Schottenportal

The Benedictine abbey of St James (Jakobskirche) in Regensburg, Germany, was founded by Hiberno-Scottish missionaries and for most of its history was in the hands of first Irish, then Scottish monks. Hence it is known as the Scots Monastery, in German Schottenkirche, Schottenkloster, Schottenstift. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (614x819, 140 KB) Summary Portal of Schottenkirche St. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (614x819, 140 KB) Summary Portal of Schottenkirche St. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... Saint James can refer to the following: Several men mentioned in the New Testament, whose various epithets and euphemisms cause some uncertainties: James, son of Zebedee, an apostle, brother of John the Apostle; also called Saint James the Great. ... Regensburg (English formerly Ratisbon, Latin Ratisbona, Czech Řezno) is a city (population 150,212 in 2004) in Bavaria, south-east Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. ...

Architecture

The Church is located to the west of the old town centre, next to a medieval city gate which is named after it, the Jakobstor. It was built in 1190, on the site of an earlier building of 1120. It is a very fine example of Romanesque church architecture, with a high, flat roof, and rounded arches. Events March 16 - Massacre and mass-suicide of the Jews of York, England prompted by Crusaders and Richard Malebys kill 150-500 Jews in Cliffords Tower June 10 - Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowned in the Saleph River while leading an army to Jerusalem. ... Events Welcher of Malvern creates a system of measurement for the earth using degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. ... Romanesque St. ...

The building is famous for the entrance portal (Schottenportal) which is decorated with twelve sculptures which are at once Romanesque and Celtic in style. This cycle of sculptures portrays the Last Judgment, Heaven and Hell. The precise interpretation of the individual figures is debated, but they appear to represent the damned: criminals, prostitutes, dancers and sloths. Since c. 2002 (?) the stonework of the portal has been protected from erosion by a glass entrance porch. Muiredacha Cross. ...

History

Irish period

The monastery was founded in the 12th century by Scotti, that is, Gaels. See Iro-Scottish monks. (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... Gael (Ancient people) : A Gael is a member of a distinct culture existing in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man whose language is one that is Gaelic. ... Irish and Scottish missionaries (Iro-Scottish, Hiberno-Scottish) were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England and the Frankish Empire during the 6th and 7th centuries. ...

Honorius Augustodunensis (died c. 1151), a highly influential medieval theologian, spent the last years of his life in the monastery. Events Ghazni is burned by the princes of Ghur Geoffrey of Anjou dies, and succeeded by his son Henry, aged 18. ...

Scottish period

A papal bull of 1577 transferred the monastery from Irish hands to abbots from Scotland. The Scottish monks were predominantly from lowland Scotland, and thus were not Gaels. The effect of the bull was therefore a complete break in the continuity of the abbey's tradition. In part it may have been motivated by the fact that the word Scotti had by this time come to mean 'Scots' in the modern sense, allowing the new abbots to claim that the Irish possession had always been illegitimate. It was also partly because the Irish community in Regensburg was in any case in terminal decline: the last Irish abbot had just died leaving a single monk and one novice. But the main reason was probably that the Scottish Reformation of 1560 had made a Scottish Catholic haven in continental Europe appear strategically desirable.

The first Scottish abbot was Ninian Winzet (pronounced /ˈwɪnjət/: see yogh), the controversial critic of John Knox, who had been charged by Mary, Queen of Scots with the task of providing priests for Scotland. However it was not until the early 17th century that the abbey was able to send missionaries to Scotland. From 1623 this was done in co-operation with English Benedictines at Douai, in France. Ninian Winzet (1518 - 1592), Scottish polemical writer, was born in Renfrew, and was probably educated at the university of Glasgow. ... Yogh is a letter used in Middle English and Middle Scots, representing y (IPA: ) and various velar phonemes. ... John Knox (1505, 1513 or 1514 – 1572) was a Scottish religious reformer who played the lead part in reforming the Church in Scotland in a Presbyterian manner. ... Mary I of Scotland (Mary Stuart) (December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587), better known as Mary, Queen of Scots, was Queen of Scots, monarch of the Kingdom of Scotland, from December 14, 1542 – July 24, 1567; and Queen Consort of France from July 10, 1559 – December 5, 1560. ... Douai is a city and commune in the north of France in the département of Nord, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ...

Current use

Relationship to the Scots monastery in Vienna

Library

The medieval library built up by the Irish monks included many manuscript treasures. It is possible that it also contained parts of the library of the Viennese abbey. When the Scots finally left Regensburg, many of the greatest treasures were taken to Fort Augustus, and are today in the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Catholic Archives in Edinburgh. Fort Augustus is a settlement in the Scottish Highlands, at the south west end of Loch Ness. ... The building on George IV bridge The National Library of Scotland is a legal deposit library in Scotland. ...

Sources

• Lore Conrad: Die Bildsymbolsprache der romanischen Schottenkirche in Regensburg. 6. Auflage. Regensburg 1993, ISBN 3-9800355-5-7
• Mona Stocker: Die Schottenkirche St. Jakob in Regensburg: Skulptur und stilistisches Umfeld. Regensburg 2001, ISBN 3-930480-56-5
• Richard Strobel: Romanik in Altbayern. Zodiaque-Echter, Würzburg 1994, ISBN 3-429-01616-9
• Alasdair Roberts, Regensburg and the Scots, Aberdeen 2005.