Amorbach Abbey

Amorbach Abbey was a Benedictine monastery located at Amorbach in the district of Miltenberg in Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.HistoryIt was one of four Carolingian foundations intended to establish Christianity in the region of the Odenwald (the others were the monasteries of Lorsch, Fulda and Mosbach).According to legend, a Gaugraf named Ruthard called the Frankish bishop, Saint Pirmin, to the area to set up a monastic settlement with chapel west of today's town, at the entrance to the Otterbachtal. A disciple of Pirmin, an Aquitanian called "Amor" supposedly then moved the monastery to its current location in 734.By 800 it had become a Reichsabtei, the abbot being directly answerable to Charlemagne. Pepin united it to the Bishopric of Würzburg, although control of it was much disputed by the Bishops of Mainz.The abbey played an important role in the clearing and settlement of the vast tracts of forest in which it was located, and in the evangelisation of other areas, notably Saxony: many of the abbots of the missionary centre of Verden an der Aller - later to become the Bishops of Verden - had previously been monks at Amorbach. It was severely damaged by the invasions of the Hungarians in the 10th century.