The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Osnabrück

OSNABRÜCK (commonly called in English Osnaburg), a city of Prussia, in the province of Hanover, capital of a district, on the Hase, 71 m. W. of Hanover; pop. in 1871, 23,308. It is surrounded with old walls, and the streets are crooked and narrow. Its cathedral was built in the 12th century. The final conference on the peace of Westphalia was held in the town hall in 1648. There are two gymnasia, two normal schools, and a school of midwifery. The manufactures consist of leather, linens, woollens, iron, machinery, and especially tobacco; all of which have recently been stimulated by increased railway facilities. &mdash; Osnabrück, with a considerable territory on both sides of the Hase, was until 1803 a bishopric, which owed its foundation to Charlemagne.

By the terms of the peace of Westphalia it was agreed that it should be alternately governed by a Roman Catholic and a Protestant bishop. The last bishop, Frederick of York, ceded the country to Hanover, in which it was designated a principality, and with Meppen, Lingen, and other territories formed the Landdrostei of its name. It afterward became part of the kingdom of Westphalia, then of the French empire, and after the fall of Napoleon reverted to Hanover. The inhabitants are of Saxon descent. The present diocese of Osnabrück embraces the entire district and East Friesland.