SOEST, a town in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 33 In. E. of Dortmund, on the main railway Cologne-Elberfeld Berlin. Pop. (1933) 22,568. Mentioned in documents as early as the 9th century, Soest was one of the largest and most im portant Hanseatic towns in the middle ages. It was one of the chief emporiums on the early trading route between Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Its code of municipal laws (Schran; jus susatense), dating from 1144 to 1165, was one of the earliest and best, and served as a model even to Liibeck. On the fall of Henry the Lion, Soest passed with the rest of Angria to Cologne. In the 15th century the strife between the townsmen and the arch bishops broke out in open war, and in 1444 the strong fortifica tions of the town withstood a long siege. Papal intervention ended the strife, and Soest was permitted to remain under the protec tion of the dukes of Cleves. The prosperity of the town waned in more modern times: in 1763 its population was only 3,800; in 1816 it was 6,687. Of its churches the most striking are St.
Peter's, the Wiesenkirche, a gem of Gothic architecture, Maria zur Hiihe with beautiful mural frescoes, founded in 1314 and restored in 1850-1852, and the Roman Catholic cathedral, founded in the loth century by Bruno, brother of Otto the Great (the present building was erected in the 12th century). Remains of the broad wall and one of the gates remain; but the thirty-six strong towers which once defended the town have disappeared. The town-hall (170I) contains valuable archives; the gymnasium was founded in 1534, through the instrumentality of Melanchthon. Iron-working, the manufacture of soap, sugar, marmalade, machin ery, lamps, cigars, bricks and tiles, linen-spinning and brewing, together with market-gardening in the neighbourhood, and trade in timber and grain are the leading industries.