St. George's Abbey, Isny

Geschichte

St. George's Abbey, Isny (Kloster St. Georg) in Isny im Allgäu in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is a former Benedictine abbey founded in 1096 and secularised in 1802.HistorySt. George's Abbey was founded in 1096 by the Counts of Altshausen-Veringen. In 1106 the foundation was confirmed by Pope Paschal II. Towards the end of the 12th century a Benedictine nunnery was also established in Isny but this was moved in about 1189 to Rohrdorf.St. George's Abbey was responsible for the foundation of the town of Isny, which was developed as a market at the end of the 12th century and received municipal status as early as 1235.Both abbey and town enjoyed economic success, abruptly terminated by the plague in 1350, which almost wiped the abbey out.During the Reformation the town of Isny became Protestant and in 1534 the abbey church was attacked and its sacred images destroyed.The abbey's economic situation only improved — temporarily — in the first third of the 17th century, which was brought to an end by a disastrous fire in 1631. The abbey did not recover until the time of abbot Alfons Torelli (1701–31).It did not become an Imperial abbey until 1781, as member of the Bench of Swabian Prelates.