Werne
Encyclopedia
Werne is a town in the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia
in the Unna district
in Germany. It is located on the southern edge of the Münsterland
region near the Ruhrgebiet
. The population of Werne is about 32,000.
established Werne as a parish
by erecting a chapel in the southern parts of the Dreingau
("in pago dreginni"). He acted on orders of Charlemagne
who, having finally brought the region under the fold of Francia following the conclusion of the Saxon Wars
, was eager to press on with Christianization
. The Latin text of the oldest preserved document ("in villa quae dicitur werina"), which dates from 834 and is being kept at the Leiden University Library
, indicates that by this time a village had already formed around the chapel.
Traders and peasants continued to accrete throughout the next three centuries. At some point between the years 1192 and 1195, the regional bishopric established a customs
agency at Werne and put the place under its direct jurisdiction. The year 1253 found Werne in an alliance (the "Werner Bund") with the cities of Münster
, Dortmund
, Soest
and Lippstadt
to defend transit and trading rights relating to a bridge over the Lippe river
. In 1470 Werne became a member of the Hanseatic League
. A town hall was built from 1512 to 1561.
The first moves towards a fortification
of Werne date to 1302 when a trench was dug around the church; this was improved and extended to protect the entire settlement in 1383, two years before it received town privileges
in 1385. After Adolph I, Duke of Cleves
had burned Werne to the ground in 1400, the full fortification of the city commenced in 1415. However, this did not prevent occupation, looting and torching of the city on several occasions during the Thirty Years' War
and of course it was no help at all against the Black Death
, which killed 313 people (out of a population of about 1,000) in 1636 and 1637 while the war still raged. (Parts of the city wall and some of the towers were pulled down in 1779; the last city gate (the "Neutor") was demolished in 1843.)
The Peace of Westphalia
, signed in 1648 at the nearby cities of Münster
and Osnabrück
, had essentially expelled Protestantism from the Werne region. From 1671 to 1673 the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
erected a cloister and, from 1677 to 1681, the Catholic Church. (The Martin Luther Church at the Wichernstraße dates from 1904).
in 1803 when the Prince-Bishopric of Münster had been dissolved, was attached to the Grand Duchy of Berg
by Napoleon in 1806. The Congress of Vienna
restored the city to Prussia which incorporated it with other territories into its Province of Westphalia
. In 1831 was granted a degree of administrative independence under the Prussian municipal code of 1831.
In 1873 and 1874 the search for coal produced a brine
thermal spring, and the Werne Baths were established in 1878. The actual coal mine did not commence operations before 1899; it was operated until 1975. Today the buildings of the "Zeche Werne" have been converted to public meeting places, or are part of a business park.
The railway line Münster-Werne-Dortmund was opened in 1928. It had taken a significant amount of lobbying to get Werne a railway station, which was totally refurbished in 2005.
, France, since 1968 Lytham St. Annes, United Kingdom, since 1984 Kyritz
, Germany, since 1990 Wałcz, Poland, since 1992 Poggibonsi
, Italy, since 2000
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
in the Unna district
Unna (district)
The Unna district is a Kreis in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring authorities are the district of Coesfeld, the city of Hamm, the districts of Soest and Märkischer Kreis, the cities of Hagen and Dortmund, and the district of Recklinghausen.-History:The area of the present...
in Germany. It is located on the southern edge of the Münsterland
Münster (region)
Münster is one of the five Regierungsbezirke of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the north of the state, and named after the city of Münster. It includes the area which in medieval times was known as the Dreingau....
region near the Ruhrgebiet
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
. The population of Werne is about 32,000.
Middle Ages and early modern period
The first Bishop of Münster, LiudgerLudger
Saint Ludger was a missionary among the Frisians and Saxons, founder of Werden Abbey and first Bishop of Münster in Westphalia....
established Werne as a parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
by erecting a chapel in the southern parts of the Dreingau
Dreingau
Dreingau is the medieval name of one of five Saxon pagi in what today is the Münsterland in Westphalia. During the Middle Ages documents referred to it as Dreine, Dreni, Drieni, Dragini, Dragieni, Drachina or Treine. The name came into use around the year 800, and is hardly used anymore today...
("in pago dreginni"). He acted on orders of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
who, having finally brought the region under the fold of Francia following the conclusion of the Saxon Wars
Saxon Wars
The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the more than thirty years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of disaffected tribesmen was crushed. In all, eighteen battles were fought in what is now northwestern Germany...
, was eager to press on with Christianization
Germanic Christianity
The Germanic people underwent gradual Christianization in the course of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By the 8th century, England and the Frankish Empire were Christian, and by AD 1100 Germanic paganism had also ceased to have political influence in Scandinavia.-History:In the 4th...
