Of knights, abbots, and kings—burial sites in Bronnbach Monastery—

Guided Tour with Kurt Lindner In the Middle Ages, being buried in a monastery was considered a desirable goal. The monastic community ensured that the memory of the deceased would be preserved for all time. The fear of “being forgotten” led to pious endowments. Through bequests (seelgerät) to the monastery specified in wills, people ensured their own commemoration after death (memoria) during their lifetime. According to the strict monastic statutes, bishops and abbots were to be buried in the chapter house, highly respected monks in the cloister, and lay brothers in the monastery cemetery. The order did not permit the burial of benefactors and their wives within the monastery church until 1134. In addition to donations of money, land, and furnishings, the burial sites represented important sources of income for the Bronnbach convent. Church burials for nobles from the surrounding area were therefore already permitted as early as the 12th century. The more than one hundred preserved gravestones from the 13th to the 18th centuries, located in the cloister and the monastery church, are an expression of people’s intense desire not to be forgotten. In connection with the cultural history of the former Cistercian abbey, we present the most interesting gravestones and funerary monuments in their historical context.