in 1350 a period of crises and conflicts led to a decline in the number of monks and nuns and increasing debt. A document from 1310, indicates that there were 30 priests, 20 lay brothers and 350 women at the Abbey. In contrast, in 1472 there were only the provost, the prior, nine ordinary canons, seven novices and 27 nuns. At this time, the Abbey also had problems with its tenants and neighbors. In 1348, the people of Grindelwald and Wilderswil joined a mutual defense league with Unterwalden. Bern responded with a military expedition to theBernese Oberland, which ended in defeat for Unterwalden and its allies. In 1445 the Evil League (B�ser Bund) rose up in the Oberland near Interlaken and fought against Bernese military service and taxes following the Old Z�rich War.
During the 14th century the canons and nuns stopped following most of the monastic rules. In 1472 a violent dispute between the men and the women's convents resulted in two visitation by the Bishop of Lausanne who noted serious deficiencies. The provost was arrested and some of the canons were replaced by canons from other convents. Despite the reform measures the nun's convent was closed in 1484 and its property transferred to the newly founded monastery of St. Vincent in Bern.
During the Protestant Reformation, the Abbey was secularized in 1528. The canons received a financial settlement and the properties were now managed by a Bernese bailiff. The tenants of the Abbey who had expected the abolition of all owed interest, responded by rioting, which was suppressed by Bern.
After the Reformation, Bern created the Interlaken bailiwick from the Abbey lands. Part of the Abbey building was used as the headquarters of the district administration, while the rest was used as an indigent hospital. In 1562-63 Bern converted the Abbey church's choir into a granary and a wine cellar. In 1746-50 the west wing was demolished and Governor Samuel Tillier built the so-called new castle. It has
