Pairis Abbey


Pairis Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Orbey in Haut-Rhin, Alsace, northeastern France. The surviving building serves today as a nursing home.
The abbey was founded in 1138 by the count of Eguisheim as a daughter house of Lucelle Abbey.
In the 13th century, abbot Martin of Pairis preached the Fourth Crusade and then participated in the misfire of it. After taking active part in the sacking of Constantinople, Martin brought several looted relics from there to Pairis, increasing the status of the monastery considerably. The monk Gunther of Pairis wrote an account of the crusade.
The abbey was joined to the Abbey of Maulbronn in 1452, confirmed by the Cistercian general chapter in 1453 and Pope Pius II in 1461. In 1648, Maulbronn was turned over to the Protestant Duchy of Württemberg by the Peace of Westphalia. The Cistercians were forced to leave and they re-established the abbey of Pairis.
The abbey was suppressed during the French Revolution.

List of known abbots

  1. Tegenhard : 1138–1183
  2. Wezelon : 1175–1187
  3. Werner : 1187
  4. Martin : 1200–1207
  5. Hezelon : 1207–1222
  6. Conrad : 1232–1239
  7. John I : 1240
  8. Arnold : 1252–1260
  9. John II : 1262–1275
  10. Berthold : 1279–1280
  11. Ulrich von Turckheim : 1280–1283
  12. Dietrich : 1288–1294
  13. Philipp von Rathsamhausen : 1301–1306
  14. Henry : 1306–1330
  15. Hartmann : 1331
  16. Louis : 1332–1333
  17. John of Hattstatt : 1339–1361
  18. John Uszholtz : 1362
  19. Louis II : 1368–1374
  20. Conrad II : 1376–1379
  21. Tielman : 1381–1388
  22. Berthold Halder : 1389–1411
  23. Nicholas von Ingwiller : 1411–1430
  24. Nicholas von Schweighausen : 1430–1447
According to the abbey's necrology, there were 23 abbots down to 1447, so it is possible that John III and John IV are one and the same person.
  1. Bernardin Buchinger : 1649–1656
  2. Olivier de Foulongne : 1656–1691
  3. Claude de Beauquemare : 1692–1726
  4. Jacques Triboulet : 1726–1736
  5. Mathieu Tribout : 1736–1759
  6. François Xavier Bourste : 1759–1788
  7. Antoine Delort : 1789–1791