Gotteszell Abbey

The foundation of Gotteszell Monastery is dated to 1240, with a documentary record from 1246 already confirming an established monastic community. The monastery church was first mentioned in 1259, and its stonemason marks in the choir date back to the mid-13th century. Initially, the monastery was under the authority of the Dominicans in Esslingen, before the newly founded Dominican monastery in Schwäbisch Gmünd took over spiritual supervision in 1289. Gotteszell served particularly to provide for unmarried women from the city's patriciate and the surrounding nobility, with monastic life said to have corresponded to the aristocratic style. The Imperial City of Schwäbisch Gmünd exercised patronage, although the monastery was already exempted from taxes by King Henry VII in 1309.