Editing Bergen, North Holland (section)

==History==
[[File:Nordholland Bergen 2004 200001.jpg|thumb|The ''Ruinekerk'' church]]
The [[Egmond Abbey]], founded in the 10th century, became the most important cultural center of medieval Holland. The abbey was protected by the [[House of Egmond]], which eventually became a powerful noble family. The three towns of Egmond have also been mentioned since the 10th century. Both the Egmond Abbey and [[Egmond Castle]] in [[Egmond aan den Hoef]] were destroyed in 1573 on order of [[William the Silent]] during the [[Dutch Revolt]].
[[File:Kaart van de heerlijkheid Bergen Territorii Bergensis accuratissima descriptio (titel op object), RP-P-AO-9A-1.jpg|thumb|Map of Bergen. mid 1600s]]
The town of Bergen developed around a chapel and is mentioned as far back as the tenth century. An old local legend is the "Miracle of Bergen", which is said to have occurred during the [[St. Elizabeth's flood (1421)|St. Elisabeth's Flood]] of 1421. The story goes that the ''schout'' (sheriff) of Bergen found a chest containing [[Host (Holy Communion)|hosts]] (the thin wafers used in [[Holy Communion]]) from the church of [[Petten]] which had floated to Bergen during the flood. The seawater that penetrated the chest had turned into blood. There is also a second miracle story, thought to have occurred in 1422, whereby hosts turned into blood. On the site where the miracle of Bergen is said to have happened, a chapel was erected. Bergen became a place of pilgrimage, and [[Roman-Catholic]] processions were held at the site for centuries and continue today.

In the fifteenth century, the Ruïnekerk ("Ruined Church") was built on the site of the chapel and at the time was the largest of its kind in the province of North Holland. In 1574, during the [[Eighty Years War]] against [[Spain]], the church was looted and burned down by Dutch Protestants, but was later rebuilt to its current state.

In 1797, the [[Battle of Camperdown]], a major naval action between the British and [[Batavian Republic|Batavian]] (Dutch) fleets, was fought off the coast of [[Camperduin]], part of the municipality of Bergen. It was the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and resulted in a complete victory for the British, who captured 11 Dutch ships without losing any of their own. And in 1799, a British-Russian army invaded North-Holland. At Bergen, a battle with the [[France|French]]-Batavian armies took place on 19 September. The Russisch Monument in Bergen commemorates this [[Battle of Bergen (1799)|Battle of Bergen]].

Bergen was one of the main stations on the narrow-gauge railway between [[Alkmaar]] and Bergen aan Zee, which ran between 1905 and 1955. One of the locomotives which operated on this line, 'Bello' stood for many years in the town centre as a memorial, and is now preserved at the Museumstoomtram Hoorn - Medemblik.