The Benedictine monastery was founded in 1129 as a private episcopal monastery by Count Ernst II of Hirschberg and his brothers Count Hartwig III of Grögling, governor of the Bishopric of Eichstätt, and Gebhard of Hirschberg, Bishop of Eichstätt.[1] The Romanesque crypt from the time of its foundation still exists.
In the 15th century, morals in the monastery began to decline. In 1458, the monks' way of life was again more strictly aligned with the Rule of Benedict through the principles of the Kastler Reform.[2] Abbot Ulrich IV Dürner (1461–1494) continued this reform and founded the brewery. During the Peasants' War (1525) and the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), large parts of the monastery were damaged or destroyed.
The first renovation work in the church and monastery did not begin until the middle of the 17th century. Major construction work did not begin until the end of the 17th century. The art-loving Abbot Romanus Dettinger (1694–1703) created the baroque gateway with the former abbot's apartment above it. The Prelate's Hall and the Banqueting Hall express the baroque joie de vivre. The construction of the characteristic corner tower, which you pass on the way through the inner courtyard, also dates back to the reign of Abbot Romanus Dettinger. His successor, Abbot Dominikus II Heuber (1704–1711), continued the dominant baroque architecture; he arranged for the relocation of the sacristy and built the imposing brewery building (now the library). Abbot Dominikus IV Fleischmann (1757–1792) was particularly concerned with the monastery church. He was responsible for the construction of the Chapel of the Cross, which was stuccoed by the Eichstätt court stucco artist Johann Jakob Berg. The guest house opposite the gate was also built during his reign. ♁⊙ In 1806, the monastery was also dissolved as part of the secularization. The monastery buildings and economy were auctioned off. Andreas Schmidt describes in his article Monastery in Transition: Responsibility for Creation. On the way to a sustainable circular economy in and with the region that this destroyed "not only the spiritual and cultural life in the region" but also "a functioning regional economic system". In 1856 there were plans to rebuild the dissolved monastery. The plan failed because the state authorities did not grant permission for it.
In 1904, Plankstetten was rebuilt as a priory of the Scheyern monastery with financial help from Barons von Cramer-Klett. On November 5, 1907, an agricultural school was opened under the name Plankstetten Rural Further Education School. In 1911 it was renamed Agricultural Winter School; around 50 students were taught in two winter courses each year. There was a boarding school for them. In 1917 Plankstetten became an abbey again.
In 1920, the first scholastics were able to move into the St. Benedict seminary in Luitpoldstrasse in Eichstätt (today the Episcopal Archives), which had been acquired from the Plankstetten Abbey shortly before. In 1935, a student dormitory was added, but this had to be closed again in 1941 on the orders of the National Socialists. It was reopened in 1946 and expanded in 1954 with a new building. On December 29, 1975, the seminary was closed. The Philosophy II department of the Eichstätt Church Comprehensive University was temporarily housed there.
When the Christian Farmers' Association, with which the Plankstetten Agricultural School was closely linked, was forcibly transferred to the National Socialist "Reichsnährstand" in 1934, the monastery gave up the agricultural school; it had seen its largest attendance since the early 1930s (1930/1931: 130 young farmers). The school was reopened on November 3, 1953; the last courses ended in the spring of 1959.
A middle school/middle school with boarding school (student dormitory) (fully expanded since 1962/1963) was established for the 1959/1960 school year. State recognition took place on November 6, 1963. A new gym was inaugurated on December 1, 1963, and in 1965 the school was renamed the Monastic Middle School. In 1966 a swimming pool was put into operation in the monastery garden. The boarding school was closed again in 1988 and converted into a guest house; the middle school was also abandoned.
In 1975 the monastery and the municipality of Plankstetten became part of the Neumarkt district in Upper Palatinate. Since May 1, 1978 the municipality and thus also the monastery have belonged to the greater municipality of Berching.