Full bibliography

Six of the seven charters discussed above deal with the protracted conflict between the Ninove Abbey and Gerard II of Grimbergen, situated between 1144 and 1167. 
 We consider the first (1138) of the three charters of Bishop Nicholas I of Cambrai as the authentic charter of foundation of the abbey, containing the deed of donation of Gerard I of Ninove. The second charter of 1139 is of doubtful authenticity. The episcopal charter of 1165, which contains a detailed list of goods of the abbey, is regarded as authentic. The two last mentioned charters can already be situated within the conflict between the abbey and Gerard II of Grimbergen. The abbey used the falsified charter of 1139, presumably made between 1144 and 1147, in order to avoid the conflict. With the charter of 1165 the abbey wanted – via the authority of bishop Nicholas II– to resolve the conflict once and for all. 
 The three charters of the Counts of Flanders were issued in a very short span (between 1166-1167) at the height of the conflict. They deal with the Ninove Abbey's right of the advocatia, which was originally by hereditary right connected to the dominium of the Lords of Ninove. In his charter of 1163/1166 Count Philip of Alsace claimed this right. 
 The 1142 charter of his father Thierry, in which Gerard I of Ninove donates the advocatia to the Count, has been drawn and issued but in 1166-1167 in the Ninove Abbey. This is a logical link between Count Philip's two charters concerning the advocatia. In the 1167 charter of the Count the conflict is definitely resolved: Gerard II of Grimbergen is forced to accept the Count's prerogatives concerning the advocatia of the abbey.
 At the same time we have drawn a picture of the broader context of the Count's appearance and we have proved that Philip of Alsace – with his intervention in the Ninove conflict – introduced a new kind of politics in relation to the organisation of the central authority of the Count in the county of Flanders in general and in the Land of Aalst in particular. 
 The charters issued in the period between 1165 and 1167 were a key moment and turning point in the history of the Ninove Abbey of the 12th century. In 1167 a period of conflicts with the relatives of the founder had been ended and a new period of rest, welfare and protection by the Count had been announced. The Ninove Liber Miraculorum offers a probing report on this change.