Aduard Abbey ( nl, Abdij van Aduard, ''Abdij Sint-Bernardus in Aduard'') is a former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

in the village of

Aduard Aduard () is a village in the municipality of Westerkwartier, in the Netherlands. It is located about 8 km northwest of Groningen. The history of Aduard dates back to the foundation in 1192 of the Cistercian Aduard Abbey, where famous ear ...

about 8 kilometres to the north-west of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, founded in 1192 and dissolved in 1580.

History

The monastery was founded in 1192 from

Klaarkamp Abbey Klaarkamp Abbey ( nl, Klooster Klaarkamp; la, Monasterium beatae Mariae de Claro Campo) was a Cistercian monastery in the community of Dantumadeel, about 4 kilometres southwest of Dokkum and 2 kilometres north of Rinsumageast in the Dutch province ...

near

Dokkum Dokkum is a Dutch fortified city in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland. It has 12,669 inhabitants (February 8, 2020). The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the ''bolwerken'' (bulwarks). ...

(of the filiation of Clairvaux). Aduard Abbey in its turn founded Ihlow Abbey in

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

in 1231. In 1259 Aduard took over Termunten Abbey, at that time still in Menterna, previously a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East a ...

(the nuns were dispatched to a separate establishment, the short-lived Midwolde Abbey). Aduard Abbey was considered one of the richest, largest and best-known monasteries in the northern Low Countries. From 1245 it had an abbey school. At the end of the 14th century discipline relaxed for a time, but was re-established. In the abbey's heyday under Abbot Henricus van Rees, in the second half of the 15th century, some 300 monks lived there and played a significant part in the reclamation and cultivation of the land. The abbey perished in the wars that accompanied the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. In 1580 the buildings, including the priceless library and the monastery archives, were destroyed by fire after an attack by the Geuzes. The monks fled to their town house in Groningen. Most of the abandoned abbey buildings were soon demolished and the resulting rubble put to use as building stone for the inhabitants of the surrounding countryside. The abbey is believed to have been formally dissolved in 1594. The last abbot died in 1613. The former abbey precinct is more or less identical with the centre of the present village of Aduard.

Site and buildings

The first abbey church, probably built immediately after the foundation, was replaced between 1240 and 1263 by a second, enlarged church. This building, as

Ubbo Emmius Ubbo Emmius (5 December 15479 December 1625) was a German historian and geographer. Early life Ubbo Emmius was born on 5 December 1547 in Greetsiel, East Frisia. From the ages of 9 to 18 Emmius studied in a Latin school, before having to leave on ...

reports in detail and as was confirmed by excavations from 1939 to 1941, was about 83 metres long and the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

was about 40 metres wide. The nave had three aisles and five bays. The transept had two rectangular chapels to the east of each of the wings. The

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

had an

ambulatory The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...

and seven semi-circular choir chapels, on the model of

Clairvaux Abbey Clairvaux Abbey (, ; la, Clara Vallis) was a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, from Bar-sur-Aube. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; the present structure dates from 1708. Clairvaux Abbey was a ...

. To the south of the church lay the courtyard and the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

. The

infirmary Infirmary may refer to: *Historically, a hospital, especially a small hospital *A first aid room in a school, prison, or other institution *A dispensary (an office that dispenses medications) *A clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambu ...

(or

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...

) still survives and was restored between 1917 and 1928. It is a large long hall building two storeys in height, made out of brick, with pointed-arch windows and blind windows, and a wooden

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

roof, dating from around 1300. The building is now used as a

Reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

church.

Letter bricks

Part of the original floor of glazed bricks has survived, including some early 14th-century plaster bricks, each stamped with a letter of the alphabet, which can be moved around to make whole texts. Such mediaeval lettered bricks may be seen as an early form of

moveable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation ...

Aduarder Kring

The high point of the abbey school was in the mid-15th century, when the abbey was able to attract scholars from across Northern Europe, including

Wessel Gansfort Wessel Harmensz Gansfort (1419 – October 4, 1489) was a theologian and early humanist of the northern Low Countries. Many variations of his last name are seen and he is sometimes incorrectly called Johan Wessel. Gansfort has been called one of ...

Rudolf Agricola Rodolphus Agricola ( la, Rudolphus Agricola Phrisius; August 28, 1443, or February 17, 1444 – October 27, 1485) was a pre- Erasmian humanist of the Northern Low Countries, famous for his knowledge of Latin and Greek. He was an educator, music ...

and

Alexander Hegius Alexander Hegius von Heek (?1433/1439/1440?7 December 1498) was a German humanist, so called from his birthplace Heek (located near Ahaus, then in the Duchy of Westphalia). Hegius learned, likely in Emmerich, Greek from Rodolphus Agricola.Akke ...

. They came to debate in the abbey's little academy, the ''Aduarder kring'' ("Aduard circle"). The most informative source on this is the 1528 letter from Goswinus van Halen to his former pupil Albertus Risaeus, in which he gives a summary of the main members of the Aduarder Kring, in total 23 names, and adds that there were more. After the death of Hendrik van Rees the emphasis on studies was slightly reduced, but discussions and presentations also took place under later abbots. Albertus Risaeus presented his enlightened ideas here, for which scholars such as

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

praised the school and its students.Moll, W., ''Kerkgeschiedenis van Nederland vóór de hervorming'' Volume 2, Deel 2, Arnhem: Nijhof & Zn (1867). Online beschikbaar o
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References

External links

Website of the Aduard History Society with extensive information

Website of the St Bernardushof - Kloostermuseum Aduard
{{in lang, nl 1192 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures in Groningen (province) Cistercian monasteries in the Netherlands Rijksmonuments in Groningen (province)