The monastery was built in the Saxon lands of Eastphalia at the site of a former Pfalz and hunting lodge, mentioned as Elysynaburg in a 995 deed issued by King Otto III.

Fostered by Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt from about 1070, the convent experienced a flourishing period whereupon numerous filial monasteries were established, such as Huysburg, and the abbeys of Harsefeld, Hillersleben, and Wimmelburg.

A larger Romanesque church was erected and dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul on 5 June 1087; including the oldest preserved three-aisled choir of all Benedictine sacral buildings in Germany.

From 1546 onwards the abbey turned Protestant and was subjected to severe changes; in 1555 it became, with its properties and assets, part of the territorial possessions of the Counts.

The monastery remained a possession of the House of Stolberg even after the County of Stolberg-Wernigerode was mediatised and incorporated into the Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.