Elchingen Abbey () was a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery in Oberelchingen (in

Elchingen Elchingen is a municipality about 7 km east of Ulm–Neu-Ulm in the district of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria, Germany. Municipality parts: * Thalfingen: 4 211 residents, 8.83 km² * Oberelchingen: 3 024 residents, 7.31 km² * ...

) in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in the

diocese of Augsburg Diocese of Augsburg () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich. History Early history The present city of Augsburg appears in Strabo as ''Damasia'', a stronghold of t ...

. For much of its history, Elchingen was one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire and, as such, was a virtually independent state that contained several villages aside from the monastery itself. At the time of its secularisation in 1802, the abbey covered 112 square kilometers and had 4000-4200 subjects.

History

Dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and Saints Peter and

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, the monastery was founded by the

Counts of Dillingen The Counts of Dillingen were a Swabian comital family of the Hupaldinger (Hucpaldinger) dynasty during AD 955–1286. History The family originate in Wittislingen, with archaeological evidence of grave goods suggesting the presence of Alaman ...

. The abbey was one of the very few that enjoyed

Imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...

(independent of the jurisdiction of any lord and answering directly to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

, and thus a territorial principality in its own right). The abbot sat in the Reichstag of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Like all the other imperial abbeys, Elchingen lost its independence in the course of the

secularisation In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

process in 1802-1803 and the monastery was dissolved. By 1840 the buildings had been almost entirely demolished. On October 17, 1805 (25 Vendémiaire, Year 14), at 2 o'clock in the afternoon,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

wrote from the Abbey of Elchingen to

Prince Murat Prince Murat is a Nobility of the First French Empire, French princely title that traces its origin back to 1804, when Emperor Napoleon granted the rank of Nobility of the First French Empire#Princes, ''prince français'' to his brother-in-law Jo ...

: " ... It seems to me that you should have slept where the 9th light is, so as to be able, at daybreak, to follow the enemy and outrun him" In 1921 the

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest later recognized as a Catholic saint. The congregation wa ...

settled on the site.

References

Bibliography

* Brenner, Bernhard, 2003. ''Das ehemalige Reichsstift Elchingen/Oberelchingen''. In: ''Klosterland Bayerisch Schwaben'' Werner Schiedermair (ed.), pp216–219. Lindenberg Fink. . *Correspondance de Napoléon, t.11, letters 9386; Correspondance générale de Napoléon, t.5, letter 11007. * Dirr, Albert, 1926. ''Die Reichsabtei Elchingen von der Mitte des 15. bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts''. Augsburg (also dissertation, University of Munich 1925) * Konrad, Anton H., 1965. ''Die Reichsabtei Elchingen. Ihr Bild im Wandel der Jahrhunderte''. Weissenhorn: Konrad. * Kramer, Ferdinand Kramer, 1991. "Wissenschaft und Streben nach 'Wahrer Aufklärung'. Ein Beitrag zur Aufklärung im ostschwäbischen Benediktinerkloster Elchingen", in: ''Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte'', 54 / 1991, 1:269-286 ()

External links

*
Records of Elchingen Abbey
*
Klöster in Bayern
{{Authority control States and territories established in 1128 Benedictine monasteries in Germany Monasteries in Bavaria Imperial abbeys disestablished in 1802–03 1793 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Neu-Ulm (district)