbot
for all practical purposes. For centuries the chapter
preserved this independence, which involved the
almost complete exclusion of the abbot from the eccle-
siastical organization of his monastery.
At a comparatively early date the teachings of the Reformers found access to the chapter of Fulda, with which, in 1513, the Abbey of Hersfeld had been united; and Abbot Johannes III von Henneberg( 1521 - 41) was forced to consent to a decree of reform favour- ing the spread of the new doctrines. The zealous Abbot Balthasar von Dermbach (1570-1606) proved an earnest restorer of discipline in the chapter, vigor- ously inaugurating the work of the Counter- Refonna- tion. Banished by the members of the chapter and their colleagues in 1576, he was unable to return to his abbey tmtil 1602, great progress having been made meanwhile by the imperial administrators in restoring the Catholic Faith. The foimdation of a Jesuit college in 1571 was the signal for the reflorescence of the school, which had sunk to comparative insignificance. In addition to the Jesuit gymnasium, Gregory XIII founded (1584) a papal seminary, which he placed under the direction of the Jesuits. Both of these institutions have contributed largely to the main- tenance and spread of the Catholic Faith in Germany. A similar zeal for reform was displayed by Baltha- sar's second successor, Johann Bernhard Schenk von Schweinsberg (1623-32), whose exertions, together with the decrees of several papal visitors, particularly Pietro Luigi CarafTa (1627), restored to the abbot a certain measure of his proper authority, over against that of the chapter and the professors of noble birth. The decrees of reform issued by CarafTa, against which the provosts rebelled after the mmcio's departure, were repeatedly confirmed by the Holy See. The capitulars and provosts of noble birth still retained the privilege of admitting info the chapter only such as could show a certain number of nol>le ancestors, and this prerogative received papal confirmation in 1731. During the Thirty Years War the chapter was again menaced; in 1631, Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hesse, by virtue of a treaty with Gustavus Adolphus, received the abbey in fief to Sweden, and sought gradually to make Protestantism predominant. After the battle of Nordlingen, however, he no longer had power over Fulda. When the turmoil of the war had ceased, the abbey experienced a period of peace and prosperity. In 1732 the Jesuit and Benedictine schools were united, enlarged, and converted into a imiversity. Benedict XIV raised the aliliey to the rank of a bishopric (5 Oct., 1752). mth the retention of its monastic organization. The first prince-bishop was .^mand von Buseck (1737-56). the collegiate chapter of one dean and fourteen capitulars being now the cathedral chapter.
By the Imperial Delegates' Enactment (Reichsde- pulniioriKliauptxclduss) of 1802 the abbey was secular- ized, and bestowed on the Prince of Orania as a secular principality; it embraced at this time forty sq. miles, with a population of 100,000. lender Na- poleon, in 1809, it was ceded to the Grand Duchy of Frankfort; in 1815, to Hesse-Kassel, with which, in 1866, it passed to Prussia. The university was closed under the law of secularization, and the papal semi- nary was converted into an episcopal seminary. The last prince-bishop, Adalbert III von Harstall (1788- 1802), died in 1814.
