Ekkehard of Aura (; born ''c.'' 1080, died 20 February 1126) was the first Abbot of Aura (a monastery founded by Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, on the

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

river, near

Bad Kissingen Bad Kissingen () is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and County town, seat of the Bad Kissingen (district), district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale, Franconia ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

) from 1108. It is thought that Ekkehard was a member of the Bavarian aristocracy. A

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monk and chronicler, he made updates to the ''World Chronicle'' (''Chronicon universale'') of Frutolf of Michelsberg, adding important German history between 1098 and 1125 during the reign of Emperor

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

, in which he sided strongly with the papacy in the

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest (, , ) was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe, the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture), abbots of monasteri ...

. He was a participant in the

Crusade of 1101 The Crusade of 1101, also known as the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted, was launched in the aftermath of the First Crusade with calls for reinforcements from the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem and to rescue the famous Bohemond of Taranto fr ...

(Lerner, 1989), and provided important source material for the

Rhineland massacres The Rhineland massacres, also known as the German Crusade of 1096 or ''Gzerot Tatnó'' (, "Edicts of 4856"), were a series of mass murders of Jews perpetrated by mobs of French and German Christians of the People's Crusade in the year 1096 ( ...

of Jews and for the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

. While the Crusade of 1101 was considered a failure, Ekkehard did manage to journey to Jerusalem, although his stay in the Holy City was only brief. He returned from the Holy Land via Rome, before returning to Germany, where he became a monk at the abbey of Tegernsee in 1102/03 before moving to Michaelsberg abbey near Bamberg, although these claims have been contested. It is also thought that Ekkehard spent some time in Würzburg, due to the dedication he included when writing the ''Life of St Burchard''. It was here that Ekkehard met Otto of Bamberg, who would later go on to found the monastery of Aura and install Ekkehard as its first abbot. Aura was founded to be part of the Hirsau network of monasteries, which were hugely influential nodes in a network of reform-minded monasteries.

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