Burchard of Worms
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Through Worms, Germany, Holy Roman Empire and Switzerland
Early life
Burchard was born on c. 950–965 to a well-connected, wealthy family in the northern Hesse region of the Holy Roman Empire. He had two siblings: an older brother, Franco, who served as the Bishop of Worms from c. 998–999, and a sister, Mathilda, who became the abbess of an unknown monastery near Worms in c. 1010–1015. It is evident from the Vita Burchardi, written by Ebbo/Eberhard of Worms in c. 1025, that during the early life of Burchard his parents not only possessed "many properties and servants", but had local influence sufficient to directly position two of their sons to becoming confidants of the inner Imperial circle and Bishops of Worms. Burchard's family seems to have been of sufficient substance to exert a reasonable measure of political influence within the Diocese of Worms. As a young boy he was sent to the town of Koblenz where he entered the monastic school of either St. Florin or St. Kastor to be raised as a canon. Under the tutelage of Archbishop Willigis of Mainz, Burchard was diligently instructed in "noble behaviour" while swiftly being groomed "through each step of the clerical grade" until he became the provost of a "very poor place", i. e. the old collegiate church of St. Victor in Mainz. There, Burchard transformed its fortune by founding an "outstanding monastery along with a cloister of canons" which Willigis funded and eventually consecrated in c. 994–995. He was later ordained as a Catholic deacon by Willigis and eventually elevated as Primate of Mainz.
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Episcopacy
Upon the death of Burchard's brother Franco in 999, Emperor Otto III appointed Burchard as Bishop of Worms in 1000. Willigis confirmed his elevation within days at Kirchberg in Saxony. The Vita Burchardi relates that the Emperor initially intended to elevate one of his two chaplains, Herpo of Halberstadt or Rako of Bremen, to this diocese, going so far as to give his intended appointee "the pastoral staff as [he] lay in bed gravely ill." However, both of them died before either could be so ordained. The Emperor had also offered the diocese of Worms to a renowned pastor named Erpho. Within three days of becoming bishop, Erpho died from unknown causes and a certain Razo was quickly appointed to fill the resulting vacancy, who killed himself at Chur, Switzerland, shortly thereafter. The same narrative indicates that Worms was in disrepair, urgently needing an administrator after regular attacks from robbers and wolves.
After he was appointed as Bishop of Worms, Burchard led the rebuilding of the walls of the city, the institution of many monasteries and churches, and the destruction of the fortifications of Otto I, Duke of Carinthia. Duke Otto was believed to house criminals and he was an enemy of Burchard. According to Burchard's biographer, "many limbs were hacked off and many murders occurred on both sides" of the conflict between them. Burchard adopted a child from the enemy household, who grew to become Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II (c. 990–1034). After gaining the aid of Emperor Henry II and negotiating on the basis of documents created by Burchard's predecessor Bishop Hildebald, the castle of Duke Otto was dismantled and rebuilt as a monastery dedicated in honour of Paul of Tarsus. In 1016, Burchard rebuilt the Cathedral of St. Peter in Worms. He also educated students in the attached cathedral school.
Death
Burchard died in 1025, leaving his sister a hair shirt and an iron chain as a memento mori.
Translations
- (Pt-Br) Bragança Júnior, Álvaro & Birro, Renan M. (2016). O Corrector sive Medicus (ou Corrector Burchardi, ou Da poenitentia, c. 1000–1025) por Burcardo de Worms (c. 965–1025): apresentação e tradução latim-português dos capítulos 1–4, além das "instruções" de penitência 001 a 095, Revista Signum 17 (1), pp. 266–309.
- (Fr) Gagnon, François (2010). Le Corrector sive Medicus de Burchard de Worms (1000–1025): présentation, traduction et commentaire ethno-historique. Dissertação. Montréal: Université de Montréal, 2010.
- (En) Shiners, John (2009). Burchard of Worms's Corrector and Doctor (c. 1008-12) In: Shiners, John (ed.). Medieval Popular Religion, 1000–1500: A reader. 2. ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 459–470.
- (It) Picasso, Giorgio; Piana, Giannino; Motta, Giuseppe (1998). A pane e acqua: peccati e penitenze nel Medioevo – Il «Penitenziale» di Bucardo di Worms. Novara: Europia.
- (En) McNeill, John & Garner, Helena (1965). Medieval Handbooks of Penance. New York: Octagon Books, pp. 321–345.