Munsterbilzen Abbey

The women's abbey of Belisia (Bilzen) was, according to legend, founded around 670 by the holy Landrada, possibly under the direction of Lambertus, bishop of Maastricht (from 669 to 709). Another legend mentions the Holy Amor of Aquitaine as the founder of the monastery. The abbey church is also named after him. The village that formed near the abbey was named Belisia Monasterii, or Munsterbilzen, to distinguish between Beukenbilzen (now Bilzen) and Eikenbilzen (now called Eigenbilzen).

In 881 the abbey of Munsterbilzen, as well as the abbey of Sint-Truiden and the churches of Tongeren, Liège, and Maastricht, were destroyed by the Normans. In the third quarter of the 10th century the monastery was rebuilt, and thereafter called Monasterium Sancti Amoris, in honor of Amor of Aquitaine. The abbey church played an important role in the establishment of the County of Loon in the 10th and 11th century. Several Hesbaye nobles were buried in the abbey church, such as count and countess Clodulf and Hilda, count and countess Bengarius and Berta, and in 1044 Count Gozelo I of Verdun..

Under Ida van Bonen, the mother of Godfrey of Bouillon and Boudewijn I of Jerusalem, around the middle of the 11th century, the abbey of Munsterbilzen received a large number of bequests, among others in Bilzen, Riemst, Waltwilder, Martenslinde, Gellik, Eigenbilzen, and Rijkhoven.

At the end of the 12th century the monastery was transformed from a noble woman's abbey in a Noble chapter of secular canonesses, over which the count of Loon had custody. Those who were attached to the secular chapter took part in the choral prayer every day, but did not have to keep monastic vows. Only part of the building complex was located within its walls and in later centuries many canonesses lived outside the monastery.

The abbess was not only Lady of Munsterbilzen, but also had rights over the villages of Wellen, Haccourt, Hallembaye, and Kleine-Spouwen. She was a princess of the Holy Roman Empire and regarded herself as sovereign ruler over these five villages. From the 17th century this right was disputed by the Saint Lambert's chapter of Liège and the prince-bishop, and after many processes the abbess in 1773 definitively recognized the sovereignty of the bishop.

In 1794, after the invasion of the French following the French Revolution, the chapter was dissolved and the abbey goods were sold. In the course of the 19th century most of the buildings were demolished, including the abbey church. In the late 19th century, the De Lamberts de Cortenbach family owned the abbey. Since 1895, in the remaining buildings a nursing institution for psychiatric disorders has been established, initially run by the congregation Sisters of Saint Joseph from Clermont-Ferrand, and now known as the Medical Center Sint-Jozef. Other buildings served as a post office and town hall.

• Landrada (?-690), monastic poet
• Guda van Heinsberg-Valkenburg? (1157-1173), dochter van Gosewijn I van Valkenburg
• Daughter of Imagina of Loon (before 1203-1214)
• Mechtildis van Are, or Mathilde (about 1220-1249), sister of Gérard II, Count of Looz
• Mathilde van Pietersheim (1267-1287)
• Aleidis (Ida) van Valkenburg († 1296), daughter of count Theodoric II of Falkenburg (Dutch: Dirk II van Valkenburg), sister of Roman queen Beatrice of Falkenburg
• Cecilia Hoen († 1458), daughter of Nicolaas II Hoen, Lord van Hoensbroek
• Odilia van Buymelborn (1550-1582)
• Isabelle Henriette of Aspremont-Lynden Castle (about 1725)
• Antoinette van Eltz-Kempenich (about 1766)