Heiligerlee

Title

Heiligerlee

Also Known As

Asterle, Asterlee, Asterlo, Astrolo, Berg Sinaï, Heyligher Lee, Hilgerle, Hilligerleij, Mons Sinai, Oosterlee, Sacralea, Ste-Catherine in Astro, Westerlee

Dates

Founded early 13th c.; dissolved 1584/94

Dedication

Catherine

Affiliation

Schildwolde

Medieval Diocese

Osnabrück

Circary

Frisia

History

Heiligerlee was founded in the 13th century by Henrik, prior of the Premonstratensian house of Schilderwolde. By the end of that century it was home to more than 100 sisters. It became a substantial regional landowner.

There were 16 sisters at the time of Heiligerlee's suppression in the late 16th century. The monastic complex was demolished shortly after and nothing remains of it today.

Heads of Community

Magistra

Etelsedis?, fl. 13th c.

Priors

Lidiardus, fl. 1230s
Onno, fl. 1240s
Galtatus, fl. ca. 1250
Eppo, fl. 1391
Bodwinus, fl. 1482
Petrus van Zueren, fl. 1530s/40s

Status

Women's community

Archival Sources

Groningen, Groninger Archieven

172.15, no. 207 (1482)

Bibliography

Backmund, Norbert. “Verkoop en Afbraak van Heiligerlee en Nyeklooster-op-den-Dam in 1597.” Sacris Erudiri 7 (January 1955): 381–85.

Koppius, W.J. “De slag en het klooster bij Heiligerlee.” Eigen Haard, 1925.

R.O.B., Amersfoort. “Heiligerlee.” Bulletin KNOB 6, no. 10 (1957): *49-*50. https://bulletin.knob.nl/index.php/knob/issue/view/235/251.

Stolk, Cees. “De nonnen van Klooster Heiligerlee.” De verhalen van Groningen, 2017. https://www.deverhalenvangroningen.nl/alle-verhalen/roerig-klooster-heiligerlee.

Zuidema, P. “Het Klooster te Heiligerlee.” Groninger Volksalmanak 3 (1839): 113–15. https://books.google.com/books?id=R8BPAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA113.

Image Credit

"Hiligerlaum Monasterium" as shown in Johann Wilhelm Baur, "Pugna ad Hiligerlaeum, 1568" (1632). Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Frisia

Citation

“Heiligerlee,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/275.

Geolocation