Sponheim

Sponheim, named after the Counts of Sponheim, is situated in the border area between the Nahe region and the Hunsrück. Meginhard of Sponheum, the brother of Hildegard’s confidant and teacher Jutta, and his wife founded a Benedictine monastery there, the Sponheim Monastery, and handed it over to the Archbishop of Mainz in 1124. Except for the tower, which was destroyed by a fire in 1707 and was replaced, the former monastery church and the present parish church is still very well preserved and one of the most important buildings in the Nahe region. The chancel, the transept with its apses and the crossing arches are from the first Romanesque construction phase of the 12th century, while the nave with the chapel and the crossing tower belong to the 13th century. Between 1483 and 1505, Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516) was the monastery’s Abbot who tightened the rather loose customs and turned the Sponheim Monastery library into one of the biggest in Germany, visited by numerous scholars. However, the relationship between him and the monks assigned to him was so bad that Trithemius left the monastery in 1505 and became Abbot of the St. Jakob Monastery in Würzburg. During his time in Sponheim, he dedicated himself to the life and work of Hildegard. Some of his statements about the Abbess of the Rupertsberg were proven to be untenable according to newer investigations, which is why his scriptures are considered as a unreliable source of Hildegard’s life by historians. After he left Sponheim, the importance of the monastery slowly decreased and was finally dissolved in 1802. Apart from the church, also some ruins of the monastery complex have stood the test of the time and remind us of the former reputation of the town.

Burgsponheim

The small village Burgsponheim at the edge of the Hunsrück heights in the administrative district of Bad Kreuznach owes its name to the castle that rose from the mountain spur above the village and belonged to the powerful Count of Sponheim. Today only the 22 meter high keep gives evidence of the fortification, which was destroyed by troops of the Spanish General Spinola in 1620 during the Thirty Years War. In 1127, the castle was first mentioned in historical sources with the medieval spelling Spanheim. In the 12th century, the complex was developed to a representative construction and furnished with a circular wall, which, in addition to the keep, enclosed a chapel, a great hall as well as a bower with the chambers of the Count’s family. Some time before these modifications took place, Jutta, the daughter of a count born in 1092, who later became Hildegard of Bingen’s teacher, spent her childhood at this place. Her family had close contact with Hildegard’s parents and perhaps also Hildegard had spent some time with Jutta in the castle and together with her prepared for a spiritual life before she entered the nun’s convent at the Disibodenberg. When the Sponheim Counts preferred more central castles as residences from the 13th century, the fortification lost its territorial and political importance and was only used as thirds and an administrative seat. Today, the village is especially favoured by hikers and cyclists who can enjoy the landscape on the cycle and hiking track along the Ellerbach and the Gräfenbach Valley.

Monastery Church

From 1101, the former Benedictine monastery church St. Maria and St. Martin replaced the former building in an elevated location above Sponheim. The present building rises above the layout of a Greek cross in the middle of high retaining walls of the former cemetery. There are three apses connected to the chancel and the transept wings. The building is crowned by an octagonal crossing tower with a Baroque style bell roof.

After a fire in 1156, the erection of the monastery wall made from medium-sized ashlars around the large new construction of the eastern parts of the church, was started in 1188. The present structure of the round arched windows, the pilaster strips and the arch frieze, whose consoles partly have the shape of a head, stem from this phase. The consoles in the chancel show animal characters. The western wall stemming from the end of the 13th century consists of quarrystones and is opened by ogival windows between three massive buttresses.

Between 1230 and 1235, the church was vaulted and a nave bay, a chapel and the crossing tower were built. The portals originate from 1614 and 1626. In the interior, the original painting of the architectural elements has been preserved. The chancel vault is featured with strap work from around 1720. The flooring in the chancel and the side apses made from grey, yellow and red ceramic tiles originate from the middle of the 13th century.