Lauffen

Title

Lauffen

Dates

Founded as Benedictine in 1003; Dominican from ca. 1285; Premonstratensian from 1476; dissolved 1553

Dedication

John the Baptist

Affiliation

Adelberg

Medieval Diocese

Würzburg

Circary

Ilfeld

History

Originally established in 1003 as a Benedictine community of Benedictine women, Lauffen became a Dominican community in about 1285, and Premonstratensian in 1476. The first Premonstratensian sisters came from Adelberg.

Lauffen was looted during the Peasants' War in 1525. The Duke of Württemberg suppressed the community during the Reformation. Today only some fragmentary ruins survive.

Heads of Community

Magistrae

Barbara von Kaltental, ca. 1495-ca. 1507
Margaretha von Nippenburg, fl. 1522

Status

Women's community

Archival Sources

Ludwigsburg, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg

B 342 U 32 (1495)

Stuttgart, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart

G 30 (1458-1489)

Bibliography

Bach, Max. “Das Nonnenkloster Lauffen am Neckar.” Zeitschrift des Historischen Vereins für das Württembergische Franken 8, no. 1 (1868): 104–6. https://doi.org/10.53458/zhvwf.v8i1.5037.

Schlagenhauf, Paul. “Das Frauenkloster zu Lauffen.” Zeitschrift des Zabergäuvereins, no. 4 (1967): 19–23. https://www.zabergaeuverein.de/resources/ecics_174_citx5hzu.pdf.

Schneider, Eugen. “Die Klosterfrau Katharine Gräfin zu Württemberg.” Literarische Beilagen des Staatsanzeigers für Württemberg, 1895, 35–37.

Von Gaisberg-Schöckingen, Friederich. “Zur Geschichte des Nonnenklosters in Lauffen am Neckar.” Württembergische Jahrbücher für vaterländische Geschichte, Geographie, Statistik und Topographie, 1901, 25–34. https://books.google.com/books?id=DEEMLVO4L8gC&pg=RA1-PA25.

Image Credit

Surviving wall from Kloster Lauffen, 2009. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Ilfeld

Citation

“Lauffen,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/548.

Geolocation