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 MUNSTER

636

MUNSTER

In 1533-35, however, Miinster was the scene of the will! exee.s.ses of the Analiaplists. Duriiin the e|)isco- pate of liishop Frederiek 111, brotlier of Hermann of W'ieil, Archbishop of Cologne, the iloetrines of Luther spread wiiiel y in the Dioeese of Munstcr. In his agree- ment with tlie city (It February, 1533) Bishop I'ranz of \N'aldeek ceded to it full religious lil)erty and granted the six parish churches to the adherents of the new doctrine, in return for which the city promised him obedience and support against the cathedral chapter. From 1533 the city undertook the i)repara- tion of new church ordinances. The drawing up of a form of worship was assigned to Bernt Hotlnnann, a preacher of Anabaptist proclivities. Supi)orted by some preachers from W'assenberg in Jiilich and by the Melchiorites (followers of Melchior Hoffmann), he began to spread his views. The strength of the Ana- baptist party was steadily increased by accessions from Holland, until, in February, 1534, their leaders, John of Leyden, atailor, and Jan Matthiesen, a baker, came to Mimster from Haarlem, when the sect gained complete control of the city, and the peaceable minor- ity either left the city voluntarily or were expelled. The Anabaptists now indulged in the wildest orgies in "the New Jerusalem", as they called Miinster, intro- ducing polygamy and communism, plundering and selling churches and monasteries.

Notwithstanding his inclination to Protestantism, the bishop was now obliged to go to war with the city in order to maintain his secular authority. In alliance with Philip of Hesse, he began (28 February, 1534) a siege of the city in which John of Leyden, as king of the New Zion, had established a reign of terror. After a siege of sixteen months the city was taken in a bloody assault (25 June, 1535). The leaders of the insurrection were executed with horrible tortures and their bodies were exposed in three cages hung on the tower of St. Lambert's Church. The return of the ex- pelled citizens and the restoration of the Catholic Church proceeded slowly. A small Protestant com- munity was still maintained. In 1553 the city re- gained its old privileges and rights. Trade, com- merce, and learning once more flourished. Although disputes now arose between the guilds and the town council, and these two combined against the growing importance of the bishop, Miinster enjoyed general peace and prosperity until the Thirty Years' War. Several times during that war the city was obliged to pay heavy contributions, but it was not utterly impoverished like so many other cities.

The peace negotiations carried on at Miinster by the Catholic Powers, beginning in 1643, led to the neutral- ization of the city and its substantial benefit. Thus encouraged, the Council, a few years after the Peace of Westphalia, persuaded the citizens to make a bold attempt to throw off the sovereignty of the bishop and raise Miinster to the rank of a free city of the empire. In the struggle with the Prince-Bishop Christopher Bernhard of Galen, Miinster was defeated in March, 1(101. It lost its privileges, and an episcopal citadel, the Paulsburg, was erected in the western part of the city. Never, while the prince-bishops remained rulers, did Miinster regain its full civic liberty. After the Seven Years' War, during which Miinster was not able to hold out against a .second siege, in 17.59, the fortifications were turned into promenades, and the cit- adel razed. In place of the latter a castle was built in 17G8 as a residence for the prince-bi.shop. In 1780 a university was founded with the property of the suppressed Jesuits and of the Abbey of tJeberwasser. A circle of learned men gathered at Miinster around the Princess Galitzin, amongst them being Frederick Leopold Count zu Stolberg and Overbeck.

By the Imi)erial delegate's enactment, the city of Miinster and a part of the diocese fell to Prussia, which had already (23 May, 1802) made an agreement con- cerning it with the Consul Bonaparte. The Prussian

troops under Bliicher entered the city, 3 August. A commission acconiiKUiied the army to shajie the con- stitution and a(hniTiistration of the newly-acquired district conformably with the Prussian model. Al- though the president of the commission, P'reiherr von Stein, showed a very friendly spirit towards the city, yet the .suppression of its independence and the over- bearing behaviour of the Prussian officers disgusted the citizens with Prussian supremacy. Miinster joy- fully welcomed the French, who entered it in 1806, after the defeat of Prussia at Jena and Auerstiidt. In 1808 the city was assigned to the Grand Duchy of Berg, in 1810 to Holland, and in 1811 to France, as capital of the Department of Lippe. The old city- government was dissolved and replaced by the French municipal organization. Many good measures of ad- ministration were introduced, but the enthusiasm for them was rapidly chilled by the extensive billeting of soldiers upon the citizens, and by arbitrary .action, especially in ecclesiastical matters. WJien, therefore, after the overthrow of the Napoleonic power at the battle of Leipzig, the Prussians again entered Miinster, they, in turn, were greeted with great joy. The Prus- sian Government was wise enough to retain many im- provements made by the French, which they further developed, so that the city quickly reached an unpre- cedented prosperity. In 1836 the Prussian municipal ordinance was applied to Miinster. The population, 13,000 at the beginning of the nineteenth century, rapidly increased with the growth of commerce and traffic, and, as capital of the Province of Westphalia, the quiet cathedral city developed into an important centre of traffic for North-Western Germany.

According to the census taken at the close of 1905, Miinster had 81,408 inhabitants, of whom 67,221 were Catholics, 13,612 Protestants, and 555 Jews; in 1910 the population was about 87,000, including '72,- 800 Catholics. The city has 25 Catholic churches and chapels, including 12 parish churches. Catholic institutions of learning are: the theological faculty of the university with (in the summer of 1910) 316 stu- dents; the seminary for priests; 2 preparatory semi- naries, namely, the Collegium Borromaeum and the Collegium Ludgerianum; a Catholic state gymnasium; a seminary for teachers; a high school for girls.

II. Diocesan History. — Towards the end of the Saxon War, Charlemagne founded, about 795, several Saxon dioceses, all suffragans of Cologne, among them Miinster, or Mimigerneford. The first bishop was Ludger, who, since the year 787, had been a zealous missionary in five Frisian "hundreds", or districts. The territory of the Diocese of Miinster was bounded on the west, south, and north-west by the Dioceses of Cologne and Utrecht, on the east and north-east by Osnabriick. The diocese also included districts re- mote from the bulk of its territory, namely, the five Frisian hundreds on the lower Ems (Hugmerki, Hu- nusgau, Fivelgau. PVderitgau, anil Emsgau). also the island of Bant, which has disappearetl, leaving behind it the islands of Borkum, Juist, and Norderney. Men- tion has already been made above (see 1) of the earliest landed estates of the see. Most of the territory over which the bishop eventually exercised sovereign rights lay north of the River Lippe, extending as far as the upper Ems and the Teutoburg Forest. The most im- portant accession was in 1252, when the see purchased the Countship of Vechta and the district of the Ema with the town of Meppen. The country between these new districts was acquired later: in 1403 the dis- trict about Cloppenburg and Oyte was gained, in 1406 the manorial domain of Ahaus and the castle of Strom- Ijerg with its jurisdiction; and in 1429 Wideshausen in pledge from the Archdiocese of Bremen. This last addition made the new territory, which was entirely separate from the southern part of the diocese, a com- pact body subsequently known as "the lower dio- cese"; it remained an integral part of the Diocese of