In the course of the reorganisation of the Church, many monasteries came into existence under the Bavarian dukes, as centres of regional development – Niederalteich, Metten, Niedernburg in Passau, and St. Florian, situated before the Enns estuary.
After the Roman period, Charles the Great is the next outstanding imperial figure whom we encounter on the Danube. With him, a new chapter of our European history begins. In the year 800, he had himself crowned Emperor in Rome, thus laying claim to his Roman predecessors’ right to universal rulership. During their military and mission campaigns, Charles and his son Pippin used the Danube as a military highway. The imperial sojourns in Regensburg and Lorch are historically documented. The Carolingian Empire extended deep into Pannonia, today’s Hungary. The successors of Charles the Great chose Regensburg as their royal seat. The subsequent dukes from Saxon, Frankish, Guelph and, finally, Wittelsbach dynasties also established their residences here. Almost all emperors and kings sojourned in the city for lengthy periods and issued their imperial decrees from there. Under the Imperial Bishop Wolfgang, Emmeram abbey in Regensburg achieved a spiritual zenith of wide-ranging influence. In 975, it founded a school of singing, out of which today’s Regensburger Domspatzen, the world-famous boys’ choir developed. The possessions and rights of Regensburg’s prince-bishopric extended far down the Danube. One important base was Pöchlarn, which remained in the possession of Regensburg until 1803.