A Domburg (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: Cathedral Castle) was the cathedral close or area in many old European

diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

seats around the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

surrounded by a large fortified wall and only accessible through gatehouse. Within the Domburg was the cathedral, additional churches and chapels (often), the bishop's palace, the houses of the members of the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

, workshops and kitchen gardens. The fortification served to protect the bishop, Cathedral chapter and their servants, but also served as a safehaven for the neighbouring labourers and merchants. The outer fortifications (

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

) which protected the whole city, were usually built after the Domburg and often remained weaker. The fortified cathedral area was imbued with special privileges (rights and freedoms) and was therefore often known as the

Domfreiheit {{Multiple issues, {{refimprove, date=July 2015{{more footnotes, date=July 2015 In the Holy Roman Empire, the Domfreiheit (German: Cathedral Freedom) or Domimmunität (Cathedral Immunity) was the area immediately around the seat of the Bishop o ...

. It was the central hub of the city.Ulfert Herlyn (Ed.), Hans Paul Bahrdt: ''Die moderne Großstadt. Soziologische Überlegungen zum Städtebau.'' Neuausgabe, Springer-Verlag, Berlin – Heidelberg 2013, {{ISBN, 978-3-32-293320-1, p. 202. The lines of the old Domburg are still clearly visible in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

( Domhof) and

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

(Domplatz, accessed from the back of the cathedral). In addition,

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

s and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

provide evidence for the

Domburg Domburg is a seaside resort on the North Sea, on the northwest coast of Walcheren in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 11 km northwest of the city of Middelburg, the provincial capital. ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

and the

Hammaburg Hamburg was founded in the 9th century as a mission settlement to convert the Saxons. Since the Middle Ages, it has been an important trading center in Europe. The convenient location of the port and its independence as a city and state for centur ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

References

Urban design Medieval culture