Heiligerlee is a village in the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province of Groningen

Groningen (province)

Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

 bordering the town of Winschoten

Winschoten

Winschoten is a former municipality and city in the northeast of the Netherlands.Population : 18.497; area: 22,24 km2.The origin of the name of Winschoten is not known but it has received nicknames. One of these is Molenstad . It has also been known, in living memory, as Sodom...

, it is part of the municipality of Oldambt

Oldambt

Oldambt is a municipality in the Dutch province of Groningen formed on January 1, 2010, by a fusion of the municipalities Reiderland, Scheemda and Winschoten....

. The village is known for having been the site of the first battle of the Dutch rebels against the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. The army led by Louis

Louis of Nassau

Louis of Nassau was the third son of William, Count of Nassau and Juliana of Stolberg, and the younger brother of Prince William of Orange Nassau....

 and Adolf of Nassau defeated the Spanish, but politically it was no success. Adolf even died during the fight.

On the 300th-year anniversary of the battle in 1868 the then ruling king William III of the Netherlands

William III of the Netherlands

William III was from 1849 King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg until his death and the Duke of Limburg until the abolition of the Duchy in 1866.-Early life:William was born in Brussels as son of William II of the Netherlands and...

 revealed a monument in commemoration of the battle.

From the year 1230 till the year 1594 a Norbertine

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

nunnery (Mons Sinaï) stood in the village. The name of which is currently used as the name of the village Christian primary school.