Comburg Castle

Comburg was a Benedictine monastery near Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.

It was founded in the late 1070s by the Counts of Comburg-Rothenburg on the site of their castle. They retained the office of Vogt, which continued until their extinction in the Staufer dynasty. The first monks were from Brauweiler Abbey, but in the 1080s an abbot from Hirsau Abbey was appointed, and this brought Comburg into the movement of the Hirsau Reforms.

The monks of Comburg were exclusively of noble birth, and accordingly resisted the Benedictine reforms (the Melk Reforms) of the 15th century, under the pressure of which the monastery became a collegiate foundation (Kollegiatstift) in 1488, rather than admit non-nobles to the community.

In 1587 Comburg was mediatised by Württemberg, which brought to an end its status as an Imperial abbey.

The community was secularised in 1803. The library survives in the Württemberg State Library, but the church treasure was melted down in the Ludwigsburg mint.

The buildings have had a number of uses since then. Until 1909 a regiment of invalid soldiers (the ) was based here. During World War II the site was used for a variety of training purposes and also at one point as a prisoner of war camp. After the war it was used briefly for housing displaced persons, but since 1947 it has housed a teacher training establishment.