Herrenalb Abbey (german: Kloster Herrenalb; la, Alba dominorum) is a former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monastery in the present

Bad Herrenalb Bad Herrenalb is a municipality in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 15 km east of Baden-Baden, and 22 km southwest of Pforzheim. The town is connected to the city of K ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

The monastery was founded, probably in 1147 or 1148, by Count Berthold of Eberstein as a

family monastery A house monastery, family monastery or dynastic monastery (german: Hauskloster) is a Christian monastery that has a particular relationship with a noble family. Often, but not always, what subsequently became the house monastery was founded by th ...

, although the foundation charter only survives in a corrupt copy of 1270. The new monastery was settled by monks from Neubourg Abbey in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. The ''

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

ei'' (advocacy or protective lordship) was the property of the founder and his family, but the abbey had the concession that within those limits it was able to choose which individual it wanted for the role. In 1289 the

Margrave of Baden The Margraviate of Baden (german: Markgrafschaft Baden) was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, ...

became Vogt and in 1338 the

Count of Württemberg Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

, who thenceforward retained the office despite continuing efforts of the Margraves of Baden. The abbey owned scattered estates in the Alb valley in the northern

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

and round the communities of

Ottersweier Ottersweier is a municipality in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the district of Rastatt, and lies between the larger towns Bühl and Achern. Twin cities * - Westerlo, Flanders, Belgium, since 1962 * - Krauschwitz (Saxony), ...

Malsch Malsch is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 15 km south of Karlsruhe, and 10 km east of Rastatt, at the eastern border of the Upper Rhine Plain. Beside the main town, it consi ...

(acquired 1318),

Bruchsal Bruchsal (; orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle, historically known in English as Bruxhall; South Franconian: ''Brusel'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, ...

Oberderdingen Oberderdingen is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 30 km east of Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''L ...

Vaihingen an der Enz Vaihingen an der Enz is a town located between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, in southern Germany, on the western periphery of the Stuttgart Region. Vaihingen is situated on the river Enz, and has a population of around 30,000. The former district-cap ...

and

Merklingen Merklingen is a municipality in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geographical location Merklingen is located on the plateau of the Swabian Jura, about 20 kilometers northwest of Ulm, between Geislingen and Blaubeuren ...

(acquired 1296), among others. The abbey was however never able to concentrate its lands so as to maximise their economic potential, and never became particularly wealthy. The abbey at some stage received ''

Reichsfreiheit 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 pri ...

'' as an

Imperial abbey Princely abbeys (german: Fürstabtei, ''Fürststift'') and Imperial abbeys (german: Reichsabtei, ''Reichskloster'', ''Reichsstift'', ''Reichsgotthaus'') were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of impe ...

, but appears to have lost this status in 1497, with the abbey's territory being secularised to Württemberg, with Baden gaining some of the outlying villages. It was laid waste in the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

of 1525. After Duke Ulrich introduced the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

in 1534, the monks were forced to leave the abbey in 1536. A school was set up in the buildings in 1556 but was closed again in 1595. Some buildings still remain of the original monastic complex, among them what appear to be the abbot's lodgings and the infirmary, besides ruins of the cloisters. The Romanesque

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the vi ...

also still survives. Of the abbey church there are substantial remains of the Romanesque paradise (entrance porch). The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

was converted for use as a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

church in 1739 and still contains many relics of its former use, including a monument to

Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden Bernard I of Baden (1364 – 5 April 1431, Baden) was Margrave of the Margraviate of Baden from 1391 to 1431. Life He was the elder son of Rudolf VI and Matilda of Sponheim. He and his brother Rudolf VII concluded an inheritance contract i ...

(died 1435, but not buried here). An impressive sculptured panel of the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

from the abbey was removed from Bad Herrenalb to Schloss Eberstein in the Murg valley in the 19th century.

List of Rulers

Abbots Prior to Immediacy LossList of Abbots According to Otto von Alberti
in the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg: ''Findbuch A 489 - Herrenalb''. * Dietrich 1148 * Ulrich 1177 * Albrecht 1186 * Siger 1216 * Walther I 1227 * Eberhard I 1240 * Walther II 1256 * Konrad I von Eberstein 1262 * Matthias 1284 * Marquard I 1292 * Heinrich I 1313 * Rudger 1317 * Berthold 1326 * Eberhard II 1329 * Heinrich II 1335 * Ruprecht 1344 * Marquard II 1366 * Heinrich III 1400 * Konrad II 1406 * Heinrich IV von Magstatt 1427 * Johann I von Derdingen 1454 * Johann II von Horba 1466 * Johann III von Udenheim 1468 * Nikolaus von Obernrode 1471 * Bartholomeus von Richtenberg 1486 (1497 Imperial Immediacy revoked)

References and external links

* Rückert, Peter; Schwarzmaier, Hansmartin: ''850 Jahre Kloster Herrenalb''. Stuttgart 2001, *
Herrenalb Abbey
in the database of Abbeys of Baden-Württemberg in the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg *
Account of the abbey on the website of the Lutheran parish of Bad Herrenalb
*

{{Authority control Imperial abbeys Cistercian monasteries in Germany Monasteries in Baden-Württemberg Religious organizations established in the 1140s 1140s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1147 establishments in Europe Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Buildings and structures in Calw (district)