Kaisheim Abbey

Imperial Abbey of Kaisersheim
Reichsstift Kaisersheim
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
1135–1802 (de jure) 1135–1327 and 1656–1802 (de facto)
Coat of arms
Kaisersheim in the 18th century
Capital		Not specified
Government		Elective principality
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Foundation charter	21 September 1135
•	Dedicated by Bp Augsburg	1183 1135
•	Cty Lechsgemünd extinct	1327
•	Immediacy confirmed by     Emperor Charles IV	1346
•	Pfalz-Neuburg inherited     the County of Graisbach	1505
•	Immunity agreed with     Philip of Pfalz-Neuburg	1656
•	Secularised to Bavaria	1802
Preceded by Succeeded by County of Lechsgemünd Electorate of Bavaria
Today part of		Germany

Coat of arms

The Imperial Abbey of Kaisersheim (German:Reichsstift Kaisersheim or Kloster Kaisersheim), was a Cistercian monastery in Kaisersheim (now Kaisheim), Bavaria, Germany.

As one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire, Kaisersheim was a virtually independent state. Its abbot had seat and voice at the Imperial Diet where he sat on the Bench of the Prelates of Swabia. At the time of its secularisation in 1802, the Abbey covered 136 square kilometers and has 9,500-10,000 subjects.

The monastery was founded by Henry II, Count of Lechsgemünd (d. 1142) and his wife Liutgard, and was a daughter house of Lucelle Abbey in Alsace. Count Henry's initial gift of the land was made in 1133; the foundation charter was dated 21 September 1135. The first church was dedicated in 1183 by the Bishop of Augsburg, but was damaged in a fire in 1286, and re-built in its entirety between 1352 and 1387, when the new building was dedicated.

The foundation charter guaranteed the new monastery immunity and independence from secular powers, but on the extinction of the Counts of Lechsgemünd in 1327, their territories passed to the Wittelsbach Counts of Graisbach, who were unwilling to honour the original terms. Although in 1346 the abbey succeeded in obtaining from the Emperor Charles IV a confirmation of the rights included in the charter, and was declared an Imperial abbey (German: Reichstift), the Wittelsbachs were not inclined to honour it.