Edelstetten Abbey

According to the tradition of Gisela Schwabegg-Balzhausen, whose coat of arms, the monastery also took, the founder and first abbess was Mechthild an Augustinian choir woman.

In 1783, the monastery was raised to the status of imperial abbey, a semi sovereign organ within the Holy Roman Empire answerable only to the Emperor.

In 1803, the Abbey of Edelstetten was given to the Prince de Ligne dominion as an immediate principality and as compensation for the loss of the county of Fagnolle in Hainault.

For this reason the Abbey more resembled a sort of charitable institution where the Swabian nobility could educate their daughters.

Due to recognition as a secular Kanonissenstift, the Abbey was by the 16th century called Oetlinstetten which evolved to the modern name Edelstetten.