Rheinau Abbey

[1] St. Findan was from Ireland; after escaping Viking slavers, he lived at the abbey as a hermit for twenty-two years.

The early history of the abbey, like that of many others, consists of an alternation between generous endowments and privileges from the Holy Roman Emperors, and oppression and fraud from the "Vögte" (lords protector).

Against the increasingly aggressive territorial claims of the Counts of Sulz the abbey made a treaty in 1455 with the Old Swiss Confederacy, which was intended to protect it against further attacks by the noble families of the Klettgau.

[3] In the 18th century under Abbot Gerold II Zurlauben, Rheinau Abbey, like St. Gallen, enjoyed a late resurgence.

Abbot Gerold II Zurlauben had the monastic complex (in construction up to 1744) magnificently re-built in the Baroque style, much as they appear today.