The former monastery on Nes belonged to the Teutonic Order. This was a crusading order that was founded in 1189 as a community of monks. The Order owed its prosperity to the care of the sick, which it had started in the Holy Land during the Crusades. A bailiwick of the Order has existed in the Netherlands since the Middle Ages. A bailiwick unites a number of commanderies. One of these commanderies was founded in 1228 on Nes. It had a hospital function and was led by a commander. After the Reformation, it was transferred to the province of Friesland in 1580. A Romanesque copper censer was found in the mound, which is now in the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden. Fragments of a former commander's gravestone can still be found in the cemetery. These were excavated when the bell tower was renovated in 1907.