Geisenfeld convent
| German: Kloster Geisenfeld | |
Former convent church, now the parish church of Geisenfeld (2006)
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 Location within Bavaria
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| Monastery information | |
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| Order | Benedictine |
| Established | 1037 |
| Disestablished | 1804 |
| Site | |
| Coordinates | 48°41′00″N 11°36′48″E / 48.683256°N 11.613472°ECoordinates: 48°41′00″N 11°36′48″E / 48.683256°N 11.613472°E |
Geisenfeld Abbey (German: Kloster Geisenfeld) was a convent in Bavaria, Germany, in the town of Geisenfeld. It was founded in 1037 and dissolved in 1804. At one time it was one of the most prosperous convents in Bavaria.
Count Eberhard II, the last male descendant of the Sempt und Ebersberg family, and his wife Adelheit founded Geisenfeld Abbey in 1030 after their three children had died leaving no descendants. It replaced a monastery in today's Engelbrechtsmünster that had been destroyed around 955 AD by the Hungarians. The founders gave the abbey a lavish endowment. Instead of monks, as before, the Abbey was for use by nuns of the Order of Saint Benedict from noble families. It accommodated about 50 nuns. The first abbess was the sister of Count Eberhard II, Gerbirgis.
The abbey complex was designed by Benedictines from St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg, who started construction in 1030 in a new location, higher up and further from the Ilm river. The foundations were rock, the ground floor brick and the upper floor was half-timbered. A round chapel in the late Romanesque style has survived from the original abbey. The abbey church was built beside the old parish church, which was dedicated to Saint Emmeram of Regensburg. Both stood side by side at the present churchyard. The abbey church has a picture of the Count and his family handing over their possessions to the Virgin Mary, and contains the grave of the count. The painting dates from 1770.
At one time Geisenfeld Abbey was one of the largest and richest convents in Bavaria. The abbey owned large parts of Gaimersheim near Ingolstadt and the village of Sandsbach, administered by two provosts subordinate to the abbey's provost. The inhabitants of the monastic lands had to pay tithes to the abbey and were subject to the monastic provost's court, apart from serious crimes. The abbess also had the right to appoint ministers to the parishes of Gaimersheim and Sandsbach. The nuns provided education to the people of their lands. They did not always insist on full payment of tithes, and sometimes waived them altogether.
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