Egmond Abbey

In about 950 work began on a stone church to replace 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.

[2] Count Lamoral, owner of the nearby castle, was beheaded in 1568 in Brussels by the Spanish regime, and this started the Dutch Revolt.

The abbey's income was diverted by the stadtholder to the financing of his educational project, the newly formed Leiden University.

The castle was built by the knight Berwout van Egmond in 1129, who was paid by the Count of Holland to represent him, protect the abbey and collect the rents, as Voogd.

The relationship quickly turned into a power struggle between the Egmond family and the abbots that lasted for centuries.

In 1933 a new Benedictine community, the Sint-Adelbertabdij, was founded on the site of the former Egmond Abbey, and was again dedicated to Saint Adalbert.

[4] In 1984 the relics of Saint Adalbert were returned here, having been kept safe in Haarlem since the destruction of the medieval monastery in the 16th century, and are enshrined beneath the altar.

A view of the rebuilt Egmond Abbey in 2003.
Illumination from the Egmond Gospels
A view of Egmond Abbey, by Claes Dircksz van der Heck , 1638.
A statue of Lamoraal stands in the middle of the old moat and behind him the Protestant church can be seen, that was built on top of the ruins of the old castle Egmond.