Abbots Johannes VII Rumpel of Ballenberg and Balthasar Bund of Aschaffenburg

(† 1648 | † 1653)

After more than a hundred years, the need arose again to produce a tomb slab for two abbots. It was probably political crises in uncertain times after the Thirty Years' War that led to the decision to dedicate a tomb slab to two abbots, even though they were not even consecutive.

Abbot Johannes Rumpel, to whom the inscription on the left is dedicated, died on February 7, 1648, before the Peace of Westphalia. His successor Johannes Hofmann reigned for only a few months, but it is not him to whom the second text is dedicated. Nor is it his successor Christoph Haan, who was the temporary administrator of the monastery for three years. Haan was also abbot of Schöntal Abbey, to which he returned in 1651 and received his own tomb there after his death in 1675. In Eberbach, Abbot Balthasar Bund of Aschaffenburg took over the official duties and led the monastery until his death in 1653. Together with his predecessor, he then received a tomb slab that formally corresponds to that of the previously reigning Abbot Nikolaus, who died in 1658: there is no figurative representation and only the two abbot's staffs with the identical mitres can be seen. In the lower half, the funerary inscriptions of the two abbots are inscribed on two panels, each of which is oriented towards the outside.

Source: Academy of Sciences Mainz

Image of the tomb: Michael Leukel

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