For much of its history, Elchingen was one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire and, as such, was a virtually independent state that contained several villages aside from the monastery itself.

[1] Dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saints Peter and Paul, the monastery was founded by the Counts of Dillingen.

The abbey was one of the very few that enjoyed Imperial immediacy (independent of the jurisdiction of any lord and answering directly to the Holy Roman Emperor, and thus a territorial principality in its own right).

On October 17, 1805 (25 Vendémiaire, Year 14), at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Napoleon wrote from the Abbey of Elchingen to Prince Murat: " ...

It seems to me that you should have slept where the 9th light is, so as to be able, at daybreak, to follow the enemy and outrun him" In 1921 the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate settled on the site.