Eglolf Blarer
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Eglolf Blarer (born in
Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...
; died 20 May 1442) was
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
of the
Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall () is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had er ...
from 1426 to 1442.Chronos website, ''Die Kleinere Chronik der Äbte''
/ref>


Life

Eglolf descended from the important middle-class Blarer trade family who were initially native to
Saint Gall Gall (; 550 645) according to hagiographic tradition was a disciple and one of the traditional twelve companions of Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. However, he may have originally come from the border region betwe ...
, but had for one generation been living in
Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...
. He was a monk in Saint Blaise Abbey holding the offices of ''Grosskeller'' and
prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...
. Pope
Martin V Pope Martin V (; ; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the West ...
appointed him Abbot of Saint Gall at the end of 1426 or at the beginning of 1427. Eglolf is first documented holding office on 25 January 1427. "In 1436, he received the prerogative from the Council in Basel to let himself be consecrated by any bishop or abbot, should the ordinary (dt. "Ordinarius") refuse to consecrate him, as well as the prerogative to autonomously decide on vicars for the parishes of the city who were juridically subordinated to the abbot and the convent." Emperor
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...
confirmed on 28 November 1430 the prerogatives as well as the fiefs and rights, and so did his successor, Albert II, on 3 July 1439.


Works

The abbey's financial distress made the abbot ask the papal chamber for a deferral of the payment of fees. The troubles with Appenzell (dt. "Appenzellerwirren"), which consisted of a dispute that had begun under Abbot
Kuno von Stoffeln Kuno von Stoffeln (born before 1365; died 19 October 1411) was from 1379 until his death Prince abbot A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. '' ...
and culminated in the
Appenzell Wars The Appenzell Wars () were a series of conflicts that lasted from 1401 until 1429 in the Appenzell region of modern-day Switzerland. The wars consisted of uprisings of cooperative groups, such as the farmers of Appenzell or the craftsmen of the c ...
and had remained unresolved for more than two decades, were also solved under Blarer. Defeated by Count Friedrich VII von Toggenburg in 1428, the Appenzeller became amenable to negotiations. On 26 July 1429, the Bishop of Konstanz, the St.-Jörgen-Bund and the Abbot of Saint Gall made peace with the Appenzeller.The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland website, Eglolf Blarer page
/ref> This peace corresponded quite closely to the award of the seven villages in 1421 under Abbot
Heinrich von Mansdorf Heinrich von Mansdorf (born before 1419; died 13 September 1426 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was abbot of the Abbey of Saint Gall from 1419 to 1426. Life Heinrich became Abbot of Saint Gall after Konrad von Pegau had abdicated. He was appointed by Po ...
. Under Abbot Eglolf, the troubles with Appenzell as well as the
Old Zurich War The Old Zurich War (; 1440–1446) was a conflict between the canton of Zurich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg. In 1436, Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg died, leaving nei ...
came to an end, whereupon, on 18 May 1437, the abbot agreed upon a land law with
Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...
lasting 20 years. Therein, the political reorientation of the abbey towards the
Swiss Confederation Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerlan ...
manifested itself for the first time. On 16 March 1427 and 28 September 1429, Abbot Eglolf again confirmed the rights and liberties of the cities Wil and Saint Gall. Apparently, his endeavours were furthermore directed towards the inner structure of the abbey. To this end, he summoned the monks of
Hersfeld Abbey Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse (formerly in Hesse-Nassau), Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda. The ruins are now a medieval festival venue. History ...
who belonged to the congregation of Bursfeld. He abolished the monks' proprietary possession in accordance with the
Rule of Saint Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' () is a book of precepts written in Latin by St. Benedict of Nursia (c. AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of th ...
, annulled the benefice organisations (dt. "Pfründenorganisationen") of the monastery offices and reestablished the communal life. Eglolf is supposed to have repaired the convent buildings that had been demolished in the fire in 1418. Moreover, he is said to have begun the construction of a new chorus in 1439, which, however, could not be finalised, and to have established the monastery school. In 1440, he removed the monks from Herdfeld again, as they tried by means of a visitation of the Council of Basel to also obligate the Abbot to a stricter order. In their stead, he summoned monks from
Kastl Abbey Kastl Abbey () is a former Rule of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Kastl, Amberg-Sulzbach, Kastl in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria. History The monastery, dedicated to Simon Peter, Saint Peter, was founded in 1103, or shortly before, by ...
.


Reading list

* Gössi, Anton: ''Kurzbiographien der Äbte''. in: Johannes Duft, Anton Gössi, and Werner Vogler (eds.): ''Die Abtei St. Gallen''. St. Gallen 1986, p. 146–47.


External links

* Bless, Magdalen. 2002: "Eglolf Blarer von Girsberg"
Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blarer, Eglolf Year of birth unknown 1442 deaths Abbots of Saint Gall 15th-century Christian abbots