Ten Duinen Abbey or the Abbey of the Dunes ( nl, Abdij Ten Duinen) was a Cistercian monastery at Koksijde in what is now

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. It was one of the richest and most influential religious institutions in the medieval

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges a ...

. It later relocated to the city of

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

History

A religious community was founded in the dunes near Koksijde by the hermit Ligerius in 1107. In 1120 the community took the

Rule of St Benedict The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' ( la, Regula Sancti Benedicti) is a book of precepts written in Latin in 516 by St Benedict of Nursia ( AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot. The spirit of Saint Benedict's R ...

as its rule of life, and in 1139 it became affiliated to the

Cistercian Order 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 Sain ...

. Partly through donations and partly through land reclamation work in the dunes and polders, the monastery developed extensive landholdings on which the lay brothers reared sheep, producing wool for the cloth trade. A dependent house was established at

Eastchurch Eastchurch is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Sheppey, in the English county of Kent, two miles east of Minster. The village website claims the area has "a history steeped in stories of piracy and smugglers". Aviation history Eastch ...

, in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, to export wool from England, but was later sold to

Boxley Abbey Boxley Abbey in Boxley, Kent, England was a Cistercian monastery founded c.1146 by William of Ypres, leader of King Stephen's Flemish mercenaries, and colonised by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in France. Some of its ruins survive, some four miles ...

. The daughter house Ter Doest Abbey was founded in 1175 and also became rich and influential. New buildings were begun in 1214 and completed in 1237, to house a community of approximately 400 monks and lay brothers. The new church was consecrated by the bishops of Thérouanne and Tournai on 13 October 1262. The church was vandalised by iconoclasts in 1566, and the monastery was sacked by rebel forces in 1578. The community was scattered but regrouped in 1583. After decades in temporary accommodation the community was established in Bruges in 1627, in a house that had been the refugium of Ter Doest, which had been re-amalgamated to Ten Duinen in 1624. New monastery buildings were erected in Bruges in the years 1628–1642. Work on a new church was begun in 1775 and completed in 1788. On 9 April 1796, during the French occupation of Belgium, the abbey was suppressed and its goods confiscated. In 1833 the diocesan seminary of Bruges was established in the former monastic buildings in Bruges. Excavations of the ruins of the medieval buildings in the dunes near Koksijde began in 1897. Several campaigns have been undertaken since, most notably in 1955 and in 1987–88.M. Dewilde and J. De Meulemeester
De opgravingscampagnes van 1987 en 1988 in de Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Ten Duinenabdij te Koksijde
''Archeologie in Vlaanderen'' 1 (1991), pp. 213–230. The ruins are now a museum site.

Abbots

* Ligerius *Fulco, 1128–1138 *Robert of Bruges, 1138–1153 *Alberon, 1153–1155 * Idesbald, 1155–1167 *Walter van Dickebusch, 1167–1179 *Hacket, 1179–1185 *Walter van Dickebusch, 1185–1189 *Elias of Koksijde, 1189–1203 *Petrus, 1203–1215 *Amelius, 1215–1221 *Gilles de Steene, 1221–1226 *Solomon of Ghent, 1226–1232 *Nicolas van Belle, 1232–1253 *Lambert van Kemmele, 1253–1259 *Diederik of Brabant, 1259–1265 *Thomas of Ghent, 1265–1277 *Willem Cucht, 1277–1280 *Johannes of Oostburg, 1280–1299 *Jacobus of Biervliet, 1299–1303 *Thomas of Aardenburg, 1303–1305 *William of Hulst, 1305–1318 *Lambert Uppenbrouck of Westouter, 1318–1354 *Walter Bredereep of Kaprijke, 1354–1376 *Jan Maes of Bassevelde, 1376–1406 *Thomas de Corenbytere of Kaprijke, 1406–1418 *Peter van der Marct of Hontenesse, 1418–1442 *Everard van Overtvelt of Bruges, 1442–1457 *

Johannes Crabbe Johannes Crabbe ( 1420 – 1 November 1488) was abbot of Ten Duinen Abbey in present-day Belgium, an imperial counsellor and bibliophile. Johannes Crabbe was born in a middle-class family in Hulst. He made a career within the Catholic church, e ...

, 1457–1488 *Pierre Vaillant of Bruges, 1488–1492 *Josse de Werere of Bruges, 1492–1495 *Christian de Hondt of Bruges, 1495–1509 *Jan Terlinck of Ghent, 1509–1515 *Pieter Onderberch of Ghent, 1515–1519 *Robert le Clercq of Arras, 1519–1559 *Antoine Wydoot of St-Omer, 1559–1566 *Pierre Helline of Axel, 1566–1575 * Robrecht Holman of Sluys, 1575–1579 *Laurent van den Berghe of Ingelmunster, 1579–1583–1606 *André du Chesne of Ath, 1606–1610 *

Adrianus Cancellier Adrianus Cancellier (1580–1623) was the 39th abbot of Dunes in the County of Flanders. Cancellier was born in Dunkirk in 1580 and entered the Abbey of Dunes in 1597. He went on to serve as bursar, and on 30 July 1610 was elected abbot in success ...

of Dunkirk, 1610–1623 *

Bernard Campmans Bernard Campmans (died 1642), a native of Douai, was the 40th Abbot of Dunes from 1623 to 1642. He reclaimed the rights of the defunct Ter Doest Abbey for the mother house, and was responsible for the community's re-establishment in Bruges after d ...

of Douai, 1623–1642 *Josse du Corron of Ath, 1642–1649 *Bernard Bottyn of Bruges, 1649–1653 *

Gerard de Baere Gerard de Baere, a native of Laarne, was the 43rd abbot of Ten Duinen Abbey in Bruges from 1653 to 1666. Life De Baere was professed as a monk in 1631. He was ordained subdeacon on 10 April 1632, deacon on 21 May 1633, and priest on 24 September ...

of Laarne, 1654–1667 *Michel Bultynck of Tielt, 1667–1678 *Eugeen van de Velde of Bruges, 1678–1680 *Martin Colle of Ypres, 1680–1699 *Lucas De Vriese of Ypres, 1699–1725 *Benedictus van Steenberghe of Ghent, 1725–1729 *Bernard van Thienen of Bruges, 1729–1734 *Antoine De Blende of Bruges, 1734–1744 *Louis de Coninck of Ghent, 1744–1748 *Robert van Severen of Bruges, 1748–1792 *Maur De Mol of Ghent, 1792–1799

Notable monks

Jan Sindewint Jan Sindewint, Latinized Joannes de Dunis (died 1319) was a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Dunes in the County of Flanders, and from 1311 a professor of theology at the Collège Saint-Bernard in the University of Paris. In 1311 he acquired the u ...

(died 1319), professor of theology at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

References

{{Authority control 1107 establishments in Europe 1627 establishments in Europe 1797 disestablishments in the Southern Netherlands Cistercian monasteries in Belgium Christian monasteries established in the 12th century County of Flanders