The Soest Börde () is an historical

territorial lordship A territorial lord () was a ruler in the period beginning with the Early Middle Ages who, stemming from his status as being immediate (''unmittelbar''), held a form of authority over a territory known as ''Landeshoheit''. This authority gave him ...

and a

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the c ...

in the centre of the German region of

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) 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 region is almost identical with the h ...

, between

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of the States of Germany, German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. ...

in the south and Münsterland in the north. It is known nationally for being a very fertile region thanks to the depth of its

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

soils that, it terms of yield are only exceeded in Germany by the

Magdeburg Börde The Magdeburg Börde () is the central landscape unit of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and lies to the west and south of the eponymous state capital Magdeburg. Part of a loess belt stretching along the southeastern rim of the North German Plain, it ...

. The term "

börde A ''börde'' (; plural: ''börden'') is a region of highly fertile lowland in North Germany, a "fertile plain". These landscapes often cover great areas and are particularly important for arable farming on account of their rich soils. These reg ...

" has a twin meaning here. Administratively it refers to a former juridical district and agriculturally to a fertile lowland. Historically-administratively the Soest Börde comprised the former territorial lordship of the town of Soest in the present municipalities of Soest,

Bad Sassendorf Bad Sassendorf is a municipality in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. History From the 8th century, the area around the Soester plain was under the Merovingian dynasty. The name “Sassendorf” indicates that it was a S ...

and

Welver Welver () is a municipality in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. History The town was once known as Villinghausen or Vellinghausen. The Seven Years' War Battle of Villinghausen was fought nearby. Geography Welver is sit ...

. From a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

al perspective, it belongs to the Hellwegbörden, whose eponymous centre it represents. Within the natural region classification, however, the Soest Börde, is not recognized as a unit. Instead the sub-regions of the ''Soest Upper'' and ''Lower Börde'' are used, the boundaries of which are not the same as the borders of the historical Soest Börde. The boundary between the two sub-regions runs just north of the

Hellweg In the Middle Ages, Hellweg was the official and common name given to main travelling routes in Germany. Their breadth was decreed as an unimpeded passageway a lance's width, about three metres, which the landholders, through which the Hellweg pa ...

Literature

Literature partly based on: * Klaus Diekmann: ''Die Herrschaft der Stadt Soest über ihre Börde.'' Diss. jur., Münster, 1962. * Arnold Geck: ''Topographisch-historisch-statistische Beschreibung der Stadt Soest und der Soester Börde.'' Soest, 1825. 430 pages. * Marga Koske: ''Das Bördekataster von 1685.'' Soest 1960. * Marga Koske: ''Geschichte der eingemeindeten Soester Stadtteile.'' In: ''Soester Zeitschrift'' 112, 2000, pp. 23–78. * Hermann Rothert: ''Wie die Stadt Soest ihr Territorium, die Börde, erwarb.'' In: ''Westfälische Zeitschrift'' 106, 1956, pp. 79–111. * Hans Weller: ''Die Selbstverwaltung im Kreis Soest 1817–1974. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der übergemeindlichen Selbstverwaltung.'' Paderborn, 1987. * Hartmut Witzig: ''Die Rechtsverhältnisse der Bauern in der Soester Börde vom 14. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert.'' Diss. jur., Göttingen, 1967.

References

External links

Natural region maps
from the 1:200,000 map sheets by the ''Bundesinstitut für Landeskunde'' – the sheets that are mainly relevant here are nos. 542.12 and 542.22. ** ''Sheet 97 – Münster'' ** ''Sheet 110 – Arnsberg'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Soest Borde Regions of North Rhine-Westphalia Soest (district)

See also

Literature

References

External links