Edelstetten Abbey

The foundation of Kloster Edelstetten as an Augustinian canonesses' collegiate church took place in 1126. Gisela von Schwabegg-Balzhausen is traditionally named as the founder and first abbess, whose family coat of arms the monastery later adopted. Until 1460, the protective Vogtship lay with the Margraviate of Burgau, before the monastery acquired it as a pledge. In 1153, the blessed Mechthild von Dießen attempted to reform the collegiate church but returned unsuccessfully after six years. A restriction of the noble canonesses to thirteen by the Bishop of Augsburg occurred in 1283. Around 1500, Edelstetten was recognized as a secular canonesses' collegiate church, a development that the women's collegiate church had apparently sought since its foundation. The canonesses lived without vows according to statutes and could leave and marry at any time, which made the collegiate church more of a welfare institution for daughters of the lower Swabian nobility. The place Oetlinstetten was renamed Edelstetten as a result of this recognition. The monastery suffered destruction three times in its history: in the 14th century, during the Peasants' War in 1525, and in 1632 by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War.