St. John's Abbey in the Thurtal was a Benedictine monastery originally established in Alt St. Johann in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, in the mid-12th century.The oldest written record of it is dated October 4, 1152, when Pope Eugene III took the monastery into his protection. The pope confirmed the monastery's possessions and free election of its abbot and Vogt.On October 24, 1178, Pope Alexander III confirmed the abbey's extended possessions.In 1227/1228, the king became Vogt of the abbey. In December 1231, Emperor Frederick II issued a Golden Bull confirming his obligations as Vogt of the abbey.The abbey owned numerous estates in Toggenburg and in the Rhine valley: St. Johann, Stein, Nesslau, Kappel, St. Peterzell and Mogelsberg; and in Vorarlberg in Austria, near Feldkirch, in Klaus, Götzis and Altach.