Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/664

 WESTPHALIA

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WESTPHALIA

History. — In the earliest era the province was in- habited by the German tribes of the Sicambri, Bructeri, Marsi, and Cherusci. For a short time it was held by the Romans, having been conquered by Drusus and Tiberius, the sons of Augustus, in a series of campaigns during the years 12 B.C. to 5 a.d. The Romans were defeated in the great battle in the Teutoburg Forest (9 a.d.), and Germanicus was not able to reconquer the country. In the third century the Saxons pushed their way into the province from the Cimbrian peninsula; other tribes joined them, either voluntarily or under compulsion, and thus there arose a large confederation of tribes which bore the name of Saxons. The western part of the province between the Weser and the Lower Rliine appears from about the year <S00 in the historical sources under the name of Westphalia, while the district on both banks of the Weser was called Engern, and the district between the Weser and the Elbe bore the name of Eastphalia. In the later Middle Ages the name Engeni disappeared and the region of the Weser was then considered a part of Westphalia. No one has yet been able to give a satisfactory explanation of the names Westphalia and Eastphalia. Among the various meanings suggested have been: f&l, horse; fale, inhabitant of a lowland; vallum, boundary wall, etc.

The Westphalians were brought into contact with Christianity in the seventh century. The first apostles (about 695 a.d.) were the two Ewalds, known from the colour of their hair as the White and the Black Ewald. However, the account of Bede (Hist. eccl. gent. Angl., hb. V, c. x) is uncertain and contradictory. At a later date the conversion of the Saxons especially engaged the attention of St. Boniface. He was not, however, able to carry out his desire, although Westphalian folk-lore has stories of the preaching of Boniface and even of his founding of churches. Probably, even though the proof is lacking, the attempts to found missions among the Saxons proceeded from Cologne. No permanent success was gained by the campaigns of the Frankish King Pepin (751-68) against the Saxons. The coun- try was finally subdued after several bloody wars (772-804) by Pepin's son Charlemagne, who, as an apostle of the sword, brought the Saxons to Chris- tianity. The questions asked the Saxon candidates for baptism are still in existence, as well as the an- swers that were to be made in which they were obliged to renounce the gods Donar, Wodan, and Saxnot. The baptism of the Saxon Duke Widukind (785) was of much importance; for after baptism he was un- swervingly loyal to Christianity and its zealous promoter. The same is true of the Westphalians in general. After they had once accepted the Chris- tian faith, which "had been preached to them with an iron tongue by their bitterest enemies", hardly any other people were as loyally and devotedly attached to Christianity. Charlemagne's chief as- .sistants in the missionary work were Sturm (who con- verted the country around Paderborn), Lebwin (who brought the western districts of Westphalia to Chris- tianity), and Lividger (who converted the district sur- rounding Minister). At the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth centuries the mission- ary districts of Osnabriick, Miinster, Minden, and Paderborn were raised to dioceses. The southern part of the province, in the neighbourhood of Ruhr and Lippe, fell to the Archdiocese of Cologne. Louis the Pious continued the work of his father. During his reign the first mon;usteri(w were founded; the most celebrated of these are the Benedictine Abbey of Corvey (S15), and the Abbey of Herford (819) for Benedictine imns.

Westphalia, a-s has already Iieen said, was only a part of Saxony, and in about the year 9(X) Saxony wjis made a (luchy, after Luilolf, the ancestor of the ducal

house, had been made a margrave in 850 during the reign of Louis the German. The duchy continued to exist until 1180. The last and greatest of the dukes was Henry the Lion, who lost the duchy through disloyalty to the emperor. This led to the division of Westphalia into numerous principalities. The southern part, the "Sauerland", fell ;us the Duchy of Westphalia to the Archdiocese of Cologne which retained it until 1803. This duchy had its own con- stitution and its own diet. The head of the ecclesi- astical government was the court of the officiality. Up to 143-1 the court was held at Amsberg, and after that at Werl. The attempts of the Archbishops of Cologne to extend the ducal power even over the northern part of the province were unsuccessful. Instead of the jurisdiction of Cologne, the Bishops of Miinster, Osnabriick, Paderborn, and Minden, who had long had secular sovereignty, became independent ruling princes. At the same time numerous smaller principalities were created, such as the countships of Mark, Ravensberg, Tecklenburg, Rietberg, and Steinfurt, the free imperial city of Dortmund, the principality of the Abbot of Corvey. In 1394 the Countship of Mark w:xs united with Cleves. In 1346 the Countship of Ravensberg was united with Julich and in 1511 also with Cleves. In this article the Diocese of Osnabriick, as is generally the case, is not taken into consideration, although it belongs to the original territory of West- phalia and in earlier ages included large districts of the present dioceses of Miinster and Paderborn, because from 1648 it was entirely independent, and in 1815 it became a part of the Kmgdom of Hanover with which, in 1866, it was incorporatetl into Prussia.

In the meantime the Church had developed in all directions. The number of monasteries and re- ligious foundations that were established during the Middle Ages exceeded 250. Among these should be mentioned: the Benedictine abbeys at Grafschaft (1072), Marienmiinster (1128), St. Moritz at Minden (1042), Abdinghof at Paderborn (1015); the Cister- cian abbeys at Bredelar (1196), Hardehausen (1140), and Marienfeld (1185); the Premonstratensian ab- beys at Kappenberg (1122), Klarholz (1133), and Varlar (1128); the Augustinian monasteries at Osna- briick (1288), Herford (before 1288), and Lippstadt (12S1); the Dominican monasteries at Dortmund (1310), Minden (V2M\). Miinster (1346), Soest (1231), and Warburg (12S0); the Minorite mon- asteries at Soest (1232), Paderborn (1232), Miin- ster (about 1247), and Herford (1223?). In the Conflict of Investitures the Westphalian bishops, with few exceptions, held to the Emperors Henry IV and Henry V, and only at times, and then under strong compulsion, did they support the Church. In the same way they were partisans of Emperor Frederick I (1152-90) in his quarrel with the pope. During the reign of Frederick II (1215- 1250), on the contrarj', they were actively connected with the pope. The strong religious feeling of the medieval Westphali.ans is shown by the large number of ecclesiastical institutions dejiendent upon the charityof the i)eoplc. Thus Lii)))st,idt, with a popula- tion of 2700, had four jiarish cliurches, andtherewere hospitals in very small |)laces. Numerous pilgrim- ages were undertaken ;is far as Sjiain and France. Many also took part in the Crusades. In 1217 one of the leaders was Count Gottfried II of .\rnsberg. In the fourteenth centur>' the object of the Crusades was the heathen land of the Prussians. Thus in 1337 the Counts of Lippe, Arnsberg, and Wittgen- stein joined the expeditions against the Prussians.

The Carthusian Werner Rolevinck (b. in 1425 in the District of .Miinster; d. in 1.5021 said of his coun- trymen: "I am bold to a.ssert that the people are genuiiielv i)ious, especially in fasting, in hi'.-iring the Divine Word, in attiiidaiu'c at chuirh, in the accept-