Leo IX in Hirsau? A Pope Travels Through Germany

The supposed stay of Pope Leo IX in Hirsau raises research questions. He is said to have demanded the restoration of the dilapidated monastery at that time. Dr. Karl Augustin Frech will place the findings in their historical context. Similar to the famous "Hirsau Formula" of 1075, the alleged stay of Pope Leo IX in Hirsau is not free from doubts raised by critical historical research. The Pope is said to have urged his relative, Count Adalbert of Calw, to restore the dilapidated monastery. Dr. Karl Augustin Frech, a long-time collaborator of an internationally renowned source work on papal history and a specialist in the church-historically significant reign of Leo IX (1049–1054), will pursue these questions and contextualize the findings within Leo's travel activities and church policy. Although this "German Pope" reigned for relatively few years, his pontificate was crucial for the further development of the so-called reform papacy in the 11th and 12th centuries.