Hümmling district existed 1815 to 1932 and was a district in what is now western

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was named after the

Hümmling The Hümmling (''Homelinghen'', from ''hömil'' = small stone) is a ground moraine landscape, up to , in the Emsland region on the North German Plain in the western part of the German state of Lower Saxony. Location The wooded Hümmling, whic ...

hills, a ground moraine landscape in Emsland region

History

There are over 100 more or less well-preserved

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

s of the

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

culture in the Hümmling hills.

Niederstift Münster

Until 1803, in times of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, Hümmling region was the northern part of the diocese and clerical territory of Münster (''Niederstift Münster''). When Clement Augustus, prince-bishop of Münster tried to use their

soccage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in exchange for cle ...

in order to build his castle at Clemenswerth, the peasants of the "Free Hümmling" fought a log successful trial at the

Imperial Chamber Court The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...

in Wetzlar that they were not enfeoffed to anyone.

Napoleon, Hanover, Prussia

With the

secularisation In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

of all clerical states in Germany, the Niederstift Münster was given to the Duchy of Arenberg (1803 to 1810). Then it was part of the French Empire (1810 to 1814). By the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

the former Niederstift Münster was given to the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...

in 1814. The Hanoveran administration created a district of Hümmling, called

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

of Hümmling. The capital of that district was Sögel. In 1866, after the

German War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, Prussia annected the Kingdom of Hanover, and the district of Hümmling was called Landkreis Hümmling. Prussian rule was very unpopular. Emsland with the Hümmling was a stronghold of the Roman Catholic Centre Party and of the Welfenpartei (

German-Hanoverian Party The German-Hanoverian Party (german: Deutsch-Hannoversche Partei, DHP), also known as the Guelph Party (german: Welfenpartei), was a conservative, federalist political party in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. History The party was fou ...

). In 1932, Hümmling district was united with the district of Aschendorf to form the district of Aschendorf-Hümmling In 1946, Prussia was dissolved, and hence its

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, ...

, together with the States of

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

, Brunswick, and

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

were united to form the State of Hanover later to become the state of

. In 1977, all Lower Saxon parts of Emsland Region were united into the district of

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinfur ...

Religion

The Hümmling is 93% Roman-Catholic. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

there was a large number of refugees from the old eastern provinces of Germany and, since 1990 there have also been ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the Hümmling who, in addition to the Catholic faith, also belong to the

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church that split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during an 1863 schism in Hamburg, Germany. The church has existed since 1863 in Germany and since 1897 in the Ne ...

and other Protestant faiths (

Pentecostalists Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

Culture

A typical Hümmling speciality is the ''Baukweiten Janhinnerk'', a pancake made of

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as '' Fago ...

flour with syrup, apple sauce,

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...

, egg, cheese, bread or

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat f ...

. The 'national anthem' of the Hümmlings is the ''Hümmelske Bur'', a song, which typecasts the characteristics of the local population. There is still a local

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

, the ''Hümmlinger Platt'', which belongs to the

Northern Low Saxon Northern Low Saxon (in High German: ', in Standard Dutch: ') is a subgroup of Low Saxon dialects of Low German. As such, it covers a great part of the West Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany, with the exception of the border region ...

group of

West Low German Low Saxon, also known as West Low German ( nds, Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies; nl, Nedersaksisch) are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of th ...

dialects. Not until about 1975 were generations born that grew up speaking

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

. The Hüven Mill is a technological attraction in the Hümmling. It is the last fully preserved combined wind- and

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

in Europe.

Sources

* Matthias Bähr, Widerstand vor dem Reichskammergericht: Als die "freien Hümmlinger" nach Wetzlar zogen (1739-1768), in: Emsländische Geschichte Bd. 15. Hrsg. von der Studiengesellschaft für Emsländische Regionalgeschichte, Haselünne 2008, , S. 468-577 * Wilhelm Ludwig Heermann: ''Unser Hümmling, unsere Heimat. Gedichte und Erzählungen aus alten Zeiten''. Goldschmidt, Werlte 2002, * Werner Franke et al.: ''Der Hümmling mit Sögel, Werlte und Nordhümmling''. Reihe ''Landschaften im Emsland''. Emsländischer Heimatbund, Sögel 1995, * Autorenkollektiv: ''Der Hümmling. Ein Heimatbuch''. Herausgegeben vom Katholischen Kreislehrerverein des Kreises Hümmling. (Fotomechanischer Nachdruck der Ausgabe von 1929.) Goldschmidt, Werlte 1979 * Holger Lemmermann: ''Auf dem freien Hümmling. Ländliches Leben in vier Jahrhunderten (1530-1870)''. 2. Auflage. Emsländischer Heimatbund, Sögel 1995, * Lothar Riedel: ''Die Hümmlinger Kreisbahn. Die Verkehrsgeschichte der schmalspurigen Kleinbahn Lathen-Sögel-Werlte''. Röhr, Krefeld 1983, {{DEFAULTSORT:Hummling Emsland (region) Kingdom of Hanover Province of Hanover Districts of Prussia Regions of Lower Saxony 1932 disestablishments in Germany 1815 establishments in the Kingdom of Hanover States and territories established in 1815 States and territories disestablished in 1932