The foundation tale of Klosterneuburg Monastery

the famous veil legend

The so-called veil legend has been spun around the foundation of Klosterneuburg Monastery. On their wedding day Margrave Leopold III and Agnes of Germany are said to have been standing on top of their castle on the Leopoldsberg as a sudden gust of wind takes hold of Agnes’ bridal veil and carries it away. 9 years later during a hunting trip, Leopold finds the veil in the woods around Klosterneuburg, fully intact upon a blossoming elder tree. The margrave interprets this as a sign from God and has a monastery erected on this spot.

In actual fact the area around Klosterneuburg at the beginning of the 12th century no longer consists of untouched woodland. The hill on which the monastery stands is inhabited since prehistoric times and is developed into a Roman fort in the 1st century CE. It’s likely that a small settlement is established on its ruins in the 11th century, which Leopold III then adopts as a residence and in 1114 as the site for a secular-canonical monastery.

In 1133 the monastery is handed over to the Augustinian canons and consecrated in 1136. Margrave Leopold III passes away a few months later on November 15, 1136 and is laid to rest in the chapter house, today the chapel of Saint Leopold.

The foundation legend is depicted in a series of 4 pictures by Rueland Frueauf the Younger, who is born in Salzburg in around 1470 and dies in Passau in 1547. In all probability they are intended as altar wings and are created on the occasion of the translation of the margrave, celebrated on February 15, 1506.