FULDA, Abbey of. A Benedictine abbey in Prussia, which is. also the seat of a bishopric. The abbey was founded in 744 under the direc tion of Saint Boniface, who made it an episco pal see as a part of his plan for evangelizing Germany. The rule of the community was modeled on that of Monte Cassino, and abso lute autonomy was secured to it by Pope Zachary in 751. The authenticity of the docu ment granting this privilege has been questioned, but it is now generally accepted as genuine. The monks at Fulda devoted themselves particularly to the development of agriculture, and estab lished many smaller monasteries in Thuringia, Saxony, Hesse, Bavaria, Lorraine, Swabia and other parts of Germany, these subordinate houses becoming centres of thriving agricul tural communities. Art and literature were also assiduously cultivated at Fulda. A splendid church, erected in the 9th century on the site of the original structure, was famous through out Europe, and exercised for centuries an in fluence on ecclesiastical architecture. The monastic school, established by Saint Sturmius, the first abbot, began to flourish during the time of Charlemagne, and became celebrated throughout Europe. Abbot Rabanus Maurus (822-42) assembled a great library, which was further enriched during the following centuries by the labors of the monks. By the end of the 10th century the abbey had achieved a very important position in the German Empire. From
968 the abbot was primate of all the Benedictine abbeys in Germany and Gaul, and from the 12th century, he was a prince of the empire. The abbey grew so rich in lands, tithes and other sources of revenue that the monastic discipline was much relaxed. The importance of the school declined perceptibly. At a comparatively early date the teachings of the Reformation affected the chapter, but late in the 16th century discipline was re-established and the Catholic faith restored. The foundation of a Jesuit college there in 1571 revived the scholastic spirit, which had almost ceased to exist. In 1584 a papal seminary was established and also placed under the direction of the Jesuits. Dur ing the Thirty Years' War the abbey suffered, period but afterward it enjoyed a riod of peace and prosperity, and in 1732 the Jesuit and the Bene dictine schools were uniteci and converted into a university. In 1802 the abbey, which then embraced a territory of about 40 square miles, with a population of 100,000, was secularized. In 1809, under Napoleon it was ceded to the Grand Duchy of Frankfort; in 1815 to Hesse Cassel, with which it passed in 1866 to Prussia. The university was closed under the law of secularization, and the papal seminary was con verted into an episcopal seminary.