Saint Vitus of Saint Denis

The abbey, founded in 648 by the Aquitanian monk Remaclus on grounds that were donated by the Merovingian King Sigibert III, were governed in the 12^th century by abbot Wibald (1098-1158).

Wibald also was abbot in the abbey Corvey on the river Weser.

In the year 836, relics of the martyr Vitus of Saint Denis (France) were brought here.

Currently it is more than probable that relics of the holy Vitus who was greatly worshipped in the Middle Ages, were brought here by abbot Wibald via Malmedy to Sankt Vith and in this way gave the place its name (ad sanctum vitum).

The favourable position at the crossroads of streets quickly led to a growing recognition of the place as from 1151 custom points of the Duke of Limburg were built. By the end of the 12^th century the streets, that led from Cologne to the south west, were called ‘via de sancto Vito’.

Duke Walram the Elderly of Limburg remarried in 1214 Ermesinde of Luxembourg. His son from his first marriage, Walram (also called the Younger or the Tall) married in 1225 the daughter of Ermesinde, Elisabeth of Bar. After Ermesinde’s death (1247), Elisabeth’s half-brother Heinrich the Blond, received the hereditary custom rights in Sankt Vith. The influence of the Luxembourgian in the region around Sankt Vith grew further as in 1265 Heinrich the Blond obtained shares of the Neundorf Court, which until then, belonged to Knight Kuno of Schönberg.