MUNSTER, mun'ster. The capital of the Prussian Province of Westphalia, situated in a level district at the eonfluenee of the Aa with the Minister Canal, 65 miles northeast of Dusseldorf (Slap: Prussia, B 2). The town is medheval in appearance. with its ancient gabled buildings, old Renaissance houses, rococo ings of the eighteenth century. areaded markets, and shaded alhles. The site of the former forti fications, which .divided the old and new towns, has been converted long since into promenades. Miinster has many churches, of which two are prominent: Saint Lambert's and the cathedral. The former is a graceful, pleasing structure. It is Gothic, dates from the fourteenth century, has been restored in recent times. and possesses a majestic new tower. The church is associated with the history of the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century. The cathedral is of the thir teenth century, and has sonic noteworthy fea tures, though none of great interest. The impos ing Church of Our Lady also merits mention as well as the beautiful Romanesque tower of the Ludgerikirche.
The Rathaus is a handsome. gabled, Gothic struethre. The Peace of Westphalia was signed in it in 164S, in a curious room ealled the Fried enssaal, which contains portraits claimed to have been painted by Terburg. Among the interest ing old buildings are also the Renaissance Weigh House; the P,enaissanee Stadtkeller. the head quarters of the Kunstverein, with pictures of minor value; and the Schnhhans, or the ancient guild-ball of shoemakers. The castle was the episcopal residence in former times, and is now occupied by the leading ofiieials of the city. In its grounds is a botanical garden. The Govern ment offices, the law courts, and the attractive Gothic post-office are modern. The splendid modern Ludgerus fountain is adorned with in teresting religious statues. The Roman Catholic university, \Odell eeascd to exist as such in 1818, when the institution was reduced to a theological and a philosophical faculty (which figured as the Academy of Minister from 1843). was revived in 1902 by the establishment of a faculty of law.
Noteworthy also among the many edueational in stitutions are the royal pedagogical seminary, a seminary for priests, and two lionvikte.' Mini ster has a Museum of Christian Art, the Pauline Library, with about 115,000 volumes, and an ex tensive Roman Catholic gymnasium. There is a notable zoiilogical garden, which is much fre quented by the citizens, and contains an anti quarian collection. The industrial products of Sliinster include leather, linen and cotton fab rics, starch. thread, and sugar. There are also carriage works and distilleries. A large trade is carried on in the produce of the country. Car riages and sculptures of stone are exported. The population in 1S71 was 24,815: in 1901, 63,776, mostly Catholics.
Minister had its origin in a cele brated monastery which appears as early as the time of Charles the Great. A considerable set tlement sprang up around the monastery in the first part of the twelfth century. The town re ceived municipal rights about 1180, and in the course of many years the inhabitants succeeded in vindicating their liberties against their feudal lords, the bishops of Minister. In the thirteenth century :Munster entered the Hanseatic League. In the fifteenth century it became a centre of learning and religious life, and during the Refor mation suffered greatly from the strife of parties. In 1533 Minister fell into the power of the Ana baptists. whose leader. the celebrated John of Leyden (q.v.), erected the city into a kingdom of Zion with himself as sovereign (1534). The city was taken by the Bishop in the following year, and John of Leyden was put to death. Against the ambitious and warlike Bernhard of Galen, Bishop of Miinster, the city carried on a desperate struggle in defense of its rights, hut it was finally compelled to submit with the loss of almost all its liberties (1661). The Bishopric of Miister, which held a prominent place among the eccle siastical States of the old German Empire and embraced a territory of nearly 4000 square miles, was secularized in 1803.