The trials and tribulations of the Abbey
A papal bull, creator of conflicts between the Habsburgs and the bishop of Basle

Throughout the centuries, the history of the village and that of its Abbey are very often closely linked. Their history is of course marked by prosperous times but, unfortunately, there have also been moments of great torment which have often put their existence at great risk.

When, in 1049, Leon IX consacrated the Abbey, he endowed it with a papal bull (a decree signed with the seal of the pope) stipulating that it was now under the sole authority of the Holy See.
The bishop of Basle who exerced religious and temporal authority over the southern region of Alsace, had great difficulty accepting the overruling of his authority, the loss of his right of jurisdiction, the free appointment of the abbess as well as the loss of a number of benefits due for his episcopalian responsibilities for the holdings and possessions of the Habsburgs in Ottmarsheim.

In 1063, The Emperor Henry IV confirmed the privileges of the Abbey in Rodolphe’s widow.


In 1153 pope Eugene III renewed the rights of the Abbess Evanhilde. In the illustrated manuscript we can clearly make out the name of Pope Eugene and a little further on, that of Evanhilde, abbess of the Saint Mary’s Monastery of Otmersheim and, below the seal of the Pope Eugene III.
It was in this way that the first centuries in the history of the Abbey were crossed with often violent conflicts between the Habsburgs and the bishop of Basle.