Johann Christoph Freiherr von Aretin
(1772–1824)

"Today begins a new era of Bavarian history, more important than any other . . . From now on, the moral, intellectual, and physical culture of this land will be entirely transformed. In a thousand years, the consequences of this step will still be felt. Historians will speak of the dissolution of the monasteries just as we now look upon the lifting of the right to private warfare. They will mark the beginning of a new age, and will approach the ruins of the abbeys with the same mixed feelings with which we now contemplate the ruins of the castles of the old robber barons."

    —Letter dtd 1 April 1803 from Kloster Schäftlarn

Carmina burana
Secularization Order (17 March 1803)