GUMBERT OF ANSBACH, ST.

Benedictine abbot bishop, date and place of birth and death unknown. Before 748, Gumbert (or Gundebert) founded St. Mary's Abbey on family lands. In 786, in return for immunity and the free election of abbots, he donated it to charlemagne, who c. 800 gave it to Bishop Bernwelf of Würzburg in exchange for other possessions. The abbey, called St. Gumbert by 911, was collegiate when the community moved to St. Stefan in wÜrzburg (and St. Gumbert's feast was moved from March 11 to July 15). The foundation was suppressed in 1563. Data about Gumbert and the early years of Ansbach derive from Charlemagne's document (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Diplomats 12:205–207). A legendary vita c. 1110 (Acta Sanctorum 4:61) makes him a great lord who renounced the world and gave his possessions to the bishopric of Würzburg and Ansbach. He is not to be confused with Bishop Gumbert of Würzburg (832–842), or with the little-known St. Gumbert (d. c. 675; feast: Feb. 21), chorbishop of Sens, who founded (661) the monastery of Senones in the Vosges, to which he retired.

Feast: July 15 (Vilchband).

Bibliography: s. haenle, Ansbach in der deutschen Geschichte (Berlin 1886). a. poncelet, Analecta Bollandiana 28 (1909) 272–280. l. h. cottineau Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés (Mâcon 1935–39) 1:119–120; 2:3006. k. neckermann, Heimatscholle Vilchband (Mannheim 1937). a. bayer, S. Gumberts Kloster und Stift in Ansbach (Würzburg 1948).

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