Prior Ensfried – Kloster Eberbach

Priorship from 1335 († 1346)

The red sandstone slab commemorates Ensfried, prior of Eberbach Monastery, who died in 1346 and was, according to the text, a “blooming flower among flowers”.However, it was created more than four centuries later, in 1784, as a replacement for a medieval gravestone. As the famous Ensfried was buried directly in front of the entrance to the highly frequented chapter house, his original grave cover had become so worn over the years that the inscription was barely visible. The monks under Abbot Adolf II therefore renewed his slab and added a short message of restoration, also written in hexameter rhyme, to the medieval epitaph. They praised the still unforgotten Ensfried as a pillar of the Roman Church and a virtuous spiritual “father”. This new plaque was also badly worn before it was hung here on the west wall of the basilica's central nave, making it difficult to decipher. The previous plaque is now lost, as is a late medieval memorial plaque that added a detailed ten-line eulogy to the three hexameters of the funeral poem.

The various monuments and their poems of praise give an idea of the reverence in which the prior was held for a long time - and the monks of Eberbach even listed him in their calendar of saints. Their verses emphasize not only his knowledge, his adherence to rules and his piety, but above all the fact that he served as a teacher, father figure and the best example for the community. In any case, the surviving sources prove that the clergyman, who originally came from Constance on Lake Constance, played a very active role in Eberbach.
In 1312, he was appointed bursar and was thus responsible for the financial administration of the monastery. From 1335, he also acted as prior, as he presided over the convent as the abbot's deputy. He worked closely with Abbot Wilhelm, particularly in the administration and leasing of the monastery's estates. Beyond the monastery, he served as an advisor to the Archbishop of Mainz and his Rheingau Vitztum and was appointed executor of the wills of various nobles in the region. It was not only a knight of Geroldstein who appointed Ensfried as his trustee during his lifetime, but also a number of noble widows and wealthy beguines such as Metza of Boppard, who left rich donations to the monastery. Prior Ensfried thus not only made a spiritual contribution to the monastery, but also played a direct part in its economic heyday.

Source: German Inscriptions Online (43, No. 63+), Academy of Sciences Mainz

Image of the tomb: Michael Leukel

ANNO D(OMI)NI M CCC XLVI / XVII CALENDAS APRILIS / FLORENS FLOS FLORUM PRIOR / ENSFRIDUS MONACHORUM / PR[OV]IDUS AC TUTUS VI/TA VERBO REDIMITUS / VIVENS IN CHRISTO TUMULO / REQUIESCIT IN ISTO
In the year of our Lord 1346, on the 17th day before the Kalends of April (March 16). Prior Ensfried blossomed among the monks as the flower of flowers. He was prudent and reliable, girded with the word of life. He lives in Christ and rests in this tomb.

ANNO DOMINI / M D C[C] LXXXIV / SUB D[O]MIN[O] / ADELPH[O] COETU PRAE[S]ENTE VEREND[O] / PERFUSA TUMULO VISE/BA[NT] OSSA BEATI / ENSFRIDI VITA NOBIS PIE/TATIS IDAEA / QUEM FIDEI FULCRUM ROMA/NA ECCLESIA VIDIT / VIDIT ET OPTATO PATER / INSONS FINE QUIEVIT
In the year of our Lord 1784, under Sir Adolf, in the presence of the venerable convent, they beheld the remains of the blessed covered by the burial earth. Ensfried's life is a model of piety for us; the Roman Church saw in him a pillar of faith. And the righteous father has come to rest at his longed-for destination.

Tombstones

These are fascinating life stories that can be found carved in stone in Eberbach - and which are now being told with the help of a QR code project.

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