As part of the systematic Carolingian Christianisation of this part of Germany, a number of monasteries were set up, covering between them the whole region of the Odenwald: Amorbach, Lorsch and Fulda, all founded in the 8th century, and Mosbach, the southernmost and least documented. It is first mentioned in a reference in the records of Reichenau Abbey in 825, but in the context of the other monastic foundations in the Odenwald, it seems likely that it was also founded in the previous century. The next record of it is in 976, when Emperor Otto II granted it to Worms Cathedral chapter as a private episcopal monastery. In about 1000, it was changed from a Benedictine house to one of canons regular. In 1268 however the abbey regained its independence with the re-grant of the right to elect its own abbots.