Dreingau is the medieval name of one of five

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

pagi (i.e., boroughs) in what today is the Münsterland in

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

. During the Middle Ages documents referred to it as ''Dreine'', ''Dreni'', ''Drieni'', ''Dragini'', ''Dragieni'', ''Drachina'' or ''Treine''.Soekelland B: Ueber die Straßen der Römer und Franken zwischen der Ems und Lippe. Münster, 182
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/ref> The name came into use around the year 800, and is hardly used anymore today. It has survived only in the name of the town

Drensteinfurt Drensteinfurt (in low German ''Stewwert'') is a town in the district of Warendorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km north of Hamm and 20 km south of Münster. The villages Rinkerode in the north an ...

, and in the name of a regional newspaper, the ''Dreingau-Zeitung''.

Location

The origins of the name Dreingau are disputed; it might derive either from a medieval term denoting a "fertile land," or might describe a "dry land". Considering that the Saxon pagi still held extensive marshlands at this time, both interpretations might well be equivalent. Although the sources are frequently inconsistent or ambiguous in assigning various places to the Dreingau, the consensus is that the ''pagus'' was of roughly triangular shape, with the

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The d ...

between

Lippstadt Lippstadt () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest town within the district of Soest. Lippstadt is situated about 60 kilometres east of Dortmund, 40 kilometres south of Bielefeld and 30 kilometres west of Paderborn. Ge ...

and

Lünen Lünen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north of Dortmund, on both banks of the River Lippe. It is the largest town of the Unna district and part of the Ruhr Area. In 2009 a biogas plant was built to provide electric p ...

forming the southern border, and with the city of

Greven Greven (; Westphalian: ''Graiwen'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and close to the city of Münster. Geography Greven is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25&n ...

as the anchor point in the North. Close to the Lippe river was the large forest ''Ihtari'' (later known as ''Ihteri'' and then ''Ichtern''). South of the Dreingau was the ''pagus'' Bracbant, home to tribes of the

Bructeri The Bructeri (from Latin; Greek: Βρούκτεροι, ''Broukteroi'', or Βουσάκτεροι, ''Bousakteroi''; Old English: ''Boruhtware'') were a Germanic tribe* * in Roman imperial times, located in northwestern Germany, in present-day Nort ...

; to the West was Bursibant around Rheine; other neighboring areas were the Skopingau centered on

Schöppingen Schöppingen is a municipality in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately south-west of Steinfurt. The Master of the Schöppingen Altarpiece derives his name from an altarpiece that ...

, and the Stevergau around

Coesfeld Coesfeld (; Westphalian: ''Koosfeld'') is the capital of the district of Coesfeld in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. History Coesfeld received its city rights in 1197, but was first recorded earlier than that in the biography of St ...

. Notable places mentioned in medieval documents in the context of the Dreingau include the village ''Wernina'' (now

Werne Werne an der Lippe (; Westphalian: ''Wäen'') 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 ...

), ''Seliheim'' (now

Selm Selm is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 kilometers north of Dortmund and 25 kilometers west of Hamm. Geography The town belongs to the southern part of the Münsterland. ...

), and Liesborn Abbey but there is little mention of

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 ...

History

The Dreingau had been a theatre of war even before it got its name. In the times of the expansionist drive of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

against the

Germanic people The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

the

Battle of the Lupia River The Battle of the Lupia River was fought in 11 BC between a Roman force led by Nero Claudius Drusus and the Sicambri.Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'LIV.33/ref> The Lupia River, now Lippe, flows westwards through the Ruhr Valley in North Rhine-West ...

in 16 BC and the

Battle of Idistaviso The Battle of the Weser River, sometimes known as the First Battle of Minden or Battle of Idistaviso, was fought in 16 AD between Roman legions commanded by Roman Emperor Tiberius's heir and adopted son, Germanicus, and an alliance of Germanic p ...

in 16 AD mark the period when the Dreingau area was either a staging point or a battlefield. It figured centrally in the

Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fought ...

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

from 772 onward. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

the Dreingau was devastated by troops led by

Christian the Younger of Brunswick Christian the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (20 September 1599 – 16 June 1626), a member of the House of Welf, titular Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt, was a German Protestant military l ...

References

External links

*Dreingau source information o
Regnum Francorum online
{dead link, date=December 2016 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Former states and territories of North Rhine-Westphalia History of Münster Types of administrative division Münster (region)