MUNSTER, chief t. of the district of the same name, as well as capital of all West phalia, is situated in 51° 55' n. lat., and 7° 40' e. long., at the continence of the Aa with the Milmster canal, 65 m. me. of ThIsseldorf. The pop. in 1871 was 24,815; in 1875, 35, 535. Manster, which is a bishopric, and the seat of a military council, a high court of appeal, and other governmental tribunals, is one of-the handsomest towns of Westphalia, retaining numerous remains of medieval architecture, whose quaint picturesqueness is enhanced by the numerous trees and shady allees, by which the sc•ares and streets ara ornamented. Among its 14 churches, of which the majority are Catholic, the most noteworthy are the cathedral, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, and despoiled of all its internal decorations by the Anabaptists; Our Lady's church, with its noble tower; the splendid Gothic church of St. Lambert, in the market-place, finished in the 13th c., on the tower of which may still be seen the three iron cages in which the bodies of the Anabaptist leaders, John of Leyden, Knipperdolling, and Krechting, were sus pended, after they had suffered the most horrible martyrdom; and the church dedicated to St. Ludgerus, the first bishop of Milnster, with its singular round tower, surmounted by an octagonal lantern. The Gothic town-hall possesses historical interest in being the spot at which, in 1648, the peace of Westphalia was signed in a large hall, which has lately been restored, and which contains portraits of all the ambassadors who were parties to the treaty. The palace, built in 1767, is surrounded by fine pleasure-grounds, including horticultural and botanical gardens, connected with the academy; and these, with the ramparts, which, since the Seven Years' war, have been converted into public walks, form a great attraction to the city. Minster is well provided with institutions of charity and benevolence. 'The old Catholic university of Mt:ulster was dismembered in 1818, and its funds apportioned to other educational establishments; and the present academy, which comprises a Catholic theological and a philosophical faculty, is now the principal school. It has a library of 50,000 volumes, a natural history museum, and various collections of art and antiquity connected with it. :Minster has one gymnasium,
a normal school for female teachers, and a number of town schools. The industrial products of Monster include leather, woolen fabrics, thread, starch, and sugar, besides which there are good carriage manufactories, breweries, and distilleries. The trade is limited to the produce of the country, the principal of which are the noted ham and sausages.
MOnster was known under the name of Mimigardevorde in the time of Charlemagne, who, in 791, appointed it as the see of the new bishop of the Saxons, at St. Towards the middle of the 11th c., a monastery was founded on the spot, which in course of time derived its present name from its vicinity to the minster, or monastery. In the 12th c., the bishopric was elevated into a principality of the empire. In the 13111 c.. the city was incorporated in the Hanseatic league; and in 1532 it declared its adhesion to the reformed faith, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the chapter. During the years 1535 and 1536, was the scene of the violent politico-religious movement of the Anabaptists, when the excesses of these pretended reformers worked a violent reaction in the minds of the people, which had the effect of restoring the prestige of the episcopal power; and although the citizens occasionally made good their attempted acts of opposition to their spiritual rulers, they were finally reduced to submission tinder bishop Christopher Bernhard of St. Gall, who having, in 1662, built a strong citadel within the city, transferred the episcopal place of residence thither from Koesfeld, where it had been established by earlier bishops. In the Seven Years' war, Mitnster was repeatedly besieged and taken by both the belligerent parties. The bishopric of Minster, which since 1719 had been merged in the archbishopric of Cologne, although it retained a special form of government, was secularized in 1803, and divided among various royal, houses; but subsequently shared in the common fate of other German provinces, and was for a time incorporated with France. The congress of Vienna gave the greater part of the principality to Prussia, a small portion being apportioned to the house of Olden burg, while Hanover acquired possession of the MtInster territories of the mediatized dukes of Arcmitetg,'.