Conrad of Eberbach
{{Short description|Cistercian monk and abbot}}
Conrad of Eberbach ({{langx|de|Konrad von Eberbach}}, {{langx|la|Conradus Eberbacensis}}) (died 18 September 1221) was a Cistercian monk, and later abbot, of Eberbach Abbey, Germany, and historian of the early Cistercian Order.
Life
Nothing is known of Conrad's early life. From no later than 1169 he was a Cistercian monk at Clairvaux. At some unknown date (estimated to be around 1206) he moved to Eberbach Abbey in the Rheingau, of which from 1 May 1221 he was abbot, and where he died in the same year.{{cite journal |last1=Spahr |first1=Kolumban |title=Konrad |journal=Neue Deutsche Biographie |date=1980 |volume=12 |page=536}}
''Exordium''
Conrad's single great work, the Exordium Magnum Cisterciense or Exordium magnum Ordinis Cisterciensis, in six books, concerns the early history of the Cistercians.{{cite book |author=Conradus Eberbacensis |title=The Great Beginning of Cîteaux : a narrative of the beginning of the Cistercian Order : the Exordium magnum of Conrad of Eberbach |date=2012 |publisher=Liturgical Press |location=Trappist, Kentucky: Cistercian Publications : Collegeville, Minnesota |isbn=9780879071721}} Books 1-4 were written while he was still at Clairvaux, in the time of Abbot Garnier de Rochefort (1186-93); the last two were added at Eberbach, between 1206 and 1221. It is a book of instruction, on the theme of the early days and flowering of the Cistercians at Clairvaux, containing much information on significant persons (among them Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and other great Cistercian figures) and events in the life of the abbey and order.
The book is one of the most effective monastic examples of this particular mediaeval literary genre combining historical narrative with exempla, miracles and visions, also represented by Caesarius of Heisterbach and {{Interlanguage link|Engelhard of Langheim|qid=Q19502215}}.{{cite journal |last1=Mula |first1=Stefano |title=Twelfth‐ and Thirteenth‐Century Cistercian Exempla Collections: Role, Diffusion, and Evolution |journal=History Compass |date=2010 |volume=8 |issue=8 |pages=903–912 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00709.x}}
The Exordium was widely disseminated as a work of Christian spirituality by the Cistercians and also in the 15th century by the Dutch devotio moderna.
Quotation
To get acquainted with the Cistercian environment and its spirit, it is essential to become familiar with the Exordium magnum Ordinis Cisterciensis, a document of the highest value. (Étienne Gilson)
Notes and references
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{NDB|12|536||Konrad|Kolumban Spahr|100939406}}
- {{Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie|16|639|639|Konrad, Abt von Eberbach|Wilhelm Wattenbach|ADB:Konrad (Abt von Eberbach)}}
- {{citation|surname1=Renkhoff, Otto|title=Nassauische Biographie |publisher=Historische Kommission für Nassau|publication-place=Wiesbaden|pages=418|isbn=3-922244-90-4|date= 1992|language=German}}
- Worstbrock, Franz Josef, 1985: Konrad von Eberbach in Verfasserlexikon, Bd. 5. 2nd edition, col. 156–159
- {{citation|surname1=Braca, Lorenzo|title=I Libri miraculorum cistercensi: visioni dell'aldilà e crisi istituzionale tra XII e XIII secolo |publisher=Il Prato|publication-place=Saonara (Padova)|pages=384|isbn=9788863363630|date= 2017|language=Italian}}
Translations
- Benedicta Ward (translator and editor), Paul Savage (translator), E. Rozanne Elder (editor), 2012: The Great Beginning of Citeaux: The Exordium Magnum of Conrad of Eberbach: A Narrative of the Beginning of the Cistercian Order (Cistercian Fathers series No 72). Translation of the critical edition by Bruno Griesser, Series Scriptorum Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, vol 2: Rome 1961. Cistercian Publications; Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky {{ISBN|978-0-87907-172-1}} and {{ISBN|978-0-87907-2}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=P7r2LBQ1-fMC&dq=conrad+of+eberbach&pg=RA1-PA1-IA8 digitised version on Google books])
- Heinz Piesik: Exordium Magnum Cisterciense oder Bericht vom Anfang des Zisterzienserordens von Conradus Eberbacensis, 2 volumes (Books 1-3 and 4-6), Quellen und Studien zur Zisterzienserliteratur. Publications of the Zisterzienserakademie volumes 3 and 5, Bernardus, Langwaden 2000 and 2002. {{ISBN|3-934551-17-3}} and {{ISBN|3-934551-57-2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Konrad Of Eberbach}}
Category:13th-century German historians