Waldsassen Abbey

The foundation of Waldsassen Abbey took place around 1133 by Margrave Diepold III of Vohburg, who settled Cistercian monks from Volkenroda. As early as 1147, the monastery received imperial immediacy from King Konrad III. It played a crucial role in the colonization and economic development of the region, which, however, also led to conflicts with the imperial city of Eger. In 1142, Waldsassen, with the consent of Bohemian dukes and bishops, founded the first Cistercian monastery in Sedletz. Pope Lucius III placed the monastery under the protection of the Roman Curia in 1185 and confirmed its possessions. After looting and arson in the 15th century, including by Hussites, and an occupation by Count Palatine Friedrich II in 1543, the monastery was secularized in 1556 under Elector Ottheinrich and served for a long time as a Protestant administrative office. A re-settlement by Cistercians occurred in 1661 during the re-Catholicization after the Thirty Years' War, and in 1690, it was again elevated to an abbey.