Fraubrunnen Abbey
Fraubrunnen Abbey is a former Cistercian Abbey in the municipality of Fraubrunnen in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
In 1246, Counts Hartmann the Elder and Hartmann the Younger of Kyburg donated their land at Mülinen to establish a convent. Originally known as Fons beate Marie, the convent was placed under the abbot of Frienisberg in 1249-50. The original land grant gave the Abbey lands, farms and forests as well as the right to hold the low court for Fraubrunnen. Over the following years it gained estates in a number of villages and vineyards on the shores of Lake Biel. It owned houses in Bern, Burgdorf and Solothurn and received the Burgrecht in those cities. The Abbey became one of the wealthiest in the Canton of Bern. The Abbey's nuns generally came from the ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) or bourgeoisie classes.[1]
The original Abbey cloister and church were damaged and rebuilt following a fire in 1280 and again after a fire in 1375.
The Kyburgs held the title of Kastvogt or ecclesiastical reeve over the Abbey. In 1406, Bern acquired the land rights and high court rights over territory that included the Abbey. After the extinction of the Kyburg family in 1420, the Kastvogt title over the monastery also went to Bern.[1]
With close ties to Bern, the Abbey could not escape the effects of the Protestant Reformation. Between 1481 and 1512 Bern attempted to limit the Abbess' power and regulate the convent. However, when Bern adopted the Reformation in 1528 the Abbey was quickly secularized and the nuns were moved out.[1]
The secularized building became a castle and administrative center of the bailiwick of Fraubrunnen in the Zollikofen district. In 1535 the church and the east wing were demolished. In 1569-74 the cloister passageways were expanded and covered to become corridors in the main building. In 1647-48 the west wing was converted into a granary. The castle was pillaged by the French during the 1798 French invasion. Under the Act of Mediation in 1803 the old Vogtei dissolved and Fraubrunnen became the seat of a district of the same name.[1]
References
Coordinates: 47°05′06″N 7°31′35″E / 47.084881°N 7.526482°E