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Origin and history

The abbey of Marbach was founded in 1089 by the Knight Burckart of Gueberschwihr, a vassal of the church of Strasbourg. According to legend, he had a divine vision ordering him to build a monastery at the places where he had fallen asleep near the Marbach stream. Burckart devoted his personal fortune to it and received gifts from the noble Alsatians, including the Counts of Eguisheim. The abbey was first a double monastery, housing both canons and canonesses, the latter leaving Marbach around 1124 to found the Schwartzenthann convent.

The establishment adopted the rule of the regular canons of St Augustine under the impulse of Manegold of Lautenbach, a scholar who defended Pope Gregory VII against Emperor Henry IV. Manegold became the first abbot and obtained the protection of Popes Urban II and Pascal II. The abbey grew rapidly, becoming the home of several monasteries in Alsace, Germany and Switzerland. However, it suffered looting, fires (especially in 1253, 1290, and 1525) and conflicts, such as the assassination of the provost in 1214. Despite these trials, it was rebuilt and protected by figures like Frédéric Barberousse.

In the 15th century, faced with a loose discipline, the abbey was incorporated into the Windesheim congregation. It survived the wars (Landers, Thirty Years) before being sold as a national property in 1791. Demolished between 1791 and 1830, it remains today only the Romanesque narthex (XII century), the 15th century wall, and remains of the choir. The site now houses a medico-educational institute. The Abbey has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1988.

Among the lost treasures are the Codex Guta-Sintram (1154), an illuminated manuscript made in its scriptorium, which is now preserved in Strasbourg. The narthex, saved from destruction, served as a hostel and then quarantined before its restoration in 1992. The abbey stones, sold as materials, are found in local churches, such as Colmar or Obermorschwihr.

Marbach's history is marked by figures such as Burckart, its founder, and Manegold, his first abbot, but also by conflicts with the lords of Hattstatt or the ravages of wars. Its decline started with the Revolution, sealing the fate of what was one of the largest abbeys in Alsace (65 m long).

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