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Founded: 1130Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Hohenstaufen Dynasty (Germany)
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St. Peter's Abbey on the Madron was a Benedictine monastery in Flintsbach. The church, now a pilgrimage church known as the Peterskirchlein, still stands on the site.
The Madron is a mountain known also as the Petersberg. It was occupied in ancient times, showing traces of Bronze Age settlement.
A poorly documented monastic foundation dating from sometime in the 8th century and settled by monks from St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg was destroyed by the Hungarian invasion of the early 10th century. A supposed resettlement in about 955 by refugee monks from Wessobrunn Abbey is equally poorly evidenced.
In 1130 however the monastery, dedicated to Saint Peter, was definitely (re)founded by Count Siboto of Falkenstein and resettled by monks from Weihenstephan Abbey in Freising. The Counts of Falkenstein-Neuburg were also the abbey's Vögte (lords protector) and endowed it with a number of estates. They gave the abbey to the Bishop of Freising in 1163, but retained the office of Vogt. The monastery was destroyed in 1296 during a dynastic conflict, and never rebuilt. The site became from the 14th century a prebend for a canon of Freising Cathedral, part of whose responsibilities was to oversee the long-established pilgrimage here. It was dissolved in the secularisation of 1803.
The area for which the place had pastoral responsibility was extremely small, but against expectation, the church survived and became shortly afterward the centre of a renewed interest in the tradition of the pilgrimage. The church is today a well-known landmark on its mountain.
References:The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. They were also the largest and strongest fortification in both the ancient and medieval world.
Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, they were, when well-manned, almost impregnable for any medieval besieger.