Reichenau
Founded in 724 by St. Pirminius, Augia dives, on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, became a literary and artistic center in the Middle Ages. The monks followed the rule of St. Benedict. When Charles the Fat was overthrown in the IX Century, he retired to Reichenau, where he was buried in 888, although he had since regained the throne of France. Walafrid Strabo, Hatto of Mainz, and Herimannus Contractus (Herman the Lame) were among the famous monks who lived at Reichenau. The monastery held the relics of St. Mark and of St. George, frescoes of whom, done in the X Century, are expressions of the monastery's artistic merit. The library and scriptorium of Augia dives contributed much to its fame. (Most of the library's collection is now in Karlsruhe). Augia dives was secularized in 1802.
Karen Rae Keck
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