The Abbey was founded in 975 on the site of an old nunnery that according to local history, had been there since Saint Adelbert and Willibrord landed in 760. The founding of the monastery can be dated so closely, thanks to the Evangelarium of Egmond that has survived. This Abbey was the oldest abbey of Holland, founded by Dirk I, Count of Holland, though at that time the country was not called Holland, but Frisia. He was buried there, as were later counts of Holland Dirk II, Count of Holland, Arnold, Duke of Gelderland, Charles, Duke of Guelders, Floris van Egmont, Floris’ son Maximiliaan van Egmond, and Maximilan’s daughter Anna van Egmont.
The most famous (and last) person to be buried there was Lamoral, Count of Egmont, who was murdered by the Duke of Alva in Brussels in 1568 as part of the troubles leading to the 80 years war. It was quite soon after that, that the Abbey was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in 1572.
(The murdered Count of Egmond is the main character in a play by Goethe, Egmont. In 1810 Ludwig van Beethoven composed an overture and incidental music for a revival of the play.)
Relationship to Egmond Castle
North of the Abbey is the site of Egmond Castle in Egmond aan den Hoef. 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. The relationship quickly turned into a power struggle between the Egmond family and the abbots that lasted for centuries. Just as the Abbey, the Castle was destroyed in the 16th century.
The chapel was restored by the Dutch Protestant church, but the castle was never rebuilt. The foundations are still visible and the land surrounding the old moat and foundations has been turned into a park.
Saint Adelbert-Abbey
The current Abbey was rebuilt in 1933, and the farmlands were put back to use. Since 1989 however, the farm has been let to a farmer, as the monks are no longer able to do the heavy farm work. The Abbey Church was built in 1953-54 by architect B.J. Koldewey, from the school of architect A.J. Kropholler, who designed the earlier Abbey buildings
Many artefacts from the Abbey have been recovered in the years since the iconoclasm of 1568, such as the altarpiece from 1530. At first townspeople assumed that all possessions of the Abbey had been burned, but in fact they had been sold by Diederik Sonoy before the Abbey was destroyed.
In recent decades the current Abbey has been able to recover many lost relics, or at least information about them. The old Abbey had been of great importance to artists, and much of that art has survived against all odds.
What is less known, however, is that for the intervening period from 1568 until the remaining ruins were finally torn down completely, the Abbey and associated castle ruins served as inspiration in its damaged state. Many great artists visited Bergen, Schoorl, or Egmond to paint the ruins of the Abbey, among them Jacob van Ruysdael in 1655-60.