Regensburg - Schottenkloster St. Jakob

A Benedictian monastery was founded by Hiberno-Scottish monks in Regensburg already around 1070. Soon after, the convent moved to a place just outside the city walls and in started to erect first buildings.

The first church, consecrated in 1120, was of such a poor workmanship, that the convent decided to tear it down (except one apse and the flanking towers) and restart the process. The church of today was completed before 1200. It is one of the most important Romanesque structures in Bavaria.

The abbey was a hub for the Irish/Scottish mission to central Europe. Daughter establishments of St. Jakob were founded in Vienna (1155), Erfurt (1136), Wuerzburg (1138), Nuremberg (1140), Constance (1142), Eichstaett (1148), Memmingen (1178), Kiev (!) (late 12th century) and Kelheim (13th century).

WHile the first monks and abbots were Irish, the Scottish period started after the Reformation with Scottish abbot Ninian Vincet (1577-1592). A century later Scottish priests were educated here to do missionary work back in Scotland.

Abbot Benedikt Aburthnot (1737-1820) could avoid the secularisation in 1802 by making clear, that the monastery was a Scottish (not at all Bavarian!) national treasure. It took upto 1814 to incorporate the Scottish monastery into the Bavarian sovereignty. Monastic life finally ended here in 1862, when the buildings were taken over by the bishop, who 10 years later founded a still existing seminary here.

The northern portal ("Schottenportal") is one of the most important (and largest) Romanesque works of art in Germany. It occupies a third of the church´s northern wall and is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically, plus a small frieze that tops the central arch (the vertical center).

While most authors reckon, that Irish masters created this portal, Marcel Durliat sees parallels to works in Northern Italy, created by the Comacine masters ("Magistri Comacini"). He even connects this portal to the carvings in Linden and Remagen.

The interpretation of such a large and cryptic portal has been controversial since the beginning, what means the 19th century, as only since then Romanesque carvings were seen as works of art (mostly). There was even a theory claiming that such a carving could not have been done during the 12th/13th century, and that it probably was added to the church later. The time of origin is not disputed any longer, but the meaning of figures and symbols. Richard Strobel ("Romanik in Altbayern") has no hard facts, but found out, that left (eastern) side stands for the "Good", while the right side stands for the "Evil". This meanwhile is undisputed.

This is a detail the from largest "third" of the left side.

A close up of the huge winged dragon, devouring a lion/dog. Below the dragon is a mermaid, sitting on a very weathered lion.