Abtei Neustadt am Main

The abbey's origins date back to the 8th century. From 738 to 742, Burkard and his companions used a Carolingian hunting lodge on Michaelsberg, known as Michilstat, which he had received from Charles Martel. Archaeological findings there reveal the foundations of a hall church of Anglo-Saxon design, which served as the Michilstat's monastery church. The surrounding valley area, then called Rorinlacha, was drained around 738/739. Around 741, Megingaud, later the second Bishop of Würzburg, consecrated a first monastery in the Main valley, whose convent was located north of a hall church. After his return to Rorinlacha around 769, Megingaud had the hall church of the "Alte Statt" rebuilt with a transept church after 772. This new monastery, initiated by King Charles I, was consecrated in 781, with over 50 noble Benedictine brothers from Würzburg being compelled to relocate there. Charlemagne promoted the monastery and granted it protection, which brought it a large area in the Spessart. Despite royal protection, the Bishops of Würzburg repeatedly tried to exert influence, which in 993, through a forged document, led to its conversion into a proprietary Würzburg monastery. In the 12th century, the bishop allowed the monastic Vogt Markwart II of Grumbach to build Rothenfels Castle on monastic land, which thereafter dominated not only the Main valley but also the monastery. Despite the recognition of a forged founding privilege of Charlemagne in 1279 and its confirmation in 1366, the situation did not change. Another forged document claiming the monastery's foundation by Gertrude, an alleged sister of Charlemagne, did not succeed but established centuries of devotion to Gertrude with annual pilgrimages.

The former Benedictine Abbey is located in Neustadt am Main, a municipality in the Main-Spessart district in Bavaria, Germany.

The Benedictine Abbey existed until the secularization in Bavaria. The exact current use or condition of the former monastic complex is not detailed in the facts, however, the rectory today stands over the foundations of the monastery at the "Alte Statt".

• Rienecker Schlösschen (Castle, approx. 3951 m away)
• Rothenfels Castle (Castle, approx. 4424 m away)
• Lohr Castle (Castle, approx. 7333 m away)
• Steinbach Castle (Castle, approx. 9159 m away)