As an imperial abbey, the monastery was under the direct auspices of the Holy Roman Emperor, and enjoyed a degree of sovereignty equivalent to a small micro state within the Empire.

The medieval historian Lambert of Hersfeld held that Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne, founded the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul in 1074 with religious independence and a bequest of land and assets.

[1][2] The monastery quickly became the ecclesiastical center of power in eastern Thuringia and was the starting point of the Christianization of the surrounding area.

The abbey at Saalfeld claimed the status of a direct imperial Fürstabtei and so was a secular principality within the territorial area of Thuringia.

Between 1677 and 1720 a ducal palace was built on the site of the former Benedictine abbey, whose buildings were, including the Romanesque basilica demolished in 1676.