Indersdorf Abbey

The Indersdorf Monastery was founded in 1120 by Count Palatine Otto V of Wittelsbach. It served as an atonement monastery after Otto V was involved in the capture of Pope Paschal II and subsequently excommunicated. Pope Calixtus II offered Otto V absolution from the ban if he would establish a monastery. The original St. Nicholas Chapel from 1096 formed the nucleus of the monastic complex. In 1126, Augustinian canons from the Marbach Abbey in Alsace moved into Indersdorf. The monastery church, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, Peter, and Paul, was rebuilt as a three-aisled pillar basilica after a fire in 1247. Under Provost Konrad II in the 14th century, the monastery received patronage from Emperor Louis IV and gained lower jurisdiction. The Raudnitz monastic reform, carried out in the 15th century under Provosts Erhard Brunner and Johannes von Indersdorf, led to a stricter observance of the order's rules and made Indersdorf a model monastery. In addition to a school for monastic novices, there was also a school for parish children and an extensive library. During the Thirty Years' War, the monastery suffered repeated looting and destruction.