Münsterschwarzach Abbey (Abtei Münsterschwarzach, formerly often known as Kloster Schwarzach or Schwarzach Abbey), is a Benedictine monastery in Germany. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Schwarzach and Main in Bavaria. Carolingian nunnery The abbey, dedicated to the Holy Saviour, the Virgin Mary and Saint Felicity, was founded before 788 as a nunnery. It was a private foundation of the Carolingian ruling house: the abbesses were daughters of the imperial family, for example Theodrada (d. 853), a daughter of Charlemagne. After the death of the last Carolingian abbess, Bertha, in 877, the nuns left the abbey and it was taken over by Benedictines from "Megingaudshausen". First Benedictine monastery Münsterschwarzach became a centre of monastic reform during the 12th century, when Bishop Adalbero of Würzburg, who was in close contact with the reform movements of Cluny, Gorze and Hirsau, appointed Egbert of Gorze as abbot. Egbert not only reformed and renewed the spiritual life of Münsterschwarzach but then, through the spread of the subsequent Münsterschwarzach Reforms, exerted an influence far beyond it, from Harsefeld near Stade in the north to Melk and Lambach in the south. The monastery faced several severe problems in the following centuries, such as economic ruin, fires, and robberies. In the peasant's war in 1525, the monastery got almost completely destroyed. The abbey was restored under Abbot Johannes Burckhart (1563-1598), who rebuilt the library and reorganized the monastery's possessions. Abbot Johannes Burckhart was considered a fighter of the Counter-Reformation and tried to re-catholicize the monastic villages. After the Thirty Years' War, Abbot Remigius Winckel (1646-1654) had the monastery villages resettled, rebuilt the destroyed monastery mill, stocked up on livestock, and, by recruiting young novices, ensured a revival of the spiritual life of the abbey. Although his successor Benedikt Weidenbusch (1654–1672) was elected abbot in 1654, he was only an administrator until 1656. When he was elected, the only 22-year-old was not yet an ordained priest. He received the title of abbot in 1656 after his ordination and established a college in the abbey while he was abbot. In a fire in 1677, Abbot Placidus Büchs (1672–1691) risked his life to save most of the valuables from the outbuildings, which were destroyed entirely. He also worked to rebuild buildings that had been destroyed in the war. Towards the end of the 17th century, a baroque plan for the church began to be realized. The architects were