How Herrieden got its name

„Hasareod!” is what the first monks might have called when, coming from far away, they first laid sight on their new place of activity at the Altmühl lowland. „Hasareod” in Middle German, meant: cultivate and render inhabitable grey, unaccommodating land.

„Hasareod” hence, had become the focus of life for the monks and a fixed part of the regulations of their order. For instance, Hasareod also became the name of their monastery. Centuries later, owing to linguistic drift, Hasareod became „Hasareod” which in the 14th century then became „Herrenried”.
This finally resulted in today's name of the town, „Herrieden”.

Herrieden Properties in the Middle Ages

From 791 already, Melk, Grünz and Pielach in Lower Austria were under the tenure of Herrieden (from 1982, Melk is a sister city of Herrieden).

In 796, the head theologist of Karl the Great, the Anglosaxon Alkuin, from Tours, gets involved in the quarrels that abbot Deocar must suffer with some of his „progressive” monks.

In 802, what is now the city of Duisburg becomes liable to interest toward the monastery of Herrieden. About the same time, abbot Deocar, later adored as a saint of the blind, appears several times as Envoy of Karl the Great.

In the second half of the 9th century, abbot Luitpert of Herrieden catapults his monastery into European history: He becomes archbishop of Mainz (863), in 865 appears as guarantor in a contract between the Kings Ludwig the German and Karl the Bald of France and in 870 becomes arch chaplain and arch chancellor of the Reich.

Shortly before his death, he swaps the monastery of Herrieden against Ellwangen in 887.

The Saint of the Blind „St. Deocar”

The first abbot of the monastery, St. Deocar, played a significant part for christianization of entire Southern Franconia.
As confessor of Karl the Great, Deocar was in close contact with the emperor who also visited Deocar in Herrieden in 793. Many miracles are reported of Deocar and, following his death, there was even a veritable adoration cult. The transfer of his relics to Nuremberg, in the presence of Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian was of significance to the Reich back then and elevated the Reich city of Nuremberg to new renown.

For instance, at the St. Lorenz church at Nuremberg, a Deocar altar was built in his honor, which is still highly interesting for many art historians.