Egmond Abbey - History

History

The Benedictine abbey was founded by Dirk I, Count of Holland, apparently in about 920-925, as a nunnery that, according to local tradition, had been there since Saints Adalbert and Willibrord landed in 760. In about 950 work began on a stone church to replace by the wooden one, as a gift from Dirk II, Count of Holland, and his wife Hildegard, to house the relics of Saint Adalbert. The consecration of the new church apparently took place in or shortly after 975, and is recorded in the Egmond Gospels, presented to the abbey by Dirk. At the same time a community of Benedictine monks from Ghent replaced the nuns, who under their abbess Erlinde, daughter of Count Dirk, were transferred to a newly-established nunnery, Bennebroek Abbey.

This was the oldest monastery of the Holland region. Dirk I, the founder, was buried there, as were many subsequent counts of Holland and members of their families, including Dirk II, Arnulf, Count of Holland, Dirk III, Floris I, Dirk V, and Floris II.

The Count Lamoral, owner of the nearby castle, was beheaded in 1568, and this started the Dutch Revolt. Shortly afterwards, in 1573, the abbey was dissolved and laid waste just before the siege of Alkmaar on the orders of Diederik Sonoy to prevent it being used by the Spanish. The abbey's income was diverted by the stadtholder to the financing of his educational project, the newly formed Leiden University.