Benedikt von Nursia (480-547 ?)
The founder of occidental monasticism came from Umbria. Following his
years as a student in Rome he lived as a hermit and monk. In 529 he
founded Montecassino Monastery, the original monastery of the later
Benedictines. He is celebrated as a saint on 11 July, and is depicted
with a book (Rule of Benedict) and abbots staff.
Benedictines
The monks of the oldest Catholic order live according to the "Rule of
Benedict". This requires the renunciation of all personal property,
chastity, obedience and continuous residence in one place. The
Benedictine monasteries were not only places of prayer and a life
oriented toward God, but also of science and the arts. For example, the
monks made a major contribution to the spread of philosophical and
scientific knowledge of classical antiquity and the Orient in Christian
Europe with their work as translators and copiers. At their monasteries
bookbinding was practiced, optical devices for observing the heavenly
bodies were developed and water mills as power sources were discovered.
Today the Order devotes itself to the ecumene, biblical science, the
history of theology and missionary work in Africa and East Asia.
Erlafried of Calw
The nobleman founded the first, still modest monastery on Hirsau soil
around 830, when the Aurelius relics were transferred from Italy to
Hirsau.
Abbot Wilhelm (1069-1091)
Abbot Wilhelm came from St. Emmeram (in Regensburg) to Hirsau in 1069
as Abbot. He promoted the first heyday of the Aurelius Monastery and
ordered the building of the new St. Peter and Paul Monastery. He lived
to see its consecration in 1091. In 1080 Abbot Wilhelm wrote his
"Constitutiones Hirsaugiensis", which was based on the rules of the
reformed monastery in Cluny.
Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (1487-1550)
With the introduction of the Reformation in 1535, Ulrich took major
steps in setting the course of education and professional training.
Duke Ulrich, who had converted to Protestantism, had a Protestant
monastery school built in the Peter and Paul Monastery. Ulrich of
Württemberg had an unhappy childhood. His mother died after his birth,
and his mentally ill father was imprisoned at Hohenurach in 1490. His
guardians, who pursued different political interests, were careless
with the boy's upbringing and education. As an adult Ulrich was
distinguished by his lack of consideration for and mistrust of the
people around him. His private and political life was a turbulent one.
For example, he lost his Duchy for many years when the Swabian
Confederation (Schwäbische Bund) relinquished it to Karl V. Duke Ulrich
von Württemberg died in 1550 and lies buried in the Collegiate Church
(Stiftskirche) in Tübingen.
Ludwig Uhland (1787 – 1862)
Uhland was born on 26 April 1787 in Tübingen. He studied law and
languages in 1802-1808 in Tübingen. During his studies in Paris
(1810/1811), he dealt with old French and German manuscripts. In
1810-1814 Uhland was employed as a secretary at the Ministry of
Justice, then as a lawyer in Stuttgart. He was unable to become a civil
servant, as he refused to swear an oath to the king, who had illegally
dissolved the State Parliament in 1805. In 1829 he was given a
professorship for German language and literature in Tübingen. He
resigned from this position in 1838 and worked as a private scholar.
Uhland died on 13 November 1862 in Tübingen.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)
The son of a German-Baltic missionary was born in Calw and attended the
Latin school in Göppingen. In 1891 he took the "State Examination"
(Landexamen). He broke off the theological career traced out a year
later. This period of serious emotional conflicts ended with a nervous
breakdown, which often repeated over the years and came close to
psychoanalysis. In 1892-1893 he attended the "Gymnasium" (high school)
in Bad Cannstatt. Then he did an apprenticeship as a mechanic at the
clock tower factory in Calw and as a bookseller in Tübingen. For a
while he worked as a bookseller and an antiquarian bookseller in Basel.
Several journeys through Switzerland and several to Italy expanded his
cultural horizons. His first literary attempts, poems and stories are
from this period. From 1904 he lived as a freelance writer and employee
at various newspapers, and in 1912 he moved to Montagnola in
Switzerland. Hermann Hesse received the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1946.