Weissenau, Monastery of
WEISSENAU, MONASTERY OF
Imperial Premonstratensian abbey near Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Lat. Augia minor, Augia candida ). In 1145 the Guelf nobleman Gebizo founded the monastery on his own estate and settled it with monks from Rot an der Rot. In 1164, Emperor frederick i took the independent house under his protection, and in 1257 it was raised to the rank of an abbey. Emperor Rudolf I donated to the abbey the relic of the Precious Blood, still venerated in Weissenau. After the miseries and pillaging of the peasants' war and the thirty years' war, the present baroque edifice was erected, beginning in 1708. The monastery was secularized (1802–03) and subsequently bought in 1815 by the state of Württemberg; its buildings have since 1892 served as an insane asylum.
Bibliography: "Acta s. Petri in Augia," Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 29 (1877) 1–128; 42 (1890) 359–373. m. miller, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. m. buchberger, 10 v. (Freiburg 1930–38) 10:804. n. backmund, Monasticon Praemonstratense, 3 v. (Straubing 1949–56). k. willer, Württembergische Kirchengeschichte bis zum Ende der Stauferzeit (Stuttgart 1936). p. lehmann, Erforschung des Mittelalters, 4 v. (2d ed. Stuttgart 1959–61) 3:110–120; 4:40–82.
[l. kurras]