Selz Abbey or Seltz Abbey (german: Kloster Selz; french: Abbaye de Seltz) is a former monastery and Imperial abbey in Seltz, formerly Selz, in Alsace, France.

History

The Benedictine monastery, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, was founded in about 991 by Adelheid, the second wife of Otto I and dowager empress, later Saint Adelheid, who was buried there on 16 December 999. In January 992 it was granted royal ''tuitio'' and immunity (roughly the equivalent of the later

Imperial immediacy Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular prin ...

) by

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

. The abbey suffered from severe floods in 1307, and was rebuilt between 1307 and 1315. The relics of Saint Adelheid, which apparently survived the floods, were moved to the church of Saint Stephen in Seltz. A daughter house of the abbey, founded at Mirmelberg in 1197, was washed away by floods in 1469. The abbey was eventually secularized in 1481 and the monks formed a college of canons operating as the chapter of the nearby St. Stephen's church (a mile away from the abbey), retaining some of the privileges of the former foundation, although not all the possessions. The chapter became Protestant in 1575 and was mediatised by the Electorate of the Palatinate.Übersicht über die Reichsstände
/ref> Most of the monastic buildings were quarried from the beginning of the 17th century, except for one which had been used as a reformed academy for young nobles in 1575 but was closed in 1577 because the new Elector was Lutheran. The Protestant chapter reverted to a canonry in 1684 after Seltz was annexed by France (in 1680) and the local population re-converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. It was dissolved by the bishop of Strasbourg (with the approval of the king of France) in 1692. The parish of Seltz was dissolved during the rule of the National Convention (1792–95) and the church of St. Stephen was set on fire by Austrian troops after the Battle of Seltz on 23 October 1793. The church survived however and the parish was re-created in 1801 in the time of the French Consulate. The church was extensively rebuilt under the rule of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

(which had annexed Alsace in 1870) for the occasion of the anniversary of the death of the Empress Adelaide in 1899. The church was almost destroyed during World War II. Restoration was completed in 1958.

References

Sources

Seltz Parish website
{{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 10th century 1481 disestablishments States and territories established in the 990s 992 establishments Electoral Palatinate Christian monasteries in Bas-Rhin Churches in Bas-Rhin Imperial abbeys Benedictine monasteries in France Burial sites of the Elder House of Welf fr:Seltz#L'abbaye (disparue) de Seltz