Hersfeld

Hersfeld was a Benedictine imperial abbey on the Fulda river in northern Hesse, refounded by Archbishop Lullus of Mainz. In 1337 its abbot was Louis of Mansbach.

In 1371 the town of Hersfeld sought the protection of the Landgraves of Hesse. By 1513 the abbey had declined so far that its last abbot resigned and the house was placed under Fulda. Hesse administered the territory from 1606, and the peace of 1648 turned it into the secular Principality of Hersfeld.