Cistercians The abbey was founded in or about 1182 by
Gerard, Count of Loon, who sold a part of his lands to raise funds for his participation in the Crusades, and used some of the proceeds to endow a Cistercian monastery for nuns. (Some historians claim that he was forced to do so by
Rudolf of Zähringen, the
Prince-Bishop of Liège, as a
penance for having burnt down the
collegiate church of
Tongeren). In 1217 the abbey was formally accepted into the
Cistercian Order, the first, and also the greatest and wealthiest, women's monastery of the Order in the
Low Countries. The nuns referred to themselves as the "noble ladies of the Order of Cîteaux of the
County of Loon" (). After Count Gerard was killed during the
Third Crusade at the
Siege of Acre in 1191, his body was brought back by the same Archbishop Rudolph, who had led an army to the siege. Rudolph reached, though, only as far as Switzerland, dying there on the way home. Gerard was buried in the church of the abbey he had founded, which from then on became the burial place of all the Counts of Loon. This custom continued up to the last Count to die with that title, Dietrich (or Theodoric) of
Sponheim (d. 1361), who was refused burial here because he had been
excommunicated. In 1366 the County of Loon passed into the possession of the
Prince-Bishops of Liège, with whom the nuns succeeded in remaining on good terms. During the 15th century the abbey, like many others, suffered a severe decline, but from around 1500 enjoyed a revival. In the 18th century a total reconstruction was planned, of which the
Neo-Classical abbesses' lodgings was built, as well as an
English garden, still intact, with exotic trees. The
French Revolutionary Army occupied the region in 1795 and
annexed it to
France. During a policy of anti-Catholic measures which were in effect from 1795 to 1799, they seized the abbey and expelled the nuns, as a result of which the monastic community was permanently dispersed. The abbey was sold to Claes and Libotton, after which the buildings gradually fell into disrepair. In 1826 a fire destroyed much of the church, which had been in use as a factory, after the
stained glass windows had been replaced by clear glass. In 1844 the remaining ruins were demolished, including the
mausoleum of the Counts of Loon. Many artworks from the church have survived and are kept in museums.
Stained glass After the abbey was dissolved by
Revolutionary France in 1795, some of the stained glass was purchased by
Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet. Some was installed in 1803 in the
Lady Chapel of
Lichfield Cathedral and some in
St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury. The British ambassador to The Netherlands,
Charles Bagot, procured glass from the owner of the dissolved abbey and presented it in 1818 to St Giles' Church,
Ashtead, Surrey; the glass in the east window is attributed to the 16th-century artist
Lambert Lombard of
Liège. The surviving 16th-century glass from Herkenrode constitutes the most significant body of
Flemish stained glass in the world.
Canonesses In 1972 the
Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre bought part of the old abbey grounds with their remaining buildings. They have since built a new monastery and
retreat center. Ten years later, they built the Church of the Risen Lord, which now serves the canonesses and their guests. Much restoration work has taken place on the remaining buildings of the previous abbey, all of which date from the 16th-18th centuries. File:Herkenrodeabdij 6-11-2008 15-47-29.JPG|The gate house, with the porter's lodge to the left File:Tiendschuur.jpg|The restored
tithe barn File:Wegwijskaartje Abdij Herkenrode.jpg|Map File:Herkenrodeabdij_6-11-2008_16-04-12.JPG|The mill house File:St Giles, Ashtead, stained glass window (II) - geograph.org.uk - 5692738.jpg|Stained glass from Herkenrode in the east window of the Church of St Giles,
Ashtead, Surrey, England ==Abbesses of Herkenrode==