 Following the Great Plague of 1348 fewer members of the landed gentry joined the monastery but more and more farmers and members of the middle class resulting in a decrease in the acquisition of lands.Crop failures, fires, wars and an economic crisis lasting for decades accelerated the decline of the abbey until, in 1391, only three monks were left.The abbot of Weissenau Abbey, an abbey founded as a filial institution by monks from Rot an der Rot, finally took control and in 1407 King Rupert installed Seneschal John II of Waldburg as governor of the abbey.