prince bishopric · Germany and Central Europe
Imperial Abbey of Weissenau
Origins
The abbey was founded in 1145 by Gebizo of Ravensburg, a ministerial of the Guelphs, and settled by Premonstratensian canons. It lay on the Schussen just south of Ravensburg. With Hohenstaufen and later royal protection it gained imperial immediacy in the 13th century, around 1257.
Rule and society
The abbots, elected by the canons, ruled villages, farms and forests around the abbey and sat on the bench of Swabian imperial prelates in the Imperial Diet. Their territory was small and rural, and they defended their rights against the Free Imperial City of Ravensburg and the Habsburg bailiwick. In the early 18th century the abbey rebuilt its church in baroque style.
Decline and legacy
The abbey was secularised in 1803 and given to the counts of Sternberg-Manderscheid as compensation for lands lost to France, and in 1806 it passed to Württemberg. Its church survives as a parish church in Ravensburg.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
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- Imperial Abbey of Weissenau was part of Holy Roman Empire1257 CE – 1803 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Imperial Abbey of Weissenau. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imperial-abbey-of-weissenau
- MLA
- “Imperial Abbey of Weissenau.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imperial-abbey-of-weissenau. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Imperial Abbey of Weissenau.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imperial-abbey-of-weissenau.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Imperial Abbey of Weissenau’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/imperial-abbey-of-weissenau (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