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| - The first monastery at Mehrerau was founded by Saint Columbanus who, after he was driven from Luxeuil, settled here about 611 and built a monastery after the model of Luxeuil. A nunnery was soon established nearby. Little information survives on the history of either foundation up to 1079, when the monastery was reformed by the monk Gottfried, sent by abbot William of Hirsau, and the Rule of St. Benedict was introduced. (It is probable that when the reform was effected the nunnery was suppressed). In 1097-98 the abbey was rebuilt by Count Ulrich of Bregenz, its "Vogt" (secular administrator and protector) and re-settled by monks from Petershausen Abbey near Konstanz. During the 12th and 13th centuries the abbey acquired much landed property; by the middle of the 16th century it had the right of patronage for sixty-five parishes. During the Reformation the abbey was a strong support of Roman Catholicism in Vorarlberg. In particular Ulrich Mötz, later abbot, exerted much influence in Bregenzerwald by his preaching against the spread of religious innovations while he was provost of Lingenau (1515-33). During the Thirty Years' War the abbey suffered from the devastation inflicted by the Swedes, who billetted soldiers here and exacted forced contributions; they also robbed the abbey of nearly all its revenues. Nevertheless, it often offered a free refuge to religious expelled from Germany and Switzerland. By the 18th century however it had recovered and was once more in a very flourishing condition. In 1738 the church was completely rebuilt, as were the monastic buildings in 1774-81. The existence of Mehrerau was threatened, as was that of other religious foundations, by the attacks upon monasteries of the Emperor Joseph II. However, Abbot Benedict was able to obtain the withdrawal of the decree of suppression, although it had already been signed. However, the Treaty of Pressburg (1805) gave Vorarlberg, and with it the abbey, to Bavaria, which under the "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss" had already secularised its own religious houses in 1802-03. The Bavarian authorities took an inventory of the abbey in April 1806. In a last attempt to save itself, the abbey offered to become a training-school for male teachers, but the Bavarian State refused the offer and dissolved the abbey with effect from 1 September 1806. The monks were evicted and the valuable library was scattered; part of it was burnt on the spot. The forests and agricultural lands belonging to the abbey were taken by the State. In February 1807 the church was closed, and the other buildings were sold at auction. In 1808-09 the church was taken down and the material used to build the harbour of Lindau.
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