The city hanséate of Wesel at the edge of the lower course of the the Rhine is in extreme cases north-western of the basin of the Ruhr in Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia. It is a autonomous Commune and the Chef-lieu of the district of Wesel of the District of Düsseldorf; it is member of the Hanse, the Eurorégion the Rhine-Waal and of association cyclist of the cities and agglomerations of Rhineland-of-North-Westphalia.

Geography

The town of Wesel is with the junction of the Lippe and the Wesel-Datteln channel in the Rhenish basin, about in the center of the district of Wesel, populated of 180.000 inhabitants. It is to 45 km of the Dutch fontière and 30 km of the the Ruhr and forms the western limit of the natural park of the Hohe Mark . The Rhine bathes the agglomeration on 17 km, Lippe and the channel Wesel-Datteln each one on 7 km of their course. In the town-planning, Wesel represents the center of the agglomeration.

History

Antiquity

The excavations carried out in the Gravière S of Bislich testify to an occupation of the site of Wesel to the Bronze Age and the Âge of iron. From the episodical risings of the Rhine and Lippe, the old story of the city could be reconstituted only in a very fragmentary way. It is very probable that the Romans, when they occupied the low valley of the Rhine under Auguste and that they based Castra Vetera (current the Xanten) on left bank of the Rhine, established out of Right Bank an outpost with the site of current Wesel; but no trace could be found about it to date.

The Middle Ages

The first permanent occupation of the site of Wesel, posterior with the Great invasions, is a borough with the junction of Lippe with the Rhine, with the cascades of Lippeham, from where the emperor Charlemagne undertook several campaigns against the Saxons and the Danes. The later development of this village is for a great part badly known: undoubtedly it was carried at the time of the successive risings of the Rhine and Lippe and was re-occupied thereafter.

The origin of the medieval city is undoubtedly a franque mound , which was with the site of the Market to Corns. A Diplôme of the Abbaye of Echternach dating from the VIIIe century evokes for the first time the toponym of Wesele . The excavations carried out among the ruins of the cathedral Saint-Willibrord after the Second world war made it possible to find the vestiges of a church out of wood frame of the VIIIe century. An edict of the king Henri IV dated May 1st 1065 orders the restitution of the church and the goods of the “ villa Wisele ” with the Abbaye of Echternach.

At the beginning of the XIIe century, Wesel, that its position with the junction of two rivers had transformed into market of important exchange, échut with the counts de Clèves. With the urban charter granted Wesel in September 1241, the middle-class men obtained a certain number of privileges, of which right of heritage and the exemption to pay with all the grantings of the comtaux states. In 1277, the frankness on the Beer and the right of fair came to be added to it, and a permanent court was instituted downtown.

Whereas to the XIIIe century the trade was limited to the sale of vivres and articles of local arts and crafts, a new economic advancement with the XIVe century made it possible to propose with the sale transformed raw materials and end products. The industry of the Cloth, in particular, made the fortune of Wesel, which joined the Hanse in 1407. The city became thus one of the more significant markets and a turntable for the trade from Holland and Westphalia towards Cologne. As of the congress of the Hanse to Lübeck in 1447, Wesel counted among the five cities of the Hanse of Cologne .

The economic advancement shows through in the buildings of this period, like the town hall built between 1456 and 1457, one of the profane buildings in Gothique blazing most famous of the Rhineland. Of 1498 with 1540, the cathedral Saint-Willebrord was increased in a cathedral with five naves of style blazing Gothique. The Tower set up in 1478 was high above the preceding cathedral with three naves (1424 - 1480).

A Collège, which one then called “School of Latin” and who always exists, opened its door in 1342. It carries since 1984 the more famous name of sound raises, Konrad Duden.

Rebirth and Reform

Contrary to the close cities, the Réforme very early made feel its effects with Wesel. With the Easter of 1540, according to the wish of the middle-class men, the Communion “under the two species” was celebrated by the ducal judge, the alderman S and 1500 middle-class men in the Saint-Willibrord cathedral. From this day, Wesel became a city of the Refuge, which accommodated several Protestant emigrants, fleeing mainly the Netherlands. The Dutch Protestants constituted themselves in new church at the time of the synod of Wesel in 1568, which had a determining influence on the Confession of faith of the Dutch and German evangelic Églises.

In 1609, Wesel and the whole of the Duché of Clèves falls to the voters of Brandebourg. During the War eighty year old, it is initially occupied by the Spanish S, until in 1629 it is removed by the troops of the United Provinces. Then it is besieged by the 5th regiment of infantry of line and is militarily occupied by the French of 1672 until in 1680. Under the reign of the voter Frederic-Guillaume, the city finally obtains Fortifications, complex formed of ditches and bastions. The city does not include/understand whereas districts of Altstadt and the suburb of Mathena, and the law of Ray prohibits any extension beyond the ramparts: of the thirteen doors which drew up time of Hanse, one preserves only four of them. XVIe century with the XIXe century various strengthened works will be added, in particular by the Prussia and the France.

