Münster, Former episcopal palace, now the Westphalian Wilhelm
University of Münster, Germany.K. Praedel/ZEFAcity, North
Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies on the
small Münster-Aa River and the Dortmund-Ems Canal, northeast of
Essen.  The community was first mentioned as Mimigernaford
(“Ford over the Aa”) when Liudger (Ludger), a missionary sent by
Charlemagne, founded a bishopric there in 804. It was renamed
Münster in 1068 and was chartered in 1137. Münster’s favourable
position at the intersection of long-distance trade routes and
its wool trade with England gave it early economic importance
and contributed to its influential position in the Hanseatic
League in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Anabaptists, who
constituted the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation,
proclaimed their “kingdom of a thousand years” there in 1534. In
1535 Münster was captured by an army of Catholics and
Protestants, and in 1536 the Anabaptists’ “king,” John of Leiden
(Jan Beuckelson), was executed with t