Soest, Germany
| Soest | |||
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Soest
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 Soest
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Location of Soest within Soest district
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| Coordinates: 51°34′16″N 8°06′33″E / 51.57111°N 8.10917°ECoordinates: 51°34′16″N 8°06′33″E / 51.57111°N 8.10917°E | |||
| Country | Germany | ||
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia | ||
| Admin. region | Arnsberg | ||
| District | Soest | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Eckhard Ruthemeyer (CDU) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 85.81 km2 (33.13 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2015-12-31) | |||
| • Total | 47,974 | ||
| • Density | 560/km2 (1,400/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | ||
| Postal codes | 59494 | ||
| Dialling codes | 02921 | ||
| Vehicle registration | SO | ||
| Website | www.soest.de | ||
| Imperial and Hanseatic City of Soest | ||||||||||
| Freie Hansestadt Soest | ||||||||||
| Imperial, Hanseatic City of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Soest | |||||||||
| Government | Republic | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Mentioned in Dagobertsche Schenkung |
836 |
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Soest Feud to gain Reichsfreiheit from Abp Cologne |
1444–49 1449 |
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| • | Annexed by Brandenburg, with Cleves, on extinction of its ducal line |
1609 1609 |
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Soest (German pronunciation: [ˈzoːst], as if it were 'Sohst'; Westphalian: Saust) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Soest district. After Lippstadt, a neighbouring town, Soest is the second biggest town in its district.
Soest is located along the Hellweg road, approximately 23 kilometres (14 miles) south-west of Lippstadt, roughly 50 km (31 mi) east of Dortmund and roughly 50 km (31 mi) west of Paderborn.
The Norwegian Þiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital of Attila's (?–453) Hunnic Empire. The actual location of Attila's capital has not been determined.
Because of the fertile soil (dominantly brown silty clay loam,) the area around Soest was occupied long before 836 when the village is first mentioned in the Dagobertsche Schenkung, although the origin of this document is historically uncertain. But there is no doubt that Soest has been inhabited for a long time; excavations in the last two decades have uncovered signs of habitation stretching back more than 4000 years. In the 11th and 12th centuries, Soest grew considerably, making it one of the biggest towns in Westphalia with some 10,000 citizens. It was also an important member of the Hanseatic League until 1609.
A self-confident Soest from 1444 to 1449 liberated itself from the Bishop of Cologne, who controlled Westphalia (the so-called Soest Feud). Being no longer capital of Westphalia, the city aligned itself with the Duke of Cleves. This was a Pyrrhic victory, however; the city had shown itself strong enough to defy the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, but lost much of its trade: the "liberated" town was two-thirds surrounded by territories with other allegiances. When the last Duke of Cleves died in 1609, that dukedom was inherited by Brandenburg and, after a short siege, Soest was incorporated into it.
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Wikipedia