August 12th, 1730, one week after its attempt at missed running away, the prince Frederic of Prussia, future Frederic the Large one, met on the ramparts of Wesel his/her father, the king-sergeant, which wanted to kill it following the remarks violent one that it had held to him. Only the intervention of the commander of the place, the general von der Mosel, prevented a tragedy

At the XIXe century

By the Treated of Schönbrunn (December 15th 1805), Prussia, remained neutral during the Fifth Coalition, receives Hanover and yields thestrong one of Wesel to France. In January 1808, the city is organized like head of bridge of the French Empire on Right Bank of the Rhine and chief town of the 9th canton of the District of Clèves in the Département of Roer. It is in this city that, on September 16th, 1809, the eleven officers of the franc-tireurs of Ferdinand von Schill were shot. With the abdication of Napoleon, Prussia claimed the return of this place-strong in the kingdom of the Hohenzollern. Wesel consequently becomes especially a garrison town, in which will be stationed until the First World War of the units of all the weapons (infantry, artillery, cavalry and sappers). Thus, in spite of its privileged geographical location and its developed infrastructures, Wesel was not any more in a position economically to compete with the other cities of the Ruhr. When one dismantled the fortifications in 1886, fastening with the industrial and carboniferous basin was not any more topicality. The first enclosure, which surrounded the old downtown area, was brought back over the old enclosing walls (“fill in glacis”).

April 23rd, 1816, the Prussian administrative reform made of Wesel a city of the district of Rees, attached in 1824 to the the Prussian Rhineland. May 20th, 1842, the seat of the district was transferred from Rees to Wesel, but the name of the district was maintained (“District of Rees, sits at Wesel”).

World wars and rebuilding

Wesel, during the First World War, is a gathering point of the German troops for the face of the West. Following the Treated of Versailles which stipulates the demilitarization of the the Rhineland, the city loses its military function. It is only after the referendum of reunification of the the Saar with Germany and the come to power of the Nazi S that new quotas invest the old citadel.

Because of its strategic situation, the city becomes as of the end of the Bataille of England the privileged target of English aviation, then allied. Finally, the 16, 17 and February 19th 1945, Wesel is practically striped chart by the air raids and the allied artillery shootings. The bridges crossing the Rhine and Lippe had been mined by the Wehrmacht, in particular the viaduct of railroad of 1950 m range, destroyed the March 10th, and which was the last crossing of the the Rhine defended by the Germans. The March 23rd, the city was again bombarded in preparation of the Opération Plunder, 3.000 refugees being taken under fire. 97% of the buildings were destroyed when the Allies, winners, crossed the ruins.

The systematic clearing of the ruins and the first rebuildings were undertaken only during the summer 1946, under the impulse of an association called Wesel hilft sich selbst (“ Wesel only leaves there”). One rebuilt even certain public edifices, in particular the Saint-Willibrord cathedral thanks to an association called Willibrordi-Dombauverein .

Urban development

Demography

| valign=" top" | | valign=" top" | |}

Sources

• 1914- June 30th, 1999: municipal files of Wesel (Seat and appendix)
• December 31st, 1999 - December 31st, 2004: Nicole Ruthert, Service of the old statistics of Wesel (Seat and appendix)
• since 2005: Department of the statistics and exploitation of the investigations of Rhineland-Westphalia

Curiosities

Theaters and concert halls

The Niederrheinhalle on the hill of Fusternberg is a hall of exposure. The municipal theater accommodates troops of actors as well invited as in the concerts of symphonic music or chamber music. The Saint-Willibrord cathedral and the concert hall of the academy in the old citadel accommodate other musical demonstrations.

Museums

The Natural history museum is distributed on three sites:

• the Gallery of the downtown area with, in addition to a seasonal exposure, two permanent exposures: Silverwares of Wesel and the Oath of Wesel
• in the citadel:
• the casemate von Schill , and
• the department History of the fortifications .

Monuments

Religious buildings

The market with corns

The “ Gone to the Corns ” ( Kornmarkt ), in the downtown area, is slightly in the north of the cathedral Saint-Willibrord. It is on this site that in VIIIe century a Carolingian Motte castrale drew up around which the city was built. With the Middle Ages, the place paved close to the Grand market was one of the largest markets in cereals of the area. In the middle of the place, a small fountain is raised bronze effigies of “ Grand Henri ” ( Langer Heinrich ) and “ King of the Bees ” ( Bienenkönig ), two picturesque figures of the local history.

The Kornmarkt is especially famous today for its coffees and its restaurants, which surround this historical place.

Random links:

Martin Verkerk | Bore-hole-the-Templiers | Bouquetot | Russell Mael | First (college)