Selz Abbey

Selz Abbey or Seltz Abbey is a former monastery and Imperial abbey in Seltz, formerly Selz, in Alsace, France.HistoryThe Benedictine monastery, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, was founded in about 991 by Adelheid, the second wife of Otto I and dowager empress, later Saint Adelheid, who was buried there on 16 December 999. In January 992 it was granted royal tuitio and immunity (roughly the equivalent of the later Imperial immediacy) by Otto III.The abbey suffered from severe floods in 1307, and was rebuilt between 1307 and 1315. The relics of Saint Adelheid, which apparently survived the floods, were moved to the church of Saint Stephen in Seltz. A daughter house of the abbey, founded at Mirmelberg in 1197, was washed away by floods in 1469.The abbey was eventually secularized in 1481 and the monks formed a college of canons operating as the chapter of the nearby St. Stephen's church (a mile away from the abbey), retaining some of the privileges of the former foundation, although not all the possessions.The chapter became Protestant in 1575 and was mediatised by the Electorate of the Palatinate. Most of the monastic buildings were quarried from the beginning of the 17th century, except for one which had been used as a reformed academy for young nobles in 1575 but was closed in 1577 because the new Elector was Lutheran.