Abbey of Waldsassen
From History Wiki
| Abbey of Waldsassen Abtei Waldsassen | |
| 1128 - 1556 & 1661 - 1803 | |
| Capital Circle Bench | Waldsassen Electoral Rhenish Rhenish Prelates |
| Established | 1128 |
| Immediate | 1147 |
| Secularised to the Palatinate | 1543 |
| Dissolved | 1556 |
| Reestablished | 1661 |
| Dissolved | 1803 |
The Abbey of Waldsassen is a nunnery located in northern Bavaria, Germany on the banks of the River Wondreb. The abbey was founded in 1128 as a monastery and remained so until it was secularised in 1803. Nuns from Seligenthal purchased the abbey buildings in 1863, and since then Waldsassen has served as a nunnery. The abbey was an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1147 until 1543.
Waldsassen was founded as the first of five Cistercian monasteries in Bavaria. The founding of the abbey is not well understood, however Margrave Diepold III of Vohburg donated the abbey to have a centre of civilisation on the border region of Bohemia and he managed to convince Bernard of Clairvaux to support it. The new abbey was founded by monks from Sigeberg and populated with monks from Volkenroda. Diepold granted the new abbey a certain level of independence to make the new abbey economically feasible. The monks quickly set to work making the surrounding swamp arable.
After only a decade the new abbey was flourishing, and it was soon founding new abbeys from its monks. In 1147 King Conrad III placed Waldsassen under his protection and gave it further rights, making the abbey an immediate state. In 1179 Bishop Conrad II of Raitenbuch of Regensburg consecrated the the monastery church. The Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, several princes of the empire and their attendants visited the Abbey for the consecration. In 1185 Pope Lucius III issued a papal charter for Waldsassen which threatened several spiritual punishments for would-be pillagers and invaders of the abbey lands, and people who would take legal action in them in lay courts. Waldsassen became incredibly wealthy and soon ruled an area of over 60km², and was a centre of Germanisation of the Czechs.
In 1194 and again in 1214 the rights of the abbey were confirmed by German kings. The abbey formed a close relationship with the court of Bohemia, and from the Premyslid kings it obtained prefential economic treatment. In 1269 the Imperial protection became void and Waldsassen placed itself under the protection of the Bohemian kings with the immediacy remaining. Beginning with the Contract of Pavia in 1329, Waldsassen found itself under increasing pressure from the Palatinate and the protection of Bohemia became crucial to the abbey's survival. In 1354 Waldsassen was repeatedly plundered, which lead to King Louis IV to place the abbey under his protection, restore the economic situation and confirm its immediacy.
In 1430 and again in 1433 the Hussites attacked and plundered the abbey. Economically Waldsassen was hard hit, and it soon found itself struggling to feed and clothe its monks. Waldsassen quickly recovered but soon after troubles again came to the abbey. The payments of compensation took their toll, and abbots began to quickly retire in quick succession. The monastery became divided, and it soon developed a schism of its own. In the Landshut War of Succession from 1503 until 1505, Waldsassen was invaded, plundered, and the monastery buildings were burned down. Reconstruction began in 1517, but the Palatinate soon began to pressure the abbey with unprecedented force. In 1524 the Palatinate attempted to force the abbey to recognise it by force. In the Peasant's War of 1525 the citizens of the city fought for and received several rights and easements. In 1537 the Elector Palatine again invaded the abbey, captured the abbot, and forced him to recognise Palatinian sovereignty. In 1543 Waldsassen was secularised and was no longer immediate. In 1556 the abbey itself was dissolved by the elector Otto Henry. The territory of Waldsassen was transferred to Palatinate-Simmern-Sponheim in 1571. The buildings were damaged by fire in 1576.
In 1623 during the course of the Thirty Years' War, all territories of the Palatinate were given to the Duke of Bavaria, and in 1628 the re-Catholicisation of Waldsassen began, supported by the Jesuits. In 1651 Waldsassen was handed over to the Fürstenfeld, and in 1661 the abbey was reinhabited by three monks. After several delays more monks arrived in 1669 and a priors were established. After 1681 Waldsassen again began to flourish and the baroque buildings and library characteristic of the abbey were built in the following decades. In 1690 Waldsassen again was declared an abbey. It received all the former territories and rights the earlier abbey held with the exception of sovereignty. In 1704 the monastic church was consecrated. Waldsassen regained its former cultural and economic clout, and it became a major centre of the Upper Palatinate. In 1726 the library was completed.
In 1803 Waldsassen was again secularised, and the 80 monks inhabiting the monastery were forced to leave. The abbey ruled a territory of over 715km², and it was partially sold soon after. The area ruled by the monastery, long dependant on the monastery, began to decline. The monastic church was handed over to the local parish as a church. In 1863 Cistercian nuns repurchased the monastery buildings, and in 1864 nuns from Seligenthal moved to Waldsassen to revive the abbey. The nuns began a boarding school, a condition for the resettling, and in 1894 Waldsassen was declared an independent priory. In 1925 Waldsassen was again raised to the rank of an abbey. The abbey suffered heavily after the Second World War as it was near the Iron Curtain, and it barely managed to survive financially. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Waldsassen again emerged from the difficult times.
| Bavarian Circle |
|---|
| Ecclesiastical Bench Berchtesgaden | Freising | Niedermünster | Obermünster | Passau Regensburg (bishopric) | St. Emmeram | Salzburg Secular Bench Bavaria | Breiteneck | Ehrenfels | Haag | Hohenwaldeck | Leuchtenberg | Neuburg Ortenburg | Regensburg (city) | Sternstein | Sulzbach | Sulzbürg and Pyrbaum |
| Earlier Members |
| Chiemsee | Degenberg | Kaisheim | Mönchröden | Waldsassen |
