Between Power and Faith – Aschaffenburg’s St. Peter und Alexander Collegiate Church in the Middle Ages

For many centuries, the history of the city of Aschaffenburg, which had only been part of Bavaria since 1814, was significantly shaped by the "St. Peter und Alexander" collegiate church. Since its foundation in the middle of the 10th century, it has had a favourable effect on the urban development of Aschaffenburg due to its outstanding spiritual, cultural and economic importance. In the confederation of the archdiocese of Mainz, which already became the property of the town and collegiate church very early, the location became the political centre of Mainzer Oberstift, i.e. the area on the Lower Main, where the Mainz archbishops exercised secular power. At the same time, the collegiate church was the seat of the Aschaffenburg archdiaconate. The close connection with Mainz is further reflected in the fact that the archbishops used Aschaffenburg as their second residence since the High Middle Ages.

The time frame selected by the exhibition for examining and better understanding the history of the St. Peter und Alexander collegiate church extends from the early beginnings of ecclesiastical life in Aschaffenburg in the 9th and 10th centuries to the end of the German Peasants’ War in 1525. The focus on the Middle Ages and reason for choosing 1525 as a temporal boundary lies in the drastic effect of the Peasants’ War on the history of the town and collegiate church. It ended the economic and political ascent of previous centuries and set Aschaffenburg, which was at the height of its power at the beginning of the 16th century, far back in its development.

The exhibition traces the development of the collegiate church’s economic, historical and political-administrative structures in highlights and examines examples of important events in its history. Particular attention is paid to the relations with the town of Aschaffenburg on the one hand and the archdiocese of Mainz on the other hand. The exhibition is based on the digitised documents (period: 982 to 1525) and official books from Aschaffenburg’s municipal and collegiate archives.

About the exhibition

Glossary

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