Gnadental Abbey

The monastery of Gnadental was founded by Konrad von Krautheim and his wife Kunigunde von Eberstein, initially in Hohebach. At the request of Bishop Hermann I von Lobdeburg of Würzburg, the convent was incorporated into the Cistercian Order in 1237. Shortly thereafter, the nuns relocated to the Bibers valley. The Counts of Hohenlohe exercised the Vogtship over the monastery and occasionally used it as a burial site. During the Reformation and the introduction of the new faith by the Lords of Hohenlohe, the monastery was secularized in 1551. Although the nuns who remained faithful to the old religion were allowed to continue living there, the monastic use ceased. After the death of the last prioress Sophia von Ellrichshausen in 1571, the complex was used as a stud farm from 1589, housed a mint in 1622, and served as a hospital from 1696.