 Emperor Maximilian I elevated Rot an der Rot Abbey to the status of Imperial Abbey in 1497.The abbey gained imperial immediacy and the abbot became a member of the Swabian College of Imperial Prelates contributing to the Council of the Princes in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.However, following repeated lootings during the German Peasants' War in 1525 and the Schmalkaldic War in 1546 the fortunes of the abbey went again into decline which was only stopped by cautious reforms introduced by Abbot Martin Ehrmann (1560–89).