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| - Averbode Abbey was founded about 1134-1135 by Count Arnold II of Loon. With land donations from the Abbey of Sint-Truiden, the lords of Aarschot and Diest, and some years later Godfrey III of Leuven, the abbey was situated right on the border of the County of Loon and the Duchy of Brabant. The first monks and abbot Andreas came from the Sint-Michielsabdij in Antwerp, founded in 1124. The abbey started rather small but grew over the centuries, until it was some 5500 ha in the Seventeenth century, including farms, fields, woodland, mills, heath, and local chapels. The abbey also provided the priest for 27 parishes. The first abbey church was inaugurated in 1194, and soon after the nuns, who until then resided in Averbode as well, moved to Keizerbos, where it stayed until it disappeared in 1796. New buildings were erected all the time at the abbey. The gatehouse, built at the end of the 14th century, is the oldest remaining building. The church and part of the abbey was destroyed by a fire after a lightning strike on October 25, 1499. The abbey went through a prosperous period in the first half of the Sixteenth century, under abbot Gerard vander Schaeft. The church was rebuilt and richly decorated. Unrest and plundering troops made it necessary to flee the abbey four times in this period. Political and religious instability in the latter half of the century, with the Beeldenstorm, made the monks flee the abbey again in 1578 to the refuge of Diest. After the death of 12 monks in 1579 due to the bubonic plague, reduced the abbey to only 28 monks in 1584. They returned to Averbode only in 1604. The Seventeenth century saw a return in strength of the abbey, with 80 monks by 1670. Between 1664 and 1672, a new church was built, and almost all buildings were rebuilt during this century. At the end of the Eighteenth century, in 1789, the Brabantse Omwenteling started a period of great political turmoil, with the French and the Austrians fighting for the control over Brabant. Travelling troops heavily damaged the abbey. After the French disbanded most abbeys on September 1, 1796, the abbey of Averbode was evicted on February 14, 1797. Most parts of the library and the archive were brought to safety beforehand, and the abbot and some monks fled across the Rhine. In 1802, brother Ignatius Carleer bought the abbey, and some monks were able to return. The church was used as parochial church for Averbode. Due to financial problems, most of the church treasure had to be sold. Meanwhile, the library and archive were seized by the government and transferred to the University of Liège and the Royal Archives of Belgium in Brussels.
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