# All Saints Abbey at Schaffhausen (1049)

URL: https://allhistories.com/swiss/timeline/1049-all-saints-abbey-at-schaffhausen
Themes: Key Events

In 1049 Count Eberhard of Nellenburg founded the Benedictine monastery of All Saints (Allerheiligen) at Schaffhausen, a settlement where goods travelling on the Rhine had to be unloaded because of the falls downstream. Pope Leo IX, a relative, consecrated the site. Under Abbot William of Hirsau's influence the abbey adopted the strict Hirsau reform in the 1080s, becoming a stronghold of the papal party during the Investiture Controversy. It also gained rights over the growing town, which developed around the transhipment trade. Schaffhausen later freed itself from abbatial control, becoming an imperial city in the thirteenth century and a member of the Confederacy in 1501.

## Why it matters
The foundation shows how monasteries and trade routes combined to create towns in medieval northern Switzerland.

Ruler at the Time: [Henry III](https://allhistories.com/swiss/rulers/henry-iii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Schaffhausen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schaffhausen)
- [Wikipedia — Rhine Falls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine_Falls)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — All Saints Abbey at Schaffhausen](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=All+Saints+Abbey+at+Schaffhausen)
- [Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HLS) lookup — All Saints Abbey at Schaffhausen](https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/en/search/?text=All+Saints+Abbey+at+Schaffhausen)
- [Wikipedia — History of Switzerland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Switzerland)