Memleben Abbey

The Palatinate of Memleben was an important palatinate in the 10th century under the East Frankish kings Henry I and his son Otto I, both of whom also died here. It was located near Memleben in the western Burgenlandkreis not far from Nebra in Saxony-Anhalt. Its exact location is the subject of numerous scientific debates. Today, the palatinate is predominantly presumed to be at Wendelstein Castle, but the Altenburg in Wangen is also considered. Otto II founded a Benedictine monastery before or in 979 not far from the palatinate, whose impressive remains still characterize the townscape today.

The place Mimileba before the foundation of the Palatinate

The palatinate was located in the vicinity of a settlement, which is already mentioned in the Breviarium Sancti Lulli as in Mimilebo and was owned by Hersfeld Abbey. In the Hersfeld tithe register, the place Mimileba is mentioned along with a number of other places on the north bank of the Unstrut, such as Uuangun (Wangen). Therefore, Mimileba is predominantly identified not with the present-day village south of the Unstrut, but with the deserted settlement of Klein- or Wenigen-Memleben on the other side of the river.

Deathplace of King Henry I

Memleben became a place of outstanding historical importance through the death of Henry I. While on a hunting trip at the Bodfeld estate near Elbingerode in the Harz mountains, the king fell seriously ill. He had probably suffered a stroke. Via Erfurt, where he settled his succession at an imperial assembly, he traveled to Memleben and died here on July 2, 936, probably from another stroke. Liutprand of Cremona reports: At this time, King Henry was struck by a severe illness in a castle on the border of the Thuringians and Saxons called Memleben (dicitur Himenleve) and passed away to the Lord. Henry's body was transferred to Quedlinburg and buried in the predecessor building of the Collegiate Church of St. Servatius.

Stays and Deathplace of King Otto I

His son and successor Otto I stayed at the Palatinate of Memleben at least four times and issued several documents here in the years 942, 948/49, 950, and 956. It is striking, however, that Otto did not spend any high church holidays here and did not hold any court or imperial diets. Furthermore, parts of the property complex around Memleben were granted to ecclesiastical institutions, such as the Diocese of Zeitz. Only in 976/77 was the transfer of two churches in Imilebe, very likely attributable to Otto I, documented.

In 973, Emperor Otto the Great apparently planned to spend Pentecost in Memleben and arrived here on the Tuesday before Pentecost. He may have anticipated his imminent death and deliberately gone to the place of his father's death. Both Widukind of Corvey and Thietmar of Merseburg report on the circumstances of his death on May 7, 973. His body was then transferred to Magdeburg and buried there in the church under the present Magdeburg Cathedral next to the grave of his early deceased wife Edgitha. His entrails, in accordance with medieval custom during a transfer, remained in Memleben and were buried on the night after his death in an unlocatable Marian church.

Place of Remembrance and Monastery Foundation under Otto II

After Otto's son Otto II had already been in Memleben at the time of his father's death, he also issued documents here in the years 974, 975, and 980.

At the latest at the beginning of 979, he and his wife Theophanu founded a Benedictine monastery in memory of his father and endowed it with numerous gifts of villages and rights in present-day Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Brandenburg, and Hesse. Thus, on May 20, 979, he issued a document in Allstedt, in which he transferred to Memleben Abbey the chapels in Allstedt, Osterhausen, and Riestedt, which previously belonged to Hersfeld Abbey and had been acquired through exchange. Memleben also received the tithe in Friesenfeld and Hassegau. Probably in the same context, he donated to the monastery the castles of Nieenburg, Dubie et Briechouua, located in the land of the Heveller in the Havel, with the castle wards and all accessories, although the relevant document was only issued in 981. This also applies to the castles and castle wards of Döbeln, Hwoznie (presumably Ziegra-Knobelsdorf), Pretzsch (Elbe), Klöden, and Wozgrinie (unknown) as well as Elsnig, Dommitzsch, and Zwethau. A concentration of possessions in the area of the middle Elbe conquered under Henry I, which was more closely integrated into the East Frankish Empire at that time, becomes clear. Certainly, Memleben Abbey was also intended to promote missionary work in the Slavic settlement areas. However, a number of possessions north and east of the Elbe were already lost again with the uprising of the Slavic Liutizi and Abodrites in 983.

Further Expansion under Otto III

Like his predecessors, Otto III also visited the royal court in Memleben several times, for example in 987 and 994. On October 4, 991, he confirmed an exchange agreement concluded between Empress Adelheid and Abbot Vunninger of Memleben, on November 30, 998, he donated the civitas Uuihi, the castle and lordship of Wiehe, in the Wiehegau and several surrounding villages to the monastery, and on January 2, 994, he granted Abbot Reginolt and the monks market, coinage, and toll rights as well as the ban in a document issued in Allstedt.

The Decline under Henry II

His successor Henry II, upon his accession to the throne in 1002, had confirmed to Abbot Reinhold the goods and privileges, such as immunity, assured by his predecessors, legally equated the monastery with the three most important monasteries in the East Frankish Empire, Fulda, Corvey, and Reichenau, and granted it the free election of the abbot and the Vogt. In 1015, however, he withdrew all rights from the monastery and subordinated it as a provostry to Hersfeld Abbey. In return, Henry II received goods for the newly founded Diocese of Bamberg.

In 1033, Conrad II was the last Roman-German king to stay in Memleben and issued a document in provintia Turingia apud regalem curtem Imileb.

The Monastery Buildings in the Early Modern Period

During the Peasants' War in 1525, the monastery was plundered by rebellious peasants and finally dissolved in 1548 after increasing decline due to the Reformation. In 1551, the associated estates were confiscated by the Saxon Elector and given to the Landesschule Pforta, which had been founded shortly before. It retained them until the end of the Second World War. In 1722, lightning destroyed the church roof of the old monastery church. Years later, the demolition of the church began.