Wettenhausen Abbey

Imperial Abbey of Wettenhausen
Reichsabtei Wettenhausen
Imperial Abbey
← ? – 1803 →
Coat of arms
Capital		Kammeltal
Languages		Alemannic German
Religion		Roman Catholic
Government		Elective monarchy
Historical era		Middle Ages
-	Founded	1130
-	Gained Reichsfreiheit	Uncertain Enter start year
-	Joined Council of Princes	1793
-	Secularised to Bavaria	1803

Wettenhausen Abbey (German: Kloster Wettenhausen, Reichsabtei Wettenhausen) was an Imperial Abbey of Augustinian Canons until its secularization in 1802-1803. Being one of the 40-odd self-ruling Imperial Abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire, Wettenhaussen Abbey was a virtually independent state. Its abbot had seat and voice in the Imperial Diet, where he sat on the Bench of the Prelates of Swabia. At the time of secularization, the Abbey's territory covered 56 square kilometers and it had about 5,400 subjects.^[1]

It is now a Dominican convent. The abbey is in Wettenhausen in the municipality of Kammeltal in Bavaria.

History

Augustinian Canons

The abbey, dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint George, was founded in 1130 by Countess Gertrud of Roggenstein and her two sons for the salvation of their soul. According to an ancient chronicle, the Countess told her two sons that she would endow the new monastery with as much land as she could plow in a day. She then mounted a horse around whose neck she hung a good luck charm and succeeded in plowing a vast area. The exact date when the Abbey obtained the coveted status of Imperial Abbey is uncertain.

Wettenhaussen Abbey was dissolved in the course of the secularization of 1803 and its territory annexed to Bavaria. The library of 7,000 volumes was transferred to the library at Dillingen. The premises were thereafter used for a rent office.

Dominican sisters

In 1864 the buildings were acquired by the Dominican Sisters of St Ursula's in Augsburg, who established a school here, which today is a Gymnasium (secondary school) specialising in music and the sciences.

The Kammel with Wettenhausen Abbey on de background

Abbey church

The former abbey church of the Assumption is now a parish church. It was built in the 12th century and altered in the 17th in the Baroque style by Michael Thumb.

References

This article incorporates material from the German Wikipedia article http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kloster_Wettenhausen

Bibliography

• Wüst, Wolfgang, 1983. Das Reichsstift Wettenhausen: Besitz, Herrschaftsorganisation und Landeshoheit, in: Kloster Wettenhausen. Beiträge aus Geschichte und Gegenwart im Rückblick auf sein tausendjähriges Bestehen 982–1982 (Günzburger Hefte 19), pp29–45. Weißenhorn.
• Wüst, Wolfgang, 2001. Die Suche nach dem irdischen Reich in schwäbischen Gotteshäusern. Herrschaftliche Souveränität als Thema der Klosterchronistik. Wettenhausen und Kaisheim im Vergleich, in: Suevia Sacra. Zur Geschichte der ostschwäbischen Reichsstifte im Spätmittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit (Augsburger Beiträge zur Landesgeschichte Bayerisch-Schwabens 8 — Festschrift für Pankraz Fried zum 70. Geburtstag) (ed. Wilhelm Liebhart and Ulrich Faust), pp115–132. Sigmaringen.

External links

• Media related to Wettenhausen Abbey at Wikimedia Commons
• (German) Wettenhausen Abbey on Klöster in Bayern

Holy Roman Empire — Imperial abbeys of the Swabian College Imperial abbeys and colleges (Reichsabteien, Reichsklöster und Reichsstifte) Baindt Comburg Disentis Elchingen Frauenchiemsee Fraumünster Fürstenfeld Gengenbach Göss Gutenzell Heggbach Helmarshausen Herrenalb Irsee Kaisheim† Lindau Lorsch Marchtal Marmoutier Maulbronn Mönchrot Mondsee Murbach* Neresheim Ochsenhausen Ottobeuren Petershausen Prüfening Reichenau Roggenburg Rottenmünster St. Gall's* St. George's in Isny Salem Schänis Schussenried Schuttern Söflingen Ursberg Waldsassen Weingarten Weissenau Wettenhausen Imperial charterhouse (Reichskartause) Buxheim† * Also a Prince of the Empire † Also in Rhenish College

Swabian Circle (1500–1806) of the Holy Roman Empire Ecclesiastical Augsburg Constance Ellwangen Kempten Abbey Lindau Secular Baden Buchau Heiligenberg Hohenzollern-Hechingen Klettgau Liechtenstein Tengen Waldburg Scheer Trauchburg Waldsee Wolfegg Wurzach Zeil Württemberg Prelates Baindt Buchau Elchingen Gengenbach Gutenzell Heggbach Irsee Kaisheim Mainau Marchtal Neresheim Ochsenhausen Petershausen Roggenburg Rot Rottenmünster Salmanweiler St. George's in Isny Schussenried Söflingen Ursberg Weingarten Weißenau Wettenhausen Zwiefalten Counts Lords Altshausen Baar Bondorf Eberstein Eglingen Eglofs Fugger Jakob Johann Markus Gundelfingen Gutenstein Hausen Heiligenberg Hohenems Hohengeroldseck Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Justingen Kinzigerthal Königsegg and Aulendorf Lustenau Meßkirch Mindelheim / Schwabegg Oberdischingen Öttingen Baldern Öttingen Wallerstein Rechberg Rothenfels and Stauffen Stühlingen and Hohenhöwen Tettnang / Langenargen Thannhausen Wiesensteig Cities Aalen Augsburg Biberach Bopfingen Buchau Buchhorn Dinkelsbühl Eßlingen Gengenbach Giengen Heilbronn Isny Kaufbeuren Kempten Leutkirch Lindau Memmingen Nördlingen Offenburg Pfullendorf Ravensburg Reutlingen Rottweil Schwäbisch Gmünd Schwäbisch Hall Überlingen Ulm Wangen Weil Wimpfen Zell Circles est. 1500: Bavarian, Swabian, Upper Rhenish, Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Franconian, (Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512: Austrian, Burgundian, Upper Saxon, Electoral Rhenish     ·     Unencircled territories

Coordinates: 48°23′47″N 10°21′32″E / 48.39639°N 10.35889°E / 48.39639; 10.35889