Antonius Gratiadei - An Admont abbot in imperial service
Among the abbots of Admont who served as advisers to Emperor Frederick III and Maximilian I, Antonius Gratiadei, a native of Venice, occupies a special place. He is regarded as one of the most controversial figures in the history of the Benedictine abbey. This is because he was not elected by the monastic community, but appointed by the Emperor, who thus effectively imposed him on the monks. The *Chronicon Admontense* describes his abbacy in rather unfavourable terms: Antonius is said to have embezzled the abbey’s assets and, in 1491, to have attempted to flee. Shortly after his alleged escape, however, Antonius was apprehended and imprisoned in Gallenstein. He died there a short time later, without ever having been exonerated.
Nevertheless, he was also regarded as having a particular affinity for the arts and as a patron of learning. It is to him that the Admont Abbey Library namely 46 incunabula, which he acquired from various printing houses across Europe and, in some cases, had further embellished, and at least 12 manuscripts. Antonius Gratiadei was originally a Franciscan friar and studied theology in Paris. There is no record of when he first came into contact with the imperial family. Some writings refer to him as Maximilian’s tutor, but this cannot be substantiated.
A diplomat in the service of the Emperor and the Pope
From 1 October 1478, he taught as an associate professor at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Leuven. Gratiadei subsequently served Archduke Maximilian on several diplomatic missions to Italy. At the end of 1480, he was sent to Florence to attempt to unite the Christian powers against the Turks. During his stay in the city, his oratorical skills were greatly appreciated. On 28 January 1481, he was in Rome. There he came into contact with humanist circles and, in particular, with Bartolomeo Manfredi (Aristophilus).
On behalf of Pope Sixtus, Gratiadei acted as a mediator at the Council of Basel in 1482. In doing so, he managed to dissuade Emperor Frederick III from supporting the reform-minded prelate Andreas Jamometić, who had convened the Council. The Emperor decided to reward him. As he was notorious for his financial difficulties, the granting of ecclesiastical benefices presented itself as the only possible form of „remuneration“, since, as a sovereign prince, he had the authority to dispose of them. Gratiadei was initially granted the revenues of the parish of Gars in Lower Austria. However, these proved too meagre to cover his substantial expenses. Consequently, Frederick III appointed him abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St Trudpert in the southern Black Forest.
From the Black Forest to Admont
In some documents dating from 1483, Gratiadei refers to himself as ‘abbas sancti Trudperti’. However, Archduke Siegmund of Tyrol put an end to this abbacy very quickly. He pointed out that the monastery there had already elected an abbot and that he himself had confirmed this election. Emperor Frederick III relented and naturally had to find another monastery for his favourite at short notice. He took advantage of the discord that had arisen amongst the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Admont in Styria following the death of John III of Trauttmannsdorf. Thus, he appointed Gratiadei as abbot.
Antonius Gratiadei as Abbot of Admont
The Convent complied, though not without securing certain rights for itself. Gratiadei was required to sign an electoral capitulation. According to this, he was not permitted to sell the abbey’s estates or to confer offices or benefices without the consent of the Convent. Furthermore, no one „of a foreign nation or language“ was to be admitted into the Order. Even before Christmas that year, on 21 December 1483, Frederick III appointed him Count Palatine and imperial adviser. Following this recognition, Giovanni di Candida struck a second medal bearing his likeness at the beginning of 1484.
During his time as abbot, Antonius undertook numerous diplomatic missions on behalf of Frederick III and, from 1486, also on behalf of King Maximilian, at whose coronation in Frankfurt he was personally present. Gratiadei’s subsequent travels took him, for a time, to the Netherlands and to his former place of work, the university town of Leuven.
There, on 22 October 1486, he exercised his official powers as „Count Palatine“ and legitimised a pair of illegitimate brothers. In October 1487, Gratiadei was commissioned to conduct preliminary negotiations in St. Pölten for a truce with the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus. Owing to these missions, the abbot was very rarely present at his abbey. Although he also attended to internal monastic affairs, he frequently left the abbey to travel via St Gallen to Linz and the imperial court. Gallenstein Fortress, situated on the border between Lower and Upper Austria, served as a meeting place for discussions between a notary endowed with special powers and the prelates and nobility from the two neighbouring countries.
After his death
Three years after his death, Emperor Maximilian wrote to the Doge of Venice at the request of his successor to reclaim the allegedly stolen Admont Abbey treasures. Unfortunately, it remains unclear whether anything was ever returned.
