A poor harvest , a plague of locusts and finally a massive landslide on the Dobratsch caused by the 1348 Friuli earthquake led the abbey into economic problems - it lost buildings , its church and the village of St. Johann to the landslide . Documents show it began to recover until 1391 , although the local population continued to decline , probably also due to the Black Death . In 1391 the Patriarch of Aquileia handed the abbey the parish of Hermagor to try to stem its financial problems , but this and further privileges , donations and foundations were not enough to pay off its debts . In the 15th century it even found it difficult to look after the parish of Hermagor and this led it into a dispute which involved the first witch trial in Carinthia , which occurred in the Grünburg Landgericht court in Hermagor in 1465 . Abbot Christoph allowed Jakob Fugger and his brothers to build a metal-separating works and a fortress on abbey lands in 1495 , which became the foundation for the Fuggerau complex . Abbot Friedrich complained in 1507 that the abbey had fallen into dilapidation and poverty and during the Reformation it was on the verge of dissolution , with its reputation weakened by the taxes on the princes to fund the war against the Ottoman Empire , its quarrels with nobles and subjects and its neglect of its pastoral duties . Despite the bishopric 's edicts to the contrary , Lutheran preachers occupied the abbey and Thörl as well as the neighbouring fortresses . In 1570 abbot Petrus entered into a bond for 2500 guilders in installments to buy back the Fuggerau with all its lands and rights , since it had declined as a mining operation but still needed to be kept out of the hands of the neighbouring nobles , who might well go over to Protestantism at any moment
1348 Friuli earthquake
1348 Friuli earthquake
Arnoldstein Abbey