. The Latin text of the oldest preserved document ("in villa quae dicitur werina"), which dates from 834 and is being kept at the Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment...
, indicates that by this time a village had already formed around the chapel.
Traders and peasants continued to accrete throughout the next three centuries. At some point between the years 1192 and 1195, the regional bishopric established a customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
agency at Werne and put the place under its direct jurisdiction. The year 1253 found Werne in an alliance (the "Werner Bund") with the cities of Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
, Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, Soest
Soest, Germany
Soest is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Soest district. After Lippstadt, a neighbouring town, Soest is the second biggest town in its district.-Geography:...
and Lippstadt
Lippstadt
Lippstadt is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest town within the district of Soest.-Geography:Lippstadt is situated in the Lippe valley, roughly 70 kilometres east of Dortmund and roughly 30 kilometres west of Paderborn...
to defend transit and trading rights relating to a bridge over the Lippe river
Lippe River
The Lippe is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine and in length.The source is located at the edge of the Teutoburg Forest in Bad Lippspringe close to the city of Paderborn. It runs westward through Paderborn, Lippstadt and then along the northern edge...
. In 1470 Werne became a member of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
. A town hall was built from 1512 to 1561.
The first moves towards a fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
of Werne date to 1302 when a trench was dug around the church; this was improved and extended to protect the entire settlement in 1383, two years before it received town privileges
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
in 1385. After Adolph I, Duke of Cleves
Adolph I, Duke of Cleves
Adolph I of Cleves was 2nd. Count of Cleves and 4th. Count of Mark.- Life :He was the son of Adolph III, Count of Mark, and Margaret of Julich ....
had burned Werne to the ground in 1400, the full fortification of the city commenced in 1415. However, this did not prevent occupation, looting and torching of the city on several occasions during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
and of course it was no help at all against the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
, which killed 313 people (out of a population of about 1,000) in 1636 and 1637 while the war still raged. (Parts of the city wall and some of the towers were pulled down in 1779; the last city gate (the "Neutor") was demolished in 1843.)
The Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
, signed in 1648 at the nearby cities of Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
and Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, had essentially expelled Protestantism from the Werne region. From 1671 to 1673 the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin is an Order of friars in the Catholic Church, among the chief offshoots of the Franciscans. The worldwide head of the Order, called the Minister General, is currently Father Mauro Jöhri.-Origins :...
erected a cloister and, from 1677 to 1681, the Catholic Church. (The Martin Luther Church at the Wichernstraße dates from 1904).
From the Napoleonic time to industrialization
Werne, which had come under the administration of PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
in 1803 when the Prince-Bishopric of Münster had been dissolved, was attached to the Grand Duchy of Berg
Berg (state)
Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.-Ascent:...
by Napoleon in 1806. The Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
restored the city to Prussia which incorporated it with other territories into its Province of Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...
. In 1831 was granted a degree of administrative independence under the Prussian municipal code of 1831.
In 1873 and 1874 the search for coal produced a brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
thermal spring, and the Werne Baths were established in 1878. The actual coal mine did not commence operations before 1899; it was operated until 1975. Today the buildings of the "Zeche Werne" have been converted to public meeting places, or are part of a business park.
The railway line Münster-Werne-Dortmund was opened in 1928. It had taken a significant amount of lobbying to get Werne a railway station, which was totally refurbished in 2005.
World War II
During the war, 471 citizens of Werne died and 500 more disappeared without trace. The town accommodated nearly 4,000 refugees.Famous People from Werne
- Gabriele Behler, politician
- Hans-Martin LindeHans-Martin LindeHans-Martin Linde is a noted virtuoso flute and recorder player of baroque and early music.He authored a number of original and highly instructive books on the flute and recorder respectively....
, classical flautist - Nikolaos Katsigiannis, handball player
Twin towns
BailleulBailleul
- France :*Bailleul, Nord, in the Nord département*Bailleul, Orne, in the Orne département*Bailleul, Somme, in the Somme département*Bailleul-aux-Cornailles, in the Pas-de-Calais département*Bailleul-la-Vallée, in the Eure département...
, France, since 1968 Lytham St. Annes, United Kingdom, since 1984 Kyritz
Kyritz
Kyritz is a town in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 28 km west of Neuruppin and 28 km southeast of Pritzwalk.There are 9,900 inhabitants .-Overview:...
, Germany, since 1990 Wałcz, Poland, since 1992 Poggibonsi
Poggibonsi
Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It is the main centre of the Valdelsa Valley.-History:The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic age, although the first traces of civilisation dates from Etruscan-Roman age, attested by a series of necropolises and...
, Italy, since 2000