9th–12th centuries The early history of the abbey is obscure. Its predecessor in the 9th century is supposed to have been a cell of
Rheinau Abbey, known as
cella alba (the "white cell"), but the line of development between that and the confirmed existence of
St Blaise's Abbey in the 11th century is unclear. At some point the new foundation would have had to become independent of Rheinau, in which process the shadowy Reginbert of Seldenbüren (died about 962), traditionally named as the founder, may have played some role. The first definite abbot of St Blaise however was Werner I (1045?–1069). On 8 June 1065 the abbey received a grant of immunity from Emperor
Henry IV, although it had connections to the family of the
anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden. Between 1070 and 1073 there seem to have been contacts between St. Blaise and the active
Cluniac abbey of
Fruttuaria in Italy, which led to St. Blaise following the Fruttuarian reforms, introducing
lay-brothers or "conversi" and probably even the reformation of the abbey as a
double monastery for both monks and nuns (the nuns are said to have re-settled to Berau Abbey by 1117).
Bernold of Constance (
ca 1050–1100) in his histories counts St Blaise alongside
Hirsau Abbey as leading
Swabian reform monasteries. Other religious houses reformed by, or founded as priories of, St Blaise were:
Muri Abbey (1082),
Ochsenhausen Abbey (1093),
Göttweig Abbey (1094),
Stein am Rhein Abbey (before 1123) and
Prüm Abbey (1132). It also had significant influence on the abbeys of
Alpirsbach (1099),
Ettenheimmünster (1124) and
Sulzburg (
ca 1125), and the priories of Weitenau (
ca 1100), Bürgeln (before 1130) and Sitzenkirch (
ca 1130). A list of prayer partnerships, drawn up about 1150, shows how extensive the connections were between St Blaise and other religious communities. During the course of the 12th century however the zeal of the monks cooled, as their attention became increasingly focussed on the acquisition, management and exploitation of their substantial estates, which by the 15th century extended across the whole of the
Black Forest and included not only the abbey's priories named above, but also the
nunnery at Gutnau and the livings of Niederrotweil, Schluchsee, Wettelbrunn, Achdorf, Hochemmingen, Todtnau, Efringen, Schönau, Wangen, Plochingen, Nassenbeuren and many others.
13th–17th centuries (1767) The original
Vogtei (protective lordship) of the
Bishops of Basle was shaken off quite early: a charter of the Emperor
Henry V dated 8 January 1125 confirms that the abbey possessed imperial protection and free election of their
Vogt. Nevertheless, the office afterwards became a possession of the
Zähringer, and after their extinction in 1218, was held at Imperial will and gift under the Emperor
Frederick II. While this may well have preserved a certain bond with the Emperor, there seems to have been no question of St Blaise's having the status of a
"Reichskloster". From the mid-13th century the
Vögte (protective lordship) were
Habsburg which this drew St. Blaise increasingly into the
Austrian sphere of influence. The ties to the Empire remained, however: the abbey was named between 1422 and 1521 in the lists of imperial territories and the
Swabian Circle tried in vain in 1549 to claim St Blaise as an imperial abbey. The four imperial lordships which St Blaise's had acquired by the end of the 13th century — Blumegg, Bettmaringen, Gutenburg and Berauer Berg — in fact formed the nucleus of the
reichsunmittelbar lordship of
Bonndorf, constituted in 1609, from which the
Prince-Abbots derived their status in the
Holy Roman Empire.
17th century – present The abbey was dissolved in the course of secularisation in 1806 and the monastic premises were thereupon used as one of the earliest mechanised factories in Germany. The monks however, under the last Prince-Abbot Dr Berthold Rottler, found their way to
St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal in
Austria, where they settled in 1809. From 1934, the remaining buildings have been occupied by the well-known
Jesuit college, the
Kolleg St. Blasien. == St Blaise's "Cathedral" ==