St. George's Abbey in the Black Forest
Description
St. George's Abbey in the Black Forest (Kloster Sankt Georgen im Schwarzwald) was a Benedictine monastery in St. Georgen im Schwarzwald in the southern Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.HistoryFoundation to ReformationThe monastery was founded in 1084–85 in the Black Forest, by the source of the Brigach, against the background of the Investiture Controversy, as a result of the community of interests of the Swabian aristocracy and the church reform party, the founders being Hezelo and Hesso of the family of the Vögte of Reichenau, and the politically influential Abbot William of Hirsau. The intended site was initially to be at Königseggwald in Upper Swabia, but at William's behest St. Georgen was chosen instead. The settlement, by monks from Hirsau Abbey, took place in the spring and summer of 1084; the chapel was dedicated on 24 June 1085.At first a priory of Hirsau, the new foundation was declared an independent abbey in 1086, and under Abbot Theoger (1088–1119) began to accumulate the extensive estates, possessions and legal rights which made it one of the greatest religious houses of south-western Germany. The first Vögte ("lords protector") were the founder Hezelo (d. 1088) and his son Hermann (d. 1094). The abbey then came into conflict with the next Vogt, Ulrich of Hirrlingen, and was obliged to appeal to King Henry V. From 1114 the Vögte were the Zähringen Dukes; on their extinction in 1218, the office was taken over by the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II (1212/1215–c. 1250).
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